Won't Stop Bitting! (Green Cheeck Conure)

[A_Conure_Owner]

Hi everyone, I am new to Parrot Forums and hope to become part of the community. I have a problem though with my conure Buster, we adopted him 6 months ago from an animal shelter. The Shelter people said that Buster was brought in by A senior couple who showed him no attention. We however have been showing him lots of attention, but when ever he comes out he just will always bite me and most of the time draw blood. I don't know what's wrong with him, but please help!

 

[legal_eagle]

More detail about the situation is needed ... when, how, what's happening right before he bites, whether his wings are clipped, etc.

 

[Birdman666]

1. Birds that are not handled do not stay tame. He has not been handled in years. It's a pretty safe bet that this bird is no longer tame. So you need to go back to basic taming and training. Taming, touching, and step up exercises.

2. This bird had not been handled, and if anything, was mishandled, therefore he is afraid and does not trust anyone. Attention isn't enough, in order to allow you to handle him, he has to literally trust you with his life. He's not there yet.

3. This is FEAR biting. He is still afraid of you.

4. Even assuming he was tame, conures are PAIR BOND BIRDS. You are not this bird's person (yet!) You need to become the bird's person, in order for him to allow you to handle him.

Start from scratch. Do the basics. You need to start completely over with this bird.

There is nothing wrong with the bird. In the wild, you'd never get close enough to a conure to pick him up, much less touch him. Since he hasn't been handled, he is closer to his wild cousins at the moment, than a pet store bird. He can BECOME that again, with the right training... but right now he is not a tame bird.

 

[A_Conure_Owner]

Ok. His wings were clipped but his flight feathers grew back. usually when we come to see him when he is out he comes he wants to see us but it seems he is trying to bite us because he stretches as far as he can to try and bite us

 

[A_Conure_Owner]

We are training him but with the training stick he comes over but just bites the stick

 

[Birdman666]

Ok. His wings were clipped but his flight feathers grew back. usually when we come to see him when he is out he comes he wants to see us but it seems he is trying to bite us because he stretches as far as he can to try and bite us

1. Sounds like he's due for another clipping.

2. That's a fear/territorial indication. He's warning you away. He's telling you he's going to bite...

 

[A_Conure_Owner]

Ok. I'm new to birds but done research about them but can't figure out what basic training would be.

 

[SandyBee]

We have an african brown head, we got from a rescue.
This bird was tame and handled, when we first got him home he would bite frequently.

The little darling was scared, new place.. new people. He wanted to be with us but everything freaked him out. you moved the wrong way or in a way he didn't understand, chomp and more chomp.

Once he bonded to my husband, hubby didn't get chomped as much.

It's over a year later, he is fully bonded with hubby and never chomps him anymore. He likes me but I can only handle him on his terms otherwise it's a chomp. But now he gives warning and is secure and not scared. It just takes time to make them feel at ease and get used to you and your lifestyle.

 

[legal_eagle]

He may not be trying to bite ... birds use their beaks to explore and to make sure a stick or hand is steady before they perch on it. I would get the wings clipped and work on step up training by holding your figure out and confidently moving it toward the bird at her lower chest level. You can even push back slightly at this level, which forces the bird to step up. It is also difficult for them to bite when your hand is this low. Say "step up" each time you do it. If you can get this going, everything else will follow.

 

[A_Conure_Owner]

Ok I'll try it

 

[Birdman666]

If he's lunging, it's a sign of fear biting...

If he's reaching out to gently grab hold of something that is entirely different.

Unfortunately, it's been a lot of years since I did basic training with a conure.

I used to have a post that explained it step by step, but I don't know what happened to it.

 

[A_Conure_Owner]

Buster will just bite the training stick or just run away

 

[A_Conure_Owner]

He is lunging