HELP needed for GCC that has become aggressive to my 7 year old som

[Aerial]

Hello,
I need help, a friend of mine bought my son a hand raised GCC last May, his hatch day is March 19th so we just celebrated his first birthday.
The last few weeks he has become aggressive with my son and flies at him and bites him...HARD.
It seems to be when he’s playing pretend making animal noises or laughing. Sometimes it seems to be for no reason.
He has done this to my husband before, but he’s grumpy sometimes and kind of has “bad energy” so that made sense to me.
But I can’t have him biting my son. He never does this to me or my 4 year old daughter who is way more wild and has worse birdmanship (or whatever it’s called) than my son. She even grabs him sometimes and it makes me cringe but he puts up with her shenanigans just fine.
The only thing that changed significantly other than his age or hormone season is that my son was homeschooled until Christmas and then went back to public school and would come home tired and grumpy sometimes and spent less time with the bird until this COVID situation.
I’m pretty bonded with this little birdie, I totally adore him. I also bonded with his best friend who is a very chatty budgie. We’re best buds.
Was it. Mistake for me to spend so much time with my kids’ birds?

I really need help, I can’t have him biting my son and I LOVE him.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Sara, Forest & Aerial (the Conure!)

 

[SailBoat]

Sorry that your Thread had been missed!
And, it's a difficult behavior subject because it involves a child.

As a general point, young children and Parrots are a difficult combination as children are more hands-on and less attentive to the emotional state of the Parrot. Early Spring time can be stressful on Parrots as they enter Hormonal Season.

Point being, you need to be ever more involved in their activities.

 

[T00tsyd]

I am just bumping this up in the hope of getting some advice. Hang in there.

 

[Aerial]

Thanks to both of you. We were just playing monopoly and my son laughed and the bird flew off my shoulder and bit him on the wrist.
I’m always here with them but not fast enough apparently. He’s a very sweet boy and he loves the bird so I hope we can get through this.

 

[T00tsyd]

Ok I see that no-one else has arrived yet so here is my two penny worth. I had hoped for someone more experienced.
Parrots choose their person rather than the other way around. Yours has reached puberty quite possibly and has raging hormones so you have to be careful how you interact with him. DO NOT pet him anywhere other than his head. Do not allow shoulder privileges until he learns that biting is not acceptable. While there is any chance of his biting your son I would not let him out while your boy is around. It's simply not fair on him.
It may be that your bird has bonded with you as his choice, he will therefore see anyone else as a threat to his relationship with you. You need to make it very plain that the relationship between you is one of parent/child not best friends.
A sudden laugh/noise from your boy may well have caused an attack by the parrot as he saw a potential danger or he simply views your boy with jealousy . Even affection between you and your son or even your daughter or husband can be viewed as a threat by a parrot who views you as his property. His natural recourse is to bite the offender but he could actually start biting you through frustration.
So, remove the situation. Then start training. Don't allow him on your shoulder. ignoring him is the way to make him understand that his behaviour is wrong. So if he goes to bite or even beaks you with more pressure than is acceptable say a strong NO, try not to flinch or react at all and put him down somewhere neutral like the back of a chair or even on the floor and ignore him for 10 minutes. Don't speak to him or even look at him - he is a naughty toddler - he will get the message. He will come back to you chastened but keep repeating it if he steps out of line.
Look up target training and keep his mind busy, but most of all don't let a situation occur where he can be allowed to bite the kids. As you rightly said he is too quick. The other thing you might need to figure out is learning his body language. They give physical signs that will say - don't touch me, I don't like you, I am not comfortable - you need to watch him carefully. The lovable little baby ball of feathers has disappeared for a while and it will drive you crazy. He will return but this is the time to put things right for the future.
It will come right, read read and read other threads with the same problem - there are many. Hormones happen x2 per year but this is the worst because he doesn't understand what's happening. Keep asking questions too that's how I learned.

