11 month old Green cheek Conure

[jasongover]

I have an 11month old green cheek conure that likes to attack people he doesn't know and he's very sneaky about it. anyone else have this problem?
also my CCG has started biting my neck and skin on my knuckles and between my fingers and elbows.

Has any one had this problem or know if this is a Phase or something i'm done or not doing.
what do you guys do about a bird that bits? sometimes it's pretty hard

 

[roxynoodle]

It is probably the terrible 2's phase, but it's best to get a handle on it now. I would not let him on my shoulder. With some birds, including conures, when they are on the shoulder they think they are least equal to you, and want to try to dominate. A facial or ear bite can be a hard thing to deal with as well. So I would start there by only letting him on your hand, and holding him lower than your face.

Also when he bites, I would set him down on a play gym or in his cage for a moment. Once he settles, pay attention to him again, but the moment he bites, set him back down. He will learn eventually that biting gets him the opposite of attention.

You can try throwing off his balance a little with a hand wobble when he is about to bite, but my Nanday thought that was fun and would bite again to get another "amusement park ride".

You can also shove a piece of junk mail between his beak and your hand and try to get his eye. A look in the eye can do a lot to prevent a bite.

 

[Mamanda]

I posted a couple weeks ago a thread called "biting, biting, biting" or something like that. It was very full of helpful responses!

 

[jasongover]

thank you both he's/she a very sweet bird but sometimes he just tears into my neck and loves to pull my whiskers. I had been taking off my shirt and putting him on the couch alone for about 10-20mins depending on his energy level and he he would i wouldn't let him come to me during that time.

Mamanda thank you I'll look it up right now

thank you both for your replies this site has been a godsend

 

[JamesC]

This may sound a little silly but it worked wonders with my Senegal parrot. She had no trust of people but after working with her for a year she turned into a shoulder snuggling Velcro bird. Very gentle except for one thing. She wanted to yank out every hair of the mustache I had at that time. This went on for months and I was at a loss for how to get her to stop until one day I decided to imitate the fear noises she made when I tried to handle her early on. I must have done a fairly good imitation because the first time I did it she backed right off. Within a couple of days she had learned that yanking on the hairs caused me pain and she stopped. Instead she started to gently preen them. It was a remarkable change. I used that technique every time she did something that hurt or was undesirable and it usually stopped her within a few "squawks" every time. I suppose it would depend upon how well you can speak "bird" but it might be worth trying.