Help with Biting

[04cobratorchred]

Hello,

I have two baby greenwing macaws that are right around 80 days old. They are super sweet hearts and doing great. This was my first time raising macaws and it really turned out great. I just had a quick question about biting. They are just at the stage where they are figuring out what all their beak can do. Every once in a while they will bite me really hard drawing blood if I pick them up while they are playing or something. I was just wondering what the best way to teach them “NO” is? What type of positive reinforcement works best on them? It has been a dream come true to finally raise one and it’s unbelievable to watch them grow.

 

[TexDot33]

Look at those babies!!! How cute are they!

Yeah, see you are at that very important stage, yes you can explore with your beak, no you can't bite to get your way.

I know someone who has, in the past, raised Hy Macs. She will only raise them in pairs and she actually puts their legs in another's beak and, in a way, teaches them pain (I know it sounds cruel, but those guys HAVE to understand what they can do with that beak). The GW in my avatar is this lady's and is the best GW mac I have ever met and I know she taught her that way too.

The only thing I can suggest for you is that you stay on top of the biting/pinching and understand that the worst thing you can do to a macaw is IGNORE THEM. So if you are playing and you get pinched/bit too hard (don't react) *BOOM* put them down and turn your back on them (no drama based reward, no accidental reinforcement). It shouldn't take too long for those intelligent birdy brains to figure out why they are getting put down and ignored.

NOW, my fee for this advice, MORE PICTURES OF THOSE BABIES ... I want to see more of those!!

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[Auggie's Dad]

I second all that. I've never heard of the leg in another's beak trick (I'll let the foot-in-mouth jokes go for the moment,) but its pretty similar to what we did with one nippy basset hound by putting his own ear in his mouth whenever he got nippy, that took care of it quick.

As tex said ATTENTION is probably the biggest reinforcer, so when they bite, or do nearly anything inappropriate just drop 'em and turn away. Technically speaking that is a punishment (by definition a punishment is anything that reduces a behavior, in this case its "negative punishment" ie reducing the behavior by taking something such as attention away).

Another good contingency to implement is differential reward: get them to do a behavior that is incompatible with biting to get what they want. This is more or less two steps, first figure out if there is something maintaining the biting, the old cliche to every trainer is "Every time he bites me I yell at him"; well no $#|T maybe he likes the attention of being yelled at. It doesn't sound like this is the case here, but people are often surprised by what outcomes can actually REINFORCE a bad behavior - so to emphasize something tex said "no drama based reward, no accidental reinforcement." Second, WHATEVER it is that might be reinforcing the behavior, provide a NEW appropriate way of getting that reinforcer. For example when Auggie wants to come out of his cage now he rings a bell rather than screams, because he has learned that bell ringing gets him positive attention and gets him let out of the cage, screaming does neither.

As I wrote this last paragraph I realized it likely doesn't apply to these young birds, but its useful information that I think is important for pet owners to read. Differential reinforcement as described above is USUALLY the best way to change a "bad" behavior. In young birds such as yours the problem is that the tactile stimulus itself of biting is likely the reward for the behavior of biting. This makes if very difficult to "differentially reinforce" a different behavior to give them that same tactile stimulus. However a slight modification will do the trick: redirection, get them to bite something ELSE.

You can teach them that it is not only OK to bite a certain toy or two, but you can praise and encourage them to get their biting out on the toy. This should only be done in conjunction with discouraging biting you (and other people) as described by tex. This way they can get their tactile stimulus reward AND praise when they bite the toy while when they bite you they get absolutely nothing.

I'd like to qualify the redirection strategy by noting that I have broad experience with many animals, however most of it is not with birds and certainly not with Macs. I have no reason to believe that redirection would not be a great strategy here, however I will not be troubled if I am overruled by someone with more mac experience. Some people occasionally claim that if you encourage "aggression" against the toy the pet will become aggressive towards everything. This is certainly not true of dogs or most other animals (the myth that playing tug-o-war makes a dog dominant is just that: a myth) however parrots are unique in many ways.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

I just reread the initial question and something else occurred to me; at the moment its not a fully formed thought so bear with me. If they bite when you attempt to pick them up then we may want to question whether walking away would in fact be the best strategy here. If they are basically saying "hey leave me alone" then you DO leave them alone they might learn that biting works.

IF this is the case the opposite strategy might actually be best. Bring a towel when you are going to pick them up. Try once as usual, if they try to bite DONT give up. Towel them and pick them up. Biting should NOT get them what they want.

Again this is not a fully formulated thought so don't act on it yet.

Is the biting only or primarily when you pick them up while they are playing? Or is it happening other times.

I know that parrots are easily surprised and will lash out at anything that sneaks up on them. So if they are playing on their own make sure you (or your hand) is not "sneaking up" to pick them up.

 

[TexDot33]

... If they bite when you attempt to pick them up then we may want to question whether walking away would in fact be the best strategy here.

This is the great thing about behavior, we all have good ideas, and while taking about them, we come up with even MORE ideas ... after reading this in your section AD I thought of something else.

When you are going to pick them up and they are "biting" it is possible that they are testing the stability of the platform in which you are asking them to step onto. Specifically where they are young the are going to be unsure about their surroundings. "Ok, I will follow that new 'step-up' command you are teaching me, but I want to make sure that this 'perch' will hold me."

Be a strong platform for them to stand on and you should see a dramatic decrease in the "testing" before they get stepped-up as they start to trust you more and understand that you are steady enough to support them. If this is the case this is a 'biting' that should be allowed because it's an INSTINCT and you must not train that out of them.

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