why does my parrot want to attack me all the time??

hiya my names kevin, iv just joined the forum in hope that i can find some info about my alexandrine ringneck, iv had her for 4mnths now shes just over 12mnths old, she likes to spend her day out of her cage...sat on top! every time i go near her cage she runs towards me to attack!!! she starts speaking at me...every word she knows and then starts making a pigeon noise, shes to total opposite towards my girlfriend, she stares at her and even drinks her tea from her cup!! she will NOT let me touch her at all when shes in her cage, the only time she will step up onto my hand is when shes flown off her cage and landed in another room, i cant even bribe her!! has anyone got any advice how i can progress to becoming her friend...as her bitings starting to hurt now lol, thanks

to start off with if the cage is higher up then your eyes she thinks she the boss cuz she sit up higher. you just have to get her out everyday and spend time with her from a distance. read to her. gave her treats( find what she likes the best). just have to do this everyday. when she does fall on the floor n you pick ker up just keep her on you n talk to her for a while.

Piki, my lorikeet, went through a stage like this when he went through puberty. It started when he was about a year old and lasted for almost 7 months. Now, he's almost his usual 'sweet' self if you can call a mini tornado 'sweet'. However, since then he still doesn't want my hand in his cage, even to change water, feed or clean up. His home has become his castle. Outside his cage and even on his cage there is no problem. It's just getting that hand inside to get what you need without it getting ripped to shreds. I solved the problem by now wearing gloves whenever I have to get into his cage. He's learnt he can't hurt hurt me with the gloves on, but he's also smart enough to learn I'm vulnerable without them . . . and the little terror knows the difference. I agree with Macaw Guy about lowering the cage. Just be persistant, calm and loving and you will win her over . . . your parrot, I mean, not your girlfriend.

As macaw guy stated this may be because she is above your eye level and she thinks she is the boss do as mg said read and talk to her but keep her at eye level if she is higher than you this could spark aggressive behaviour towards you and your partner

hey kevin, welcome to the forum. can your GF handle her? will she step up for your GF? I'd get the GF to work with her first and get her good with stepping up and being able to enjoy being away from her cage. You can work with her when she's better socialized. I'd find a favorite treat that only you give her when the GF is not around. In fact i wouldn't do much with her when the GF is near. You should be able to make friends just don't be pushy. IRNs (and similar type birds) are more flock birds and don't bond to one person as bad as some of the others.Get the GF to help tame her and she should accept you.

My sun conure is this way with my husband. If he is on top of his cage and my husband approaches the cage, he will run and lunge to bite him. He also does this with my 2 older children, however my youngest is 13 and I can handle this conure perfectly fine. we can pick him up right out of the cage whenever we want, i can even hang the bird upside down from my finger. I was gone for 10 days to guatemala and he then let my husband pick him up using a perch during the time he eventually allowed him to pick him up were he didnt need the perch; however the night i returned home my husband brought me the conure and he screeched and happily jumped on my shoulder, then he returned to his old ways with my husband lunging and attack mode... I have not figured it out yet, I did contact the specialize bird shop here and they told me conures sometimes like certain people and then dont want others touching them but I don't know if this is 100% true gosh i hope not my husband adores my conure but he can only hold him if i put him on his shoulder

From my experience, a bird does not attack just because it is higher up than you. They attack because they are threatened by you, period.

Be patient, your bird should come around.

Alex my Alexandrine is the same. But instead he hates all males.
He gets very aggressive when any male goes near him.
I can easily handle him. He will step up and everything.

She may just not like your gender?

She could be territorial of her cage, you could try getting her to step up onto a perch. Clicker training would also help, and it would be easier to handle her in neutral territory where she cant see her cage. also if your girl friend puts sugar, honey or milk in her tea, it could be harmful to your parrot. good luck

Max, my Alexandrine, will go to anyone... I live alone, and only see my family every couple of months, but Max is fine with all of them.. Max is turning 1 year old on the 28th of this month...

It is my understanding that "height dominance" -- the idea that a bird that perches higher than your head will consider itself to be your superior -- has been disproven. It was a very popular concept in dealing with problem behaviors a decade or so ago, and it has an appealing logic to it, but it's not consistent with how birds actually behave according to what I have read. In a natural setting, a more dominant bird will chase off other birds to get the perch it desires, but it isn't always the highest perch. It's more about who gets what they want than how high they perch -- but if you can't reach the bird in the cage, then you are at a disadvantage.

