ReHomed GCC

Instead of buying a bird from a breeder I "took the plunge" and found a GCC on kijiji (Canadian Craig's List). I realize the potential behaviour problems a re-homed bird can come with so after searching adds for a while I found KiKi and made arrangements to visit her. Her owner had her for 2 years but had recently gotten a puppy who was beginning to show aggression towards KiKi which was her main reason for finding KiKi a new home. While visiting KiKi was very friendly and inquisitive - she stepped up from her owner to me and to my bf and played on my shoulder and head.

I brought her home Monday night and have been letting her settle in (she came with her cage, toys and food so that remained constant). I was wondering when/how I should start handling her?

Right now she likes to sit ontop of her cage and will eat treats from me but will go back in her cage or bite(hard!) if I offer her my hand or new toy. I've read up on biting - I ignore her after and don't scold her but now I'm hesitant when I do try to offer her a hand. Are there any activities I can do with her to entertain her and build our trust?

I have classes during the day so she does have her time, I'm just a worrisome first timer that she might learn to always be even after settling in.

Any advice is appreciated!

Hi. Congrats. Great to hear that you offered a home to a birdie in need of a safe place. Kiki must be so confused right now about her circumstances. I would try to spend time around her even if just pulling up a chair and letting her ger more used to you and your voice, like when doing your schoolwork, or checking email, etc, and speak a few words to her that she is used to, like hello, good bird, hi kiki, etc. u could contact her prior home and ask about who handled kiki, how often, males or females, if she liked music or som birdie games like peekaboo, etc.

Also u could bring over a favorite o new delicious treat and show her how yummy it is by acting like u r eating it and then hold it in two fingers outside her cage and try to get her interested to inch closer to it. Cody is hereabout a month now and it took about two days to stop the nipping outside the cage, and about a week to get permission to put my hand inside cage. Slowly building trust with treats, folded index finger to approach her instead of whole hand. She would let me rub or touch her with my knuckle on folded finger.

Thanks for the ideas! KiKi is in my room so I am able to spend a lot of time with her and along with sitting and squawking at each other she enjoys when I feed her raspberries.

We are now having an issue with biting
As I mentioned above with the first few bites I removed my hand and ignored her but then as it continued her bites got harder. I contacted her owner who said she would tap KiKi's beak and blow in her face to get her to stop. I tryed this method: good new, got KiKi to step up twice; bad news my finger looks like a pirhanna chewed it up! =[

Even before my hands were close to her chest or legs (my treatless hand was coming at her so she knew what was up) she LUNGED for my fingers. I waited to make sure she wasnt simply holding my finger while stepping up before using the above technique to have her release. As reported it didn't take long for me to determine she was infact attacking not holding. It would take a couple taps (very aware of weight of tap, I understand their beaks are sensitive) or blows to get her to release and she almost immediately dove back down for another bite. Even in the act of stepping up she would latch on and step up. On our second attempt she finally did stop and after 5 seconds of just standing of my finger I relieved her to her cage top.

Am I rushing her? Should I continue this (getting the step up regardless of her trying to eat my fingers and wait till she stops biting to relieve her)? I've also noticed that when feeding treats (this was before our big battle this morning) from time to time she would go for my fingers (not as an accident or investigating, she'd grab and pinch hard), should I keep feedin her treats with my hands?

So many questions!

Update!
Spent some time with Kiki today - feeding her treats both with my hands and off other objects (a book and her food tray, both of which she stood on after hammering with her beak). Then she took an exciting trip to the floor in front of my full length mirror. While she made sounds at herself I sat down and started playing with some things on the floor and SHE CAME TO ME and started playing also!! We did this for about an hour where she would go back and forth between the mirror and w.e I was doing, she played with some things, stepped up on a couple items and was making all sorts of thinking noises (thats what I call those little girggles and grunts when they're staring at something). Then when it came time to put her away I offered her my hand once a couple inches from her - she didn't lunge but didn't come towards me and after a few seconds I stood up, made like I was doing something else for a moment then went back to try again. This time I moved my hand all the way to her chest then down to her legs and while she did grab with her beak (thank god I taped up my bites from this morning) she also stepped up! She stayed on my hand as I stood up and only bit me one more time before just sitting then on the way to her cage she flew the last foot or two

Just so happy that she was comfortable enough to get so close to me and that her biting was minimized compared to this morning! Lots to learn still but this was one of those moments that made it all worth it!

