GCC and Wings

Hi Everyone,

got a 2 year old male GCC named Pico.

Very smart bird, talks, does tricks and is like every second on me. Loves to be close and loves to get pet allllll the time. I go no problem with him at all and he's very healthy as well.

I am just wondering : As I said, he loves to get pet for hours, but as soon as I try to pet him under his wings, he bites me very hard. Obviously, he doesn't like to be touched underneath his wings.... anywhere else is fine. He lays on his back and likes to get his belly rubbed and pet, but if I accidentally move to close and get under his wings, he bites. I deal with many other birds, other conures and Macaw's and they usually love to get pet underneath their wings, but not so my little Pico.

Tried to practice with him and get him used to it, but the only result were "hurting fingers" of mine..... LOL LOL

Any ideas or comments ?

Thx

Under the wings can be an, err, erogenous zone for parrots can it not ? He might be saying no to your advances LOL. There are many wonderful parrot pets out there that don't like to be pet at all, so I'd say Pico is doing just fine. The only reason you might want to get a parrot used to handling of their wings is if you intend to clip his wings yourself and want him comfortable with their manipulation, or if you're trying to harness train him.

My GCC mostly allows her head and neck to be pet. Feet and belly are tolerated on occasion. Usually you don't want to be too touchy feely with parrots, as it can give them the wrong idea about your relationship.

Hi IndySE,

thanks for your reply.

Well, I work 90% of the time outside and with all different kind of animals and I thought ( an you mentioned it above ) it would be fun, bringing Pico with me to work wearing a harness. But that's the problem.... It would be a bloody fight ( for my fingers... LOL ) putting a harness on him.... His wings are not clipped and he flies perfectly, not even attempting to fly off me, but as I said, I work with other animals and he could get spooked, so the harness would be perfect. But so far I couldn't make him not bite when I touched the underside of his wings.... I can pet and scratch him anywhere else, just not underneath the wings.

Otherwise I am very happy with him and spend usually a total of like 7 hours playing with him every day.

Thanks for your advises !

My GCC lets me touch him anywhere, it might just be a trust thing. Once you gain more trust your owner will let you touch him more. I don't know how he would deal with a harness because I don't own one, and it's not me...it's an object. And he seems to trust me more than objects.

all trust. Do be careful about touching places other than the head/neck as like above touching elsewhere is normally a request for some "fun" It may be a nice idea to harness train him but he may just be a bird who doesn't want it. It doesn't hurt to have some alone time. try slowly working toward under the wing/harness training. Try going from the topside of the wings and gently lifting the edges, that's where your main work getting the harness on is going to be done. They just may not like their pits being touched

My JoJo also reacts negatively to wing handling! A method for harness prep is, while holding him, hold a wing out and count to 3 out loud. At three, let his wing go and praise him for his courage! When I do this with JoJo, he goes into a freeze mode, staring me in the eyes, waiting for three!

Hi everyone,

thanks for all your replies and suggestion..... Maybe a harness isn't for Pico. And if I can't touch him underneath his wings, than so be it. I can do and handle him in any other way without problems. So all is good.

@ Flboy : Nice suggestion, thanks. But counting to "3" while holding his wing out will probably get ME 4 bloody fingers. Grinzzzz

Flboy said:

My JoJo also reacts negatively to wing handling! A method for harness prep is, while holding him, hold a wing out and count to 3 out loud. At three, let his wing go and praise him for his courage! When I do this with JoJo, he goes into a freeze mode, staring me in the eyes, waiting for three!

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not bad that, of course training to accept a wing touch is good.

Maybe each time you touch the underside, give a treat? associate a wing touch with a treat then have that as part of the training

jce2005 said:

Hi everyone,

thanks for all your replies and suggestion....

@ Flboy : Nice suggestion, thanks. But counting to "3" while holding his wing out will probably get ME 4 bloody fingers. Grinzzzz

Click to expand...

This really is worth trying! This is step one in harness training, most birds are very apprehensive having their wings handled! JoJo is in complete panic mode, if I am not counting!

Thx, I will give it a try....