My bird won’t stop biting my finger as he tries to step up.

[HarleyBub]

Hello parrot forums. I am new so I apologise if creating a new forum wasn’t the write thing to do. I just had an issue with my green cheek conure. I have had him for just over a week now and I have been making great progress with him. He lets me scratch his head and kind of preening him with my fingers gently. When I leave his cage doors open for some outside time, he comes out and makes his way toward me. I have been trying to teach him to step up onto my finger but he is biting really sore sometimes breaking the skin. I have taught him to step up perfectly onto a spare perch and he has no problem and doesn’t bite me at all. Sometimes he will step one foot up and then bite me really sore but most times he just bites me without stepping up. Are there any suggestions on what I can do to prevent the biting of my finger or should I just give it more time and keep being persistent? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[wrench13]

Young parrots often do not realize what too much bite pressure is. You can try to teach him this by telling him "Too much, be gentle" in a calm voice when it occurs. Try to do this as a separate exercise from step up training, as doing both may confuse the young bird. A stronger method exists, called shunning, where you immediately turn your back to him and ignore him for a minute, but trying to do that in conjunction with step up training may confuse him.

 

[TeekoGreenCheek]

I used a treat! Birds are gonna be purely guided on trust. It's hard to gain it. And very easy to lose it.. you can try a stick method, and use a treat and praise him for stepping up. They will learn the word if you use it often and afterwards reward the treat. If they get agitated don't keep pushing it. Take a break for a bit. Let him just hangout around you for a bit i call it "energy bonding" because they are curious what your doing. And then try again. When he bites as bad as it hurts don't yell because he will see that he has something over you. Sometimes it's very hard lol