Eclectus have good and bad days, he may also have hit an age where he is feeling more independent and is testing you. Has anything major changed recently? Is he wing clipped (a recent clip can effect them)?
I try not to allow myself to be bit (doesn't always work
), but I feel it sets up a double negative for both me and the bird. One of my girls is more cage territorial than the rest, she will step up on a stick to come out of the cage and then step onto my hand with no issues once she has cleared the cage door but I have made it clear that if I need her out of the cage it will happen. She will also sometimes get poopy when I am filling her food bowls, in that case I take her out of the cage and put her on a T stand then service her cage while she is out of it. I do this to minimize the stress on her but also to let her know that while yep that's her space it is mine as well. I think it is important to work with step up both onto your hand but onto a stick as well.
Ekkies can be very good at bluffing as well and I don't think it is wise to let them have the upper hand. There are people that I am sure will disagree with that but if I had not pushed the issue with Lola my recent female rescue my hands would still be minced meat. This was a different sort of situation and I knew the bites where going to happen and actually needed to for her to understand that she couldn't scare me off. Letting her know I wasn't afraid and wouldn't back away from her has now gotten us to a place where she will step up for me (she was never taught step up before she came here). I can now even pet her! While it is clear I am not her favorite person, she really loves my hubby, she now understands that she can trust me and that she can't intimidate me.
The male rescue was different, he wasn't showing out right aggression he was just scared out of his mind. With him I took a different approach, slow, steady short sessions many times a day. At first I would have to reach in and get both feet and gently pull him out of the cage all the while saying step up. He also had no idea what step up was either. Now he steps up, gives me kisses and doesn't shake or immediately want back to the cage. I have come along way with both of them but as you see each bird had to be handled quite differently.
That said I think since your boy has just started this, by the way is it only near his cage or when he is away from it as well? If it is only near his cage I would work with stepping him up on a stick from the inside of the cage and getting him out to do feedings or cage maintenance as well. We can't stop a bird that has become more possessive of their cage, some will, some won't but you can make it easier on yourself and less stressful on them but just removing them from the cage and stepping onto a stick becomes very important to accomplish this at times.