 

[noodles123]

Well, there is a lot that could be going on here but $10 bucks that most of it all ties back to puberty AND the fact that you cannot treat him in the same way that you may have when he was a baby. That doesn't mean there is nothing you can do though! His perspective on the world is changing so you have to understand his motivations to change the behavior (much of which is connected to everyone else in the household).

First--- mitigate hormonal influences and get rid of triggers:
1. remove all snuggle huts, tents, caves and hammocks from his cage and don't let him hang out in bedding, under cloths, in boxes etc.
2. Pet on the head and neck only.
3. 10 hours of sleep on a schedule each night.
4. Make sure he is getting plenty of activity and enrichment/ things to do

***This is normal---all birds go threw a rough patch at puberty BUT with appropriate responses, you can adjust to these changes****

From there, I would recommend Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Start by making what they call an ABC chart (antecedent= what happens right before the bird's behavior, behavior=what the bird does, c= consequence =what happens right after the behavior (good or bad---consequence is just the RESULT and it doesn't mean consequence in the same way that we sometimes think of a consequence).

In the scenario you gave above:

Antecedent= Son laughed while you were playing with him and bird was on you.
behavior= bird flew off and bit son on lip.....You didn't say what happened next, but that would be the consequence.
consequence= WHATEVER YOU AND YOUR SON DID=== did he cry? Did you yell? Did your son leave the room? Did you put the bird back on the cage? Did you stop playing Monopoly? All of these things are really important because all behaviors serves a purpose. People and animals only do things because we are rewarded in some conscious or subconscious way by the results of the behavior. This is called the "function" of a behavior (the reason we do it). A behavior can have more than one function, but all behaviors fall into 1 of 4 categories:

1. Escape (to get out of a location, get away from a person, avoid a task/activity etc)
2. Attention (to get attention from humans or animals which may include eye contact, yelling, laughter, increased proximity, scolding etc)
3.Tangibles- to obtain a physical item---e.g., a kid throwing a fit to get candy at the grocery store or hitting another kid to take their toy. Heck---working for a paycheck also falls into this realm.
4. Sensory= eating when hungry (to stop the hunger), taking a pill for a headache, scratching your skin because it itches, crying as a response to legitimate pain.

I would say that this behavior, while rooted in a sudden change in hormones/ drive, can be shaped if you start to understand how everyone's reactions are likely feeding into it.

By charting ABC's of a behavior, you start to see a pattern. When you look at the "c" column (consequences) you will find a general pattern. Without knowing more about this pattern of behavior and consequences (e.g., charting it) I cannot say with certainty what the function/reason is, but just based on what you said and based on my experiences, I am going to guess that after you do the charting, you will probably notice that the majority of the "consequences" will be linked to the theme/"function" of attention ---but when you look at the chart, you will want to ask yourself, is this consequence creating an opportunity for attention, escape, tangibles or sensory. You may have a combination, but you are looking for the once you see most frequently across the board in relation to this behavior.

This is how you determine the function (reason for doing) a behavior. When you know the function, you can then manipulate the behavior by A) NOT gratifying/rewarding the behavior with consequences that serve the function and B) providing more appropriate ways for the function of that behavior to be met without doing it in an inappropriate way. These are socially acceptable alternatives to the undesirable location--- they allow the same function to be met/gratified, but in a more appropriate way.

From the sounds of it, your bird is likely motivated by 1. primarily attention from you and 2. Escape/avoidance of your son (because he is an attention-blocker/associated with lack of attention from you).--I AM JUST GUESSING--- IF I AM WRONG ABOUT ATTENTION BEING THE FUNCTION THEN YOU WILL NEED TO DO A DIFFERENT INTERVENTION---

I can't say for sure without knowing how you react when this stuff happens, but if he is like most 7 year-olds, here's what I imagine:

Playing game with you (attention is on game and kid) , Kid laughs, bird bites.
Kid screams, you stop paying attention to the game , you yell/scold/react while looking at bird-- if this happens, so far, the bird has learned that biting gets attention from you and your kid (if what happens is anything like what I just described)--if your kid leaves, then your bird no longer sees you giving him that attention and all is right in the world again (the "threat" has been removed). He wants your attention because he is a flock creature, but also because he is reaching sexual maturity and likely views you as a mate and in the wild, conures do not share mates. Your kid is a potential threat as long as you are a sexual object. This doesn't mean withdrawing all attention from your bird, but it does mean that you will have to be EXTRA mindful about how you interact with him in order to set the bird up for success (before the behavior occurs and in situations where the behavior is likely to occur).

