love bites (ouch)

[northernlights1]

PLEASE HELP!

i recently adopted a one year old conure who likes to sometimes bite, just a little bit too hard! he's not upset when he bites and he doesnt bite hard at all, until i push him away, then he comes right back at me, only now he's ANGRY! i'm here hoping somebody can give me some helpful hints. how do i handle this? can i gently flick his beak, without causing him emotional harm?? thats what i want to know because that's what i sometimes do. if its wrong, ill stop. i just need it to stop. HELP!!

 

[Remy]

Physical punishment doesn't generally work with parrots. They are likely to hold a grudge, even if it is justified! Sometimes if Puck is biting, I might gently grab the top of his beak so he can't bite me and tell him "no". He knows what I mean, and sometimes he listens. From what I hear though, this is not a good idea with all birds. Some find it upsetting. Puck doesn't seem to mind it though.

Puck has the same problem. When he bites too hard during play, I stop playing with him, and say something along the lines of "ouch", and pull my finger away. He's gotten a lot better about it the last few months, but still does play rough when he gets carried away. I also try to distract him, and get him to bite something else, which often works. It's natural for them to chew and bite things, but it doesn't have to be US! lol

If you want to go through my old posts, one of my earliest ones was about him playing too hard. He used to play so hard with my hands that I'd bleed! lolol

 

[northernlights1]

I'll stop what I was doing and try the beak thing. I don't know why they bite, if they are not upset. I have cuttle bones and Santana uses it, so
that stumps me too. I have much to learn and I'm glad I found this site. I have a feeling it will prove to be a useful tool. It's terribly late here, I should go to bed, but I just want to keep on reading and reading!! Thanks for your reply

 

[Spiritbird]

Conures are nippy birds to start with. I learned to watch for the body language and knew when a bite was coming. The feathers will rise up, especially on the head. There is no way to punish a bird. It just does not compute in their brain. They are easily distracted and positive rewards work wonders.

 

[roxynoodle]

Rowdy was also that way at that age. I decided the best way to deal with it was to teach her it was not acceptable. I first had to have her wings clipped so she couldn't just keep flying back to me. Then when she would bite, I would tell her, "Don't!" and put her on her play gym, and ignore her for a couple of minutes. Then I'd let her step up again. And if she bit again, I'd repeat putting her on the play gym and ignoring her. It sounds also like your bird wants nothing more than to be with you, as does Rowdy. So it worked well. She figured it out that she got to stay with me if she was gentle, and didn't if she wasn't. You have to do this consistently though so you don't send mixed messages. And don't ignore the bird for more than a few minutes as they have short attention spans. Hope that helps.