Benjamin nailed me good...

[strudel]

Excuse my ignorance, but how badly hurt is your finger? All this talk of gnawing and scissoring sounds really bad.

 

[Carabella]

Excuse my ignorance, but how badly hurt is your finger? All this talk of gnawing and scissoring sounds really bad.

My index finger is sliced in a few places, but it'll be fine. He drew blood, but not badly enough for stitches. I used my mother's old remedy... gushing from an artery? Meh... here's a butterfly bandage. lol

 

[Dopey]

Yep - gotta say - i learned like you did - the hard way - 10 is too late for them. Cover the cage and just let them go to sleep or just give them beak rubs through the bars watching their mood the whole time.

Amazon's grind when they bite...unless they are beak pressure trained...which mine isn't.

 

[Carabella]

Yep - gotta say - i learned like you did - the hard way - 10 is too late for them. Cover the cage and just let them go to sleep or just give them beak rubs through the bars watching their mood the whole time.

Amazon's grind when they bite...unless they are beak pressure trained...which mine isn't.

Thanks, D... I was overly confident. That's when they always suck us in. :09:

 

[Birdman666]

Yep - gotta say - i learned like you did - the hard way - 10 is too late for them. Cover the cage and just let them go to sleep or just give them beak rubs through the bars watching their mood the whole time.

Amazon's grind when they bite...unless they are beak pressure trained...which mine isn't.

YEP, they sure do! And that's why they are the most likely to inflict degloving injuries... Get in with that egg tooth and grind back and forth, strips the flesh right off a finger!

Still, I only have two sets of stitches in all my years of working with the biters, and both were from macaws. So, none of my zon bites, and there were plenty of those, have been anything requiring more than a band aid.

Still hurts... just no lasting damage. And no medical bills.

 

[Carabella]

Not to mention possible face gouges. Like I've said, my husband nearly lost a chunk of his lower lip 32 years ago, thus learning the lesson not to kiss a bird with raging hormones. :/
He took hold of his mandible and squeezed, but not before the damage was done. He was lucky he only has a jagged scar and not a crater.
When our house in MD was up for sale I made up a sign so people with children were warned up front that they could talk to him but not go near. If a bird can crack a Brazil nut, they can take a child's finger off!
Macaws are beautiful, but those beaks scare the bejeebus out of me.

 

[Birdman666]

Speaking from experience -

Years ago, a middle aged woman was teasing a military macaw that had taken an interest in the great big rock on her finger... so she was waiving her ring around in front of the bird and teasing him with it.

BAD IDEA!!!

The bird got the ring. The finger became the puzzle toy. Macaws cheat at puzzle toys.

The lady's finger ended up in an ice bucket. Good news is it was successfully surgically reattached.

My greenwing has SIGNIFICANTLY more bite pressure than that military does... Remember, the other day she snapped a metal hinge holding her cage door in half!

So, Yeah... they can.

The worst facial injury I ever saw was a displacement bite from a shouldered CAG. Put his beak through the soft part of a cheek and was pushed off the shoulder with the beak in the woman's cheek. It sliced it open from jawbone to lip. Facial reconstructive surgery time! That bird was sweet and loving, it just didn't belong on a shoulder because the bird displacement bit...

Didn't even have to tame that one! Just had to train it to stay on a hand instead of going on a shoulder. Took MAYBE two days...

Saw a similar injury though it was more like a hole, from a B&G rescue I did. (The guy called me up and told me to get the bird out of his house by the time he got home from the hospital or he'd kill it!) Sadly, I had that bird socialized and bite pressure trained in six weeks, just as docile as they get... IT WAS A TRAINING ISSUE!!! NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED!!! AND A NOT TAME, NOT BITE PRESSURE TRAINED BIG MAC DOES NOT BELONG ON A SHOULDER, ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE ARE THINGS IN THE HOUSE SPOOKING THE BIRD OUT OF HIS FRIGGIN' MIND!!!

IT WASN'T THE BIRD'S FAULT....

Kissing a hormonal hot 3 during breeding season - even though I've done it myself lots of times, is not particularly smart. Sooner or later something is bound to happen...

 

[Dopey]

Didn't even have to tame that one! Just had to train it to stay on a hand instead of going on a shoulder. Took MAYBE two days...

Mark - how do I do that in two days? Yeti jumps/flies over my hand every time.

Jingle is getting better at staying on the lower arm. Is it okay to let him go up on the shoulder at any time? He then usually crawls up to the couch.

