My Quaker seems to like eating me

[Harryholic]

First post - so a back story on my little friend.

Quaker/Monk parrot/parakeet - Chico - Sex Unknown - 18 months old - second owner, first only had him for 6 weeks, did meet them and he was tame and sociable with them, but their dogs responded vocally which in turn set their twin babies off hence the need to rehome him.

Chico is generally rather tame, steps up, goes upside down, turns around, will spend hours on the shoulder, bobs and dances to music, talks and whistles tunes (although generally when he's on his own in his cage, rather than around people), is fine with strangers, blows kisses, has a high tolerance for being handled, recognises household routines - the toaster being used (loves a toasted crust), doorbell, pulling his blackout cover, coats on mean people leaving etc.

He certainly prefers my self to the girl friend - if I'm not close he'll happily play and respond to her for hours, but if I'm there he does try and warn her off is she approaches me and nips at her aggressively.

We work alternate hours, so he's normally got someone in to entertain him, no general signs of boredom.
He is slightly destructive if left out and isn't getting attention. - 3 mobile phone keypads, 2 lap top keyboards, and every remote control in the house have been replaced or repaired due to his pleasure in removing keys; and he can have magpie-moments. Shiny things are good to him, and jewellery, pen tops and even a teaspoon have been rescued from his cage in the past.


The Issue -

He does have a habit that is disturbing me however - he's always had an interest in any physical imperfections - not shave for a day and I'll find him trying to pluck out the stubble on my chin, pick up an insect bite or roll your sleaves up so he can spy a mole and he'll try and pick it off.
I've always assumed this was mutual preening and he thinks he's pulling fleas off or removing untidy feathers.
This has moved on in the past 6 months however and he's taken to attacking my cuticles and finger tips. Trying to peal the skin off and then eating it.

He is aware that "No" means cease and desist - but for this habit, he trys to fight to see through to the end. Running up my arm when told no, then back down 10 seconds later to try and grab a second snack.

In the past couple of weeks it seems to have moved on further, and he's noticed that eye lids have loose skin and a cuddly head nudge into my face resulted in a nip to the corner of my eye, and if my lips are chapped and he's given the standard kiss greeting, but trys to sneak in a quick peal of my mouth.

Fingers and lips are a mild frustration but nibbling at eyes is certainly a level up. I'm aware that the toddler mentality in the bird means I can't over react when he does this - less the excitement of getting a large reaction from me encourage the behaviour.

As he's generally a cuddly bird I hope its not an aggressive action, he does know its not liked - I need guidance on switching it off.

Could it be he has a craving for protein that I can fill with an amendment to his diet or is seeing me as a food stuff a marker of something else?

I've searched the net, and can find numerous discussions on parrots beaking, biting and nipping - eating owners flesh I can't source any advice on.

Thanks in advance
Harry

 

[MenomaMinx]

yep.preening.you'll live;-)

They make toys for this, you know.

Also, you might have to adopt the"no shoulder birdies"policy that is usually mandatory for larger birds, and absolutely stick with it. That eye thing is too dangerous.

Back to the toy thing, attach the preening toy to your body wherever the bird is preening you. Eventually the the toy will be more attractive to play with.

Could be worse. You've got to try the calico macaw version of this. Imagine being licked like an ice cream cone, right up until the macaw discovers that one unnoticeable ingrown hair that that absolutely has to be freed-- using her beak!

It's like being randomly picked at with tattoo needle... Minus the physical evidence, as she doesn't actually draw blood – just picks at the top skin just enough to owie... So people who don't see it happening tend not to believe it..

She does it to clothes too.....

 

[Harryholic]

Thank you for the reply MenomaMinx,

Finding a mole or pulling a hair I can understand under preening - its the hunt for my fingers; actively trying to get to them repeatedly and then sitting there munching away on my flesh - feels like cannibalism - and if the attempt at chewing my eyes repeats its a major issue.

I will look for preening toys on line to see if this distraction can help.

Really don't want to enforce a no shoulder routine unless its absolutely necessary - shoulders have always been allowed, and their a mini-cage to him, a safe place to flee to if he's unsure. Friends arrive wearing a hat and he's trotting round your collar, peaking around your neck to assess if everything is safe.

Would be a real culture change for him - I'm foreseeing tantrums and having to pick up new keyboards for everything again.

Having seen the depth of nip his little beak gave to my other-half when she tried to peck me goodbye once when he was on my shoulder and he felt over protective, I dread to think of the power a "proper" sized parrot out inflict - out of love or anger. :11:

 

[birdsflybtnight]

Hello Harryhollic,

I have a 1 year old lutino (Yellow) Quaker parrot and I have the exact same situation as you. Although I don't have an answer for you, it’s nice to not feel alone on the matter. My bird prefers me to girlfriend as well and he's a dude bird. He bites my cuticles, ripping the skin off, same to my lips and chin hairs, pretty much everything you described except mine also enjoys scabs. Ripping them off and trying to lick the blood. It does feel like he'd eat me alive given the chance and not typical preening behavior, at least in my opinion. He's got quite the attitude as well trying to stop him from doing it. He's super cuddly but set in his ways. I also have two ferrets and I've noticed with all my pets that their personality is what it is and doesn't really change. Like they come out of the box that way. I don't know. I wasn't a fan of the other answer so I wanted to give ya my imput as well as they're exactly the same and it might just be we go phyco birds! Although it kinda sucks I still love my bird Milo very much and look past his weird behaviors. Give me an update if anything changes for you with your Quaker

 

[Jcas]

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you are doing a great job with your Quaker; he’s lucky to have such a good home 🙂. My own Quaker does not exhibit the flesh eating behavior that yours does, but I do have a few thoughts. First, I like your idea of addressing a possible dietary deficiency. Some people feed their birds a little bit of meat or hard boiled egg to give them some extra protein.

Second, if the hand/ finger chewing is one of the biggest problems, consider wearing gloves for a few weeks to help extinguish the behavior. If he can’t do it, the behavior will hopefully disappear in time. Preening toys are definitely not a bad idea to try, as another poster mentioned.

When it comes to biting near the face, however, that is potentially very dangerous and should be discouraged right away ( having a Quaker, I know how hard those little beaks can bite!). I would recommend looking up Wrench13’s posts on
“shunning” as I believe that might be useful in this case.
Especially if your bird climbs around the head and shoulders of your guests, you certainly don’t want to be responsible for them experiencing a bite to the eye. It sounds like most of what’s going on is natural nibbling/ preening behavior that has gone a little overboard into actual flesh eating ( birds occasionally eat feathers so to them this behavior might not seem like a big deal!). Your bird is young so this is the right time to set boundaries in place for acceptable behavior. Hope you find something that works for your bird. 🙂