What I've heard recommended for a bird that strongly prefers one person in a household, is to have the less-favored person do all the routine chores, provide all the food, and be the route to out-of-cage time for a significant period of time while the favored person keeps their distance. I suspect this is easier said than done, however! We've certainly not implemented it in our household, and I don't really see my husband taking over the cage cleaning....

It could be a variety of issues. Do these attacks happen all of the time or only when your girlfriend is around?
How old is the bird?
Sounds like he is defending his space and possibly sees her as his "mate" but that is a giant guess based on very little information.


I have said this before to others, but look into ABA (applied behavior analysis) -- I swear I am not a paid sponsor of this method lol but I talk about it all the time because it works.

Here is a repeat summary that I posted for another member:
Basically, ABA it is changing the environment to change behavior
These environmental changes can increase or decrease any behaviors (good or bad).
Theoretically, every behavior serves at least 1 of 4 functions (some behaviors are dual function but that gets tricky):
1. Escape (to get out of something or avoid a non-preferred situation (If a bird bites to make people go away)

2. Tangibles (to get a physical object/food etc- if a bird throws a fit when you eat donuts and the bird loves donuts, then it can be assumed that it is doing it to get the donut, especially if it doesn't throw a fit when it already has a donut)

3. Sensory (to meet a sensory need, such as making a headache go away or decreasing anxiety via feather plucking, or burning off energy)

4. Attention (to get attention from people in general or certain people---Remember-- some birds and kids will take ANY attention (even if you think that you are punishing them by yelling, you could actually be reinforcing the behavior via attention)..behaviors such as screaming, biting, dancing etc could all fall here DEPENDING ON WHAT HAPPENS NEXT (REACTIONS). Similarly, when you respond to desired behaviors (like stepping up) with attention and those increase, then you are using the birds desire for attention to your advantage and that is the goal.

Unless you chart out what happens before and after a behavior, it can be difficult to differentiate what is actually going on. Sometimes, escape behaviors may come off as attention seeking behaviors etc. That is why you have to find patterns and think very objectively about your own role in the behavior (good or bad).
Start by keeping a log (ABC LOG). This will show you trends in behavior. You can even set up a laptop or phone to videotape events when aggression is anticipated and then go back and chart it. It is very hard to track in real-time (esp. when it is just you and the bird)
Antecedent= what happened right before an event (e.g., walked into the room with Bob and fed the bird. Bob extended his hand to remove a dish);
Behavior= describe exactly what the bird did without emotion (e.g., eyes pinned, lunged at Bob's forefinger)
Consequence= What happened right after the behavior- it is important to note that this isn't the same as a "punishment" (although it could be)---it is merely the reactions/results that follow. (e.g., Bob removed his forefinger OR Bob ran away OR Bob yelled OR Bob presented the bird with a treat to get it back into its cage OR Bob sang a song)

Once you have observed and have started to see trends, try to isolate the function of the behavior.

Once you think you know, put the bird in a situation to test your hypothesis---

Reinforcers MUST match the 4 functions (attention, escape, tangible and sensory).
You can tell you have isolated the reinforcer when the presentation or removal of that reinforcer INCREASES a specific behavior (depending on the behavior).

EXAMPLES:

A. Bob has a fit at the grocery store and mom yells at Bobby. Bob continues to cry and fits increase over time. The reinforcer (yelling-although undesirable in his mom's eyes) is the attention he seeks and it is the motivating factor behind the undesired behavior. How do we know? It caused the behavior to increase.
B. On the flip side, same situation (store and Bobby)- Bobby throws a fit and mom takes him to the car. Fits increase. This is an example of escape motivated behavior. He doesn't want to be at the store and when he yells he gets out of an uncomfortable situation. Again, mom might think of going to the car as a bad thing, but if it increases the behavior, then it is escape motivated and reinforcing to Bob.
C. Alternately, Bob has a fit and demands chocolate. He keeps screaming until mom eventually gives in and buys him the chocolate (tangible). Now Bob demands chocolate every time they visit the store.
D. Finally, Bob touches everything as he and his mother walk down the aisles (despite her insistence that he stop). He does this even when she ignores the behavior. Barring attention---assuming this is NOT a dual function situation, then sensory would probably be the best bet.
Some bird-related examples:

A. if the bird doesn't exhibit this behavior when it is getting 1-on-1 attention from someone, then the goal/function is attention (regardless of the type of attention). If the behavior starts when attention is withdrawn then again, attention is the reinforcer.

