Thinking of getting rid of my conure. Alot of biting

[rdefino]

I hate to don't, but he bites alot. We cannot seem to train him not to. When he bites I don't react, or try not to and put him in his cage. But there are time he's on my shoulder and will get vicious if I try to get him off or onto my finger. Then I have to shake him off of me. I'll go to give him his bowl he'll jump on the bowl and bite. If he's on his perch and doesn't want to go in the cage he'll bite and scream if I try to push him on my finger. Sometimes I have to give him some seed to get him in.

I honestly don't know what to do at this point. Had him for about 4 months. Most of the time he's good. It's just he'll go off biting if he doesn't want to do something or if you give him food sometimes.

Any thoughts? Is this normal behavior?
Thanks

 

[chris-md]

I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. I know it’s frustrating as heck.

How old is the bird? Adopted or obtains as a weaned chick?

Also, is he target trained? If not, do so! It will save you a lot of grief. Part of your problem is a lot of forcing: forcing off the shoulder, forcing into cage, etc. targeting is often used to convince a parrot to move about, down your arm and off your shoulder for example. Or back into the cage.

 

[clark_conure]

For a bonded conure this is their biggest weakness... the time out method.

Do a search on the forums for that search term for a more in depth view. But this actually works......

Next time he bites put him on the floor like 10 feet away. In the wild if a bird bites a buddy he's "shunned" put him on the floor and make him walk back to you. He will think about why he's there as he walks back and by the time he reaches you he will be sweet.

It might take a few times to fully register, but he will figure it out pretty quick.

Don't grab his beak or shake your hand or any sudden moves, just a "NO!" and put him on the floor to think about what he did.

It may take a little repetition but the earthquake, the beak grab, none of that works as it gives attention, so making a social animal get no attention and feel shunned for about a minute as it walks back to you the source of all food, entertainment, family etc. Is a powerful motivator.

 

[clark_conure]

unfortunately it only works only for people/birds the conure is bonded too.

 

[Laurasea]

This goes over some bite triggers.
Target training, routines and phrases, bribes with safflower seeds, learning to avoid bites and read body language, trust building,
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/bird-behavior/

This is a good article
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/stress-reduction-for-parrot-companions/

 

[rdefino]

I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. I know it’s frustrating as heck.

How old is the bird? Adopted or obtains as a weaned chick?

Also, is he target trained? If not, do so! It will save you a lot of grief. Part of your problem is a lot of forcing: forcing off the shoulder, forcing into cage, etc. targeting is often used to convince a parrot to move about, down your arm and off your shoulder for example. Or back into the cage.

He is a little less than a year old, Got him at 6months old. I haven't heard of target training, but I will look into it.
Thanks

 

[clark_conure]

Also, Not on his cage or playstand. Leave him alone on the floor and make him come back to you.... He has to understand his bite has gotten him "shunned" by his flock.

No playstand or arm of chair or top of cage, but the floor; or some other place he won't want to go, BUT can leave and come back to you from. Once he comes back he will be much sweeter.

 

[rdefino]

This goes over dime bute triggers.
Target training, routines and phrases, bribes with safflower seeds, learning to avoid bites and read body language, trust building,
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/bird-behavior/

This is a good article
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/stress-reduction-for-parrot-companions/

I'll definitely look into these links. I feel at this time he doesn't like me and is defensive as he was on my wife shoulders a bit ago and I just put my finger out to him and he bite hard. Hard enough when I pulled away and was still latched on. Not sure if he'll ever get friendly with me.
Thanks

 

[rdefino]

Also, Not on his cage or playstand. Leave him alone on the floor and make him come back to you.... He has to understand his bite has gotten him "shunned" by his flock.

No playstand or arm of chair or top of cage, but the floor; or some other place he won't want to go, BUT can leave and come back to you from. Once he comes back he will be much sweeter.

I've tried this alot, as soon as I get close to the floor he fly's to somewhere else. He's a little faster than me.

 

[clark_conure]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH

that is totally different!

you said the loud part in a whisper.


Your conure (if I'm getting the story right) is probably a male and is bonded to your wife.

Conures are sometimes family birds sometimes one person birds....they can go either way.

Your conure might try to kill you in your sleep so he can have sweet cuddles with your wife....its what birds want.

What your best bet is is to have your wife go shopping buying things for parrot while you try to bond while SHE IS NOT AROUND. As the conure see's you as a homewrecker.

It can work... look at it from this perspective and you might strategerize (bushism) a good course of action. but when you want to bond don't have your wife's sweetness messing with his brain.

 

[Laurasea]

you shouldn't touch the bird while tgey are in their favorite person.

But you can have her pass you the burd, you give a treat like safflower seed and pass back.
We call this tge pass tge birdie game, it can help postive association with you.

 

[chris-md]

how long has the biting been going on?

