something good with Zack....I think!

[Dougc1369]

Yesterday while I was putting Zack's food bowl back in his cage he leaned down and 'bit' me by taking my finger in his beak but not biting down. After thinking about it, I decided to try an experiment. He has been trying to bite thru the cage for a while now so I decided to let him, he did the same thing! Taking my finger in his beak but not biting down. I even opened the door and let him go for it. When I did that he also grabbed my hand with a claw, thought he was going to climb on it for a minute!

Now that I know I'm not going to get hurt (I hope at least) I can try more training giving him a bit more freedom. Hoping I can figure out how to get him to go on a perch or my hand.

Now question time: is letting him 'bite' me like that something I should discourage? I don't mind him doing it to me but I have a young niece and nephew, not sure I want him to do it to them.

thanks for any advice,

Doug

 

[Motogordo]

Jan. 27, 2014

I went to pickup my friends bird and I asked him if his bird bites ? He said no. Then I picked up his bird and he bit me rather hard. You said your bird doesn't bite, and he answered me "That isn't my bird."
I think that the best solution to the bird biting in his cage is to let him come out on his own. After he is out awhile, see if he will step up on a stick or perch. If he does, then take him away from his cage and play with him in another room where he can't see his cage. Sometimes the bathroom with the door closed is a good place. If he won't climb up on a perch, then sometimes I will push my hand under his chest as I would normally do to pick him up, but do it quicker so as to make him jump up.
Gordon

 

[BirdyMomma]

I think he's just beaking you. Touching you. I think it's a good sign. I think it's affection.

 

[Dougc1369]

I took the next step and got him out of his cage. I'll put some pics in this post I have more in the album. The quality isn't the best on some but what the hey.

He was beaking (great term BirdyMomma!) a lot when I first got him out, then he calmed down after a while. To the point that as I was trying to get him on my hand, he climbed up to my shoulder! He sat there quietly for about 15 minutes until I put him back on top of the cage. They only drama came when I got up from the chair I was sitting in with him and when I put him back in the cage...bit kinda hard then but was probably scared. But he had a juicy orange slice waiting for him so it was all good. Just need some practice.

Doug

 

[BirdyMomma]

That is SO AWESOME!!!!! He's loving you!!! AWWWW!!! I'm so happy for you!!! Wait until you can scratch under his chin!! He's gonna LOVE that!!! So cool!!!

 

[MomtoPercy]

Yay for you and Zack!! That's good news!

 

[Dougc1369]

Da pics I promised.

 

[BirdyMomma]

AWWWW, he's so awesome!!!!

 

[Terry57]

Congratulations! You are making wonderful progress with Zack. Love the pictures

 

[Dougc1369]

Sooooo, I got up this morning and he was back to biting....hard. I mentioned this to a vet friend of mine and her response was "yep, that's a bird for you.". I opened the cage door when I got home and he's climbing on top of his cage now. Gonna wait till it's time to eat before I get him back in, maybe he'll go by himself. I'm going to try getting him to step up into a stick, but he seems frightened by it so that may take some time.

Doug