Biting / Nipping

[JamieRow89]

Now 9 month old GCC, was parent reared and completely hand shy, over the past months mainly through the use of food and lots of patience he is gradually getting used to hands.. Before he would only come near my hands if i had food and would take it and quickly run away, now he will let my hand near him without any food but insists on biting / nipping at me.. Is this progress or is him biting me a step backwards?

 

[Mudkips]

Unfortunately he still doesn't trust your hands. At a GGC's size you have to imagine your hands as separate entities from the rest of your body.
At first he thought your hands were unpredictable and scary, now it sounds like he thinks they are less scary, enough that he can attack to defend himself. Defend himself from what? Well it looks like he still thinks your hands are unpredictable, which is something he doesn't like to be anywhere near. I think trust is what you need to work on with your bird.

 

[MonicaMc]

I would say that biting is a step back, as you don't want a bird biting you. It's one thing if they are exploring with their beaks and nip a little too hard, it's another if they are biting out of fear or another response.


It does help to make your hand an extension of whatever the bird is sitting on, then continually rewarding the bird for coming closer to you, touching you with a foot, putting a foot on your hand, and eventually putting both feet on your hand. This can be a slower process, but should be done at the birds pace. You do not want to get bitten, nor do you want to reward a bird from biting. If you get bit, then stop, take a moment to consider why and take yourself and the food away from the bird. You don't have to take yourself away for more than 3-5 seconds before trying again. You can see how Barbara Heidenreich used her hand in the beginning of this video to make her hand an extension of the perch.



[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kMHEi67YGk"]Step Up Training with Black Headed Caique at Rodies Feed & Pet Supply - YouTube[/ame]

 

[kimn818]

I would say that biting is a step back, as you don't want a bird biting you. It's one thing if they are exploring with their beaks and nip a little too hard, it's another if they are biting out of fear or another response.


It does help to make your hand an extension of whatever the bird is sitting on, then continually rewarding the bird for coming closer to you, touching you with a foot, putting a foot on your hand, and eventually putting both feet on your hand. This can be a slower process, but should be done at the birds pace. You do not want to get bitten, nor do you want to reward a bird from biting. If you get bit, then stop, take a moment to consider why and take yourself and the food away from the bird. You don't have to take yourself away for more than 3-5 seconds before trying again. You can see how Barbara Heidenreich used her hand in the beginning of this video to make her hand an extension of the perch.



Step Up Training with Black Headed Caique at Rodies Feed & Pet Supply - YouTube

How can you tell the difference between exploring with their beak and biting out of fear?

 

[Abigal7]

Does the conure run away or make frightful sounds? Are the bites hard or causing bleeding? Are the bites quick or does he take his beak to your hand and keep it there? Monica has given good advice on what to do to build the bird's trust.

 

[MonicaMc]

In addition to what Abigal said....

When a bird bites out of fear, the bird would be leaning away and trying to avoid the situation. They bite as a 'last resort' and would prefer to avoid the situation rather than to confront it. If you find that a bird is biting from fear then you need to back off and give the bird time to settle. Then work *slowly* with the bird and reward the bird for showing interest in you and treats from you. This basically means *DON'T CHASE THE BIRD!*. I know that many owners when they get a new bird they instantly want to interact with the bird, but some birds need time to settle in before they are ready to have any physical contact with a person, and if that's the case you just need to have patience and take things slow.


When a bird is biting out of curiosity, they show no behaviors of being afraid. In fact, it looks like they are exploring. Parrots don't have hands and they explore a lot using their beaks. They will often 'test' things using their beaks and may apply different pressure to what they are checking out. You don't want to "ignore" this behavior, and likewise, you don't want to discourage it, either! If you ignore the behavior, the bird mite bite harder and harder until something happens. If something happens and it ends up being a scary experience for the bird, you can set taming progress back with the bird. If you discourage the behavior, then the bird may not learn to investigate new toys or objects. You actually *WANT* them to explore! But you need to teach them what is and is not appropriate to chew. If he shows signs of being interested in chewing on you, then give him something else to chew on instead! Try plastic/wooden beads, pieces of vegetable tanned leather, bottle caps, maybe some food/treats twisted up inside a paper cupcake holder, or other things of potential interest to the birds! Heck, you could even get some plastic straws, cut them up, align the straws together and tie them in the center. Once you do that, you can then stuff the ends of the straws with food and you've got an instant foraging toy!



When you see an undesired behavior, instead of asking yourself "How do I stop this behavior?", instead ask yourself "What do I want my bird to be doing instead of this behavior?"

The difference is, that instead of teaching your bird to "do nothing", you teach them behaviors *to do* instead of behaviors you don't want them to do. As you continue to reward the bird for desired behaviors, they are more likely to do the desired behaviors over undesired behaviors.



Here, this post from Barbara may help!


Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: How to Make Friends with a Parrot

 

[MamaFuzz]

I definitely think you've made progress. IMO your little guy needs some work on learning bite pressure. He obviously learned what was acceptable pressure to use with his family but everything else could to be bit as hard as he could until something happened. Pretty much he should get a no or be nice along with the stink eye when he uses his beak too hard. He then gets ignored for a little bit before you try again. Don't forget to praise and reward good beak behavior.