 

[Birdman666]

Yep - gotta say - i learned like you did - the hard way - 10 is too late for them. Cover the cage and just let them go to sleep or just give them beak rubs through the bars watching their mood the whole time.

Amazon's grind when they bite...unless they are beak pressure trained...which mine isn't.

Thanks, D... I was overly confident. That's when they always suck us in. :09:

Yep.

That's how Woody gave me my second set of stitches. Very nearly lost a finger that time. He was a sweet bird who didn't know his own strength, and wasn't bite pressure trained... I was scratching his head, and turned to get him some fresh water. He grabbed my finger just to keep me from walking away, and his beak literally sunk in to the bone...

100% my own carelessness. I didn't hold it against him. We kissed and made up afterwords:



Bite pressure trained him first, obviously!



He was Sarah's lap bird BIG TIME!!!

 

[Dopey]

I've never seen oven mits work. It has the opposite affect. Big scarey thing coming at me. I don't know what it is, but I'm gonna defend my nest!

What I have done, however, is to wrap the towel around my arm, giving them no skin to grab ahold of, and stepped them up onto my arm without the stick, using the towel for protection. If he bites the towel he goes to the floor, and best of all, it doesn't hurt!

How many layers of towel Mark? One layer of towel won't be enough Whisper.

 

[Birdman666]

I've never seen oven mits work. It has the opposite affect. Big scarey thing coming at me. I don't know what it is, but I'm gonna defend my nest!

What I have done, however, is to wrap the towel around my arm, giving them no skin to grab ahold of, and stepped them up onto my arm without the stick, using the towel for protection. If he bites the towel he goes to the floor, and best of all, it doesn't hurt!

How many layers of towel Mark? One layer of towel won't be enough Whisper.

I always used a big beach towel and wrapped it around 4-5 times until it was nice and thick. Then offered my forearm for step up.

 

[Dopey]

I can do that. Thanks!

 

[Birdman666]

Didn't even have to tame that one! Just had to train it to stay on a hand instead of going on a shoulder. Took MAYBE two days...

Mark - how do I do that in two days? Yeti jumps/flies over my hand every time.

Jingle is getting better at staying on the lower arm. Is it okay to let him go up on the shoulder at any time? He then usually crawls up to the couch.

I bend my arm at the elbow, and put my hand inbetween the bird, and my bicep. If the bird tries to climb over my hand, we switch arms. Pick the bird up when he's on your hand, bring the other hand over and block his path. It's just like basic step up laddering... it's the exact same technique!

If the bird tries to "hop the barrier" he finds himself on the floor... (Nice try. Didn't work though.) Now step up and we'll try this again... No shoulders! If I have to put the bird on the floor 20 times in a row, I will. But the 21st time, he'll stay put on my forearm.

After that, the signal is to put your hand in the way, and they know it means no shoulders. One or two days of being firm on this is usually all it takes, if you reinforce it consistently from there...

It's actually quite easy.

 

[Carabella]

Just as I'd never tease a dog I don't know, that rule applies to untamed birds whether you know them or not. Our two dogs love teasing, but I wouldn't trust them with a teasing stranger. Birds? They don't get our sense of humor. (haha)
I can't imagine how stupid this woman would have to be to pull a stunt like that. Then again I question my own actions that lead to the Sunday night bite. It's never the bird's fault. Humans make decisions with unintended consequences.
Back when my husband got Benjamin, he was 6 months old and socialized very well over the years. He would sit on his shoulder, they'd kiss, he was okay with other people. I'm just not sure Dave understood the Hot 3 concept at the time. Sadly, after being bitten so badly, the socialization stopped. So you had a hormonal young adult and a fearful owner. Now he's a mid to late age hormonal adult who still isn't socialized.
I think he's a happy little guy, if not content. Maybe it's my attributing human emotion to a bird with a brain the size of a walnut that makes me want him to live a more rounded life.

 

[Carabella]

Didn't even have to tame that one! Just had to train it to stay on a hand instead of going on a shoulder. Took MAYBE two days...

Mark - how do I do that in two days? Yeti jumps/flies over my hand every time.

Jingle is getting better at staying on the lower arm. Is it okay to let him go up on the shoulder at any time? He then usually crawls up to the couch.

I bend my arm at the elbow, and put my hand inbetween the bird, and my bicep. If the bird tries to climb over my hand, we switch arms. If the bird tries to "hop the barrier" he finds himself on the floor...

Now step up and we'll try this again... No shoulders!

