Macaw bites with tip of his beak

Hi,

My illiger's sometimes has the urge to bite me. with the tip of his beak he bites my skin. Sometimes he bites really hard, but it's always only just a little skin he takes. Other parrot owners told me that he maybe thinks he's arranging my feathers that way, because they do that the same way. Anyone an idea what it could be?

He might be trying to open your pin feathers for you...

And since you don't have any... OUCH!

My red front has been known to do this one from time to time. Affectionately grooming little pinholes into my skin... along with pulling out the occasional mustache hair that doesn't belong...

Lol that's so cute..sorry birdman ..but it is. :09:

Birdman666 said:

He might be trying to open your pin feathers for you...

And since you don't have any... OUCH!

My red front has been known to do this one from time to time. Affectionately grooming little pinholes into my skin... along with pulling out the occasional mustache hair that doesn't belong...

Click to expand...

Yeah that sounds like what he's doing, should I prevent him from doing this, or is there a way to let him stop biting?

Zirstonas said:

Birdman666 said:

He might be trying to open your pin feathers for you...

And since you don't have any... OUCH!

My red front has been known to do this one from time to time. Affectionately grooming little pinholes into my skin... along with pulling out the occasional mustache hair that doesn't belong...

Click to expand...

Yeah that sounds like what he's doing, should I prevent him from doing this, or is there a way to let him stop biting?

Click to expand...

If you figure it out, kindly let me know. It's an instinctive behavior in birds. You groom your friends... and they groom you. Sweepea "reciprocates" when I start opening her pin feathers.

I push Sweepeas beak away when she starts this, and she's right back at it when my fingers move. I usually have to do this several times before she stops...

Birdman666 said:

Zirstonas said:

Birdman666 said:

He might be trying to open your pin feathers for you...

And since you don't have any... OUCH!

My red front has been known to do this one from time to time. Affectionately grooming little pinholes into my skin... along with pulling out the occasional mustache hair that doesn't belong...

Click to expand...

Yeah that sounds like what he's doing, should I prevent him from doing this, or is there a way to let him stop biting?

Click to expand...

If you figure it out, kindly let me know. It's an instinctive behavior in birds. You groom your friends... and they groom you. Sweepea "reciprocates" when I start opening her pin feathers.

I push Sweepeas beak away when she starts this, and she's right back at it when my fingers move. I usually have to do this several times before she stops...

Click to expand...

Thank you! Well it's not that bad so I'll just have to deal with it. I push his beak away too when he does this and after some time he stops biting and continues playing. Thanks for your help though

LOL, I was wondering about that, I keep my hair short but I have a beard....that's gonna be.....fun... lol

ToMang07 said:

LOL, I was wondering about that, I keep my hair short but I have a beard....that's gonna be.....fun... lol

Click to expand...

haha don't worry, you don't hear it often. They usually don't pull beards or hair, but they can

SOMEWHERE THERE IS A MACAW OWNERS MANUAL:

The crooked and/or white hairs that don't match the other hairs. Those need to be straightened. And if they aren't straightened, you need to pull them. Your human isn't going to like that, but it needs to be done. It's part of essential grooming, and it's for their own good...

Put your foot over their face if you have to, but pull the crooked/discolored beard hairs...

lol, I'll keep shaving!

Hi all, thanks for this thread

My first post, apologies if I've replied in the wrong spot!

I'm looking for related help and this is the closest thread I've found - my Parrotlet has been the sweetest little groomer for over a year and no problems whatsoever, but suddenly & recently, the same behavior has become very painful!

She was usually focused on eyebrows & eyelashes while hanging down from my hair, with the occasional face/ears attention. In the last month she has completely changed her behavior, to where 1) she is aggressively insistent on climbing up to my face and neck, and will stare at me intently like she's about to launch, and will dodge my hands until she can get to my neck/face. 2) she is still doing little nibbling as if she is grooming me, but it's incredibly pinchy and painful now, whereas before I never had any pain at all. she also doesn't move around like they do when they're doing the sweet grooming, instead she picks a spot and grabs the tiniest little bit of skin and excruciatingly chomps down.

The behavioral change along with the new pain makes me think it's not just some weird beak growth problem. She is a bit of a velcro bird, and I've been trying to work on that with positive reinforcement only... What could have started this behavior?