New conure, trying to avoid bad habits

[Ambermai]

Hi everyone,
Please forgive me for cross posting, I also posted this under "behavior" and got no results so thought I would try here since everyone seems quite chatty.
I am learning so much from this forum! My husband and I recently adopted a 13-year-old conure and she is adorable. However, I feel like she's started some bad behaviour since she's been with us (2.5 weeks) that I'd like to nip in the bud, but I have no idea where to begin.
She's biting me at times when I don't expect it and I don't know how to tell her no. I used to grab her beak and shake it a little while saying "no" but her biting is so aggressive that I can't get to it before she gets to me. The biting that I dislike is when I'm trying to get her off my shoulder and when I'm typing and she's on the keyboard. Most other things she'll immediately come off of, but for some reason she is extremely territorial on the keyboard. Is it because she sees me typing all the time and is jealous that it's getting more attention than she is?
The other bad behaviour is that she's starting diving into our shirts as soon as she's on our shoulder, and when I try to pull her out because her claws are hurting me, she'll bite really hard. Sometimes she'll bite without warning, like this morning I asked her to step up when she was on my shoe because I Didn't want her chewing it and she just layed into me.
I do NOT get angry, shout, or hit her, ever. But I need to know what to do to dissuade her from biting me and doing whatever she wants. As I'm writing this, of course, she's napping on my shoulder, good as gold.

 

[legal_eagle]

She probably perceives your grabbing her beak and shaking it as aggressive, and an invitation for her to be aggressive as well. I would not do that in response to biting, although I do it gently sometimes to my conure as a means of gentle play. When I do that, however, I understand she may nip me, but that's to be expected.

I don't think your conure is "jealous" when you type ... she just wants to get in on the action. The simple solution is to remove her from the area.

My conure crawls down my shirt sometimes, and I think it's great and let her stay as long as she wants ... usually just a couple of minutes. I would just go with her exploring around and coming out when she wants, unless you find it really uncomfortable. In which case, you should probably just stop her from doing that. Sort of the same philosophy for the shoulder ... if the biting is really a problem, then don't let her on your shoulder. Often conures will step off your shoulder if you bend down to a place they also like to perch, such as their cage top, and let them step off my themselves.

These behaviors your describe sound like normal ways for a healthy conure to behave ... they are naturally a bit feisty like most parrots. Don't set yourself up for a power struggle by labeling your bird as "doing whatever she wants." Instead, anticipate when biting may occur, and then don't let those situations happen.

Most of the time my conure hangs out with me, watching from the top of her cage or sitting on a chair or other piece of furniture. She flies to me sometimes and sits on my shoulder for a while, but then I put her back on her cage top. If you have a ton of contact with your bird, you will undoubtedly be nipped now and then (observe some videos of wild conures ... they are rambunctious!)

Hope that helps!

 

[strudel]

(I'm a bird noob, so take what I say with a grain of salt, I've trained dogs more than my bird)

The biting that I dislike is when I'm trying to get her off my shoulder and when I'm typing and she's on the keyboard.

I have "issues" getting my galah off my shoulder if she goes up there, so I've stopped letting her go up there. I read someone saying they only let their bird go as far as the elbow and then do a "step up" to keep them on the forearm/hand region. I've watched a video of how to train a bird to step up off your shoulder and I need to work on that. Until she learns that she has to get off (climbing down my back so I'm bent over with a bird on my back, unable to get her off is just not working for me )
and I learn how to make her want to get off more than stay up there turning me into a quasimodo bird perch, she's not going up there if I can help it.

Ditto with the keyboard, if she's going to be annoying, redirect her. I'd try getting her her "own" keyboard, maybe a fisher price toy (are they parrot safe?) with buttons so that she can "type" on "her keyboard" while you type on yours.

I do NOT get angry, shout, or hit her, ever. But I need to know what to do to dissuade her from biting me and doing whatever she wants.

Do you react? If there's a bit of drama, try not to react. Tell her no, you don't like it and then ignore her, redirect her, when she's doing something that isn't annoying, make a HUGE fuss of her. The idea is to keep training her that doing things you like gets her attention/food/whatever and doing the "I don't like that stuff' gets her nothing at all (of course doing it might be reward enough, so you have to make the alternatives worthwhile until she decides that doing the things that you don't like aren't a good choice).

 

[Kalidasa]

I think that beak-grabbing is probably fun for her, she thinks its part of the game and reward for the bite. The parrots I've come across love having their beaks played with

 

[Ambermai]

Thank you all for your suggestions, I especially like the one about getting her her own keyboard! I think she'd love that. I feel a bit sheepish admitting this, but I think 90% of the biting came from me not communicating with her. If I say step up to her before offering my finger and then keep saying it, she puts down her ruff and steps up, good as gold. I obviously have a very well-trained bird, she is also mostly potty trained!

 

[MonicaMc]

Many keyboards have small metal pieces.... if a bird gets a hold of a small metal piece, it could seriously hurt them.


Birds can be rather easy to communicate with once you learn how to understand them. Respect goes both ways.


Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: Help! My Parrot Wont Step Up!

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