Avoiding the bite

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhb9xbSFulI&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhb9xbSFulI&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/ame]

Wow, this is a very realistic video of teaching someone how to gain the trust of a Macaw.

That first bite, that was me telling my wife "don't worry, Skittles will just take the nut... Yes, I still feel bad...

That also gave me instant flashback of me at the rescue shelter trying to be friendly to the birds. I would try to give them a nut, only to be nipped , and wonder what is going on...

It is nice too see a video that shows that it is not so easy...

He's making the process harder then it should be! This is how I teach my partner to give nuts to Willie years ago. While Willie is in his cage, put the nut in his food dish daily. I do not give them any treats what so ever. Only my partner gives it to them. Then eventually my partner could hand it to their beak while in their cage. Then eventually while out on the play stand when they see my partner holding the treat, instead of trying to attack, they're focused on the treat and takes the treat without trying to bite. Both macaws will only come to me but they tolerate my partner giving them treats without trying to attack.

MikeyTN said:

He's making the process harder then it should be! This is how I teach my partner to give nuts to Willie years ago. While Willie is in his cage, put the nut in his food dish daily. I do not give them any treats what so ever. Only my partner gives it to them. Then eventually my partner could hand it to their beak while in their cage. Then eventually while out on the play stand when they see my partner holding the treat, instead of trying to attack, they're focused on the treat and takes the treat without trying to bite. Both macaws will only come to me but they tolerate my partner giving them treats without trying to attack.

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I agree... about making it harder than it has to be.

Actually, I taught my seven year old the two fingers on the beak trick, years ago as a seven year old... and she was handling birds as large as Hyacinths.

Two fingers controls that big beak, and prevents the nips, but the person giving the food has to be aware enough to read and react to the bird. Push the beak away, then show the bird the nut. If you want it, take it nice. If he's not nice, push the beak away again. Until he takes it nice...

After about the second try, if he's still acting up, set the nut down, walk away and ignore him for five minutes. Then come back and see if he's had an "attitude adjustment."

Once fed, two fingers on the beak to control him, the other hand slowly reaches out to the side of the face, until the head feathers go sproing, then head scratch. Not for so long that the bird has to put a stop to it, but long enough for him to learn that the person giving the treat is not a threat.

I don't know though. I've always been able to just walk up to even allegedly aggressive macaws, and love on them...

When I taught bird handling classes, a woman came in, at her wits end, with "a biter," and within a minute of meeting him, he had his head on my shoulder talking baby talk getting his head scratched. (And lashed out at the owner for trying to take him back... ) WHY?! I HONESTLY DON'T KNOW...

I always said - only half jokingly - that there is a "macaw gene." And the birds themselves know who has it, and who doesn't. If you have it, they know it, and they behave differently around you. If you don't have it, they know that too, and it doesn't matter what you do, they'll still try and chase you around the room...

I don't know why it is. But it's something they sense in us that seems to set them off. Little subtle cues that we give off, that we're not even aware of... they pick up on it, and respond to it accordingly.

They know who can, and who can't. They know who is afraid, and who isn't.

And they are the most amazingly toddler-like of all the parrots I have ever worked with. I just love them...

Birdman, when you say two finger to control the beak, do you mean like this?



If not, can you please describe which two fingers and where they are placed on the beak. Thanks!

EXACTLY! Just like that.

And you can control his beak with those two fingers, or push the beak away, or reach around with a finger and scratch a head to "test" his reaction.

If you don't trust the bird not to bite, then use those two fingers when stepping the bird up, or setting the bird down. If the bird is lunging, then using the palm of the hand on the same spot that you're holding, and "pushing back" is a simple way to both prevent a lunge bite, and to show the bird that you're not afraid.

Sticking your hand out the way they do in this video?! You might as well just stick your finger in the bird's beak... HOLD THE DANG TREAT UP! MAKE THE BIRD TAKE IT GENTLY... have your other hand ready to deflect the beak if the bird tries to "faint" for the treat and latch on... [OH YES THEY DO!] "You're not fooling anyone. You want it or not?"

That is the main mistake people make! That's why the video was killing me....lol

If you're gonna make an instructional video, then at least know a little bit about what you are talking about, eh?!

I swear, had that bird been my Ripley, he would have flown right over and TAKEN the nut already.

Thanks for all the replies, they are all great.

Not to defend the video, but what I liked about it is in every other training video I have seen, you have a well mannered bird being used that easily follows the instructions of the "Parrot Master". Here, we have Ginger who owns a parrot rescue in Arizona and a fairly new rescued greenwing. I saw an earlier video of that bird giving Michael a good bite too when he was going through the adoption process. Michael has his own forum and sells training materials.

So when Ginger gets that first bite, that to me, was real life, and not some video trying to show you how easy it is to instantly train a Macaw.

I really appreciate the replies from Birdman and Mikey that shared their methods. Birdman's two finger method will help with my daughter who is gaining trust with Skittles and Mikey gave me a great idea of getting Skittles to be better around my wife...

And "Thank you" to Wendy for adding some humor... Skittles would have been like this is taking way too long, you eat the stinking nut...

The downside is they advocate an approach that is almost guaranteed to get you bit...

which is kind of a fatal flaw to have in a train your parrot not to bite instructional video.

Birdman, I wish you made instructional videos!!!

Maybe I can bribe my daughter into making a video with me...

But mine are friggin' tame, and 100% bite pressure trained.

So, you're not going to get the "evil bird" nonsense. (Except Sweepea still fakes for the treat and goes for the finger, and then laughs at you. She doesn't do it hard.)

Just the mush mac stuff...

Birdman666 said:

Maybe I can bribe my daughter into making a video with me...

But mine are friggin' tame, and 100% bite pressure trained.

So, you're not going to get the "evil bird" nonsense. (Except Sweepea still fakes for the treat and goes for the finger, and then laughs at you. She doesn't do it hard.)

Just the mush mac stuff...

Click to expand...

That still would be a great video to be able to see the steps you took to get them to the mush mac stage.

But if you want to be more ambitious with the video, film it at a local rescue . You would get some "evil birds" and the shelter would have a great video to teach there current and future volunteers.

The local rescue isn't local anymore. It's 1850 miles away...

I haven't had that since I left NorCal.

I don't even know that many bird people out here...

One of the secrets of overbonding, is the favorite person has to clear the area, and let the not so favored person interact with the bird...

Sometimes, if they see their favorite person, then that's who I want to be with.

But if he's not around, it's love the one you're with...

And another thing that sometimes happens with pair bond birds is that the other person walks in, and the bird that was otherwise just fine, then pinches or bites because "their" person is back.

So, you have to wait til they set the bird down. Which is what the disfavored person protocols are all about.