My green cheek conure keeps biting me out of curiosity during step up training, any advice? (First time bird owner)

[Chomper]

I have a turquoise green cheek conure, who is almost 3 months, we’ve had him since he was just about a month old. Recently during training I’ve been trying to get him to come and step up on my finger, and I’ve done this in multiple ways. First I tried putting my finger near him as he stood on top of his cage, I had a treat held above my finger using my other hand, and I was directly telling him to step up, he didn’t seem interested in the treat, and just bit my finger and chewed, he sorta latched on and wouldn’t let go, I had to pull my hand away for him to fly onto the floor. Now his bites don’t hurt, and don’t break the skin, but it does appear like he’s trying too, but as said before his bites don’t hurt, I know well he can bite much harder because when we first got him, just a week in, he bit my finger out of curiosity and it hurt! He bites everything really, I know conures are known to be nibby, and he is just a baby so at this stage Im aware he’s exploring stuff with his beak. The second way I did this, was holding my finger out away from him, and holding the treat much higher to keep his attention on it instead of my hand, before he flies he often bobs his head up and down and then goes to fly, every time I do this, he bobs his head like he wants to come and fly onto my finger, but is a bit hesitant and eventually gives up, I’ve tried encouraging him, but as of right now it’s not working. I know he’s capable of doing this because I pulled my sleeve over my hand and asked the same thing, he imminently flew onto my covered wrist. I want to state his gender isn’t identified yet, so he could be a boy or girl, and I know he’s not biting out of aggression either because his aggression bites hurt a lot more, but I am a little nervous, if and when he learns to fly onto my hand, im a bit scared he’ll just ignore the treat and start chewing my finger again, sadly there are no bird trainers to help me around where I live…so Im hoping you guys have advice he’s my first bird, and I know this is just a temporary obstacle, but im hoping some people have gone through the same situation and can help!

 

[onamom]

Have you tried target training? I would try doing target training first and then teaching step up after that as the target stick can help you teach step up. I learned a lot of parrot training techniques from Elle and the Birds YouTube channel.

When my GCC was first learning to step up she would use her beak to help her balance as she stepped onto my finger. As she’s gotten a little older she no longer needs to do this.

 

[Chomper]

Have you tried target training? I would try doing target training first and then teaching step up after that as the target stick can help you teach step up. I learned a lot of parrot training techniques from Elle and the Birds YouTube channel.

When my GCC was first learning to step up she would use her beak to help her balance as she stepped onto my finger. As she’s gotten a little older she no longer needs to do this.

Yeah, we started target training awhile ago, but I’ll stick to that for a bit longer, I’ll definitely check it out and watch some videos! Thanks

 

[Cindylynn]

I have a macaw, not a conure, so I may be off. But my Mac uses his beak a lot! It's like a hand to him. He uses it to hold me steady. To tell me no, don't touch me now. No, don't put me there. Get away from that. Put that down.
People watching ask if it hurts, because it looks like he's biting me. But he's not. He's using his beak to communicate. This is where bite pressure training comes in handy. If you search it, there are lots of posts on this site about bite pressure training.
In my opinion, a bird should be free to use his beak, as long as he's using it appropriately.

 

[Chomper]

I have a macaw, not a conure, so I may be off. But my Mac uses his beak a lot! It's like a hand to him. He uses it to hold me steady. To tell me no, don't touch me now. No, don't put me there. Get away from that. Put that down.
People watching ask if it hurts, because it looks like he's biting me. But he's not. He's using his beak to communicate. This is where bite pressure training comes in handy. If you search it, there are lots of posts on this site about bite pressure training.
In my opinion, a bird should be free to use his beak, as long as he's using it appropriately.

I had heard of that before hand, I know a lot of birds use their beak to “test out their perch” but whenever I ignore him he just continues to bite, he latches on and chews, it’s not aggressive and it doesn’t hurt. He’s a very sweet bird! Im gonna try and target training him some more like ona said. And I agree! A bird being able to use their beak should be fine as long as they don’t do it to harm, this could just be because he’s a conure, they’re sorta known for being nibby, but I haven’t seen many conure owners actually give advice on it 🫶🏼

 

[Littleredbeak]

My GCC is older and is also pretty nippy although most of her nibbles hurt a little bit (they
make little indents in my skin) . I tell her no and making a sound for no and it's been working. She gets hangry and grumpy (when she's tired) so I also factor this in when interacting with her. I found this video helpful

I do let Hope mouth me and taste everything as long as she is being gentle as this is her way of "tasting"%experiencing the world around her.



Congratulations on your new addition! I would love to see photos!

 

[Littleredbeak]

I had heard of that before hand, I know a lot of birds use their beak to “test out their perch” but whenever I ignore him he just continues to bite, he latches on and chews, it’s not aggressive and it doesn’t hurt. He’s a very sweet bird! Im gonna try and target training him some more like ona said. And I agree! A bird being able to use their beak should be fine as long as they don’t do it to harm, this could just be because he’s a conure, they’re sorta known for being nibby, but I haven’t seen many conure owners actually give advice on it 🫶🏼

When your bird is on you maybe bring a piece of wood, toy, yummy food (nuts, celery, apples, ect) that your GCC can chew on. This way you are reinforcing chew on your toys(or food)not me. This also gives your baby a healthy outlet of the need to chew vs just telling him no and you both becoming frustrated. Different kinds of food will also stimulates his brain by having him taste something different ... literally adding flavors to his world.

 

[Chomper]

When your bird is on you maybe bring a piece of wood, toy, yummy food (nuts, celery, apples, ect) that your GCC can chew on. This way you are reinforcing chew on your toys(or food)not me. This also gives your baby a healthy outlet of the need to chew vs just telling him no and you both becoming frustrated. Different kinds of food will also stimulates his brain by having him taste something different ... literally adding flavors to his world.

Thank you, I’ll try it, I plan to stay on target practice for a bit longer and see if it helps as well.

 

[Chomper]

My GCC is older and is also pretty nippy although most of her nibbles hurt a little bit (they
make little indents in my skin) . I tell her no and making a sound for no and it's been working. She gets hangry and grumpy (when she's tired) so I also factor this in when interacting with her. I found this video helpful

I do let Hope mouth me and taste everything as long as she is being gentle as this is her way of "tasting"%experiencing the world around her.



Congratulations on your new addition! I would love to see photos!

Ill watch the video and sure here are some photos of him! He’s super loving, whenever I’m doing something in the kitchen or in a different room, he’ll always come flying to try and find me or just be around me. He also likes to snuggle under your leg 😭

 

[Littleredbeak]

Ill watch the video and sure here are some photos of him! He’s super loving, whenever I’m doing something in the kitchen or in a different room, he’ll always come flying to try and find me or just be around me. He also likes to snuggle under your leg 😭

He is beautiful!!