Conure is want-biting

[RosieYasmin]

Hi everyone and happy new year!
I’ve been slowly getting my conures used to my hand in their cage (with a treat of course) and JD (instead of stepping up) will lean as far forward as he can and bite my hand to pull it closer. He doesn’t seem threatened at all, his body language is relaxed but he is so extremely keen on food he will bite my finger and draw blood.
How do I discourage him from nibbling/biting me?

 

[plumsmum2005]

Hi hun it sounds like he is not realising how much pressure he is using. Avoid being in this position. I think I would seperate the step up hand and the food. Reward after the step up. They need to explore your hands but I use words like nicely, gently, be nice, to mine to get them to be more gentle with their beaks. If he is a youngster then they are more full on and take a little time to settle down.

 

[chris-md]

My good friend hit on something important: teach your bird the appropriate amount of pressure.

Also, Simply fix this by finding another way to go about it.

If he’s...aggressively (for lack of a better word on your case)...using his beak as a third foot to grab treats the treats, don’t let him use his beak to pull it closer.

Think of it this way: you’ve reinforced this behavior. YOU...you’re responsible for this, and you don’t realize it. Whenever he bites, your hand comes closer and gives him the treats. You’ve taught him that biting a hand in the cage is how he gets treats! Change that associate quickly.

It’s similar to teaching a bird to NOT use his beak for step up. When he reaches with his beak, pull away. Only step up with the foot, reaching with the beak means hands disappear and no treats come.

So long as you are CERTAIN the beak reaching is to OBTAIN TREATS, when he reaches out with his beak, pull away! Only gentle behavior gets a treat.

But I’m also having a hard time imagining this. Is your hand just lingering in the cage? I alluded to it above when I said find a different approach, but if youre in a position where he can pull the treat towards him to begin with, you’re too close, or you’re teasing him. It doesn’t feel quite right here. Definitely change up your approach.

 

[fiddlejen]

Yes, bite-pressure training is what you want. Engage in gentle enjoyable beak-play (including, letting birdie chew on your fingers), and then gently teach that command-word "Be Gentle" means your hand will be withdrawn from reach (when biting becomes painful).

Remember they use their beak to explore the world, like a child uses its hands. In other words, you Want him to feel Free to NIBBLE on you, you want to encourage that. Then, the encouragement to Nibble is withdrawn when the nibble becomes a painful bite. Teaching "Be Gentle" lets him know what's wrong. And also, it helps prevent you from displaying anger; the words "Be Gentle" will act as admonition to You as well as to Birdie.

A month or so ago, I had accidentally given my Sunny a reason to bite me. A different reason occurred two days later, and from there she got confused and started Intentionally Biting me (to draw blood) when I would come to give her a treat. Well, since we did bite pressure training when I got her -- wow almost 2 years ago -- I had never dealt with this. This confused me, so I assumed "hormones," and FORGOT the "Be GEntle" command. For a week or so I was saying things like "Hey! Why are you Biting me?!!?" And she was drawing blood each time.

But the day I remembered the "Be Gentle" command -- she bit me; I held steady but firmly said "Be Gentle" -- she looked at me like, "OH! Okay." And she has not offered to bite me at all since then.

Bite Pressure Training,, with the command "Be Gentle" is the way to go.

 

[RosieYasmin]

Thank you so much everyone! I will give it a go