Aggressive Amazon

[TashO]

Hi All, I'm hoping to get some help with my Amazon Parrot and his behavior of late. Beau is a 7yo male amazon parrot, I have had him since he was a baby (I lived with his breeder, when she was having trouble finding him a home, he seemed to like me so my partner suggested I get him, which I did) we moved in with my family about 6 months later and all was fine as he was a baby, he enjoyed hanging out with my family although I was his main person. As time went on he didn't like certain things, like visitors to the house or children. He wouldn't attack them but he would attack me (biting), so he would stay in his cage when people would come over. One day I misjudged and while changing his water, he attacked my face and got my eye with his foot nail (it bled but I was okay), from then on obviously I was more hesitant with him, but he did start fly attacking me on some days, usually around hormone time, when it happened I would either put something he liked in his food bowl and he would go in and I would close his cage. Some days I would notice his mood before letting him out and he would not calm down enough to have safe out of cage time, so I would sit with him and interact that way.

Almost 2 years ago now, my partner and I moved out of my family home and into our own place, since then his aggression has been slowly getting worse. (My partner did live in our family home for a time and Beau got to the stage he was happy to be handled by him, I would still get attacked but I could usually figure out why, eg he was jealous, hormonal etc.) My partner does have a bird as well, she is a blue quaker, they two of them do not interact as she doesn't like Beau. So essentially it is me with Beau and my partner with his bird and we all coexist but the birds don't interact.
I work fulltime, so I usually uncover and get the birds ready for the day (fresh water/fresh food/a few morning scratches) around 6.30am, I leave for work, they stay in a sunny room with full windows so they can both see out. When I get home is when the problems are, some days I get home and I go to say hello and he lunges at the cage and tries to attack me, other days he seems okay and I'll let him out, offer some head scratches and he will try to bite/fly attack, other days I'll be scratching him and he will switch and bite, other days I'll scratch his head and then go to wheel his cage out in the loungeroom and he will attack while moving, other days, I'll get him out the the loungeroom and start doing some chores and when I turn my back he will fly attack my head. When this happens, I can't handle him at all, I have to get a blanket on my hand, he will fly attack the blanket, I'll cover him up and put him away in his cage. On most night's he will calm down at about 5.30pm-6pm, we all have dinner and he will get a little bit of mine, and then he will come out and be friendly (some nights he is still aggressive and I can't get him out at all) There some days none of the above happen and we have a good night, but those are becoming few and further between.
We have tried a number of things to stop his behavior, we have changed his cage to include more toys, tried changing his food to less fats and oils, we put him in a different room where he can see more of the world while I'm at work, training when I get home so we are spending quality time together, sitting in a different room of an afternoon so we get one on one time, leaving the radio on during the day, increasing his nighttime hours to 12 hours fully covered and in a quiet room, I'm now trying to keep the birds in separate rooms throughout the day to see if she is stressing him out. He is still eating, hasn't lost any weight, and on the night's when we have a good night he is completely back to his old self.

I have contacted a few parrot behavior specialists, but unfortunately they are too expensive for me. I have come here to see if there is anyone that can give some advice.

 

[nkrbkr]

Hi there! I’m sorry to hear you are struggling a bit with Beau. Quite often, aggression is associated with hormonal behavior. One of the biggest contributing factors to hormonal behavior in parrots (aside from regular seasonal factors) is diet. I know you said you’ve adjusted his diet to reduce fats, but what does his daily diet look like? Things like nuts, seeds, & fruit in a daily diet can all trigger hormones. Personally, I only use them as treats, and not at all in my birds’ daily diets.

Has Beau been to an avian vet to check his body composition (is he a healthy weight or overweight)? Sometimes it’s not necessarily just the food we’re feeding the bird, but the quantity. A large surplus of food in nature = time to make baby birds. Amazons love to eat, and are prone to being overweight.

Is it possible to use blackout blinds to make his space dark for sleep? Some birds can interpret their cages as a nest when cage covers are used, which again, can trigger hormonal behavior.

What kind of toys does Beau have? Anything shiny or reflective?

When spending time together & giving scratches, are you keeping petting to Beau’s head/neck?