In an attention seeking behavior, the bigger your reaction, the more you are rewarding the bird. In this case, 2 people reacting with urgency could be quite gratifying!
Assuming the bird really wants attention from you, instead of making a big thing of it, my suggestion would be to firmly say No (NOT loudly, one time) and use something like a time-out cage to isolate the bird immediately following the bite. If you are the object of the bird's attention seeking then you need to accomplish this as quickly as possible with as little eye-contact/reaction as possible. This will only work if you are absolutely certain that your bird is biting for attention--- by doing a short time-out away from you and your son, his attention seeking behavior cannot be reinforced.

At the same time, after a short time-out, you need to show him positive ways that he can get attention from you while your son is around WITHOUT biting. This is that socially acceptable equivalent I discussed earlier-- if he bites for attention, maybe you teach him to ring a bell for attention, say a word word for attention, take a treat for attention etc. Something that gets him the same type of reward without upsetting the household.

Because this involves a kid, it IS more complicated though because it's going to be really hard for your son to control his reactions. If he cannot control his reactions, then you need to consider avoiding situations in which things like this can occur, because if you are trying to stick with the "ignoring" program, but he keeps reacting, then you will likely make the behavior even worse...so it's important to be as consistent as possible once you start an intervention.

I would definitly try to pair your son with positives for the bird. It is likely that you pay attention to your child more than the bird when he is around, and that is no fun for the bird. Try to make a consious effort of giving your bird MORE attention (for positives) when your son is around and pair him with as many positives as possible. In an attention seeker, attention will always be the most important reward, but you can tack on other incentives too (like a favorite treat whenever he is with you and your son). The thing is, the treat MUST be secondary to the main reward (attention ). While it can help strengthen positive associations, an attention-seeker's behavior is never going to be impacted by food alone (unless getting that food is accompanied by the attention it desires).

 

[T00tsyd]

Well, there is a lot that could be going on here but $10 bucks that most of it all ties back to puberty AND the fact that you cannot treat him in the same way that you may have when he was a baby. That doesn't mean there is nothing you can do though! His perspective on the world is changing so you have to understand his motivations to change the behavior (much of which is connected to everyone else in the household).

First--- mitigate hormonal influences and get rid of triggers:
1. remove all snuggle huts, tents, caves and hammocks from his cage and don't let him hang out in bedding, under cloths, in boxes etc.
2. Pet on the head and neck only.
3. 10 hours of sleep on a schedule each night.
4. Make sure he is getting plenty of activity and enrichment/ things to do

***This is normal---all birds go threw a rough patch at puberty BUT with appropriate responses, you can adjust to these changes****

From there, I would recommend Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Start by making what they call an ABC chart (antecedent= what happens right before the bird's behavior, behavior=what the bird does, c= consequence =what happens right after the behavior (good or bad---consequence is just the RESULT and it doesn't mean consequence in the same way that we sometimes think of a consequence).