 

[noodles123]

The "shake off" method is bad news....kills trust a lot of the time...If you have had him 4 months and this is freaking you out that much, I would say that if you re-home, do not get another parrot. I am not being mean at all either- birds take extreme patience and an unwavering commitment. It has to be like a marriage where divorce isn't an option (unless the bird is suffering, and in that case, others would likely suffer as well). I have a feeling you are moving too fast and accidentally harming the trust that you have built by pushing things too fast/hard, but again, if you get rid of this one, don't get another, because this is not abnormal.

 

[Flboy]

Keep in mind, you developed this biting relationship!
It is now a learned response that can be unlearned! Give this a study!
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html

 

[rdefino]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH

that is totally different!

you said the loud part in a whisper.


Your conure (if I'm getting the story right) is probably a male and is bonded to your wife.

Conures are sometimes family birds sometimes one person birds....they can go either way.

Your conure might try to kill you in your sleep so he can have sweet cuddles with your wife....its what birds want.

What your best bet is is to have your wife go shopping buying things for parrot while you try to bond while SHE IS NOT AROUND. As the conure see's you as a homewrecker.

It can work... look at it from this perspective and you might strategerize (bushism) a good course of action. but when you want to bond don't have your wife's sweetness messing with his brain.

LOL!!!!

I'll keep the knives away from him.

He has been hanging with me alot more. I think he likes my wife for her think hair to hang on. I have very little.

I have been focusing on training one thing at a time and taking it slow.

Keep my fingers crossed.

thanks for he help!

 

[rdefino]

how long has the biting been going on?

The whole time we had him since sept. It's off an on. Like to day I came home from the gym at 9am. He sees me and is chirping load probably wanting me to let him out. I wait a half hour till I'm done making breakfast. I let him out and as I open the cage door and put my finger to let him jump on he just bites real hard and screeches.

We have a routine when taking him out. We put him up top and tell him to poop, since the first poop can be pretty large. Then we will let him hang with us. I'm not sure if he's mad since I didn't let him out for a while, so then he bites me.

He wants to be in charge.

 

[saxguy64]

Are the bites happening specifically in/on/near his cage? Apologies if I missed it. Not uncommon for birds to have some cage aggression. "Those big, scary hands are invading my home!" Also not uncommon for birds to have fear of hands, or specifically fingers. "Eek, scary little snakes (or perhaps talons) that are coming to grab me!"

If you change your perspective, you may see something you haven't thought of previously. We all expect we're going to get bit once in a while. Happens to the best of 'em. The truth is, if we get bitten, it's our own fault, because we failed to understand, or pay attention to what they're telling us.

I've managed to only receive one actual bite from my YNA, since I'm very tuned in to her body language and moods. Entirely my fault. Put my hand up for a step up, and turned to look at something else while I did it. I must have moved in a way she didn't like, and she got me. Never saw it coming, because I wasn't paying attention. I know better, but just wasn't thinking. Bam! Fortunately, no blood, but she made her point.

 

[noodles123]

how long has the biting been going on?

The whole time we had him since sept. It's off an on. Like to day I came home from the gym at 9am. He sees me and is chirping load probably wanting me to let him out. I wait a half hour till I'm done making breakfast. I let him out and as I open the cage door and put my finger to let him jump on he just bites real hard and screeches.

We have a routine when taking him out. We put him up top and tell him to poop, since the first poop can be pretty large. Then we will let him hang with us. I'm not sure if he's mad since I didn't let him out for a while, so then he bites me.

He wants to be in charge.

Why don't you let him come out on his own, rather than reaching into his house like that? Whenever you get a bite, it sets back trust because you only get bitten if you fail to read the bird (which we have all done). That is why you have to improved your ability to read cues because biting is only ever a last resort in the wild...at least, successful biting. So the off and on thing is probably due to you building trust up, then failing to read/getting bitten and setting it back again.



I will try to find another thread on this, rather than retyping it all.


Scroll down to my response on this first thread : http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/88156-i-need-advice.html



Here's one on hormonal biting (although yours seems like a trust issue): http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/88310-help-gcc-has-turned-mean.html

 

[Jottlebot]

Sounds like there is a lot you can do. From what you said initially about when the bites start it sounds like you might just be interacting with your bird wrong.

You said sometimes you even have to give him seed to get him back in his cage? I ALWAYS give McCoy a treat when he goes back in his cage!! That's an excellent strategy, not a last resort strategy! I have a perch on the door that he sits on, I give him a nice treat (a nut usually) and shut the door. I can place him on a perch in his cage, but I use the perch 90% of the time. Also, when you say seeds, are these treats or his regular food? You might want to look at diet if seeds make up part of his normal food.

Some of the ways you describe "pushing" him onto your finger just makes me think you're not reading each other well.

Avoid the situations that get you bitten and start to read him so when he doesn't want to do something you stop asking (or making) him before he feels like you're stupid (or mean) and has to bite you. Conures seem to go through a biting phase anyway so minimising triggers is your job not his.

Parrots are self-serving. They will do what you want because they want something out of it too. Work out and increase what he wants and reward him more with it.