 

[TashO]

Hi there! I’m sorry to hear you are struggling a bit with Beau. Quite often, aggression is associated with hormonal behavior. One of the biggest contributing factors to hormonal behavior in parrots (aside from regular seasonal factors) is diet. I know you said you’ve adjusted his diet to reduce fats, but what does his daily diet look like? Things like nuts, seeds, & fruit in a daily diet can all trigger hormones. Personally, I only use them as treats, and not at all in my birds’ daily diets.

Has Beau been to an avian vet to check his body composition (is he a healthy weight or overweight)? Sometimes it’s not necessarily just the food we’re feeding the bird, but the quantity. A large surplus of food in nature = time to make baby birds. Amazons love to eat, and are prone to being overweight.

Is it possible to use blackout blinds to make his space dark for sleep? Some birds can interpret their cages as a nest when cage covers are used, which again, can trigger hormonal behavior.

What kind of toys does Beau have? Anything shiny or reflective?

I think diet may be an issue, he has some foraging toys/interactive puzzles that have sunflower seeds, he also has a constant bowl of amazon specific pellets that are mixed with the avian "calm" pellets available. He gets fresh fruit/veg mix each morning (fruit and veg changes each week depending on what I get to keep things interesting), and then I usually will offer him some of my dinner when I am eating so we can eat together, usually I'll give him the veg I have cooked (peas, corn, sweet potato, potato, sometimes plain pasta). We do have blinds in the room they aren't black out, but they are pretty good. He does tend to vocalize when I put his cover on, I thought this was just due to him not wanting to go to bed, like a little kid.

He has a lot of wooden colorful hanging toys, some puzzle toys, foot toys and foraging toys. I was putting him in front of a mirrored wardrobe, I have recently realized that may be a problem and moved him, but his behavior isn't consistent with when I started putting him there for the day.


Thank you so much for your help!

 

[nkrbkr]

I think diet may be an issue, he has some foraging toys/interactive puzzles that have sunflower seeds, he also has a constant bowl of amazon specific pellets that are mixed with the avian "calm" pellets available. He gets fresh fruit/veg mix each morning (fruit and veg changes each week depending on what I get to keep things interesting), and then I usually will offer him some of my dinner when I am eating so we can eat together, usually I'll give him the veg I have cooked (peas, corn, sweet potato, potato, sometimes plain pasta). We do have blinds in the room they aren't black out, but they are pretty good. He does tend to vocalize when I put his cover on, I thought this was just due to him not wanting to go to bed, like a little kid.

He has a lot of wooden colorful hanging toys, some puzzle toys, foot toys and foraging toys. I was putting him in front of a mirrored wardrobe, I have recently realized that may be a problem and moved him, but his behavior isn't consistent with when I started putting him there for the day.


Thank you so much for your help!

You’re very welcome! I would definitely try cutting out any seeds/nuts/fruit from his daily diet, using them only as treats and for training, and see if that helps. You could try putting some of his pellets in his foraging toys instead. It’s a good idea to keep him away from the mirror, and anything else reflective. It might be worth a try to see if keeping his cage uncovered helps. I’d highly recommend blackout blinds. My lovebird was a total nesty and cage territorial mess when I was temporarily covering his cage for a few weeks. I was waiting for a sleep cage to arrive to put in a room with blackout blinds. Once we got him into the sleep cage setup at night, it was much better. I hope some of this helps, and best of luck!

 

[TashO]

You’re very welcome! I would definitely try cutting out any seeds/nuts/fruit from his daily diet, using them only as treats and for training, and see if that helps. You could try putting some of his pellets in his foraging toys instead. It’s a good idea to keep him away from the mirror, and anything else reflective. It might be worth a try to see if keeping his cage uncovered helps. I’d highly recommend blackout blinds. My lovebird was a total nesty and cage territorial mess when I was temporarily covering his cage for a few weeks. I was waiting for a sleep cage to arrive to put in a room with blackout blinds. Once we got him into the sleep cage setup at night, it was much better. I hope some of this helps, and best of luck!

