Cage aggression/Not wanting to come outside

frozen

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Oct 25, 2013
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Hello, I have an almost 4 month old alexandrine that i've had for about 2 weeks now and for some odd reason I've noticed he has become a bit aggressive around his cage especially the food/water bowls. Also seems like overnight he has decided that he no longer is interested in coming out of the cage, even when I offer treats he just ends up either displaying aggressive behavior and if I push it he will bite.

When I do manage to get him out of his cage all he does it look for a way back to his cage(if that means crawling along the floor back into the other room). I'm a bit lost because for the first week he wanted to come out and interact now he just in some sense is acting antisocial. I do give him plenty of time to himself and I don't go invading his space/cage all the time. But I don't want him ending up cage bound. I have been thinking about buying an outdoor aviary that is a decent size but I'm not sure if he would be alright on his own outside for most of the day? I'm not exactly scared of being bitten but I do not want to be doing something wrong and end up with a nasty parrot because of something I have been doing wrong.

Any help or advice would be appreciated as the behavior seems to just be getting worse than any better when I first noticed it. I hope this is just a phase or the bluffing stage I've heard about..
 

Akraya

New member
May 7, 2012
352
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Brisbane, QLD
Parrots
Misha - Yellowsided GCC
Guapo - Cinnamon GCC
Nimbus - Alexandrine
When you first get a new parrot, often they will let you do things that they're uncomfortable with because they're scared in their new environment, but once they adapt they start letting you know that they don't want to do those things anymore. To me that sounds like what's happening here, happy to play along at first, now he wants a say in things!

Lots of talking through the cage, and respecting his space is important, but I've know Alexs to be quite stubborn, if Nimbus doesn't want to come out that's fine but she's not allowed to bite me (otherwise I make her come out) so she's learning that a touch on the finger gets her left alone.

Anywho! Nimbus is very much cage aggressive, it's her house and only I'm allowed near it (most of the time), you basically just have to go back to day 1 now, offer lots of treats, talking nice, watch the body language if he fluffs up and pins if you get to close to the cage back off. He'll come around in a week or so I'd say, just baby steps and be patient, then you'll have a loving goofball again!
 

legal_eagle

Banned
Banned
Feb 28, 2013
305
0
Parrots
Green Cheek Conure Pee-Wee
Aggression around food is a natural behavior carried over from the survival instinct they need in order to survive in the wild. Even the most tame parrots will sometimes nip and bite when food is mixed into the equation. It might be easier for you to just respect his instinct regarding food. My conure is super tame and loving, but still nips if I'm holding food out to her. No big deal.

As to the cage, I would try leaving the door open and talking to the bird and making him interested in coming out. If that doesn't work, then maybe using a stick to get him to perch on so you can bring him out if he otherwise tries to bit your hand when you reach inside.

You might want to consider a wing clip to tone down the aggression temporarily, which will facilitate your being able to bond with the bird. The feathers will grow back and often birds will remain closely bonded despite regaining full flight.

Hope that helps.
 
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frozen

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Oct 25, 2013
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Thanks for the replies. I had talked to the breeders who I got him off and they told me that he might just be going through the bluffing stage. They told me that I should be taking him out of the cage regardless even if he is biting me. I don't know if I should continue doing this or go back to the basics and give him space/ take It slow from inside the cage?

So to say the forcing him out of his cage (by this I just mean ignoring the biting) and keeping him outside his cage most the day doesn't seem to be working as he is biting me even harder now and it's starting to hurt my hands. He is very reluctant to come out even with his favourite treats he just ignores them and bites my hand even when I try to give him a treat gently. I'm not sure what to do in this situation, please help thanks.

I would also like to know if using a stick to pick him up with from inside his cage during this phase would be good or not? When it starts to calm down I would go back to using my hands though.
 
