Grumpy, bitting, attacking Alex..

[carrlala]

hello, i've had my alex for about 2 weeks now and he is around 12 weeks old. He came to us a happy little guy, cuddly, smoochy and all but in the last 4 days he's started biting, attacking and not letting me near him. 5 minutes ago after trying all day to get him to come to me he climbed up to my shoulder and bit me on the cheek! Before that he would lunge at me and try to bit me.
I have 3 small children (2 of which are at home most days and are very energetic little boys who the bird doesn't really like) who can make a lot of noise so I try to spend more time with him at night when the kids are in bed otherwise he's hanging out in or around the cage but is still interacted with constantly.
The cage is below my eye level but above most of the kids. He was raised by a male and loves my partner but is still aggressive towards him.
He was hatched with another Alex which my neighbour brought after falling in-love with my guy, they bring him over and they hang out together in or around our cage. The last time they brought theirs over, he stayed the night. This is about the time the behaviour started. It was so unlike him that I had to double check they hadn't taken the wrong bird!
I assume it's come from the sleep over so I've put a stop to it.
Does anyone have any advice on how to stop it etc or what I can do to prevent it happening again?

 

[khaiqha]

Your bird is still really, really young and is probably scared of a lot of things. Really active children probably stress him out. I would work on getting him used to things that might bother him. For instance, you could come up with a feeding schedule where he's only fed when children are around. He may never like the kids, but he'll stop being stressed seeing them because he'll associate with food.

As for the bird play buddy, I think it's great he gets to see his sibling. Birds are very much social learners. If the other bird isn't very tame, that might rub off on your guy. But if it is tame, it would be great to have your bird learn from it.

My roommate had a budgie that after two months of training was only semi-tame. He got a cockatiel who was very friendly, and a month later so was the budgie. Neither enjoyed petting though. Then he got a conure, and next thing you know all his birds liked head scratches.

My irn taught them how to wolf whistle and do a few tricks, even though they hated each other. She also taught them to bathe with a mister. So even when birds don't get along, they learn from one another. Just be careful about bad behaviors too, as my irn taught his birds to scream.

 

[lene1949]

5 minutes ago after trying all day to get him to come to me he climbed up to my shoulder and bit me on the cheek!

You've been trying all day, and he must have sent you clear signals, that he's not interested... He's simply training you to read his body language...

You have only had him 2 weeks, and it seems to me you have been pushing yourself on him, rather than go at his pace...

Please step back at bit, and give him some choices...

Good luck with him...

 

[BradGC]

Our alex sometimes gets cranky after he hasn't slept well. Possibly when the other one stayed, although they had a great time, he's just worn out.

Also very true if you have been pushing yourself onto him. they love your company of you just being near them, talking, interacting etc, then let him want to come to you as a bonus, if not, just leave him for a bit