I have read a lot about "chop" being provided as a daily food? do you think only giving pellets and nothing fresh unless through training?
We had a good day together yesterday, it was the first day I had taken him away from the mirror and had my partners quaker in that room and then him in the loungeroom next to a large window, I'm trying to pin point what exactly the change in the new house has been to trigger such a big difference in him. I thought as she is quite an energetic and loud bird, maybe during the day she is overwhelming or stressing him and then when I get home he is directing his built up energy to me.
Hopefully, I see an improvement today as well.

 

[nkrbkr]

I have read a lot about "chop" being provided as a daily food? do you think only giving pellets and nothing fresh unless through training?
We had a good day together yesterday, it was the first day I had taken him away from the mirror and had my partners quaker in that room and then him in the loungeroom next to a large window, I'm trying to pin point what exactly the change in the new house has been to trigger such a big difference in him. I thought as she is quite an energetic and loud bird, maybe during the day she is overwhelming or stressing him and then when I get home he is directing his built up energy to me.
Hopefully, I see an improvement today as well.

I think chop is great. I feed both my Amazon & lovebird a daily diet of roughly 50% chop (in the morning) and 50% pellets (in the evening). Their chop consists of healthy veggies/greens, cooked legumes, & cooked grains. There are lots of chop recipes available, and I believe there is a thread with some recipes on the forum as well. Keep in mind, if you’re changing your bird’s diet, do so gradually, and weigh him daily to make sure he is eating enough and not losing weight.

Parrots are such sensitive creatures, and sometimes these things are kind of trial and error to figure out what’s going on. They’re all individuals with their own personalities. I hope you’re able to figure out a balance for Beau, so things can be more peaceful.

 

[TashO]

I think chop is great. I feed both my Amazon & lovebird a daily diet of roughly 50% chop (in the morning) and 50% pellets (in the evening). Their chop consists of healthy veggies/greens, cooked legumes, & cooked grains. There are lots of chop recipes available, and I believe there is a thread with some recipes on the forum as well. Keep in mind, if you’re changing your bird’s diet, do so gradually, and weigh him daily to make sure he is eating enough and not losing weight.

Parrots are such sensitive creatures, and sometimes these things are kind of trial and error to figure out what’s going on. They’re all individuals with their own personalities. I hope you’re able to figure out a balance for Beau, so things can be more peaceful.

Perfect, I got a recipe for some chop and will make it up this afternoon for them. Do you have any ideas on how I should be reacting when he does dive bomb me? I am working on my confidence with him, as you can imagine at the moment I'm quite scared of him, I have watched videos and read a lot that you aren't meant to do all these things, but I don't know what I AM meant to do.
At this stage, if he tries to bite, I'll say no and walk away from him, often times he will then swoop/fly at my head, I flick him off my shoulder and wherever he lands I can't handle him, if I try we will just bite my hand or fly at my face, so I have to use a blanket to lure him in (he attacks the blanket) and then I put him away and talk to him calmly and get on with my chores.
Is there a better way I should be handling this?

 

[wrench13]

My 8 yr old amazon Salty went thru the mating season from Hell this year, he even started to pluck his chest, very unusual in amazons. The season lasted almost 9 months! But he is back to his old, loving self now and fethers have all regrown.
What I would do:

• Have his wings trimmed so he cannot fly to attack.
• Address his diet: No fruit, no sucrose bearing veggies like corn etc, limit nuts etc to treats. Good pellets and chop - the only food he needs.
• No touching except his head and adjacent neck
• 12 hrs of quit dark sleep
• NO MIRRORS!!
• Start using the "Shunning" method when ever he bites or attacks - see below.

It may take awhile for these to show results, weeks or even months. I make chop in batches and freeze it in 3 day lots in baggies.

On Shunning and biting
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 !!

 

[nkrbkr]

I have not had experience with very aggressive birds, so I can’t be of much help. That said, as mentioned above by @wrench13, be very aware and respectful of Beau’s body language and don’t unintentionally instigate biting behavior by interacting with him when he’s telling you to back off. Shunning will help too, when a bite occurs. I would also be cautious of using any towel/blanket/glove type of thing to put him back in his cage. It is easy to break trust with parrots, and can take quite some time to rebuild it. You can try using a perch to move him from point A to point B, if needed. I think most of all, the best way to avoid bites is by not engaging with your bird when he is telling you to let him be.

 

[wrench13]

Good point - the best bite is the one that doesn't happen!