Hand shy GCC

[misty185]

Hello Everyone,

I am kind of stumped with my GCC (Bubi). He is extremely hand shy and will bite anyone who puts a hand near him if it doesn't have food of some sort....and even then it is questionable. I have had him For 2 years now and he is 2.5 yrs old. He was a pet store buy who was discounted due to the fact that a handler had broken one of his toes while cleaning the cage one day.

I have tried to teach him to step up but he will only lay across my hand if he doesn't bite at it first. He will fly to my shoulder and hang out with me all day if I let him but any attempt to move him is grounds for a lot of screaming and biting. I am NOT trying to let him run wild but I have no idea where to go from here...

I am sure we are bonded but it is very guarded.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated....Thanks.

 

[SailBoat]

Hello Everyone,

I am kind of stumped with my GCC (Bubi). He is extremely hand shy and will bite anyone who puts a hand near him if it doesn't have food of some sort....and even then it is questionable. I have had him For 2 years now and he is 2.5 yrs old. He was a pet store buy who was discounted due to the fact that a handler had broken one of his toes while cleaning the cage one day.

I have tried to teach him to step up but he will only lay across my hand if he doesn't bite at it first. He will fly to my shoulder and hang out with me all day if I let him but any attempt to move him is grounds for a lot of screaming and biting. I am NOT trying to let him run wild but I have no idea where to go from here...

I am sure we are bonded but it is very guarded.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated....Thanks.

A possibility here.

- By the way, I do not buy the Pet Store story, do you?
It is more likely that the individual or individuals had been abusing the Parrot and it got tied of it and bit one really hard causing the individual to fall to the floor.

That kind of makes more sense to me, but I wasn't there.

So, you have a Parrot that is highly fearful of hands. From a hardwired stand point, it is not unusual as a hand and arm can look like and more like a snake, which is a killer of birds.

When you combine the two possible reasons, it is a wonder that any bird would ever trust our hands.

You at least have a working bond with your GCC. A great place to start from.

Basic: Only good things happen when Humans (and their hands) are around.

When your hands are held closer to your trusted face, the hands can be seen as safer. With care, time, and bribes provided by the hand (favored treat), your GCC will begin to trust your hands. Remember to move at the comfort rate of your Parrot.

 

[Flboy]

^ as he said^!
You want to reassociate your hands with something good! Also, start using a stick for step up. This way, the action will become normal! Any time I see the evil grin on my JoJo, I nonchalantly use a stick to move him about!

 

[misty185]

Thank you for the replies.

I knew one of the employees of the store well and she told me what had happened. I had been visiting the birds at the store for a while and I saw him before and after the "incident". SO I am pretty positive that the injury occurred the way it did.

I have been trying to give treats with my hands and he seems ok as long as he is in his cage grabbing the treat. If he is out of the cage he moves away still.

He has a tendency to want to immediately fly to my shoulder but I can't get close to him with my hands or he flies off and the chase is on! I know that it isn't good for him because I see he is scared but I have to get him back to the cage...

I will try the stick and continue positive reinforcement and see.

 

[Flboy]

Another great feature of stepping up on a stick, it allows others to move your little one if needed!

Also, I found it gives me a chance to understand my little one a bit more- without bleeding!
Getting JoJo up in the morning was becoming an issue! But it was my fault for being obvious to the obvious! I would reach in and he would push a bite really hard! So I simply switched to the stick trick! Well, he did the same thing to the stick!
I’m slow, but not completely brain dead! All he was saying was, ‘hey dad’ give me a second or two to wake up please!’ He was also hanging toward the back of the cage!
Our routine now, I uncover the cage, make my coffee, coming back into the room, I turn on the light and open his door! More and more he is now sitting on the front perch, waiting for me to lift him out! I still get the traditional conure ‘hello’ pinch! That’s only a quick DNA test to verify my identity!
Point? Without realizing it, I was slowly making mornings a negative experience! To him, I was being rude and pushy!