Big beak phobia...

Right now I have a green cheek conure, and while he bites me a lot and has sometimes broke the skin, it's not a big deal as his beak is not that big, but it IS frequent. However, sometime into the future I would like to get a larger bird. Preferably another conure first (I'm thinking a Sun), because even though their beaks are 3 times bigger than a green cheek, I've interacted with Suns and have been beaked by them and it's not unbearable. It did feel like I had just gotten my finger shut in a car door though. So, I guess my question is, with bigger birds, is the bigger beak really that much of an issue? I know I heard that bigger birds don't bite as much, but when it does it's more severe. Can anyone tell me their experiences? When/if you do get bitten, is it that hard to get over? One day I would love to own an african grey or an amazon, but I just need to get past that beak...

I myself had a phobia of large beaks, but it has never become a problem when I go visit with even the largest of birds (at my local avian store). You have to expect some biting, because large birds become hormonal and fearful of new owners just like small birds do. The only difference is size, and sometimes the duration of the hormonal period varies from species to species.

Most birds like to 'beak' their playmate's hand, but you can't flinch when they do this. You have to understand that he's playing. There is certain body language to look out or before touching a bird, and looking out for this will prevent biting.

Here is a link for bird body language:
Bird Body Language: How to Understand What Your Parrot or Your Other Bird is Trying to Say

By avoiding contact when the bird doesn't want it, you're reassuring him that he has a say in when he gets touched. Birds have some training differences as opposed to dogs, like how respect and trust is gained. For the bird to trust and respect you, you have to respect the bird. I'm not telling you to completely avoid contact, I'm just saying to let him have some space. If you make gestures like you want to pet him (approaching him with your hand), and he moves away or hisses; respect his opinion.

I hope this was of use to you!!

Oh boy, canI realate to this. I've have Sun Conures (which I thought were big) and yesterday brought home a Congo African Grey.

The first thing is that birds will bite and they feel threatened and believe we ignore thier warning signs -and nothing make them feel more threaten than a new home and environment. Once they bite and see it's effective because of our reaction, they realized biting will solve the problem.

I was searching the different methods of dealing with bird bites and found this one was effective for large birds:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnnwZqCfe_Y&sns=em"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnnwZqCfe_Y&sns=em[/ame]

Another video suggested making an angry face as birds do observe facial expressions and demeanor. I'm not sure how well this works because the bird may not understand or may not care.

The way I understand it is that, we need to give a new bird a wide berth to adjust to their new environment but also firmly lay the ground rules that biting is not okay.

parrotqueen said:

Most birds like to 'beak' their playmate's hand, but you can't flinch when they do this. You have to understand that he's playing. There is certain body language to look out or before touching a bird, and looking out for this will prevent biting.

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That's how I got my first bite from my CAG named "Moe". I thought he was just exploring - like how dog smell a person. Then he actually drew blood and I pulled back which started him biting even more. But the end of the night, I had three bites (because I was fine tuning the cage set up).

You know, I saw another video a few weeks ago (before I got Moe) and the person said when they bite, flick their beak with your fingers like a spanking (but not to hard) so they know biting is not okay. I'm not sure this is good advice because that was the first technique and I think it really made Moe mad. It was coming to a point where it almost became an adversarial relationship. So, I backed off for both our sakes and did more bite biting research.

I finally use the technique in the video and it actually surprised him. It as if my CAG's (Moe) reaction was, "Whoa. What is that? That hand's not leaving anymore and it's not attacking me. Okay, let's step back and see what he does next."

If you are calling this a beak phobia then it should be treated like any other phobia. That would be gradual desentization. Meaning gentle, frequent exposure to whatever it is that is causing the fear. The bird will sense your fear and keep on biting. Perhaps you could use the skills of an avain behavorist.

I feel that this is something you need to master before you get a bird with a large beak that's intimidating to you. A bird is going to sense your fear and exploit it.

I've had worse bites from my little Alexandrine than I've ever gotten from my husband's RFM who's more than twice his size. This is due to the personality of each bird. Max has drawn blood only once and it was completely my fault. For Max, biting is an absolute last resort and I know what upsets him so I seldom get bitten.

Now, Jade is more "mouthy" than Max and she pinches (just that tiny bit of skin in her beak). But RFMs tend to be a bit vindictive if you do something they don't like. Basically, once she feels she's gotten back at you, she's friends again.

It's kind of like having a big dog. If the dog doesn't see you as the alpha or pack leader, he's going to be much more agressive. If a bird senses that you're nervous, he's going to be nervous. And if he thinks you're a push-over he's going to take advantage of that.

Thanks everyone! I definitely plan to work my way up in size, I would never just jump into getting a large bird. I'm sure if I actually had the chance to interact with such a bird I'd be fine, but the only large parrots I've been around have had it out for me! I would never touch them. I'm just concerned because I know how much it hurts when my little green cheek bites, but while it does hurt, the pain goes away fairly quickly. How serious is a bite from say, an amazon or an african grey? (i can never see me going larger than that) I guess my concern is, how often would I be needing stitches? Or once you've bonded, the bites are never really THAT serious?

Luckily this would be quite a ways into the future, but this is something that I'm going to HAVE to get over. Heck, I walk a bunch of shelter pit bulls that I don't even know 3 times a week (and some of them play ROUGH!), but this scares the crap out of me.

GreenCheek said:

How serious is a bite from say, an amazon or an african grey? (i can never see me going larger than that) I guess my concern is, how often would I be needing stitches?

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My doctor said I probably won't need reconstructive surgery and should have full use of the digit in a few weeks. Just remember that a severed finger can be reattached if you can keep it in a zip lock bag, iced, and to a hospital soon.

Seriously, the first bite, where I gave Moe my finger is still sore and I can see a pin prick hole (looks like a splitter was pulled out). The other bites were more like scratches (like if you scraped your hand on something) and they are pretty much gone.

The pain would be like being poked by a needle – or better yet, if you’ve ever donated blood or are diabetic and use the blood tester, it’s about the same. But keep in mind, these bites Moe gave me were warning bites.

GreenCheek said:

I guess my concern is, how often would I be needing stitches? Or once you've bonded, the bites are never really THAT serious?

Luckily this would be quite a ways into the future, but this is something that I'm going to HAVE to get over. Heck, I walk a bunch of shelter pit bulls that I don't even know 3 times a week (and some of them play ROUGH!), but this scares the crap out of me.

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Honestly, I think it would be rare that a large parrot who was well-socialized and not startled would bite hard enough to require stitches. As I've said, Jade, our macaw, has never bitten hard enough to draw blood or even bruise. And we've only had her since February.

And I love pit pulls, but their teeth and jaws can do lots more damage than a parrot's beak.

Good luck working through this!

I agree with the comments regarding fear. All animals can sense if you are nervous and they will often start to feel nervous too which can result in a bite. Even if you are terrified you need to "act" confident.

My Ecky tried it for a few days so I wouldn't give her fingers - when I approached her I would keep my fist closed so she couldn't get a hold, when she worked out biting didn't get a reaction she stopped trying. With my new sulfur crested (who has a much bigger beak) again I kept my fist closed and wore a jumper so when she bit it was mostly jumper and not me. If she bit when we were playing I put her in her cage and immediately ignored her which she hates. I also noticed she will bite when she gets overly excited so I make sure games and contact are frequent but only for very short peroids.

I guess the key is to get to know your bird, teach it boundaries and respect his/hers