I know nothing... what's this mean, please?

[strudel]

I am on a steep learning curve with my adopted birds. I search online and read info, but sometimes it doesn't seem to directly answer my question(s) so could somebody experienced please fill me in as to what this means/might mean?

Firstly, my galah bites me, but it isn't like in the videos where she is biting when you approach her. We'll be sitting about and she'll get on me, and then she chomps all over my hands. I don't think it's biting to say "go away" because she can go wherever she likes, she doesn't have to sit on my hand if she doesn't want to. She sits there and then she nibbles me. Why does she do this?

Secondly, if I scratch her neck and she puts her whole head and neck feathers out, like turns herself into a feather duster, is she liking it, or hating it? Again, she could jump off if she liked, but I don't want to be torturing her if she doesn't like it.

Lastly, I bought her a harness and (from a video online) I'm starting on trying to get her to lift her wings. She's started poking her wings out when I say hello to her sometimes. She doesn't look like she wants to kill me, she just sticks them out and puts them straight back. Has she decided she hates me now, or????

Thanks for any feedback. I don't want to "wreck her" if I'm doing the wrong things with her.

 

[getwozzy]

First- the biting thing. Chili does the EXACT same thing. I usually redirect her elsewhere, either by putting her on her boing or cage so she can go nibble on appropriate toys...not my hands.

Second- the lion poofy face, as I call it, is a happy face. She's REALLY enjoying the scritches.

Third- holding her wings like that means she wants you to pick her up.

So...doesn't sound like you're wrecking her

 

[MikeyTN]

Does she bite or nibble? Birds test stuffs with their beak so that means nibble on things to try them out or just giving you a love nip.

She's loving the scratches and they will fluff and such, its like preening to her.

She's sticking her wings out because you've been asking her to which is a good sign!

 

[Betrisher]

Sounds like your Galah loves you to bits! All the behaviours you describe are what Dominic does to my husband. Me, he just bites. Very, very occasionally, I'll be able to scratch his head and get the fluffed up face thing happening.

Galahs are very beaky birds. By that, I don't mean *bitey*-beaky, I mean in the same way a baby will put everything in its mouth. Galahs like to nibble and taste and preen and chew. You should see Dominic preening my husband's beard and chestwig: he goes ballistic with pleasure! (Oh, and Dom loves it too). Dom also likes to check my husband's 'feathers' (hubby is a hairy hubby) for lice, fleas and other parasites. Please don't think my hubby (or my house) is infested with parasites: Dommie just *thinks* they are. So he preens. He also helpfully nibbles off skin tags, which sometimes makes my husband squeal like a girl. So be it. Dom is a very helpful Galah. For my husband. Not for me.

One thing I found recently is that Dom absolutely adores chewing cardboard and paper. It takes him about five minutes to get through an empty family-sized tissue box. Tightly rolled-up junk mail takes a bit longer. Paper towel twisted tightly into a rope and tied to the cage *must* be turned into a doily immediately! What I'm saying is, give your Galah plenty of beaky chewy toys and a lot of the nibbling won't happen to you. (Assuming you don't like it).

Watch your Galah and work out what signals she uses for 'I like this', 'I hate this' and 'This is utter bliss!' It takes time, but it's so worth it - makes the bond very strong indeed. Most of all, enjoy the closeness you seem to have with her: she trusts you!

 

[Abigal7]

I am assuming she doesn't clap down on your hands etc. Captain Jack is beaky he will try to play with nibble on a finger nail (for example) or stick his black tongue out and lick me. It also sounds like your bird is liking the stitches

 

[strudel]

either by putting her on her boing or cage

Her cage is outside and the indoor cage I have for her needs to be refurbished, so our "together time" is when I fetch her out to play with her so I don't want to have to put her away. Redirecting her did work yesterday, I was just wondering what it's about....

the lion poofy face, as I call it

yes! that's a great description of it

Third- holding her wings like that means she wants you to pick her up.

