How do you teach a young parrot not to be nippy when they explore with their beak?

[ksmith5151]

I am a first time parrot owner. I want to do the right thing from the beginning so I can set up a good relationship with my young Senegal parrot. She's 8 months old and this week is her first week home.

Cassie loves being on my shoulder and she is really sweet and well behaved but... every now and then she'll get curious and start nibbleing/chewing on my shirt collar and the skin on my neck which she pinches every so often. I've told her owww, I've gently pushed her beak away, I've told her NO firmly and I've tried a birdly time out this evening. Will it just take time/repetition for her to learn not to bite too hard when she's being curious with her beak? I also don't want to learn that it's okay to chew on my shirt collar. Is there a good way I can get her to understand that nipping/chewing shirt is not nice?

When she is on my shoulder I do give her toys to play with. I created a birdy toy necklace for her with lots of dangly charms for her to play with. I figured I just can't expect her to do nothing on my shoulder and that she's like a little toddler who has to play. She loves the birdy toy necklace but still nips my neck every so often.

----- Kimberley Smith

 

[MikeyTN]

I would not allow a bird to play on my shoulders! Play time is done in cages or play gym, not on top of me. Your teaching bad habits and showing her its ok to chew on what your wearing which is the necklace and she doesn't understand why not the shirt collar. While nipping at the necklace she probably pinch your neck while at it. You don't just say owww, you should remove that necklace and place it on her play stand instead. Prevent future behavioral issues right before it goes too far! Good luck!

 

[ksmith5151]

An UPDATE on Cassie. I am happy to announce that she has stopped chewing on my shirt and being nippy! She is now a JOY to have on my shoulder. She now makes kissing sounds on my shoulder, might be trying to talk, and LOVES car rides.

How I did that? I experimented AND read a lot of training tips. The best thing that seemed to work if she was on my shoulder is to jerk or nudge my shoulder just enough to knock her off balance. Not hard and not being mean in any way. Just enough to unbalance her. She finally realized that if she does something mommy doesn't like, mommy is going to knock me off balance. Every now and then she'll go for the shirt but all it takes now is one little nudge of the shoulder to get her to be a little angel again. This took about a week for her to quit. As for biting fingers, I started gently pushing my finger back towards her or wobbleing my hand (if that's where she's siting) to unbalance her. Most of her being nippy is being explorative so I am putting up with that to a point. This morning she wanted to see what my ear was all about. She nibbled nicely, then she got persistant about it so I started nudging my shoulder until she quit.

As for the comment that birds shouldn't be allowed on shoulders, I personally think it depends on the bird's personality, the owners willingness to find training solutions and how much time is spent working with their bird. I agree that some parrots should never be allowed such as a very nippy persistant lovebird maybe, BUT, at the same time I believe that because parrots are very smart, they can be taught to behave nicely on a person's shoulder. I didn't buy Cassie just to look at her or talk to her on her play gym or cage. She has a very sweet personality and I love having her with me. She seems to be very smart and now that I'm understanding (a little better) how to teach her, she seems to understand what I want faster.

Cassie is my first parrot but from the training videos and reading that that I've seen and read so far, it seems anything is possible with the right know how. Oh and as far as the bird toy necklace that I made for her, she has learned to only play with that and nothing else that I wear. She also also loves it when I give her large shapped beads to hold and play with. She will sit and preen herself and sleep on my shoulder but sometimes she doesn't like just sitting doing nothing. I think she's smart enough to learn what can and can not be played with. Her favorite is those kids plastic beads shapped like butterflies so I often give her those to hold too while she's on my shoulder. I will continue to learn all I can about parrot training. Today is the start of her 4th week home and I very much look forward to what we'll accomplish this week. This morning I started touch training her. Yesturday she allowed me to pet her head for the first time so I think she's ready.

---- Kimberley