Feeling a little desperate with albie's biting.

Stitchthestitch

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He is going out of his way to bite me and to bite hard. I'm starting to become afraid of him. I love him so much and I'm feeling at a loss of what to do. I hate that I'm becoming fearful of this little 75g terror.

He has about 12 /13 hours of sleep
No huts or access to shadowy places
I've cut fruit and sweeter veggies out of his diet.
When he bites he's put in time out immediately with a firm no bite.

I can't ask him to step up as he goes for me. He begs for scritches only to try and bite me.... Seriously.... He will put his head down and if I go to rouch him he will try and nail me. My husband is having to do everything with him.

I've tried some training with him but he just goes into attack mode if I try to reward him or he just flies off and doesn't want to interact. I won't force him to, he isn't a dog.

I'm just feeling very lost. We obviously have some amazing days and then other days it's living hell. I was sat there this evening and he waddles over I say "hey baby boy how are you doing sweetie" and he lunges over bites me hard on my lip. He was put back in his cage for that.

My husband has a very steady relationship with Albie (does nothing at all for him by the way) where as its very much a roller-coaster of a relationship with me.

I don't know what I'm looking for answer wise, I don't know what I missing for the bigger picture. I'm just feeling so lost.
 

Laurasea

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I'm sorry, I know those bites hurt!!

I have gone through times like this in the past with my Ta-dah. After doing a bad job harness training.....my fault....she would run to bite me... Anyway I read coat your fingers with sugar, just once ir twice. So when they run to bite..they taste yummy sugar. I dud it once, and it did reset her a little. Then I feed treats by hand all day long. We got past it.

Sometimes when I pet Tadah she will threaten to bite, I just pause, and a few seconds later I can pet her again.

If the bird doesn't want to be with yiu time outs won't work.

My suggestion. Rearrange the cage abd move to a new location. Just go over and say hi, and give a treat, lots and lots of times during the day. Do short target training. Abd try and avoid bites by paying close attention.
 

wrench13

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Oh bad Albie!

I am sure you know this is still hormone/mating season, and the first one is the WORST! So there is that. And it sounds like Albie is making his choice about most favored person ( your husband), but all is not lost. I always reccommend the shunning method.
If you are bitten, a firm "NO BITE" and IMMEDIATELY place Albie on a handy chair back ( NOT his cage), and turn your back to him, no eye contact , nothing, for a minute.
Retuning him to his cage after a bite only teaches him to bite when he wants to go back to his cage. I would also do the dropping a treat in his food bowl whenever you pass his cage thing. And me, I would get his wings clipped, but thats only me. Shunning doesn't work if he can just fly off the chair back to where ever...

And always use the rules of training - be immediate, be consistent, be patient.
And fearless !!
 
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Stitchthestitch

Stitchthestitch

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Talk about mood swings! This morning, all he has wanted to do was snuggle and refused to get off me when I had to leave for work, now I'm running late!

Could me leaving the house for work be triggering biting too? I talk to him about it, like I'm talking to a 3ur old, every time I have to leave for work and I greet him immediately whe. I get home. I even give him a nutiberry before I leave the house and only then to try and associate a really tasty treat with me going out.
 
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Stitchthestitch

Stitchthestitch

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Oh bad Albie!

I am sure you know this is still hormone/mating season, and the first one is the WORST! So there is that. And it sounds like Albie is making his choice about most favored person ( your husband), but all is not lost. I always reccommend the shunning method.
If you are bitten, a firm "NO BITE" and IMMEDIATELY place Albie on a handy chair back ( NOT his cage), and turn your back to him, no eye contact , nothing, for a minute.
Retuning him to his cage after a bite only teaches him to bite when he wants to go back to his cage. I would also do the dropping a treat in his food bowl whenever you pass his cage thing. And me, I would get his wings clipped, but thats only me. Shunning doesn't work if he can just fly off the chair back to where ever...

And always use the rules of training - be immediate, be consistent, be patient.
And fearless !!


I don't put him back in his cage after biting it usually is the shunning method I do as you described. Even though he's flighted., he laszy haha. I just didn't know what else to do with him when me bit my lip, I was in shock and in pain (note to self never get my lip pierced) and I just reacted and wanted him away from me,and putting him in his cage seemed like the best option at the time. I know it wasn't and it was a one off. Hell, I even tell people on reddit and face book to not put a bird in its cage after biting.

(I think I've confused people when I say time out, my time out is the shunning method, only time out doesn't sound as harsh =
 

T00tsyd

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You have my sympathy big time but take heart that this will pass. I went through a patch exactly the same except it is only Syd and me and there was a point where I was convinced that he hated me. He drew blood so many times even on my face. I ended up with hats, long sleeves, gloves and scarf. I didn't let him anywhere near me in the end, but it does pass.

