Accepting Others

So I have had Aria home a week now, and she has progressed in leaps and bounds. When we picked her up from the rescue, she would only step up from her cage on occasion, and you could barely touch her without her trying to bite.

Now, she will step up for me out of her cage EVERY time. I can also not just touch her back for a couple seconds, I can hold my hand over her back while I walk. (She is still a little unsteady being held while I walk, but she is improving.) She is starting to allow me to get a few fingers under her wings. I want to get her used to being touched all over. Not only for practical reasons like going to the vet, but also because I would like to eventually get her harness trained so she can sit outside in the summer with us without having to lug out a cage.

The only issue I have run into with her so far is that she bit my wife once pretty good, so now she is afraid of her. Aria is a very domineering bird, so you have to be very assertive in what you want her to do before she will do it. When I was first getting her to step up out of the cage, she would lunge with her beak, and sometimes bite pretty good. I would just keep insisting she step up, now she does it without offering her beak at all. I think she just likes to see what she can get away with at this point, because she is not afraid. She is very curious and inquisitive and wants to know everything.

I just wonder if it would be best for my wife to start working on creating a bond with her now, or if I should continue to work with her and get her tamer with me first. Opinions?

I wouldn't wait. Personally, I would have your wife do some target training sessions with her alone. Short sessions a few times a week. Have your wife be the only one to offer her one of her favorite treats.

Uglow said:

I wouldn't wait. Personally, I would have your wife do some target training sessions with her alone. Short sessions a few times a week. Have your wife be the only one to offer her one of her favorite treats.

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Great Advice !

Yes, I agree. There is no benefit to waiting. As Uglow said, training sessions with your wife while you are completely out of sight - and even earshot - will do wonders for their relationship.

It may be slow-going and require some patience. It won't likely be an overnight fix.

And btw, this doesn't mean that you can't have training sessions with her in the meantime. Just that there should be regular sessions between her and your wife where you are not present at all.

To reduce the possibility of bloodshed, your wife can begin with target training exercises using a pointer. And as Aria gets more used to her, she can graduate to more hands on interaction.

One thing, though. This may or may not apply, here, but something that you said makes me think it does. Many bites are triggered by hesitation and uncertainty. Birds often reach out with a beak, in lieu of a hand, when stepping up. Sometimes, when a person hesitates or flinches at that moment, the bird will bite. This can be out of annoyance as a perching surface they'd thought stable turns out to be otherwise, or simply increased bite pressure out of a fear of falling.

Either way, I've found that an assertive movement of the proffered hand - neither approaching too quickly or too slowly - greatly reduces the chances of a bite.

The longer you wait, the more a problem festers, and larger it becomes...

Have you tried the towel under the long sleeve shirt trick? That might help from a confidence standpoint. Bites no longer hurt.

Eckies and CAGS have a beak like a scissors, and female eckies are the dominant bird of the pair... not the males. The females boss the males around.

I have noticed that she is much more likely to bite when you aren't insistent on getting her to step up. If you push her to step up, she will step up just fine. However, if you offer her your arm and just leave it there, she will bite.

I told my wife that it would help her to work with her alone, so that she doesn't associate everything with me. She just hesitates because she is afraid of being bitten again. Not that she was bitten too badly, Aria didn't break the skin, but not everyone is as willing to accept a bite and keep moving forward.

I wish I knew a way to instill the confidence in my wife. I am sure Aria would be fine with her, if she was more confident in working with her. I will suggest the towel under a long sleeve trick to her.

You wrap the towel around your forearm. Then you wrap an ace bandage around that to hold it in place. Then you put on a long sleeved shirt.

The bird doesn't know it is there.

Step the bird up on the forearm.

OutlawedSpirit said:

I wish I knew a way to instill the confidence in my wife. I am sure Aria would be fine with her, if she was more confident in working with her. I will suggest the towel under a long sleeve trick to her.

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No blood = hard pinch.

The bird is doing it because the bird is able to control the interaction with your wife.

Confidence would go a long way towards halting these behaviors.

It may also help if she works with the bird away from the cage. I know BB will not step up for James from the cage YET but will anywhere else.

Christinenc2000 said:

It may also help if she works with the bird away from the cage. I know BB will not step up for James from the cage YET but will anywhere else.

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Yes, if there is a territorial issue this will make a huge difference.

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Bites SUCK!

I second getting her out of sight of her cage. Some birds are territorial with their cages. The only way to get things headed in a good direction with your wife is her commitment to taking the time and being brave!

Persie didn't readily step up until I offered her a treat with my opposite hand just out of her reach when she leaned. I told her to step up and as soon as she did, she could reach the treat and went bonkers. She hadn't been out of her cage in 5 years but one single treat had her begging to be picked up. Almost two weeks later and she has mastered stepping up.