New 14 week old eki parrot. aggressive biting and growling

Hello. I Really need help. I originally have a 16 week old female eki, she is great and loving and never tries to bite. So o thought she will get lonley And went on GUMTREE to look for a Male for her. I FOUND A MALE THAT WAS TAMED and handraised. But when i got thier to bye him he was in VERY POOR CONDITION LIVING ON CORN AND SEEDS. THE OWNER COULDNT EVEN GET HIM UP AS THE EKI WAS FRIGHTEND. I PAID TOP MONEY FOR HIM THE ONLY REASON WAS THE EKI BROKE MY HART. HE WAS ALLWAYS INDOORS. SO I WILL GET TO THE POINT. THE MALE EKI ALLWAYS BITES ME HARD AND DRAWS MY BLOOD. I HAVE TRIED SO HARD JUST TO LEAVE MY FINGER THEIR TO GET BITTEN. I DONT REACT TO HIM AT ALL. AS THIS WILL BE FROM HIS PAST.. I NEED HELP I WONT GIVE UPPPP. THANKS

If your male ekkie was a lion or a tiger and you wanted to get the big cat to stop biting, I highly doubt you'd just "leave" your hand there until the big cat stopped biting! Do you really think it would be teaching the big cat not to bite???


Your new male ekkie is biting to tell you to back off. He's not comfortable. I'm sure he's also telling you to back off before he bites, but you are ignoring him, thus he's biting you.



My suggestion would be to back off. Give him space. Then, find his favorite treats or food. When he's calm, move slowly towards him. If he moves away then stop or back off. If he moves towards you, offer him a reward. Go easy and use patience. Teach him that you are not a big scary creature after all!

I'll only add to that by saying that eckies can sometimes get rather aggressive at that age, even under the best of conditions. My Bixby (male eclectus) turned into an unholy terror between the ages of 12 and 15 weeks. I rode it out and began bite pressure training, and eventually the phase just passed. I can see that you're willing to put the work in. That's great. Just have patience. Things will turn.

Oh, and a tip for the biting. Of course you should back off when you need to, but under the inevitable circumstance where he tags you again, do NOT just take it. Also, do not pull away. This often just makes the bite worse than it would otherwise have been.
Rather, push into the bite while using the other hand (the one not currently being used as a chew toy) to grasp the beak. Use the index finger and thumb on either side of the beak's point and pull, gently yet firmly, in one direction while rolling the bitten finger (it's usually a finger or thumb) in the other. He won't have the leverage to hold on.

Hope that makes sense.

If I had not gotten Lola out multiple times a day, trained her to step up on my hand as well as a stick and let her know in no uncertain terms that she was not going to back me down or intimidate me I would still be getting bit. I knew she was tame, I saw her, I also knew she saw me as the bad guy and was going to do everything she could to back me off and make me afraid of her. Did I want to continue to get bit, umm no! There were days at the height of it that I wanted nothing more than to walk away from the cage, my hands were minced meat but I knew if I backed off it was all over!

I am old school maybe but I have always gotten a bird to come around, sometimes it takes longer, sometimes there is blood (always mine) but I call the shots. I do assess the bird, watch their body language and ascertain if the bird is biting from fear or out of aggression and then tailor my techniques to each bird and their past (if I know it) and personality but I don't let the bird set the pace.

I have never and would never be abusive, aggressive or use corporal punishment with ANY animal, nor would I with-hold food as a method of training. To me it's more about consistent, positive, very frequent sessions. However if I have to get a bird to step up onto a stick or use a towel the end result is the same and they come out of the cage.

Eclectus go through a couple of snotty stages as they are becoming more independent. This is just a baby and while the bites hurt (believe me I know) he does need to know that you are not going to back off and leave him alone just because he bites. If you do....you lose! The great thing about eclectus is they love food, you don't have to with hold food and wait until they are hungry, an eclectus is always willing to eat. Have some yummy stuff on hand, a big variety, when he goes to bite put that food in the way. Talk softly, move slowly, eclectus can be spooked easily when they are young. Every thing is new to him, he needs to see and understand that spending time with you is a good positive experience. If you look at some of my old post about Gomez and/or Lola you will read about how differently I handled each bird but neither were left to stew or set the pace.

IMO, it's better to back off if you get bitten rather than to push into it. The only bite that can't be rewarded is the one that never occurs, so if you learn to read your birds body language well enough, you should know when to back off, thus avoiding the bite. If the bird does end up getting you, then you should try to calmly get the bird off of you, then take a moment and think where you went wrong. Did you push too hard? Was the bird not ready? Did you move too fast? Did something else within the environment cause the bird to lash out?

One of Barbara Heidenreich's favorite phrases to use is to "Go slow to get there fast".

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IMO, using a towel to force a bird to step up is not the same as the bird stepping up willingly. One causes fear while the other results in trust building exercises.

He knows he has you over a barrel......This should of been stopped before it turned into a 'Habit".
Yes the bite dose hurt but you must use (in a dominating voice.) UP". And continue to reach for him . By pulling your hand away ..he has won that particular incident.
Another question dose he get along with your female? .....(stab in the dark)..might be something there.
No dought the birds previous owners has in some way made this bird afraid of humans. This just means your going to have to be his saviour.
Maybe interact the problem bird when you r training your female so he can see 'Oh' humans rnt that bad. That's probably the tactic I would use seeing as he is aggressive toward you.
I really hope you get this bird to come to love you like your female and the best of luck.