Macky is starting to punish ME..................

Here recently, I would say within the last couple of months Mac has gotten to where he will pinch the top of my hand when ever I am trying to put him on his playstand or in his cage. It's like he wants to be on me all day long. I don't mean those little love newton pinches just to get my attention, I mean the one's that draw blood.

Also when I have to lock him in his cage if we are going out for a while, he will literally throw a hissy fit by climbing around in his cage, growling at me and banging his beak against the bars of his cage.

I told him if he doesn't straighten up, I will leave him in his cage for a lengthy while and see how he likes to be punished. I also told him that "you don't have to live here you know", "There are other homes you could live at that may not be quite as nice as the one your at now". This is what I used to tell my daughter when she was young and got punished and wanted to run away from home. hahahahahahahahahaha.

sounds like your bird has allot of sass lol. i would try making him want to go back to his cage or play stand with treats, new toys, food, if hes tired ect. or you could clicker train him to step down when you ask. also, you could have him step on his play stand or cage and pick him right up again so he knows its not always final and will be less reluctant to step off. If you give him a bath he might want to sit and preen for a while and will be more calm? good luck!
btw, i remember when you first got mack, hes in a great home now and its clear he has come a long way. you too sound like the best of friends

Ann's advice is great
Fargo started recently to put his beak over my wrist and bite down (no blood though) when he was on my wrist, if I was trying to get him to hop onto another perch, like he didn't want to leave me... after some practice of 'stepping down' and a reward each time he did, he isn't doing it anymore

and he also throws a little 'tantrum' at bedtime and climbs around the cage because he doesn't want to sleep.. this usually only lasts about 5-10 mins then he goes to sleep. haha

ann said:

sounds like your bird has allot of sass lol. i would try making him want to go back to his cage or play stand with treats, new toys, food, if hes tired ect. or you could clicker train him to step down when you ask. also, you could have him step on his play stand or cage and pick him right up again so he knows its not always final and will be less reluctant to step off. If you give him a bath he might want to sit and preen for a while and will be more calm? good luck!
btw, i remember when you first got mack, hes in a great home now and its clear he has come a long way. you too sound like the best of friends

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Thanks Ann, I will try some of these technics and see what fits. He's not big into toys at all and when I do trade them out for new toys, he will not go inside of his cage unless I sneak them in when he's out of the room.

Yeah, he's head strong in some ways for sure. My wife can put him on his cage, playstand and even put him inside of his cage without a whimper from Mac. But if I take him off my shoulder to put him on his cage for a minute or two so that I can go outside for something, he will growl. I have started telling him "I'll be right back" and that seems to sooth him a bit and he will set there and repeat to himself "I'll be right back" several times until I come back into the house.

He's getting really attached to me I think. I can be in the shower and if I don't close the door, I will hear someone or something saying "peak a boo, I see you" several times until I get out of the shower or bring him in the shower. He will pace back and forth until I get out of the shower. He's something else hahahahahahaha.

tab_xo said:

Ann's advice is great
Fargo started recently to put his beak over my wrist and bite down (no blood though) when he was on my wrist, if I was trying to get him to hop onto another perch, like he didn't want to leave me... after some practice of 'stepping down' and a reward each time he did, he isn't doing it anymore

and he also throws a little 'tantrum' at bedtime and climbs around the cage because he doesn't want to sleep.. this usually only lasts about 5-10 mins then he goes to sleep. haha

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Mac doesn't have an issue when going to his cage at night for bed time, he'll hop right off my arm and climb into his cage. I just tell him it's bed time.

Hey Mike, haven't spoken with you in awhile, hope all is good. Something that works for me,if they don't want to go back to their perch, i give them more attention than they want. They usually will go back, no problem, to get away from me,LOL. If you need to put Mac on the perch and he doesn't want to go so that you can check the mail or what ever, Start "inspecting "his wings,tail feathers ,that sort of thing.I call it "attention overload".Bug him a little ,then when you go to put him away ,he's happy to step up to his cage/perch. many of the rescue zons go though this phase when they first figure out they like you, you can't get rid of them or get them off you without a bite. Youneed to get them to decide to step down instead of you telling them to. In the future when you ask they'll be happy to because they know what's coming next.

henpecked said:

Hey Mike, haven't spoken with you in awhile, hope all is good. Something that works for me,if they don't want to go back to their perch, i give them more attention than they want. They usually will go back, no problem, to get away from me,LOL. If you need to put Mac on the perch and he doesn't want to go so that you can check the mail or what ever, Start "inspecting "his wings,tail feathers ,that sort of thing.I call it "attention overload".Bug him a little ,then when you go to put him away ,he's happy to step up to his cage/perch. many of the rescue zons go though this phase when they first figure out they like you, you can't get rid of them or get them off you without a bite. Youneed to get them to decide to step down instead of you telling them to. In the future when you ask they'll be happy to because they know what's coming next.

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hahahahahahahahaha, I will give that a try Richard. I've tried singing to him, but I think he's getting used to my lack of pitch voice

By the way, Mac nailed me on the ear this afternoon. I took him off of my wife's shoulder because he was trying to hump her hand and regirgitate on her. I had to kind of push my hand under him because he didn't want to go. He climbed up my arm and lunged at my ear once he got to my shoulder. His beak punctured the inside of my left ear just above the ear canal. Yes, there was bleed, not a lot, well some did run down into my ear canal. I immediately took him over and put him on his playstand scolding him the whole way.

I told mac, "NO MORE SHOULDER TIME FOR A WHILE", "THAT IS A PRIVLEDGE AND NOT A RIGHT SO THEREFORE MUST BE EARNED". So Macky has some pentance that he must do before being allowed back into the circle of trust.