Biting and more biting

[sstotler]

I brought my new IRN, Clem, home 2 weeks ago. He was 11 weeks old. Every thread I read about biting seems to assume that your bird will step up. Mine does not. He shows no inclination toward stepping up. He is not what I would call afraid of me. He will take treats from my hand. He is interested in climbing onto my shoulder, which I cannot allow because of the biting, but otherwise gets close to me. How do I teach a bird not to bite who will not step up, or do I just back off entirely and allow him a lot more time. I appreciate any help, so thank you in advance.

 

[LadyE]

Is your idea of stepping up only on a finger or he won't stand on a hand at all? Mine never goes for finger, he comes to a hand, that's how he learned from the start and he usually goes first with beak like testing out if it's enough surface for him to stand on lol and after that immediately wants to climb up on a shoulder

 

[sstotler]

He will not step at all, not on finger, not on hand.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Try a stick/perch but gently does it, don't scare him. Are you a female that wears nail polish?

 

[LordTriggs]

try using a stick or even a perch. With the birds I have had it's how I taught them to step up. Just do it a couple times and make sure that you have a treat held in front of them in a way that makes them have to step up. They'll be more likely to climb up as it looks like a tree branch, you can then move your finger closer to the end of the perch as they get comfortable and eventually you can take the perch away.

Also be aware that your bird may just be scared of hands, some are so you would need to use a perch for the entire time you have them, just the way some birds are

 

[adz1984]

Takes time, for me it was a couple months, could be more or less for you..my alex was so aggressive in her cage and would never step up willingly, I believe that was her bluffing stage, it's important not to give up on him completely or show fear when he bites..
Some tips that worked for me; I used to clench my hand into a fist to protect my fingers, still bled around my hand abit but it helped me to never pull my hand away so she learns bite = nothing. I started by using my clothed forearm as a perch as less painful bites and she had no balance on my fingers when she was young.
Now shes very sweet steps up easily and never bites hard, I 99% trust her even when she nibbles on my eyelash

 

[sstotler]

Female but no nail polish.

 

[wrench13]

Calling AmyMyBlueFront - Jim..... Jim's BFA, who is 30+ yrs old, all of it with Jim, will only step up on a piece of branch. You must not give up, go back to ground zero if needs be, several times. Reason I say this, is that Ringneck can go back to the 'wild' state rather quickly, if left alone in a cage for a short period of time.

He obviously wants to be with you, you just have to figure out why he is not going to a finger or hand. Possibly he fell from a hand, or was roughly treated by a hand. You never know. What you go know is the little guy is likely confused a bit. SO you start from scratch. sit by his cage nd read to him, anything will do. Offer a treat tru the bar now and then. Oh BTW, find his most favorite treat - that is ONLYused in training, not other times. SO he will look forward to your 'sessions' with him for no other reason. After a week of ths, try getting him to step up on the hand held perch, or piece of branch, by offering the teat, but make it so the bird can only get to it by standing on the perch. A week of that, and try moving the perch outside the cage with him on it, offering the treat as you go. It may be a steady stream of treats, each bird is different. Lots of praise too.

Lets say that this works, but he grabs the outside of the door in tryin to get him out. That may require going back to stage one. But dont give up.
Ring necks can be so cuddley if they really trust the person. Dont rush anything, you have the rest of his life ( not yours) to learn this basic requirement (trick) . Good luck. Post lots off pics, we love them, and they can show us stuff that words leave out.

 

[Jottlebot]

I feel your pain! I found exactly the same and videos etc on YouTube seem to assume the same.

I'm 3 months into having a young Alexandrine and I've only just started to teach him step up and it's onto my wrist or arm not onto my hand. He has learnt lots of tricks/commands. He'll wave and spin and we're working on what I call "little wings" and "big wings" on command.

I think building that bond by trick training tricks that don't involve contact is really really important and I would suggest you start there. I can't recommend target and clicker training highly enough and there's loads of information on here and online about how to do it.

When I started " I step up" I only asked for it when he was higher than me and outside his cage. I did this to remove the chances of him biting because he was trapped - he could fly away and also to reduce the chances he would bite out of fear - because he was "the boss". It's working for me. I initially used the target to get him to step up.

He did start to bite my arm and then hand a couple of months ago. I think it's testing, he only does it when he's actually on me, but I haven't tried to get him to step up before so he didn't have the opportunity to bite me to make me go away.

He has been happily flying to me on command for a few weeks, even if I'm just a jump or one flap away, this seems different in his head than stepping up.