Avoid is the best advice I can give. Time out is not in the cage but away from you and ignoring him, not even looking. If he prepares to fly back to you a firm NO and then duck so he misses. It felt cruel because at times he was all sweetness but he had to learn that I would not accept his behaviour. Having said that of course we have to understand what they are going through and it's possibly driving him nuts not knowing what to do with himself. I remember changing Syd's cage every 3/4 days. Moving perches and toys to new positions all in order to keep him mentally occupied. Even now I move his cage. It's big on wheels but I move him to the centre of the room and then into another room if I'm going to be there for a while so he gets as many different views as I can.

Syd is a bright button so I do try to stimulate him in different ways as much as possible. Our latest discussion is about parts of his body and he will just about give me a high 5 on my one finger. Trust me there is fun to come this will pass.
 
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Stitchthestitch

Stitchthestitch

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Thank you every one, for letting me vent and for the advice and being there, its really appreciated.
 

saxguy64

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Stitch, vent as much as you need, we get it! This seems to be a particularly difficult hormonal season for many folks, and puberty on top of that? Ugh! Albie is such an awesome little guy, I'm looking forward to seeing this pass, and rest assured, it will pass.
 

Cagzo

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I can so sympathise Stitch, at one point with Connies first puberty,I cried and was planning to rehome her,a few sleepless nights too,thinking what the heck have I done!
She was very nasty and I was also frightened to ask her to step up. At one point she hooked her beak on my finger so hard that I had to flick her off,with blood spraying everywhere too. We are gluttons for punishment!
Shes completely different now,and Albie and you will get through this too. You know he can be a little sweetie,just keep thinking not long now.
 

wrench13

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Let's face it. Mating season SUCKS!! Plain and simple. But puberty sucks even more, but not for every parrot. I will regal you with this short tale. Salty's puberty was MILD. He was grouchy during puberty, but not bloodthirsty. Then came mating season 2019/20. And he bit me more then all of his prior 5 years combined. And then came the current mating season, 2020/2021. While I was not bitten more than the previous mating season, because I finally studied and learned Salty's body language ( stoopid human), his bite when he connected was pretty bad. He even nailed my cheek once. Never needing stitches ( no pun intended) but bleeding for sure. Yeah, smart, bonded Salty did that, the parrot that allows me to hold him on his back, who lets me play fight with him (what idiot fights with an Amazon on it's back ) and does all those neat tricks. Hell just last week we were in the middle of a major scratching session when it was like someone flipped the LUNGE/ATTACK/BITE switch on. But I know his tells now and no bite connected. 5 minutes later he reverted back to his usual nice birdy self, with the look of what 'Boats describes as "WTF was that all about ?!??".

So vent away! Feel no shame or remorse or guilt. No fear. And to quote the Book of Sailboat 10.1 "This too shall pass", but like Christmas, comes around once a year.
 

Ira7

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Let's face it. Mating season SUCKS!! Plain and simple. But puberty sucks even more, but not for every parrot. I will regal you with this short tale. Salty's puberty was MILD. He was grouchy during puberty, but not bloodthirsty. Then came mating season 2019/20. And he bit me more then all of his prior 5 years combined. And then came the current mating season, 2020/2021. While I was not bitten more than the previous mating season, because I finally studied and learned Salty's body language ( stoopid human), his bite when he connected was pretty bad. He even nailed my cheek once. Never needing stitches ( no pun intended) but bleeding for sure. Yeah, smart, bonded Salty did that, the parrot that allows me to hold him on his back, who lets me play fight with him (what idiot fights with an Amazon on it's back ) and does all those neat tricks. Hell just last week we were in the middle of a major scratching session when it was like someone flipped the LUNGE/ATTACK/BITE switch on. But I know his tells now and no bite connected. 5 minutes later he reverted back to his usual nice birdy self, with the look of what 'Boats describes as "WTF was that all about ?!??".

So vent away! Feel no shame or remorse or guilt. No fear. And to quote the Book of Sailboat 10.1 "This too shall pass", but like Christmas, comes around once a year.

Oy. Archie is just turning two.

I dread what may happen.
 

wrench13

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LOL, Ira, if parrots knew whats in store for them, I'm pretty sure they would dread it too!
 
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Stitchthestitch

Stitchthestitch

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Things seem to be a little easier with him this week. He wants to be with me and only me, if he can't see me he contact calls. He started preening me again. He's being my little sweetheart again.

He tells me he lives me and is playing peekaboo with me and hasbjust started mimicking me when I say "uh-uh" when he's preening my face. It's funny!

This bird is giving me emotional whiplash with his mood swings!
 

T00tsyd

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LOL Welcome to parrot world! Just keep your guard up a little longer and when he is sweet talking you remember to remind him you are his parent not his mate. There is nothing quite so nippy as a parrot suffering from unrequited love.
 
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Stitchthestitch

Stitchthestitch

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Oh I do remind him regularly that I love him just not in THAT way hahha. The moment he shows any hormonal behavior he's put on his perch and I'll do something else to distract him.

I think sharing meals and hubby doing the bad stuff like putting him away and to bed has helped a bit so I'm not seen as the bad guy.
 

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