In the scenario you gave above:

Antecedent= Son laughed while you were playing with him and bird was on you.
behavior= bird flew off and bit son on lip.....You didn't say what happened next, but that would be the consequence.
consequence= WHATEVER YOU AND YOUR SON DID=== did he cry? Did you yell? Did your son leave the room? Did you put the bird back on the cage? Did you stop playing Monopoly? All of these things are really important because all behaviors serves a purpose. People and animals only do things because we are rewarded in some conscious or subconscious way by the results of the behavior. This is called the "function" of a behavior (the reason we do it). A behavior can have more than one function, but all behaviors fall into 1 of 4 categories:

1. Escape (to get out of a location, get away from a person, avoid a task/activity etc)
2. Attention (to get attention from humans or animals which may include eye contact, yelling, laughter, increased proximity, scolding etc)
3.Tangibles- to obtain a physical item---e.g., a kid throwing a to get candy at the grocery store or hitting another kid to take their toy. Heck---working for a paycheck also falls into this realm.
4. Sensory= eating when hungry (to stop the hunger), taking a pill for a headache, scratching your skin because it itches, crying as a response to legitimate pain.

I would say that this behavior, while rooted in a sudden change in hormones/ drive, it can be shaped if you start to understand how everyone's reactions are likely feeding into it.

By charting ABC's of a behavior, you start to see a pattern. When you look at the "c" column (consequences) you will find a general pattern. I don't know what that is but just based on what you said and based on my experiences, I am going to guess that after you do the charting, you will probably notice that the majority of the "consequences" will be linked to the theme/"function" of attention ---but when you look at the chart, you will want to ask yourself, is this consequence creating an opportunity for attention, escape, tangibles or sensory.

This is how you determine the function (reason for doing) a behavior. When you know the function, you can then manipulate the behavior by A) NOT gratifying/rewarding the behavior with consequences that serve the function and B) providing more appropriate ways for the function of that behavior to be met without doing it in an inappropriate way. These are socially acceptable alternatives to the undesirable location--- they allow the same function to be met/gratified, but in a more appropriate way.

From the sounds of it, your bird is likely motivated by 1. primarily attention from you and 2. Escape/avoidance of your son (because he is an attention-blocker/associated with lack of attention from you).--I AM JUST GUESSING--- IF I AM WRONG ABOUT ATTENTION BEING THE FUNCTION THEN YOU WILL NEED TO DO A DIFFERENT INTERVENTION---

I can't say for sure without knowing how you react when this stuff happens, but if he is like most 7 year-olds, here's what I imagine:

Playing game with you (attention is on game and kid) , Kid laughs, bird, bites
Kid screams, you stop paying attention to the game , you yell/scold/react while looking at bird-- if this happens, so far, the bird has learned that biting gets attention from you and your kid (if what happens is anything like what I just described)--if your kid leaves, then your bird no longer sees you giving him that attention and all is right in the world again (the "threat" has been removed). He wants your attention because he is a flock creature, but also because he is reaching sexual maturity and likely views you as a mate and in the wild, conures do not share mates. Your kid is a potential threat as long as you are a sexual object. This doesn't mean withdrawing all attention from your bird, but it does mean that you will have to be EXTRA mindful about how you interact with him in order to set the bird up for success (before the behavior occurs and in situations where the behavior is likely to occur).

In an attention seeking behavior, the bigger your reaction, the more you are rewarding the bird. In this case, 2 people reacting with urgency could be quite gratifying!
Assuming the bird really wants attention from you, instead of making a big thing of it, my suggestion would be to firmly say No (NOT loudly, one time) and use something like a time-out cage to isolate the bird immediately following the bite. If you are the object of the bird's attention seeking then you need to accomplish this as quickly as possible with as little eye-contact/reaction as possible. This will only work if you are absolutely certain that your bird is biting for attention--- by doing a short time-out away from you and your son, his attention seeking behavior cannot be reinforced.

At the same time, after a short time-out, you need to show him positive ways that he can get attention from you while your son is around WITHOUT biting. This is that socially acceptable equivalent I discussed earlier-- if he bites for attention, maybe you teach him to ring a bell for attention, say a word word for attention, take a treat for attention etc. Something that gets him the same type of reward without upsetting the household.

Because this involves a kid, it IS more complicated though because it's going to be really hard for your son to control his reactions. If he cannot control his reactions, then you need to consider avoiding situations in which things like this can occur, because if you are trying to stick with the "ignoring" program, but he keeps reacting, then you will likely make the behavior even worse...so it's important to be as consistent as possible once you start an intervention.

