My parakeet doesn't like being touched...

[pruzel]

My parakeet, Pruzel is the sweetest bird you'll ever meet except for one thing.... she hates being touched. She will sit on you and lightly peck your cheek like she's kissing it, but when you try to kiss her back or reward her with pets, or try looking for scabs under her wings, she will bite you! I hate how she is so sweet one minute, then you try to reward that behaviour and she gets agressive. I have tried everything from negative rienforcements to positive ones but nothing is working! Slowly introducing the hand, destracting her, everything! These are not just 'I'm going to play with you!' bites they are 'I'm going you rip your limbs out with my bare beak!' bites. Can anyone help me with training her not to do this? Thank you!

 

[IcyWolf]

It just takes time if she isn't used to your hands, trying to give her kisses is kind of trying to walk before you can crawl so to speak. How old is she? It's much easier to train a younger bird but it's still possible even if she is older. Just take your time, sit next to her cage, read a book watch tv, just let her watch you and realize you aren't going to hurt her. Slowly start offering her treats, make them good ones, ones you know she really likes and only give her those treats by hand, she will learn that you give her the good stuff.

Just out of curiosity, why would she have scabs under her wings?

 

[pruzel]

She is about a year and three-four monthes old and I have had her for just over a year. (she would have scabs under her wings if she was sick) She really hates kisses though she bites hardest of all when you try to kiss her...

 

[BillsBirds]

I, too, was wondering about the scabs. I recently lost a beloved parakeet who was just like yours. She was friendly, but didn't want to be touched. She talked, and liked you to be near her. But, not touch her! We had her 4 years, since she was 1 month old. When she wanted to, she would sit on my shoulder and preen my hair & beard. As long as we didn't approach her, she'd hop around on us. I have trained & tamed many birds, but, never could get through to our little "Bradleigh". Try being patient, and persistent. But, also understand that your little bird may never accept your advances. In that case, just love her, and enjoy her for the little bit of joy she brings you. We miss our little angel more than I can describe. Even though we have several other birds, much more friendly than "B" was.

 

[cockatielfan17]

She is probably not used to your hand. She might still be a little scared. BTW when u pet ur bird do u pet her from her back or stomach. Birds don't like it when u pet them from the back or stomach. It increases hormonal behavior.I only give my birds neck rubs and most seem to like it.

 

[IcyWolf]

She is still young, just keep working with her, and I would hold off on giving her kisses Our conure got a hold of my upper lip a few months ago and man did it hurt!

I had a 'tiel that came from a very bad situation, tiny finch cage plus unstable home with lots of kids poking and prodding.... anyway, I worked with him for about a year and a half straight and didn't make much of any progress. He would still bite, and hard, drawing blood every time. We finally worked out a system where I would let him out of his cage, give him fresh food and water, change his toys etc, and he would go back in when I asked him to. I realized that he just really didn't have any desire to be held or touched and instead of forcing him to do something he obviously didn't like, we just compromised and I accepted the fact that he was more of a "look but don't touch" kind of bird. He was much older than your keet and had been through quite a lot in his life so I'm not saying that this is the norm by any means.

 

[Mayden]

Some birds love to be loved, some birds just love to love you.

I think you may have the latter

 

[roxynoodle]

My conure doesn't like being touched either. I've had her for more than 11 years. She does like to kiss, and she loves to preen my hair and run all over me sampling my clothes and playing. She will sit on any part of me, but she does not want to be petted in any way. I can touch her beak and usually her feet, but I can only touch other parts of her briefly. I don't know if things would have been different if she had been younger than 8 months old when I got her, or not. Some birds just don't like being petted. She is still a great pet though despite that. And she takes very good care of her grooming by trimming her nails and beak on her cement perch, so I don't have to worry about doing that for her.