B: If the bird only does it when desirable objects are around and will actively work to get those objects, then it is reinforced by tangible items. For instance, if a bird cusses and gets a cookie and you observe that suddenly the bird is cussing like crazy it is because its behavior was successfully reinforced by the cookie (hence the increase in behavior).

and so on

note: When testing to see if you have isolated the correct reinforcer, it is important to be as neutral as possible when presenting tangible items to make sure that it is actually the item and not just your attention that is motivating the bird.

For every non-desirable means of obtaining the 4 functions above, there are reinforce socially acceptable alternatives that meet the same innate need. If a bird seeks attention, your reward for that bird MUST BE attention (not food, not a toy, but attention from the source it craves)---You may have to actively ignore attention-seeking behaviors that are bad and pay special attention/pour on the praise when good. You want to strengthen the good by providing reinforcement and weaken the bad by avoiding reinforcement.

ALL TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT MUST INCREASE A BEHAVIOR!!!

2 TYPES:

Positive reinforcement- The presentation of a stimulus that reinforces a behavior (+ attention, +tangibles, +sensory, +escape)
Negative reinforcement- The removal of an aversive stimulus that STRENGTHENS a behavior. THIS IS NOT PUNISHMENT-- Negative refers to the removal of something undesired in order to increase behavior.

Exp (negative reinforcememt): If you eat 1 more bite or your pizza, you don't have to eat your spinach (meets function of escape by removing (-) the spinach); OR If you get a 90% or higher on your math quiz you don't have to do homework for the rest of the week (meets function of escape by removing the homework) OR when you stop crying you can come inside where it is warm (lol--I don't do this....just popped into my head).
Once you know what need the bird/kid is trying to meet, you have to teach them how to meet that need in a more acceptable way, or provide structured times for them to meet that need without causing trouble.
For instance- a bird that screams for attention probably also talks at times or makes quieter noises, maybe it could even be taught to ring a bell instead of screaming. Whatever your preferred alternative to the screaming, your reward will be attention (if it does what you like + attention, if it screams -attention). When the bird screams, attention is withdrawn but when the bird says, "hello baby" you come in a pour on the praise.
This reinforcement must immediately follow the desired behavior. This strengthens the likelihood that the bird will begin using alternatives to screaming once he realizes screaming isn't going to work because ultimately his goal is attention and he doesn't care how he gets it.
After you know the function and have replacement behaviors + reinforcers isolated, then you can start teaching. The way you teach will depend on the type of behavior.

When dealing with a complex behavior (of chain of behaviors) I would use forward or backward chaining to teach a set of steps.

Examples of these types of behaviors in humans= buying a soda from a machine, ordering food at a restaurant, making a bed, greeting a peer appropriately, brushing teeth, responding to a compliment, requesting help from a teacher appropriately etc.)

With regard to chains of behaviors in birds, forward chaining is likely the way to go, but before you can teach the steps, you need to isolate the motivation for the behavior. In order to TEACH the new behavior, you need to know how to properly meet the function of the old/bad behavior and that function will need to be used as a reward of some sort during the forward chaining teaching process.
I would start before the behavior even begins- figure out the antecedents/triggers.
Also, "setting events" are things that can make a certain behavior more likely and those would be things like , "didn't get enough sleep", "had a cold", "returned from vacation"---so there are environmental (cage position, unfamiliar objects, height in relation to eye-level) and setting events to consider, then the actual things that happen right before (antecedents) and after (consequences/results/effects) the behavior.
Applied Behavioral Strategies - Basics of Applied Behavior Analysis
https://my.vanderbilt.edu/specialedu...Management.pdf
https://www.gvsu.edu/cms4/asset/64CB422A-ED08-43F0-F795CA9DE364B6BE/chaining.pdf

Noodles this thread is 6 years old

hahah!




I replied to it when it showed up on new-posts...I had no idea it was so old!



Good call!