If I have to put the bird on the floor 20 times in a row, I will. But the 21st time, he'll stay put on my forearm.

After that, the signal is to put your hand in the way, and they know it means no shoulders. One or two days of being firm on this is usually all it takes, if you reinforce it consistently from there...

It's actually quite easy.

Mark, I'm going to assume this is not something Benjamin would be ready for, right? He'd attack my hand right away.

 

[Birdman666]

Back when my husband got Benjamin, he was 6 months old and socialized very well over the years. He would sit on his shoulder, they'd kiss, he was okay with other people. I'm just not sure Dave understood the Hot 3 concept at the time. Sadly, after being bitten so badly, the socialization stopped. So you had a hormonal young adult and a fearful owner. Now he's a mid to late age hormonal adult who still isn't socialized.

I think he's a happy little guy, if not content. Maybe it's my attributing human emotion to a bird with a brain the size of a walnut that makes me want him to live a more rounded life.

And that tends to be EXACTLY the pattern with these guys... hot 3's and U2's were the MOST DUMPED parrot we had. We were overflowing with hot 3's during breeding season. And it really goes back to that pattern. No one wants an adversarial relationship with their pet... and that's what this sets up.

Someone gets bit badly. The bird doesn't get handled. He becomes cage bound and no longer tame, and in the case of Macaws, tends to get mad at the person who stuck him in the cage... And that's the end of it...

Once they become hormonal, you can still do that stuff with them in the "off season." But during breeding season it's not a good idea, because they can be unpredictable and moody. You have to be a lot more careful handling them during the season, and during hard molts.

Now, you're basically starting over with this bird. Basic socialization, taming and training.

 

[Birdman666]

Just as I'd never tease a dog I don't know, that rule applies to untamed birds whether you know them or not. Our two dogs love teasing, but I wouldn't trust them with a teasing stranger. Birds? They don't get our sense of humor. (haha)

My birds have a wicked sense of humor. And my CAG plays practical jokes on people...

Amazons and macaws are more slapstick in their humor. CAGS mess with your head...

I coulda sworn I heard the doorbell!

 

[Birdman666]

I can't imagine how stupid this woman would have to be to pull a stunt like that. Then again I question my own actions that lead to the Sunday night bite. It's never the bird's fault. Humans make decisions with unintended consequences.

She wandered in off the street, just to check it out. Had never been around birds before. Decided to start out with the big goofy macaws...

Lady, when a military macaw's face is turning that bright red?! That means what your doing is making him fuming mad... (It means something completely different when Zoe or Sweepea does it!) The big green ones? Nah, that's the opposite of cute and cuddly...

She learned about macaw bite pressure the hard way.

She really just did not have a clue. And uuummm... there was a sign saying DON'T STICK YOUR STUPID FINGERS IN THE FRIGGIN' MACAW CAGE, that had a picture of a macaw chomping down on a finger, and blood spurting out of the finger. With the universal symbol for DON'T on it...

So, yeah... I felt bad for her, but it was "kinda" her fault!

 

[Birdman666]

I think he's a happy little guy, if not content. Maybe it's my attributing human emotion to a bird with a brain the size of a walnut that makes me want him to live a more rounded life.

Actually, they are more emotional than we are on some levels, and they are empathic. They don't control theirs the way we do. They have the same IQ as a three to five year old child, and studies have shown them to be on par with an autistic child in terms of learning IQ.

They are also empathic, and amazons are the most sensitive of the bunch, in my opinion, because SO MUCH of their communication is through body language, and audio visual clues... they pick up on subtle things WE do that we aren't even aware we are doing, and with a "bonded" zon - they GET what that stuff means... And that's the most amazing thing about having a bonded bird in my opinion. They "read" us.

In fact the methods used to train Alex, are now being used to teach autistic children. It's one of the offshoot benefits of that research...

 

[Carabella]

Just as I'd never tease a dog I don't know, that rule applies to untamed birds whether you know them or not. Our two dogs love teasing, but I wouldn't trust them with a teasing stranger. Birds? They don't get our sense of humor. (haha)

My birds have a wicked sense of humor. And my CAG plays practical jokes on people...

Amazons and macaws are more slapstick in their humor. CAGS mess with your head...

I coulda sworn I heard the doorbell!

That's awesome! Benj giggles like a little goofball, laughs (like me) and wolf whistles to get attention. He has 6 words and phrases he uses pretty appropriately, but being an unsocialized bird, I'm not noticing true slapstick.