Accidental Hitting

KiwiDaConure97 · May 28, 2019

The title says it all, I accidentally hit my bird and now he doesn't want me to cuddle him or touch him. Just 10 minutes ago he was all down for cuddling and falling asleep while getting scratched on the head. My sisters bird, which really doesn't like my feet, was chasing my feet while I was sitting down and I was using my hands behind me to keep scooting back. Long story short, I wasn't looking behind me and my bird was there and I accidentally put my hand down on his tail and part of his body. Now whenever I try to cuddle him he runs away and if I touch him at all he bites me as hard as he can, which doesn't hurt that bad but I just finished teaching him how to not bite and now he's into it again.

Should I just not try to cuddle him or anything and ignore it and it'll go over? Or will this be permanent?

Just making sure, thanks.

Flboy · May 28, 2019

Neither of you should be making a big thing out of it! Except, it’s okay for you to swat/hit your sister’s bird?

wrench13 · May 28, 2019

Let him come back on his terms, but be receptive. Its natural for him to want to avoid the source of pain, at least for a few days.

KiwiDaConure97 · May 28, 2019

No I don't hit my sister's bird at all! He was just chasing my feet when I was sitting down and I was backing up.

He really doesn't like my feet and I'm trying to sit down to watch my bird to make sure he doesn't do anything dumb and my sister's bird needs to chase my feet around in attempt to bite them!

Scott · May 28, 2019

If you had a good relationship before the accident, give him a bit of time and feed some special treats. He'll likely come around.

OutlawedSpirit · May 28, 2019

I wouldn't worry too much honestly. As long as you're sure that you didn't actually harm him, he is probably just having a bit of a tantrum over you doing something he found rather rude. Sort of like a child might if you kicked them of the couch to make them sit on the floor so their weird great uncle could sit there instead. In the end they'll both get over it.

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bug_n_flock · May 28, 2019

I agree. Just like accidentally stepping on your kitty' foot or tail, they will be grumpy for a while but as long as you are patient and kind, they will come back around.

I assume this is lesson learned? Btw your sister's bird may in fact think chasing your feet is great fun and potentially you are encouraging the behavior by scooting like that.

Skittys_Daddy · May 28, 2019

Accidents happen, I've done this at least once with Skittles and several times when I had Peaches. Its always been accidental and they may be apprehensive at first, after it happens but usually come around. Just don't force the issue. Whenever I've done it, I say sorry in my 'birdy voice' and say 'its okay, you're okay' and that usually does it. But like others have said, don't "force" the issue as that can backfire and actually prolong the apprehension or even make it worse. But other than that, its really not a big deal- if its still happening (the apprehension) after a few days then you may need to address it more carefully, but usually within a day or two (sometimes even an hour or a few minutes) it all gets back to normal. Parrots have VERY short attention spans. lol

RemiBird · May 28, 2019

Your bird will get over it. On the other hand, it's an opportunity to learn to be more careful around your birds.

PiccoloSauce · May 29, 2019

My advice would be to act as if something happened rather than if something didn’t! So, with caution and gentleness basically

Your bird is probably on the fence about weather to trust you or not and so it’s getting confused and defensive. We as humans are similar, when someone we thought was a friend does something unexpected to us, we tend to feel lied to and betrayed a bit, however the time you spent as friends doesn’t go away. you can’t really show him it was an accident as he cant understand that it was, so whilst it may be hard for the bird to understand, I believe you can become friends again given time

Try not to rush it, I’d consider leaving the bird for a while, and carefully offering him treats as an apology, he’ll come back to you, just give it time

noodles123 · May 29, 2019

I wouldn't worry about this too much---time will fix the problem as long as you re-build trust and allow the bird to take it slow. That having been said, the description of the cuddles concerns me, as this will likely lead to a hormonal bird with behavioral issues in the long-run. Cuddling a bird is very similar to human foreplay...I know that may be TMI, but it's true.
Head and neck petting (only) is the way to go--with the exception of certain situations. Some members do a bit more, but it's a big gamble...Many people develop behavioral issues with their birds and cannot understand their origin. Many times, it is due to shadowy spaces and cuddles.

plumsmum2005 · May 30, 2019

Go back to day one, gaining and building trust, it should be a short exercise for your bird. Possibly just a bit confused about what happened. Rather than it stay a bad memory go back to work on gaining and building trust.

Put a towel over your feet to avoid your sister's bird going for feet. If you have the towel and the bird is already attacking your feet just gently drop it (a lightweight one btw). It should do the trick, as they will remember next time what happens. You can then scoop up the bird carefully and reposition somewhere else. Shouting, swatting, jumping, dancing all reinforces the attacking behaviour more because you are responding.

Accidental Hitting

KiwiDaConure97

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