Instead of buying a bird from a breeder I "took the plunge" and found a GCC on kijiji (Canadian Craig's List). I realize the potential behaviour problems a re-homed bird can come with so after searching adds for a while I found KiKi and made arrangements to visit her. Her owner had her for 2 years but had recently gotten a puppy who was beginning to show aggression towards KiKi which was her main reason for finding KiKi a new home.

Click to expand...

Wow, that's exactly how I found Teeko and why his owners had to get rid of him!

It's good to hear you're making progress with KiKi. I can only imagine how satisfying that must feel! (I also totally get what you mean by 'gurgles and grunts'. Their little noises are hilarious!)

I also have a rehomed conure who is working through some biting and hand problems. Good luck! Be sure to post any more breakthroughs

So check this out!
Kiki and I made some great progress (see profile picture of both her and I!) this weekend. Over the weekend I typically stay at my bf's and even though it was her first weekend I brought KiKi along - Kiki's prior owner did this with her fiance/husband as well, she has two cages so she already had a second home she felt comfortable in. This turned out to be awesome because she wasn't stressed about the travel or new area AND got some awesome handling done with both my bf and myself.

I've found that I'm a lot better at handling when I have someone coaching me! Not that he or I are bird experts but it was very helpful to have him reminding me to sure in my movements (clearly offering or taking away treats), and trying different approaches. We found that Kiki works better off her cage and different ways to manage her cage aggression. Her cage aggression is understandable and something I'm not too interested in training that out - it is her home - but we found that low placed hands and slow movements help guide her out/off her cage onto your hand.

She stepped up to both of us (mainly from the floor, a couple times off her stage) and climbed on us and on the couch. I found that keeping my thumb down when asking her to step up really helps. While away from the cage she didn't bite or make any lunges towards fingers which was great! When feeding her treats through the bars or while she is perched on her cage she did bite a couple times - made the bf bleed and while I'm not happy about it at least he no knows why I'm hesitant with such a little bird, sharp beak!! When I brought her home she was calm and stepped up out of her travel box and explored my room some more before stepping up again to go back to her cage for the night! Such a wonderful feeling to have her sit calmly and quietly on the same finger she tore up earlier this week!


Any tips to help her being more consistent with taking treats and not lunging? We know her bites are intetional/not miss aimed treat attempts as most of them she moves slow towards the treat then dives for a finger.

We also started clicker training - just clicking while treating so she associates the sounds as a good thing. Even after a weekend of this she is still rather hesitant about the sound, anyone have similar issues?

I'm going to dig through some other threads on this next question and maybe it's her just being nervous to new surroundings too but I've noticed she doesn't really seem to play with her toys =[ Anything similar with your birds? Maybe it's because they're old and less exciting? I do plan to buy her new ones and rotate them weekly/bi weekly so maybe that will spike her interest?

It's sad that nobody has replied. My apologies.
Sounds like you and KiKi are really making progress! Do you hang out with her away from the cage often? My boy loves to be with me wherever I am.
From what I've heard, that's a really good way to bond with your bird.
If you are still having problems with stepping up, I honestly don't know what to tell you. (I'm no expert, by far) Just keep practicing and pile on those treats!
You could also try putting peanut butter or something she likes on your hands and letting her taste it. Don't worry, she'll come around eventually.

As for the toys, my Teeko doesn't play with them either. He loves ripping paper towels, but that's about it. I'm going to show him how to forage this week, I'll let you know how that goes.
Seems to me that perches are more important to GCCs than toys, so make sure she has a variety of surfaces to climb around on!

Good luck with your featherbaby!

Once she is off the cage she is fine - which is good and bad. Bad because she is very aggressive about her cage and even asking her to come over somewhere else to play is hard but good because once she is away she is happy to explore and play on my hands or head!

I got her a couple new toys and a new perch so I'll see how she takes them. Thanks for the idea of getting perch crazy

She has gotten sassy about taking her treats...when I offer her treats (which I've decided to only do when she outside her cage to both encourage her to come out and not feel like I'm threathening her space) she will grab them quickly and while she does grab the treat she also grabs the edge of my finger then immediately throws the treat then walks away.

I've walked away, given time and tried diff treats but it seems she is frustrated that I'm now reacting to her biting, should I just continue to give this time?
Is hand feeding her treats causing more issues?

Try taking your hands out of the picture. Take a tiny bit of cheese and put it on your shoulder. Encourage your GCC to get on your shoulder.
Then talk to him in a very soft voice, get up and move from room to room, and perhaps even prepare a meal for him so he can see that you are now his caregiver.
Try this method for up to a week before attempting to pet him with your fingers, etc... It is possible that he was mistreated with fingers before.
Best wishes for you and your new little angel!