Biting?

My 5 month old is a sweet and loving bird but when he gets excited his little nips can get ouchy. Also when Sam is on me if my kids or husband puts their hand out and says step up he gets mad and nips. But if he is not on me he is fine, not sure how to fix that. What are some things I can do to stop the biting? Thanks

You can try lifting him up & placing him on the other person, but if he's not ready to leave you or go to the other person, you may get nipped. I do this when there is someone new at the house or someone the birds do not know very well...in which case I tell them not to move fast & if they want to pet the bird, to let me put their fingers on it.....usually works without any incident.

Good luck

I recommend target/touch training.

You'll need a new chopstick, a clicker, and treats that your PGCC (pineapple green cheeked conure) likes
NOTE: don't use he's fav treat as a reward, save it for later

So you're gonna show the chopstick to your conure, and when he bites or touch the end of the chopstick GENTLY with his beak, click the clicker and reward. Do not reward if he bites hard or attack the target stick. Instead, mash some berries on the end of the target stick and show it to him. He will try to eat the berries by gently touching the stick. Click and reward.

Most parrot will learn this trick about 5-15 min. But keep your training lessom short and fun. I recommend you train you parrot 3 times, 5-10 min each training session.

As he gets better at it, hold the target stick far away from him so he has to walk a few steps to get to the stick. And then target him to climb in and out of he's cage. Finely, target him close and up onto your hand for step up training. It usually works great on most parrot.

After each training session, reward he's fav treat. So he looks forward to he's next lesson.

When you said that he bites when your husband or your kid ask him to step up, are your PGCC giving them any warning or sign that I doesn't wants to step up, like walking away. Don't force him to do anything he doesn't wants to. If he walks away, respect him and try it again later. If they keep on asking him to step up while he's telling with he's body language he doesn't want to, they're most likely to be end up being bitten. And your conure will be less likely to trust them because he feels uncomfortable and unsafe around them.

If you have any more question, feel free to ask me.

He only bites them when he is on me. No warning so they are respectful that he doesn't want to come off me and they wait. It's not all the time. And when he is done with me he happily runs over to them. I will definitely try the chop stick training. Thank you!

I'm glad I did help you a bit. Lol

how long did you have Sam? Some parrot likes to choose one person in the family and bond with that one person, while sometimes ignore or even attack the other family members. Some parrot also likes to 'protect' it's fav person by biting other people. Your husband and your kid can try giving Sam treats, and spend time with Sam while he is not on you.

We have had Sam for2 months. We were leaning toward the protecting me thing. He is very attached to me, i am assuming since I am the main caregiver. He even takes naps with me I didn't even think about the treat thing! I will try that with the hubs and kid!

It's great to hear your pineapple green cheeked conure loves you so much! it's at lease a good thing for you.

Jasmine my GCC loves me to the exclusion of everyone else - or would do if we let her! Even though i am her caregiver and spend most time with her, myhusband is the main 'treat' giver so she associates him with yummy stuff. My husband never takes her off me - instead I put her on him. It's subtle but it works for us. When she sits and preens him gently or lets him stroke her she gets a treat.

With my son or friends who come over we get her to sit on their arm (not fingers) and they give her treats.

If she bites I take her straight off and give her the stink eye no biting look(!) and she goes back in her cage for a few mins then we try again.

Hope this helps