I would definitly try to pair your son with positives for the bird. It is likely that you pay attention to your child more than the bird when he is around, and that is no fun for the bird. Try to make a consious effort of giving your bird MORE attention (for positives) when your son is around and pair him with as many positives as possible. In an attention seeker, attention will always be the most important reward, but you can tack on other incentives too (like a favorite treat whenever he is with you and your son). The thing is, the treat MUST be secondary to the main reward (attention ). While it can help strengthen positive associations, an attention-seeker's behavior is never going to be impacted by food alone (unless getting that food is accompanied by the attention it desires).

Thank you Noodles I was worried that no-one had seen this cry for help and you did it so much better than me. I can breathe again!

 

[itzjbean]

In this situation, because it involves your child being bitten, I would highly recommend you get your conure's wings clipped. The way you describe it, he flies to and bites him. Sounds like its time for an attitude adjustment for your little bird who wants to be boss!

Take his ability to get to your child away and his attitude WILL change.

 

[clark_conure]

I agree with itzjbean and I recommend a time out method anytime even agressive behavior is observed. You can look it up in the search.

Bird attack, bird gets no attention and is displaced is the jist, not to cage or play-stand but on the floor or some other low level status place, and has to walk back.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

As someone with a flighted bird who used to fly attack (and sometimes if hormones are bad and I am not on top of all the different factors, still does), clipping is not the only option. I honestly would try all other avenues before clipping.

Do try Noodles's suggestions first before resorting to clipping.

 

[fiddlejen]

I would recommend clipping, as there is a child involved. BUT. Study Noodles post. Get a conservative clipping done only by a professional (and IF that cannot be done now then go ahead & hold off on it). Use the Clipped-Time merely as an interlude to help implement these techniques safely; doN'T just lean on clipping as the cureall. By the time the feathers grow back you should be able to have a more well-trained bird.

By the way, while you work on the ABA & ABC training, you might also try Bite-Pressure-Training as well. My Sunny often uses her beak to direct me, which only works because she has learned how hard is too-hard, along with learning the command "Be Gentle," which lets her know she bit too-hard, and she stops before that point.

 

[Aerial]

Thank you all. I’m going to read this several more times and give it a lot of thought and make a plan. I did intuitively take him and put him in small boring cage with nothing but pellets and water after he bit my son yesterday because his cage is huge and full of cool stuff so it hardly seemed like a punishment and today he did not bite my son at all.
I do think it’s an attention issue which is funny because this bird has had SO much attention since we got him. He has a massive cage and a huge parrot playground hanging from the ceiling and he eats with us and mostly is out of his cage unless we go outside.
I think I will start by having parrot hangout time with me, my son and Aerial the Conure with no other distractions so he sees we are a package deal and we both love him very much. He isn’t really food motivated but he loves love and head scratches and beak scratches and chatting and just hanging out with no books or games or TV.
Thank you all for taking the time to reply. I will post again when I’ve integrated your ideas and have some progress to report!
Sara

 

[Aerial]

Oh, one more question as I ponder all of this, my son didn’t want to have Aerial DNA tested because he didn’t want him to be hurt so we just decided he was a male but then he started presenting for the budgie (which he hasn’t done in a while, it was a short phase) and I asked the local bird store folks if that meant he was likely male, they said yes.
Do you agree and does it make a difference in our situation if he is actually a she!
Thanks again for all of your time.
Sara

 

[clark_conure]

look up florida DNA testing. Some labs can do it from a feather for like 14 bucks.

 

[noodles123]

There are differences with males and females, but one major issue that females can encounter is egg-binding. A hormonal female (under stimulating circumstances) can lay infertile eggs and this is something to look out for in females...Egg-binding is when an egg is formed but it gets stuck or it isn't strong enough to be passed without leaving shards inside. It can be deadly, so that is one huge reason why I would want to know my bird's gender.

