new bird biting

[cheflavor]

Hello all, i am very new to the bird world as i have only had andrew, my 3 and a half month old yellow collared macaw for about 5 days. For the first day Andrew was doing great very sweet and nice... the next day he started begging.. for a weaning solution i called the bird shop and they said that it would stop it happened for anotehr day and i did a bit of research and learned that begging should not be happening. i went back to the bird shop owners and they have provided me with weaning solution i give him two 12 cc of solution a day... recently i have noticed andrew biting and chewing on everything which isnt bad he also makes a clicking sound when he has nothing in his beak. unfortunately andrew has found my fingers particularly pleasing and will go to all lengths to bite on them... i do not know if he is doing it to get a reaction or what. i just want him to stop any ideas? i also have noticed a little whistling coming from his nose as well as a tiny bit of sneezing...
update.... Andrew just bit my nose and made me bleed.
any help please.

 

[lene1949]

Welcome to the forum...

Your parrot is very young, and might has regressed, which happens often with just weaned birds...

A lot of young birds will 'bite' fingers, but using a feeding motion... It's natural, and with some birds can take a while... This stage is good to teach bite inhibition...

How often do you spoon feed him, and how much... What else does he have to eat?

 

[lene1949]

Sorry about your nose... Don't put your nose into a baby birds beak... Looks like MUM...

 

[cheflavor]

My baby is eating a mix of seed i got from the store which includes pumpkin seed, banana chips, bee pollen zupreem fruit blend pellets, cinnamon sticks, noodles and many more . i am also giving him a blend of fruit which includeds papaya, corn, apple, green and red bell pepper and banana. he gets two feedings of 12 ccs of formula once in the morning once at night through the use of a syringe. Can you explain how i can teach bite inhibition? i have tried giving him hard stares but it dosent seem to work.

 

[Alisana]

Is he getting pellets?

 

[JJones1719]

Parrots in general make the clicking noise, this is telling you that they are happy. Normally they will do this at night before faling asleep.
Biting on fingers or anyother part of the body should be corrected right from the get go. When the bird starts to bite, say in a loud firm voice the word NO, if they try to bite again, use time outs, place the bird into the cage for no more then 5 minutes, take the bird outside the cage and hold him, test to see if they try to bite again, if so, say NO and back in the cage, after a few times of this action, the bird will learn that biting leads to time outs.
If the bird is biting toys, encourage this, reward them and tell them with excitement what a good bird they are. give them an almond or favorite treat.
Birds are very smart and will learn not to bite but you really have to stay ontop of this. Another issue is, when a bird bites, some people will laugh, laughing when a bird performs a bad behavior means to the bird okay i just pleased my owner lets do this again.
Weaning is a tough time for young Macaws. Young Macaws regress when their envirement changes, new toys or cages are changed. Once they regress, it normally takes up to 2-4 weeks for the young Macaw to adjust and start eating normally again. Best of luck to you. Joe

 

[wenz2712]

Sorry about your nose... Don't put your nose into a baby birds beak... Looks like MUM...

Lene... I love your sense of humour

 

[cheflavor]

Thank you everyone i will try these techniques... haha yes unfortunately my racial background calls for me to have a large beak.

 

[cheflavor]

so i have been giving him time outs and it dosent seem to be helping at all any other ideas?

 

[JJones1719]

Giving time outs takes a long time for the Macaw to learn and understand, Not only do you have to give a time out but also reward them when they are not biting or stop biting so they learn that biting is not excepted.
Please also keep in mind that Macaws use their beaks as an extra hand so do not get confused if your Macaw wants to step up onto you and lunge at you with beak open, your Macaw may only want to step up onto your arm.
Please also learn their body language, Macaws will show you signs that a bite is about to happen, Macaws lower their body, their eyes wil change in size, they may fluff up their feathers, and sometimes they open their wings just a little, if you see these signs, back off and let them calm down, don't say anything and ignore them.
Both my boys learned the word NO command in approx 1-2 months and this is really staying ontop of this issue.
My Eclectus learned within a few weeks.
Once the Parrot learns this command, use it in all bad behavior and time outs.
Don't give up, hang in there. best of luck Joe

 

[ruffledfeathers]

I agree with the "time out". I had a lot less bird than you have, having a sun conure, but she went through this crazy nippy stage. She was biting and drawing blood whenever she felt like it, for 'fun' and she would laugh and be really entertained by it. Time out really worked. She did learn it was NOT fun and she was never going to get what she wanted by biting me. And i think babies tend to try things to see what they can get away with too....they are curious. Good luck.

 

[Mike]

Keep him away from your face, and get him some toys.

If the whistling and sneezing persists take him to your avian vet.

 

[cheflavor]

Thank you everyone Andrew is being a good birdy now i cant wait to post pictures!

 

[Mike]

What changed in his environment or in his health which might explain his behavior change?