12 week old Galah nipping/biting?

[LemonLime]

I recently accepted a young Galah to handraise (it's a long story, I have handraised native birds before so don't come for me). It has been with me for about 8-9 weeks now & I didn't have any problems with it so far.
As recently as yesterday, it was screaming & flapping wings being all excited on my arm. Shortly after, it nipped me for seemingly no reason at all? I brushed it off even tho it happened again shortly after.
Fast forward to today: it bit me pretty hard - but not piercing skin yet. I held it's beak gently between my fingers & moved it around & just told it to stop. Right afterwards, the (now harder) biting continued. I tried putting it on one of it's platforms but it just keeps flying back to the chair I'm sitting in, climbing on to my arm & biting.
I'm not sure what that means?
I'm not new to bird bodylanguage & pretty sure I haven't repeated something it might've disliked?
Is it just excited?
Am I enabling it by holding the beak after biting, since it might enjoy it?

Any ideas are appreciated~
Thank you in advance

 

[TheofficialParakeet]

most handfed birds do this when they think they are/or are hungry..

 

[zERo]

Welcome to the forums!

I personally, wouldn’t grab his beak after he bites as some birds might think it’s a game or it may cause some birds to bite more.

I would set him on one of his platforms each time he comes over to bite, do this over and over.

I’d also recommend beginning training with him. Target training and trick training are mentally taxing and spend some of your birds energy.

 

[wrench13]

Biting, whether intentional or not, just over preening your skin or actually taking chunks of meat out - all are PAINFULL! In the wild that sort of behavior is not tolerated by the flock. They ostracize flock members who continue to act like that. We call it 'Shunning'. This WILL work, but needs to be done correctly to get the message across and it needs to be done IMMEDIATELY so the parrot can associate the bite with the shunning action. And it needs to happen every time and with anyone involved with the parrot.

When the bite or over preening occurs:

• Say in a forceful but not shouting voice "No Bite" or other endearments.
• Immediately place the parrot on a nearby, handy chairback. NOT the cage (that would only teach the parrot to bite when he wants to go back to his cage).
• Turn your back to him and ignore him for 1 minute. No peeking, no talking about or too him, NADA. NO eye contact. No less or the message is lost, no more or the bird will not associate the action with the bite.
• After a minute you can try to re-establish contact.

Rinse, repeat as needed. Most parrots get the message after a few times, some may need more. Also very important - make sure the bite is not your fault. Annoying your parrot, asking him to step up when he is otherwise preoccupied with eating or playing, bothering him during known moody times like mating season, or ignoring the warnings and body language of your parrot - these are bites that you deserve! Learn, and be a better parront !!