Biting birdie

[burdymum]

I recently acquired a Quaker parrot from a friend. A family member who the bird belonged to injured the bird at some point. The bird bit him then he retaliated by clipping his beak with nail clippers. Now the bird will only let me touch him with a glove on. How do I gain his trust again?

 

[BirdyBee]

I recently acquired a Quaker parrot from a friend. A family member who the bird belonged to injured the bird at some point. The bird bit him then he retaliated by clipping his beak with nail clippers. Now the bird will only let me touch him with a glove on. How do I gain his trust again?

Poor bird Gaining his trust will take some time since he appears to have been abused by previous owners...

I think this will be useful:

Tips for Bonding and Building Trust

Parrots rarely bite each other, because they convey their feelings beforehand or fly off to avoid physical contact. If it feels cornered and frighten then need to bite will be from the natural instinct of self -preservation. The cage is the Parrot safe haven and any attempt to enter, add or...

www.parrotforums.com

 

[SunConureBaba]

Damn this is a crime. Do not ever retaliate a little bird. IDK if the beak can grow back or not.

If your bird sleeps in a dark and quiet place and still has his eyes closed during the day often, I consider that a warning sign, he might be sick.

End of this March my son (sun conure) was going through his puberty. He hated the radiation from phone calls. He once aggressively bite my hand while I was making a phone call, and he ripped off a chunk of flesh from my hand. I didn't punish him but put him back into his cage. 3 months+ later, there is still a scar on my hand, I'm cool with it accompanying me for the rest of my life though.

Around 10 days ago I adopted a red factor sun conure of 3-4 years old. He used to be owned by a breeder. He lost his mate at some point and according to the breeder, he started biting around then. He would put on a thick glove every time he grabbed the sun or replaced food / water. And the sun would attempt to bite him every time.

This is a difficulty case, similar to my red sun. What I did was giving him enough space for a few days after he arrived at my place. I hand fed him kiwi and pellets through the cage, so he could get used to my hand. A few days later I would put my hand near him doing nothing, to let him know that my hand is not dangerous. Try not to grab him until he trusts you. He didn't bite me at all during the first week. Now he can do step up and down my shirt / shoulder. He is still afraid of hands a little, but he is doing much better. He sometimes gets protective of his food bowl and showed a little aggression trying to bite my hand. I either back off and told him no, and then approach the bowl with my hand again, so he wouldn't bite.

He did bite my hand once or twice cuz I was being impatient trying to get him out of his cage to get some exercise. It was much weaker than my son's bite He always wanted to stay in his cage and not moving, and he is way overweight (estimate body weight > 200 g) from eating moldy seeds at previous owner's place. He could barely fly. Now I'm getting him fresh food and more exercise.

 

[burdymum]

Archie seems to be happy. He will step up if I’m wearing a glove. He’s probably scared of a hand because of what happened to him.

 

[HeatherG]

I recently acquired a Quaker parrot from a friend. A family member who the bird belonged to injured the bird at some point. The bird bit him then he retaliated by clipping his beak with nail clippers. Now the bird will only let me touch him with a glove on. How do I gain his trust again?

Thank you for taking in this birdy who clearly needs a safe home.

I hope the photo just caught him at a sleepy time and he’s normally more alert than that?

I despise people who hurt birds. Poor baby.

Lots of treats, offered through cage bars or open door, are a good way to start. Reading him stories or even the newspaper of singing silly songs also does wonders.

I have had a cold for a week plus and my Quaker is kind of mad at me. We will have to start over with this stuff for a bit. I’m sure he’ll get over it, but it makes me sad anyhow.

 

[HeatherG]

How is this bird doing? Is he ok? I hope so.

 

[clark_conure]

Quakers are by nature hand shy......I always recommend wearing a long sleeve shirt and pulling the cuff over the hand, I did at first. It will wear off after a bit and you shouldn't have to wear a glove anymore. I'm not saying next week, could be months but eventually it will figure out you're nice and will trust you.