It's very quick, it's not like a kid with their arms out waiting for you.

Does she bite or nibble?

It's nibbly biting. She will like pick up the skin on the back of my hand with her beak, going along, then she'll grab each of my fingers. It does seem like testing with her beak, but she should know she's stable where she is, there doesn't seem to be any reason to test her "perch". It's not really nipping at all, it's quite gentle, BUT sometimes she'll get a finger and sort of wiggle it and it does hurt a bit.

She's sticking her wings out because you've been asking her to which is a good sign!

I had thought that, and I'd been remarking on it, saying "wings! good wings!" any time she just happened to do it but then I thought maybe I'm trying to reinforce something that is bad/a display of aggression or something, and also she isn't doing it when I'm asking so I was unsure whether I should be saying anything to her then, or only when she starts doing it when asked.

Galahs are very beaky birds. By that, I don't mean *bitey*-beaky, I mean in the same way a baby will put everything in its mouth. Galahs like to nibble and taste and preen and chew.

ah, well that's ok, I just need the equivalent of a dummy then

One thing I found recently is that Dom absolutely adores chewing cardboard and paper.

I have his perches in perch hangers. one is a little small, so I padded the ends by using some empty toilet rolls. She's been chomping on those, I'll continue to put them over her perches just for fun.

What I'm saying is, give your Galah plenty of beaky chewy toys and a lot of the nibbling won't happen to you. (Assuming you don't like it).

Yes, thanks. I have some of those wooden sticks, I'll pull one out next time, see if she'll nibble that instead of me. I don't mind it, but sometimes she'll clamp down a bit hard or pull and it does hurt then.

Watch your Galah and work out what signals she uses

I'm trying, but it's hard when you haven't yet acquired the knowledge/experience to recognize things and when you are plagued by insecurity so you second-guess everything you think you might know.

 

[Captsteve]

I'm trying, but it's hard when you haven't yet acquired the knowledge/experience to recognize things and when you are plagued by insecurity so you second-guess everything you think you might know.


It is easier than you think, Just watch her and she will tell you. If she does not like something,TRUST me, you will know immediately!!!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

lol puffing out their faces as their heads are down is a invitation to be preened. Rosie also likes to, as I call it, chew on my hand. It sometimes hurts a little but is not done with the intent to hurt.

For future reference, here's Rosie's aggressive posturing. The first one she is being very aggressive towards my brother, the second she's just telling me she doesn't want to be touched right now. Once you can spot a unhappy bird, it's pretty easy to spot a bird who's happy

 

[strudel]

I think part of yesterday's chomping was that I had cashew nuts in my hand which she was trying to get. Today I didn't have them and she didn't "maul" me ! Gee, I'm thick.

EDIT: Also, today she was doing another thing. She was grinding her beak which her previous "mum" told me they do when they are happy, but then she was making this little puff noise. I don't think she was hissing at me, I don't think she was unhappy at all, she looked perfectly relaxed, but she was just going "huffff". Any ideas on what that was?

 

[getwozzy]

Ha!! Lol
I bet she'll still try to nibble on your hand since that seems to be "normal" with all our galahs. Lol

Beak grinding is normal- they do it when content and relaxed. Also, the puff noise is normal too...it's a sign of happiness chili does it when I'm snuggling her, she'll give the occasional "puff"

 

[Betrisher]

ROTFLMAO! I had to laugh at this. The only time I hear Dominic puff is when he's rushing across the table to CHOMP me!

 

[getwozzy]

ROTFLMAO! I had to laugh at this. The only time I hear Dominic puff is when he's rushing across the table to CHOMP me!

LOLOLOL!!! Puff puff puff!!! Like a little pink steam engine at full speed to gitchya!!! Haha

 

[strudel]

"I think I can, I think I can". The little cocky that could.

 

[getwozzy]

"i think i can, i think i can". The little cocky that could. :d

lololol!!!!!