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Betrisher

Well-known member
Jun 3, 2013
4,253
177
Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Parrots
Dominic: Galah(RIP: 1981-2018); The Lovies: Four Blue Masked Lovebirds; Barney and Madge (The Beaks): Alexandrines; Miss Rosetta Stone: Little Corella
I reckon your bird is certainly pushing the boundaries with you and it's important that you don't actually teach him that biting works. Having said that, though, you're not a mind-reader and it can be hard to know what's prompting the behaviour. Lots of our members advocate clicker training and touch training. These can be done while the bird is in the cage and you could teach him to step up onto a stick, if that would be helpful to you in getting him out of his cage. The great advantage of training is that it gives the bird something to think about and a way of earning food rewards. This, in turn, keeps its mind away from biting (we hope) LOL!

Before you do anything else, you might start by holding out long treat items to encourage your bird to come to you willingly while still inside the cage. Long treat items could be a millet spray, celery stick, slice of carrot cut lengthwise etc. Once your bird is used to coming for treats, you can shorten the items until he's taking seeds or fragments of peanut from your hands. I'm a shameless briber and at that stage I taught my birds to lick honey or peanut butter smeared on my fingertips. It wasn't much of a hop for them to stand on my hands to lick the treats and lo! 'Step up!' was born.

The best piece of advice I can give you is to always work with your bird in a calm, quiet environment (no TV, yelling kids or dogs etc) and take things very slowly, especially when the bird is so young. The aim is to achieve the patience of a saint. Good luck with that! LOLOLOL!

Keep us informed of your progress, won't you? :)
 
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frozen

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Oct 25, 2013
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I reckon your bird is certainly pushing the boundaries with you and it's important that you don't actually teach him that biting works. Having said that, though, you're not a mind-reader and it can be hard to know what's prompting the behaviour. Lots of our members advocate clicker training and touch training. These can be done while the bird is in the cage and you could teach him to step up onto a stick, if that would be helpful to you in getting him out of his cage. The great advantage of training is that it gives the bird something to think about and a way of earning food rewards. This, in turn, keeps its mind away from biting (we hope) LOL!

Before you do anything else, you might start by holding out long treat items to encourage your bird to come to you willingly while still inside the cage. Long treat items could be a millet spray, celery stick, slice of carrot cut lengthwise etc. Once your bird is used to coming for treats, you can shorten the items until he's taking seeds or fragments of peanut from your hands. I'm a shameless briber and at that stage I taught my birds to lick honey or peanut butter smeared on my fingertips. It wasn't much of a hop for them to stand on my hands to lick the treats and lo! 'Step up!' was born.

The best piece of advice I can give you is to always work with your bird in a calm, quiet environment (no TV, yelling kids or dogs etc) and take things very slowly, especially when the bird is so young. The aim is to achieve the patience of a saint. Good luck with that! LOLOLOL!

Keep us informed of your progress, won't you? :)

I have had him for around 3 weeks might be longer, I tend to lose track of the time haha. I did try clicker/touch training at first but he was either not interested in it or attacking the object I was using to target him. Lately he has been less interested in treats as well, he just seems moody and doesn't want any interaction so yes it's a bit hard to know what exactly is going on.

He was a bit of trouble from the start since when I first got him he wasn't fully weaned but the breeders insisted that it would be simple 1 day feed for a week. We ended up taking him back to the breeders because he ended up going completely backwards and not eating or drinking anything. They took him for an extra 2 weeks and said he was rather difficult to wean for some reason. I was a bit naive and didn't exactly know a great deal about baby parrots, but I understand that it's partly my fault for buying an un-weaned baby. Would never do that again..

I will try persist though and train him to step up onto a perch instead of my hand for now. I have a feeling that it might be the bluffing stage because for the first week or so he would step up fine and was more willing to come out. Although that might have just been because he was still settling in..

I think even the breeder was surprised that I'm having a lot of trouble with him because she told me that he was a very friendly and gentle bird that had a great personality. But all I have got so far is his bad side with all the mood swings and bites haha. Let's hope he gets over this phase quickly!
 

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