Young Conure starting agressive behavior...any suggestions??Thanks!

[morgandenis]

Hey everyone, My boyfriend and I have had Loki, a pearly conure, for about 5 months now. He's always been nicer to my bf, and been kind of nippy with me. He doesn't really like to go play with toys or anything, he just hangs out on us all the time, and would just fly from one of us to the other as he wished. He started behaving differently about a month ago, when he started biting my neck and fingers all the time. I would take him to my bf or put him on his playtop, but he would just repeatedly keep flying to me and biting me. I thought maybe clipping his wings would help, and for a few days after we had it done he was a little angel, and I was even getting some cuddles from him, which is very rare! A few days ago I went to take him out of his cage, and he immediately bit me, and since then, I can't even go near him without him aggressively charging at my hand. He has been slightly more defiant with my bf than usual too, but nothing more than a few nips. He is going to be a year in January, so could it possibly be hormones?

 

[MikeyTN]

Hormones could be the big part of it yes. But are you guys doing anything different lately???

 

[morgandenis]

Nothing has changed, except that his wings are clipped now...but the behavior problems had started a few weeks before that. It started just suddenly one day, and he has days were he is much better than others...it's been so frustrating not knowing what is causing it

 

[MikeyTN]

When my bird's hormone hits I let them be as when they're over it they are right back how they were like before.

 

[bluecrownmama]

Wish I knew! I kind of have a similar problem with our blue crown "hating" my hubby (who he used to LOVE). I just figured Yenko decided to favor one person (me) because he also stopped being nice to everyone else too. For us this happened around 1 yr old. He is grumpier when molting, and when he doesn;t get a solid 10-12 hours of blackout sleep. I'll be keeping an eye on this...I'm curious to know what others say..

 

[MonicaMc]

Loki has just proven that clipping wings is not always the answer when it comes to a biting, aggressive parrot.

Morgandenis, you need to go back to the basics! Positive reinforcement training aka clicker training. A clicker is not required!


Putting Behaviors on Cue?Knowingly or Unknowingly | Lara Joseph

 

[Jewelz]

My black-cap has had his moments like that. We do not let him on our shoulders. Being able to go there must be earned and he lost the privilige. He tries to climb up but we just take him off and put him back down on our lap or something. If he nips we blow at him (granted he is in a spot that it is possible) we don't blow too hard but enough to get his attention. If he starts acting impolite he loses the privillige of being where ever that spot is until he starts being nice again. Trust works both ways and you need to trust your bird isn't going to hurt you when he is on your shoulder....we have seen improvement he doesn't climb up on our shoulders as much and his nips are far less painful..... Hope thishelps a bit

 

[MonicaMc]

Jewelz, have you ever considered positive reinforcement training????

 

[morgandenis]

MonicaMc I tried a few times yesterday to do a bit of training with him, and he just wont even let me near him without doing this new lunging dance he had started. I wonder if maybe I should get my boyfriend to do some training with him, and work up to me doing it with him?

 

[morgandenis]

He has bit me and drawn blood twice today, and I think he can sense that I am starting to get nervous around him as well, which doesnt help

 

[legal_eagle]

Loki has just proven that clipping wings is not always the answer when it comes to a biting, aggressive parrot.

Morgandenis, you need to go back to the basics! Positive reinforcement training aka clicker training. A clicker is not required!


Putting Behaviors on Cue?Knowingly or Unknowingly | Lara Joseph

Actually, it sounds like the wing clipping had a very positive effect in calming the bird, which is its purpose. Unfortunately, it sounds like the patterns of behavior and interaction that triggered the biting have continued.

As any seasoned bird owner knows, biting is not a random occurrence ... it has a trigger and a purpose. Sticking one's hand into a bird's cage, for example, can be a very powerful trigger because it puts the bird in fear.

If more formal ("clicker") training brings heightened awareness on the owner's part, there may be improvement. Some folks need and enjoy that structure, but it is certainly not a necessity for having an excellent human-parrot relationship.

 

[Jewelz]

MonicaMC - of course I have considered positive reinforcement training & fully ascribe to its ideals By blowing on him while he's attempting to chew my finger off I can interrupt the immediately painful behavior - he always stops & looks at me like 'what? I was just having fun' and turn his attention to something positive like a foot toy it's not a hard, painful, or strong puff...it's just a quick, gentle wisp to get his attention. By not allowing him on my shoulder for now I can slowly work with him up to that point in a manner comfortable for us both and because neither one of us is getting hurt we learn to trust each other. Because he is young we have decided to take it slow.

 

[legal_eagle]

Jewelz, I have a 14 year old GCC that I have never formally trained. My philosophy has been not to get in her face too much, to let her come to me as often, and to interact with her from a distance a lot. This gives her confidence to know that I'm not going to try to control her or overwhelm her. I also never let her bite me more than once from the same trigger, and I mentally note each time when something triggers biting. She is extremely gentle and cuddly, but also quite independent. I think it's okay for you to gently puff air to distract your bird ... in fact, I do that as a game with my GCC now and then. I think the gentle physical playfulness helps them to understand what is a threat and what is not ... it makes them more confident, which is a big key to not biting from fear.

Btw, very subtle changes in the environment can scare parrots. If my daughter uses a new nail polish color, our GCC will often nip her ... birds are extremely aware of small changes in their environment, since they have to be to survive in the wild. It could be something as simple as that with your bird.

 

[MonicaMc]

Having wings did not result in the behavior, therefore, clipping the wings did not solve the behavior.

morgandenis, that may very well be a good idea! When training birds, sometimes all it takes is being creative and learning how to communicate! Learning when to back off and other times when to interact. Have you had a chance to read the link I left in the post? It may be helpful in regards to the lunging issue... not only that, but the entire blog is full of information and ideas!


