Please help!

[Silveria90]

Heyo!

I`ve had my female green-cheek for about 6 months now, she`s about 12-13 months old and i`ve been running into some pretty bad problems lately :c

She`s always been terrified of my hands, and would either bite or run away when i got close.
These last few months its been getting better, and she`ll come up to me and she will sit on my shoulder. Still afraid of my hands though.

The problem lately is that she`s purposely been attacking my fingers. I tried to teach her to step up and she bit me until i bled. Before she would walk on my computer desk and just look around, now she goes straight for my fingers and she will lash on and bite until i shake her off.
She even crawled down my arms until my sweater stopped just to get to my hands :x

Does anyone have similar problems with their birds, or maybe some tips?

Thanks in advance!

 

[weco]

You forgot to teach your feathered friend her boundaries & that biting's not acceptable behavior for her.....although it's gone on since you've had her, it might not take too much work to show her your displeasure with her biting.....much like children, our feathered friends need to be shown what is acceptable & what is not.....

Here's a few links to training birds to not bite:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG5T-0sTMSY"]Teach parrot not to bite - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb8pzJKAaQM"]teaching your conure not to bite - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbHpETj3S7w"]Green Cheeked Conure - Parrot Training and Behaviour - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdwI5f0-sJc"]How to Train a Parrot : How to Train Parrots to Stop Biting - YouTube[/ame]

There are a lot of good bird training ideas on youtube, along with more about teaching your GCC to not bite.....

Good luck.....

 

[Kiwibird]

Stepping up is not a natural behavior, nor is the movement of riding on your hand and many parrots are inclined to be fearful of hands until trained otherwise. You need to start helping her make positive associations with your hands. Age makes no difference. Even older, previously abused and never been handled birds can learn to step up, so your bird can too I know a bite is no fun, but every time you shake her off, you're only breaking her trust more. You need to start at the beginning and properly socialize her. I would absolutely NOT allow a biting bird on your shoulder either. A hand will heal, your eye will not. Until a trusting relationship is formed where she is bite pressure trained and friendlier, your shoulder is a no-go. As weco said, there is a wealth of information on how to socialize a bird on youtube, for free. There are numerous training methods and you just have to find one that you feel you can follow. Many people do find "target training" the easiest method for socializing a parrot, so I'd suggest you start there. Best of luck.

 

[Dustbunny]

Our GCC PB was afraid of hands when we got her. We used clicker/target training. I took a stick, told PB, "Touch," and when she touched the end of it with her beak I clicked the clicker and gave her a treat (1/3 a sunflower seed). She quickly learned touching the stick earned her a treat. Then I laid my left hand on the table and held the stick and clicker near it and told her to touch it. Gradually I moved the end of the stick closer and closer to my hand until she eventually had to stand on my hand to get the treat. Once she was comfortable with being near my hands teaching her step up was easy. It's all about going slow and rewarding the bird for each little step closer to the "evil" hands. It is a gradual process but definitely worked for us.