 

[Aerial]

Hi again, may I ask if holding him like this (see photo) in our palms is no longer appropriate or just petting other than neck and head?

My kids also grab him in their fist (gently of course) and sometimes I do to to put him in his cage and it’s never been an issue but maybe we should stop that too? Sometimes we just hold him all sorts of funny ways just because he lets us.

He’s already doing much better with the changes we’ve made so far.

I think it was not getting enough attention from my son actually and he’s learning that if he bites his worst nightmare will come true - being by himself in the boring tiny cage for 10 minutes being totally ignored.
Thanks,
Sara

 

[Flboy]

Well, there is a lot that could be going on here but $10 bucks that most of it all ties back to puberty AND the fact that you cannot treat him in the same way that you may have when he was a baby. That doesn't mean there is nothing you can do though! His perspective on the world is changing so you have to understand his motivations to change the behavior (much of which is connected to everyone else in the household).

First--- mitigate hormonal influences and get rid of triggers:
1. remove all snuggle huts, tents, caves and hammocks from his cage and don't let him hang out in bedding, under cloths, in boxes etc.
2. Pet on the head and neck only.
3. 10 hours of sleep on a schedule each night.
4. Make sure he is getting plenty of activity and enrichment/ things to do

***This is normal---all birds go threw a rough patch at puberty BUT with appropriate responses, you can adjust to these changes****

From there, I would recommend Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Start by making what they call an ABC chart (antecedent= what happens right before the bird's behavior, behavior=what the bird does, c= consequence =what happens right after the behavior (good or bad---consequence is just the RESULT and it doesn't mean consequence in the same way that we sometimes think of a consequence).

In the scenario you gave above:

Antecedent= Son laughed while you were playing with him and bird was on you.
behavior= bird flew off and bit son on lip.....You didn't say what happened next, but that would be the consequence.
consequence= WHATEVER YOU AND YOUR SON DID=== did he cry? Did you yell? Did your son leave the room? Did you put the bird back on the cage? Did you stop playing Monopoly? All of these things are really important because all behaviors serves a purpose. People and animals only do things because we are rewarded in some conscious or subconscious way by the results of the behavior. This is called the "function" of a behavior (the reason we do it). A behavior can have more than one function, but all behaviors fall into 1 of 4 categories:

1. Escape (to get out of a location, get away from a person, avoid a task/activity etc)
2. Attention (to get attention from humans or animals which may include eye contact, yelling, laughter, increased proximity, scolding etc)
3.Tangibles- to obtain a physical item---e.g., a kid throwing a fit to get candy at the grocery store or hitting another kid to take their toy. Heck---working for a paycheck also falls into this realm.
4. Sensory= eating when hungry (to stop the hunger), taking a pill for a headache, scratching your skin because it itches, crying as a response to legitimate pain.

I would say that this behavior, while rooted in a sudden change in hormones/ drive, can be shaped if you start to understand how everyone's reactions are likely feeding into it.

By charting ABC's of a behavior, you start to see a pattern. When you look at the "c" column (consequences) you will find a general pattern. Without knowing more about this pattern of behavior and consequences (e.g., charting it) I cannot say with certainty what the function/reason is, but just based on what you said and based on my experiences, I am going to guess that after you do the charting, you will probably notice that the majority of the "consequences" will be linked to the theme/"function" of attention ---but when you look at the chart, you will want to ask yourself, is this consequence creating an opportunity for attention, escape, tangibles or sensory. You may have a combination, but you are looking for the once you see most frequently across the board in relation to this behavior.

This is how you determine the function (reason for doing) a behavior. When you know the function, you can then manipulate the behavior by A) NOT gratifying/rewarding the behavior with consequences that serve the function and B) providing more appropriate ways for the function of that behavior to be met without doing it in an inappropriate way. These are socially acceptable alternatives to the undesirable location--- they allow the same function to be met/gratified, but in a more appropriate way.