Jewelz, positive reinforcement training works on trying to prevent a behavior before it occurs so there is no chance to punish it. I know you are working with Felix, but you need to figure out a way to better prevent him chewing on your fingers so you don't have to blow in his face. Is he bored? Curious? What's going on? When you have him out with you, it may help to have foot toys, leather strips, bottle caps, beads and other items with you when you have Felix so hopefully you can keep his beak busy, thus avoiding the chewing on human flesh part.

 

[legal_eagle]

The basic problem is the relationship between human and bird, not the ability or temporary inability to fly. Something needs to be done to get the relationship on a good footing. In my own case, I have tamed numerous birds by clipping their wings initially, working with them to tame them, and then letting the primaries grow back. It has worked wonderfully, even with adult birds. That's why I think it's a great tool for folks who are having a difficult time of it.

 

[jakrob4]

We did what we called "touch training" for at least 30 mins each day with our lovebird once she started getting really nippy.
She was barely handled when hand raised so she never liked hands to begin with but just after a couple weeks training I could pick her up in my hand upside down and give her scratches around her beak.
Unfortunately she still attacks a few random people that visit (Usually people giving off very obvious fear), so I'm currently getting my friends to touch train her as well to curve her dominance.

We started with making her have to go under our hand on a long perch to get a seed.
After she was comfortable with that we lowered our hand until it was nearly touching her then repeated.
After a couple sessions we made it that she had to squeeze under our hand to get the seed that was held under it and gave the verbal command "go under my hand" in a calm friendly voice.
Now we can just tell her to go under our hand and she will run under even without food.
We also did beak touching which started with slowly making contact with her beak with the tip of our finger and rewarding her for not biting.

Our touch training now involves -Rubbing all around the beak, Gently extending each wing, checking feet and fingernails and also laying them on their back in our palm.
Daily training in general will dramatically reduce biting in most parrots though I found these methods to be the most effective if taken slowly with no other people or distractions around.

To get to that point so you can do touch training just spend time with him giving him sunflower seeds or a similar favored treat but don't let him get them from anywhere else ever, so he can't resist taking them from you.

If he does ever bite don't make a fuss and definitely don't take him to your boyfriend as he could be part of the problem, they can get very protective of one person. Yelling or dramatic reactions also just gets them excited and can increase the aggression. Just simply tell him "no biting" (while fighting back the rage and pain) then put him on a simple boring perch and turn your back on him for a short period. Once calm turn around pick him up (once you can obviously) and start over like nothing happened. If he ever bites to get your attention try ignore it completely just like you would if he is squawking loudly for no reason.
I have also read when they start nipping for no reason at a young age don't ever move your hand away no matter how painful as moving it just reinforces that biting gets rid of hand.
Good luck

 

[morgandenis]

I'm going to try a training session each day to see if that helps. Today I have concentrated hard on maintaining a calm attitude around him, and not pulling my hand away and giving up after a few bites. He still was doing his lung-y dance, and biting quite a bit, but he wasnt biting as hard which was nice. I was able to get some really good step-up and downs from him, and he even asked for some under-the-wing scratches at one point like he used to always do, which was very encouraging. Thanks so much for the suggestions everyone

 

[MonicaMc]

I really don't understand why people like getting bitten... is it just that parrot owners are gluttons for pain?

If he was a large breed dog, you wouldn't be standing there allowing your dog to painfully bite into you! Rather, you should not be pushing the dog to bite!


And yet, because you have a little bird, it's ok to push him to bite? It's ok to ignore the fact that he's biting for a reason and trying to tell you something???





I'm sorry... I used to do that as well... but now, I really don't understand why this so called training technique is so popular other than the fact that humans like to dominate anything smaller than them and like to feel 'in control', rather than trying to understand what's going on and fixing the root of the problem. Instead of fixing the cause of the problem, people only try to fix the symptoms of it.




Bird bites. Ignore the bites. Bird learns that no matter how he or she feels, you're going to ignore them.

vs

Bird bites. Why does the bird bite? Can the reason for the biting be fixed, thus avoiding the bite? This can teach the bird not to bite because you respect the bird and you will "listen" to them and back off when you should rather than forcing them to feel the need to bite.



His aggression issues may get worse because you aren't "listening" to him. You aren't understanding him. The only way he has now learned to communicate with you is to bite you. However, you aren't even paying attention to that. You are, once again, ignoring him. He's either going to learn "learned helplessness" in the fact that he has no choice, or he'll only become more aggressive. If you are lucky, neither of those things will happen. If he does learn either one of those, then he may never be able to be flighted again because he's either going to avoid you (he now has choice!!!! no reason to stick around you! You are no fun!) when he gets his flight back or he'll fly at you in the air and bite you.

 

[MikeyTN]

By reading all these comments I'm gonna have to agree with Monica on this one. Try to ignore a bite from a Cockatoo, Macaw, Amazon, African Grey, etc. You'll be crying by the end of it cause most of the time when they bite, they do not let go! And yes to find out why is he biting? You must always stop the biting as you don't just ignore it. Watch him, understand him, etc. Not ignore!

 

[morgandenis]

I feel like pulling away as soon as he starts biting, teaches him that he can bite to get what he wants. And I'm not ignoring the biting. I tell him no biting and simply persist until he steps up (which is usually only once more), and then I leave him be for a while. When I first started having this problem with him, I would pull my hand away, but this only made him start lunging the second he saw my hand. Now, he will tolerate my hand being near him, and is even asking for pets sometimes