Jealousy hurts

[Dinosrawr]

Today I had yet another lovely experience with Avery displacement biting me due to jealousy. I was lightly petting Shiko's beak while she was on my shoulder, and she refused to let such infidelity occur any longer... hence my lovely new face welt:



I was rather impressed with my response to it though! I only said "ow, Avery" very softly, and then placed her back in her cage. It didn't hurt incredibly bad and she clearly wasn't intending to draw blood, more like a slightly more vicious slap on the wrist for touching another bird in her presence, haha. Lesson learned . I'm glad it's only happened twice so far... I think I'll try and keep it that way.

 

[Terry57]

Ouch! Xander also does not like it if I pay attention to Phoe when I am holding him. Thankfully he just leans over so he can scream in my face, "Hey! Pretty Pretty Bird!"
That welt looks sore

 

[Dinosrawr]

Haha! I would much prefer a scream in the face than a nip, that's for sure! I'm actually surprised it doesn't hurt more, it's a tad tender at the touch but I don't notice that it's there otherwise. So that's a plus!

 

[Birdman666]

I wouldn't put up with the displacement biting. Next time anticipate it. Have your hand up by your face, and push the little bugger off your shoulder. Let him know you don't appreciate that sort of behavior and that you're not going to tolerate it any longer.

I've seen a cag displacement bite, and a macaw displacement bite similar to what you are describing. Both required facial reconstructive surgery.

I don't believe allowing them to bite like that is your best option. I think they can be trained out of it. They will still be mad, and they will still pitch a fit, BUT they won't take their pound of flesh...

My CAG is the only bird I've got who really displacement bites. He's also the only bird I own that is never allowed on a shoulder. That is not a coincidence.

 

[Dinosrawr]

I was actually wondering if there was a way to curb it without severely damaging the bond I have with Avery. She's obviously doing it because she sees me as "hers", but I'm planning on adding more to my flock when the time is right. So I really can't tolerate the behaviour and don't plan to... it just takes me by shock when it occurs, both times I was rather stunned and wasn't sure what to do. The first time she bit me it was jealousy of me paying attention to my boyfriend. Thankfully she's stopped that!

Thanks for the input, Mark! It helps. I'll just simply have to push her to do it and let her know that it's not okay. If she doesn't stop doing it I'll have to stop letting her on my shoulder (those privileges were revoked for a week last time this happened, and will have to be the case again). It makes me sad, but she'll be in my life for the next 30 years and I plan on having children someday and adding more pets, and I can't have her biting me if I pay attention or give positive attention to someone other than her.

I guess the phrase "love bites" is quite fitting in this scenario...

 

[Birdman666]

Well conures are just shrunken macaws...

And when a macaw overbonds like that, well, every other second he's pinching you for attention, or to tell you to do this, or do that...

And if you weren't smart enough to teach him to pinch? Replace PINCH with BITE! When actually, it's just a control and communication problem. Give him a correct outlet for that communication, and insist that he uses the correct one.

I get two fingers between my cheek and the bird's beak when he is likely to displacement bite. The first attempt, just push the beak away so he can't latch on. If he persists, you simply push the little guy off your shoulder, onto the floor and make him sit there for about 30 seconds and think about what he just did. THEN PICK HIM UP AGAIN.

It isn't going to hurt your bond, in fact, this is happening because he is starting to OVERBOND. He just needs to know where his boundaries are, and this is how you set them.

I love you too, bird, but you're not going to tell me what to do, and you don't get to hurt me when you get upset... (SAME GOES FOR HUMAN BOYFRIENDS... ALTHOUGH YOU'LL PROBABLY HAVE TO USE SOME METHOD OTHER THAN PUSHING THEM TO THE FLOOR! )

 

[Phlox]

Muhahaha. I love the boyfriend comment.

But I can tell you this works in most cases where birds don't have preexisting difficulties. Phlox can be a little stinker with nipping (like every other GCC in the world) and she get's time outs and bite pressure lessons. She's not done anything other than a little pinch and even those are getting less all the time. Did the same thing back in the day with my previous GCC. Works awesome.

 

[Birdman666]

muhahaha. I love the boyfriend comment.

But i can tell you this works in most cases where birds don't have preexisting difficulties. Phlox can be a little stinker with nipping (like every other gcc in the world) and she get's time outs and bite pressure lessons. She's not done anything other than a little pinch and even those are getting less all the time. Did the same thing back in the day with my previous gcc. Works awesome.

What can I say, I'm a dad of a teenage daughter.

And if you don't do it immediately, the behavior gets progressively worse. This is one of those "if you stop it the minute it starts things and it won't ever become a problem" if you don't... Well, now you have a problem on your hands.

 

[Dinosrawr]

Already started working on it this morning She's normally really great at giving me readable body language that I can immediately adjust to, but when I'm not facing her and she's on my shoulder I clearly can't read her. She never has bitten me hard enough to make me bleed, but she nips.

And while I knew she adores me, she's always been great about being around others. She adores my boyfriend's family and him as well, but unfortunately if I'm in the room I become the holy grail or something, so she becomes desperate to be near me. I've told my boyfriend and his family countless times that if they want a strong relationship with her, they need to help with training her and build a positive relationship with her. Thankfully they oblige, but it often falls to the wayside for them and then I end up being the main caretaker/feeder/trainer again .

But I will persist! I've been nagging my boyfriend, as is my duty, to have him train the birds while I'm not home. That way they receive positive interactions with him, build trust, and have someone else they can have a positive outlet with. I'm hoping that it will pay off after lots of dedication from both of us. So far it has with Shiko... it seems you always do things better the second time around, hence why my brother took so much effort and I'm the golden middle child Or so I tell my mother.

 

[Birdman666]

I've been nagging my boyfriend, as is my duty, to have him train the birds while I'm not home.

They train them at such a young age...

I assume that nagging works better than pushing him onto the floor and ignoring him...

But, if positive reinforcement is used to train everything else, then why do Women use negative reinforcement on men... (Please, make that stop! I'll do anything to make the nagging go away... !!!)

Food rewards actually work quite well with boyfriends too, you know...

 

[Dinosrawr]

I've been nagging my boyfriend, as is my duty, to have him train the birds while I'm not home.

They train them at such a young age...



I assume that nagging works better than pushing him onto the floor and ignoring him...



But, if positive reinforcement is used to train everything else, then why do Women use negative reinforcement on men... (Please, make that stop! I'll do anything to make the nagging go away... !!!)



Food rewards actually work quite well with boyfriends too, you know...

HAHAHA! It's true! I generally do hugs and pats on the head. He responds well to emotional rewards, so he's really just like a macaw! On occasion I prepare yummy treats like cookies, healthy recipes, and home made fettuccine alfredo, so I think the occasional nag will be tolerable .