From the sounds of it, your bird is likely motivated by 1. primarily attention from you and 2. Escape/avoidance of your son (because he is an attention-blocker/associated with lack of attention from you).--I AM JUST GUESSING--- IF I AM WRONG ABOUT ATTENTION BEING THE FUNCTION THEN YOU WILL NEED TO DO A DIFFERENT INTERVENTION---

I can't say for sure without knowing how you react when this stuff happens, but if he is like most 7 year-olds, here's what I imagine:

Playing game with you (attention is on game and kid) , Kid laughs, bird bites.
Kid screams, you stop paying attention to the game , you yell/scold/react while looking at bird-- if this happens, so far, the bird has learned that biting gets attention from you and your kid (if what happens is anything like what I just described)--if your kid leaves, then your bird no longer sees you giving him that attention and all is right in the world again (the "threat" has been removed). He wants your attention because he is a flock creature, but also because he is reaching sexual maturity and likely views you as a mate and in the wild, conures do not share mates. Your kid is a potential threat as long as you are a sexual object. This doesn't mean withdrawing all attention from your bird, but it does mean that you will have to be EXTRA mindful about how you interact with him in order to set the bird up for success (before the behavior occurs and in situations where the behavior is likely to occur).

In an attention seeking behavior, the bigger your reaction, the more you are rewarding the bird. In this case, 2 people reacting with urgency could be quite gratifying!
Assuming the bird really wants attention from you, instead of making a big thing of it, my suggestion would be to firmly say No (NOT loudly, one time) and use something like a time-out cage to isolate the bird immediately following the bite. If you are the object of the bird's attention seeking then you need to accomplish this as quickly as possible with as little eye-contact/reaction as possible. This will only work if you are absolutely certain that your bird is biting for attention--- by doing a short time-out away from you and your son, his attention seeking behavior cannot be reinforced.

At the same time, after a short time-out, you need to show him positive ways that he can get attention from you while your son is around WITHOUT biting. This is that socially acceptable equivalent I discussed earlier-- if he bites for attention, maybe you teach him to ring a bell for attention, say a word word for attention, take a treat for attention etc. Something that gets him the same type of reward without upsetting the household.

Because this involves a kid, it IS more complicated though because it's going to be really hard for your son to control his reactions. If he cannot control his reactions, then you need to consider avoiding situations in which things like this can occur, because if you are trying to stick with the "ignoring" program, but he keeps reacting, then you will likely make the behavior even worse...so it's important to be as consistent as possible once you start an intervention.

I would definitly try to pair your son with positives for the bird. It is likely that you pay attention to your child more than the bird when he is around, and that is no fun for the bird. Try to make a consious effort of giving your bird MORE attention (for positives) when your son is around and pair him with as many positives as possible. In an attention seeker, attention will always be the most important reward, but you can tack on other incentives too (like a favorite treat whenever he is with you and your son). The thing is, the treat MUST be secondary to the main reward (attention ). While it can help strengthen positive associations, an attention-seeker's behavior is never going to be impacted by food alone (unless getting that food is accompanied by the attention it desires).

Wow! So well said! This is now my new go to for this ever reoccurring scenario!
Only to add a different set of words, also read over, and over!

http://www.parrotforums.com/training/57935-brainstorming-biting-parrots.html

 

[noodles123]

Hi again, may I ask if holding him like this (see photo) in our palms is no longer appropriate or just petting other than neck and head?

My kids also grab him in their fist (gently of course) and sometimes I do to to put him in his cage and it’s never been an issue but maybe we should stop that too? Sometimes we just hold him all sorts of funny ways just because he lets us.

He’s already doing much better with the changes we’ve made so far.