 

[Betrisher]

He *is* the little cocky that could! At first, he could hardly waddle, what with the horrible tumours hanging down and all. Now, he's quite brisk as he gets about and has the Beaks in fear and trembling of his hissing, puffed-up self. Hubby made him a ladder to save him the discomfort of climbing over the cage wire when he's out. You should see him march purposefully up to the top of the playgym! When he gets there, he does the big Eagle Wings and looks right down the entire length of his (rather short) beak at Barney and Madge as if to say 'Approach me if you dare! I rule here!' I love him!

 

[getwozzy]

Bahahaha!!!! I can picture him marching around and telling the beaks who's the boss! So glad he's getting around better- how much has the tumor shrunk?

 

[Betrisher]

It's about half as big as it was (the big one, that is). The little ones are down to about the size of a peanut from a large marble. The big one still hangs down and gets in the way, but it clears the ground by about a quarter inch now, so Dom is much more mobile as a result. I think what's going to happen is that the tumour will continue to shrink, but the skin sac will still be there until the last gasp. It's going to hamper him no matter what happens. I'd give anything to have the rotten thing surgically removed, but all the local vets say it's not possible, even though I've heard of it being done in places like Sydney. I think if it were gone, Dom would be more likely to try flying, since it affects his balance a great deal. He's afraid to step up, for example, without first taking a good beakful of something to steady himself. When he steps down, he goes nose first, as it were, and places his beak carefully before testing the ground and then stepping down. It's sad to watch, but so much better than it was. Thanks for being interested in Dommie: he's such a sweetie and has worked hard to get his birdness back!

 

[Jayyj]

I love threads like these, all the little things that I adore about mine are obviously family traits. Nibbling of fingers is not something I adore - it always starts harmlessly enough but once she's got a firm hold on the appendage in question, she starts to grind her beak back and forth and it quickly gets painful. I always keep my fingers moving when she's expressing interest in them so she never gets a proper hold, and if she squeezes a couple of times I have a bundle of small sticks that are useful substitutes if she's determined to chomp on something. I don't think it's anything other than fun for her - she has a pantomime lunge that she does when she wants me to go away.

She very rarely does me any serious damage, although the other day she was trying to use my t-shirt to swing herself from one arm to the other and got me square on the nipple: I bellowed like a startled moose and she shot off to cower on the curtain rail for a few minutes... not something I want to happen again anyway!

Puffy lion face, check. There seems to be an 'on' switch for this below the left cheek, for future reference. Noise like steam escaping, check. This used to worry me at first, I assumed it was a fear response, but she only does it when she wants somebody to pet her. Wings raised and trembling means 'please come and get me' (well, walking to the edge of wherever she is, leaning forward and staring intently at me means 'please come and get me': wings trembling on top means 'come on, you know I need a lift, if you don't get me this minute I'm going to explode!').

Alice usually steps down beak first as well. If she can't reach with her beak she'll try lowering herself down backwards, which often results in her frantically feeling round with her foot like a poor swimmer trying to find the bottom of the pool. Again, usually this results in me rushing over to rescue her, which I'm sure she's well aware of.

 

[strudel]

This used to worry me at first,

Yes, I'd only seen video of a bird hissing and knew that was bad.... It's a very strange little noise. I'm glad to be told that it's normal and not bad.

Yes, some of her nibbling hurts. She'll get around a finger and then squeeze. Yow. She's not biting properly, otherwise I'd bruise, but it isn't nice. I'll take the advice to keep some "finger alternatives" handy.

 

[MonicaMc]

You should get the DVD Understanding Parrot Body Language by Barbara Heidenreich.

Parrot Training DVDS | Good Bird Training DVDS



It's a great DVD which shows the difference between aggressive behavior and happy behavior!


Wide foot stance, sleek feathers, beak open, next feathers up, wings out to the side, eyes pinned = aggressive bird that *WILL* bite if you don't back off.

Normal foot stance, feathers not sleek but not puffy, and wings slightly lifted to the back (not sides) of the bird = greetings.