Jax and Roxie

[JaxandRoxie]

Just would like to say thank You for the warm welcomes. Photo is of Jax, black capped conure, and Roxie, green cheek conure. I have had to trim their wings as they just kept flying into thing and I was afraid for their lives. They are not happy with me right now...lol it was for their own safety. Anyone else trim their own birds nails and wings? Hoping it will not make them hate me. They are nippy for sure though. Will being firm with them help stop the biting? They don’t seem frightened, will take food from my hand, and will step up from anywhere but their cage or play stand....from those two places, they will bite. I am sure I am going to have lots of questions for you all.

 

[YUMgrinder]

I have a black capped and a pineapple GCC. They will forgive you for clipping their wings. They will need to get used to gliding down when they try to fly now. Just give them lots of loves and they will come around. If they are biting only in certain areas I would bet they are being territorial. they deem that area theirs lol. Some people think firm discipline works, some say not. If you feel like being firm, you can kind of hold their beak and say no. I've seen birds that are habitual biters come around when they get their beak tapped firmly and a "NO." I've tried this and it worked for me. none of my birds bite me... besides the beaking I get from my tiel lol. Now, on the other hand, there's another option. When they bite, you can put them down a few feet away on the ground and ignore them. After a min or two they often realize that biting creates an unwanted reaction especially if they are really looking for attention and they don't get it. Don't put them in their cage if that's what they want, otherwise they will bite every-time they want in their cage. It's a process and you have to think about it, what do they want? Offer it to them only when they are good. Reward=good bird.

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

Jax and Roxie are gorgeous! I don’t clip wings, but I tried to trim their nails myself once. Ducky ended up bleeding and now I always bring them to my local pet store to get them done. They might be flying into things because they’ve never fledged or had the chance to become confident flyers. Wing clipping (assuming the clip is light and they can still fly a little) will slow them down, but it will also make them have less control of their flight, which can cause them to fly into things even more. A well coordinated, flighted bird will not fly into things. In fact, the only time any of my birds have ever flown into something was when we brought home Kermit and he was clipped! He flew into the window after being spooked. Ducky (fully flighted cockatiel) was also there but instead he flew around the room a few times then settled on my head. Now Kermit is a much better flyer and has not flown into anything since.