Biting is out of control! HELP!

My family brought home a young Green Cheeked Conure about two weeks ago. When we got her, she was honestly the sweetest bird we have ever had. Now, she has taken to nipping, biting, and chewing on me every time I take her out: fingernails, hands, ears, necks, and even faces. The behavior has only been going on for a few days, but it escalates each day. She's starting to really hurt. She has a ton of toys, including soft wood toys for her to destroy, but she won't play with them. She gets out of her cage for around four hours each day. I'm not sure if she's biting because she's young, or if she's unhappy for some reason.

As far as I've heard, GCCs are notorious for being beaky. Tori, my GCC had a bit of a biting problem as well. He is insanely fond of bells, so when ever he would go to bite, I'd put his bell near his beak and he would play with it instead. If he did bite when he was sitting on my hand I would tilt my hand so he would go off balance a little bit. He used to bite a lot more, but he doesn't as much; only when we do something that he doesn't like, and he usually doesn't bite hard.

Good luck with your bird!

Polly (DYHA) is also biting and I use peases of wood to destract hear

I would keep her off your shoulders and away from your face for now. If you want her to perch on you let her use a knee or hand only. If the nipping is making you really nervous you could try wearing a cotton garden glove or similar to give a little protection. I would look at when you are handling her, are you forcing her to interact? Does she step up and then bite or are you making her come to you? Was she in the middle of playing with a toy? Does she seem nervous when you are handling her? (contracted pupils, open beak, ruffled feathers) I think I would try for awhile just getting her to perch on your hand and feed her something yummy (mine loves dried papaya or sunflower seeds) then let her go back to her cage. Repeat that several times a day, come to your hand, get treats, go back. Then after she's comfortable with that routine, after she eats her treats she can hang out on your hand a bit. If she gets nippy put her back and try again later. Next time try waiting a minute or two BEFORE you give her the treats. Just don't wait too long or she may nip out of impatience! Take your time, go slow, and she WILL come out of it.

you could try laddering her, when she bites have her step up, then step up again on the other hand, then the first hand, then the other hand ect. this teaches controll and that biting gets her no where

I completely understand where you are coming from. Our conure Franklin has started this as well. He was sooo sweet when we first got him home, and as of the last few weeks he's gotten really bitey. (he's 5 months old now) When he bites us hard and he doesn't back off when we say "OUCH! or NO BITE! Or Beeee Niiiice..." Then we'll try and put him off balance but that don't work well with him at all because he's so acrobatic he just holds on and loves the "ride" so to speak...so we have to very briskly put him down on the ground and tell him NO BITE...we'll leave him for a short time, he'll stand there and look at us with these begging eyes...then we offer our finger and as long as he don't bite us, we'll pick him back up and try again. I used to offer him treat things, like apple slices or grapes he can really sink his beak into, but then I decided that might be rewarding the behavior and quit.

Also if you can, blowing hard into their face sometimes stops the bite too.

I think with Franklin, his bite isn't meant to be a bad thing, he's just so active and loves to play and play hard and he's the most acrobatic bird I've ever met. I just think he gets carried away with his playfulness and explorations. Oh and he absolutely DOES NOT like it when he can't get HIS WAY. He's a very "sure of himself" bird. He always thinks HIS ideas are the best..hahahahaha...like walking on my keyboard right now. I'm sure to get bit when I offer my finger to move him.

0mmmmmmfrmh....ROFLOLOL!! Yep...got bit!

Good luck with your baby.

Toni

My Sun Conure was the same way for about half a year but i would tilt my hand to get him off balanced and ladder him. Both worked great but the best way to stop it is offer a small foot toy or something in that size to give him some thing to chew on when you have him. i always keep him on my hand when he was going though the nippy phase. If i let him on my shoulder i put him there and he must step up when i want him down, other wise he does not get to go to my shoulder.

All birds go through the honeymoon period when you first bring them home. Sweet, cuddly, step up every time, etc.. How you deal with them in the next few weeks determines how they will be. Keep them off anywhere on you where they can do some damage. They need to know how to play with toys, show them. Play with a toy, oooh and aaah over it, and you will be amazed how they will want to play with it too.

Thank you for posting this, I'm having a similar problem and will be making my own post too.