Is she trying to preen me?

Hello everybirdie!

So, I'm pretty sure she's just trying to preen me. Either that, or I'm very tasty.

Knuckles is quite fond of putting her beak on my hand, and with it slightly open, kind of licking at my skin. I work with my hands, so they are not in the best shape. My hands are in water a lot, and now that I have birds, I have not used any hand cream or anything, because I don't want to expose the birds to anything un natural. So while she is investigating, she will sometimes find a cut, or a dry spot, and she will pick at it.

Should I discourage this? If it's going to encourage future biting, I'm gonna put an immediate stop to it! I'm just trying to make her happy, and it's a challenge at this point, because I don't know what she likes yet...... besides manicuring me.

(Also, I probably made it sound like I have sasquatch hands.. I don't.... I would love a French manicure..... *sigh*)

Alice does that all the time - she loves to do it to my chin, cheek and earlobe, although I'd suggest a good few months getting to know each other's body language before letting a 'too within biting distance of your face! I don't know if it's a preening thing or a taste thing, but it's quite endearing.

Chili does that too- she fixates on a certain thing and picks at it. Sometimes she gets over-excited when picking at things and gets bitey...kind of like "no! It's mine!". Sometimes she will get vigorous with her picking and it can hurt, and I don't let her pick at stuff within biting range of my face. She's far from aggressive but I don't want her biting my face on accident.

There are other times I let her near my face though- when we snuggle I can bury my face in her feathers and rub my face all over her face (sounds weird now that I typed it out, but she's very cuddly and she smells so sweet! Haha)

If it helps, my mango beak does this often to my cheek!
I hae always assumed it to be a grooming thing.
It took me a long time to be comfortable with him doing it to my face, but now i think it is a nice way to end an evening...you know, having and eckie puck at your face! lol

Ha. Yeah, I was just wondering, and I agree with all of you.......she's not coming anywhere NEAR my face, for a WHILE. After she tagged me the first day, I just kept thinking to myself "oh my god, if that was my (or anyone's) face, that would have been BAD."

Popeye does the same thing. Every time I pick him up he checks my hands for something to pick it, his way of saying hello. My hands are very dry right now. I put organic hand lotion on them at night and scrub it off first thing in the morning.

I like the way my cockatoo smells too, and I put my face against his. That does sound a little strange after you type it. I don't let him on my shoulder or within striking range of my face yet. I've had him four months and I haven't been snuggling him until recently.