I think it was not getting enough attention from my son actually and he’s learning that if he bites his worst nightmare will come true - being by himself in the boring tiny cage for 10 minutes being totally ignored.
Thanks,
Sara

That is not a good way to touch an adult bird (excluding medical necessity or in very brief instances when hormones are not raging). If it is like once a week for a quick trick when he isn't stimulated, that is fine, but not daily and not even every-other day..too much back-to-hand contact for a pubescent or adult bird. You do not want hand to back contact/pressure---the act of contacting his back with a full hand is a sexual situation unless done very quickly and carefully and without frequency.

Also- loving that you put together the part about your son--- that is VERY possible...what is the best way to get his attention? BITE HIS MOM! LOL--I am glad you guys are on the right track. Just keep this mindset in your back pocket and it will serve you well

 

[Aerial]

Hi again,
So over a year later, our bird has become unmanageable. He will fly and attack my kids given any chance and today he started biting me when I was changing his water. He seriously hurt my daughter a few weeks ago.

The kids went back to school two days a week so his only cage free time is now Tuesdays and Thursdays when I'm around the house.

I feel terrible for him, I'm at the point where I think he should be with someone without kids.

Or we could get another Conure for him so he's not lonely in his cage. I can barely stand the though of him being in a cage the rest of his life.

My kids are not mean, they love animals and he sees them as a threat because they're wild and unpredictable, like kids are when they're playing.

My son is very much against finding him a new home but he also can't spend any time with him without getting bitten, he can't clean his cage or even feed him.

I don't think its fair to the bird.

I wish the person who bought him this bird would have researched it more. Our local bird store guy suggested that conures are not appropriate pets for kids and I now totally agree.

I really don't think birds should be in cages in general.

Help!

 

[LaManuka]

Aerial I'm so sorry that you and your family are going through all of this. I had a precious GCC for a sum total of about 4 and a half years until I lost him to an acute bout of pancreatitis before joining this forum. Having had him for a such a short time I cannot claim to be an expert on their behaviours, but I've learned more about them since I've been here.

My GCC, named Baci (Italian for "kisses" ) was very much a one person bird and he hated my husband! The only thing that saved hubby from similar flying attacks was that Baci was a rather reluctant flyer, possibly resulting from being wing-clipped before he had learned to fly properly, but I cannot be certain of that. But many of the problems that we see in pet birds have their genesis in babies that are taken from their parents far too young, before they get a chance to be taught what is and what is not acceptable by their parents, including biting, plucking, screaming etc.

Baci went through an extreme change in behaviour with the onset of puberty, which I did not recognise at the time having never had a GCC before and not realising how badly they can be afflicted by it. He became hugely territorial around his cage, which was another thing I didn't know was a fairly common trait of GCCs - they can become highly cage-aggressive and will defend their territory most vigorously! Baci would bite the living daylights out of me when I tried to have him step up in the morning to bring him out of his cage, but in general was much better behaved when he was out and away from it. But the sudden change was something that I had not anticipated and I was quite heartbroken by it, because I just thought he had grown to hate me for some unknown reason.

IF you do go down the road of a wing-clipping in hopes of some "attitude adjustment", please do have it done minimally and by an avian specialist vet. The following link may help you to find one if not already acquainted with one...

https://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803

In my own personal and very humble opinion, I think it's best to at least take Aerial for a visit to the vet to get their assessment on his behaviour and see what they think about the idea of a clip. It has been known to work, although it's impossible to say whether in this case it may do the trick or end up being counter-productive. I am also speaking here from my own experience with my vet who is a legend in the field here and in whom I have full trust in his opinions, I know many are not so lucky as to have the kind of confidence in their vet as I do in mine.

I do think Aerial deserves have every opportunity to be able to remain with his flock, but at the same time rehoming is not always a bad decision - I have been down that heartbreaking road too. Thank you for having put so much effort and time and love into trying to keep him and sort this out, I know it could not have been easy and I think many others would have given up by now.

I wish there was more that I could do to help you other than to offer these few tidbits of information, and sending you all my very best wishes and hopes that you can find a successful resolution that works to keep everyone happy and safe. You have my every sympathy and my heart truly goes out to all of you.