Best working anti biting methods

[Birdlover11]

Sprite, one of my budgies bites whenever he is on my hand, not Out of fear but more out of borement or curiosity . I tried the strict " no ! " with Small shake of hand, he would then do it again after 10 seconds. Any other method would not work. I think it's because that he doesn't know whether or not of my hand is food or not . It's soft but won't tear open. Is there any method to stop him from doing it out of curiosity ?

 

[MonicaMc]

Redirect his attention. If he's chewing due to being curious, then give him somethign to chew on besides your skin.

If he shows no interest in the item you give him, then try and find other items he does like playing with.


You don't want to discourage him from chewing. You want to encourage him to chew on items, but you want to make sure you encourage him to chew on appropriate things.

 

[Jtbirds]

A shake of the hand is correct, but a strict no or oww is a reaction and birds love that. So try a no with a hand signal like a finger up in the air. Distract him when he bites by shaking your hand and moving a finger then say knock it off or no. If the action happens i'd say more then 3 times without a sign of stopping put him directly in the cage for a 10-15 minute time out. let him out and repeat if the same behavior happens again. Reward all good reactions with a phrase or treat and disown the bad hopefully this may help=).

 

[MonicaMc]

A shake, twist or anything of the hand can potentially make a bird bite more rather than less.

Some birds may learn that you are not a trust worthy perch to sit on and will refuse to step up.

Other birds, rather than letting go, they'll bite down harder to try and stay on your hand.


I don't recommend it. I'm also not a fan of 'time-outs' in the cage.


Neither method works with *WHY* the bird is biting in the first place.

 

[Jtbirds]

A gentle shake is all I am saying just as a distraction not as let's make the bird completely off balance to the point he may fall. A slight distraction like the movement of a finger or a gentle shake.

As for the time outs not only me but many behavioral specialist highly recommend And praise time outs soo I do believe is work greatly and is extremely effect in a short amount of time if done routinely.


The time out works with why and other method works with preventing at the time of the bite. The time out works with correct punishment to change a behavior. If the question is the bird is biting because of a stimulant in its enviro don't then that is as simple as to try and remove the stimulation, but with no reason way corrective apprioate punishment will solve the issue in due time as parrots are smart enough to know what the punishment is being given for.

 

[NWQuakers]

A gentle shake is all I am saying just as a distraction not as let's make the bird completely off balance to the point he may fall. A slight distraction like the movement of a finger or a gentle shake.

As for the time outs not only me but many behavioral specialist highly recommend And praise time outs soo I do believe is work greatly and is extremely effect in a short amount of time if done routinely.


The time out works with why and other method works with preventing at the time of the bite. The time out works with correct punishment to change a behavior. If the question is the bird is biting because of a stimulant in its enviro don't then that is as simple as to try and remove the stimulation, but with no reason way corrective apprioate punishment will solve the issue in due time as parrots are smart enough to know what the punishment is being given for.

I've found the earthquake and time out combo to be effective in dealing with a parrot that bites out of naughtiness. It stops the biting immediately, then the time out does sink in as the wrong reaction for them. They do learn that biting = no people time and not biting = more people time.

 

[antoinette]

What works for me when Mishka began biting me.
I tried various methods, was never successful.
Some members might disagree, yet it works 100% for us.
When he attempts to bite me,
I tell him in a stern voice DON'T DO THAT then I immediately make a fist with my other hand, moving it towards his beak, asking him to say sorry.
He is not scared of my fist, does not try to bite it, and does not ruffle his feathers. He just lowers his head and says ohhhhh.

 

[Jtbirds]

What works for me when Mishka began biting me.
I tried various methods, was never successful.
Some members might disagree, yet it works 100% for us.
When he attempts to bite me,
I tell him in a stern voice DON'T DO THAT then I immediately make a fist with my other hand, moving it towards his beak, asking him to say sorry.
He is not scared of my fist, does not try to bite it, and does not ruffle his feathers. He just lowers his head and says ohhhhh.

This works great if the bird is respectable enough to listen. I would have mentioned the back of the fist as it cannot be bitten, I use the back of my fist when working with large macaws and cockatoos as I can make contact Them showing that it is ok to trust me without getting myself tore up.(I don't mind getting bite but I try to avoid it as it can decrease a relationship). Although this topic was about a parakeet so I found it kinda hard to do.

But I agree with this and find that it could work as well, bird lover be open to all ideas and use the one that works for your bird. With all my birds I use what works with them individual.

 

[MonicaMc]

Here's what one trainer says about the earth quake method. She did mention that she may use the method, but very rarely, and only as a last resort, if the alternative is worse. She'll use it once, then work on improving the behavior so as to avoid nips in the future.

Using the earthquake method doesn’t teach the bird what you really want it to do. Teach the bird to do something else, like target it’s beak to a stick. This way if you think you may see a nip coming while the bird is on you, ask it to touch the stick instead. This way the bird knows if it touches the stick, the reward is coming and you can direct the bird’s beak away from your arm. I would then ask the bird to step off of you so a nip isn’t accidentally reinforced.

A Question About an Issue with Nipping | Lara Joseph



BTW, I tried that fist idea, keep skin tight. I still have a bite mark where a ruby macaw nipped me. She was blind and on my arm. She was perfectly fine until she realized that she wasn't on the arm of her human (I spoke). That left a pretty nice bump on my left hand for a long while, and now I have two scars where her beak pinched my skin. Six years, going on seven later this year, and it's still there.

 

[cthulhus_minion]

The back of the hand works well on small parrots, I just got a cockatiel that is defiantly a biter and this works to well he can't bite, also works on IRNs and other small types. Not sure how big of a parrot it works with.

 

[Jtbirds]

i use the back of my hand on many behavioral cases that i get calls about. I travel in my state helping people with there parrots and it has always worked for me and i find it to be a great way to build a little trust and maybe even develop more.

As for the earthquake method i recommened it because he gave no reason as to why this guy was biting, if given a reason it would be easier to pin point how to stop it. he merely asked for a method to stop biting in the intsance it happened which would be the earthquake method. I only use it when a larger parrot usually amazon and up will indefientaly not let go of my arm, fingers, wherever they are biting. as they need to relase before i can work with the real issue. soo earthquake works in the instance till you find the cause of the biting and then you work with the true issue at hand. sometimes ive seen in macaws that are very rammy they just need to bite you once realize you are not afraid and then you have no issues, soo in thise case the earthquake will stop a large bite but not allow the bird to get a sense of reward. these are just my training opnions, they work for me and have for years. everyone will have varying degrees of how they work with there birds no one is right or wrong(some things are wrong i.e. hitting etc.)

 

[Devann]

What exactly is the back of the hand method???

 

[Jtbirds]

You use the back of your hand where your back hand meets your forearm.... Hard to explain over this lol. They can't really grab the back of your hand u less you let them get a knuckle or something, but it can be used to gain some trust as you can start to touch a more aggresive bird. This isn't for phobic or scared birds by any means, that is a whole different ball game.