My Yellow Naped Amazon is biting

[marine54]

I had this Yellow Napped Amazon just two weeks ago. He is only 6 months old and was very scared of anyone comes near his cage.
After intensive follow up I managed to get him climb on my hand and only yesterday he started flying on call to my arm.
It seem all good ... The only thing bad is that he bites me if I tried to touch him and particular if he is inside or on top of his cage, while he becomes a bit safer when on the "T" stand.
I need your comments and advise.

 

[Kiwibird]

Sounds like an amazon! They are a bit more difficult to train than cockatoos, but can turn out to be the best companion birds ever (in my most biased opinion). Do you know if he was a hand reared baby or parent raised? That makes a difference in temperament towards people initially. A parent raised bird (parent birds cared for the baby until it was weaned) has not had significant contact/positive interaction with humans like a hand reared (taken from the parent birds as an egg or very young chick and cared for by humans until weaned). His behavior kind of sounds like a parent raised bird to me, but I could be wrong. Either way, I would prepare to have patience. Always keep in mind that parrots are prey animals and humans (to them) look like a large predator. When they have never had a reason to trust humans, they will instinctively react in a defensive manner until they learn you do not want to eat them. They can be especially protective of their cages, and if you google or search the forum for "cage aggression" you'll find lots of information. And unfortuantely, while we may love our feathered friends and want to interact with them from the day we get them home, the feeling isn't always mutual. We have to have patience and work on their timetable, not ours and some individual birds take longer than others to trust. Just be patient, NEVER force a bird to step up or do anything else they don't want to, build trust with him, let him come to you in his own time and soon enough he will be stepping up, wanting to hang out and eagerly learning other things I'm also curious what kind of training methods do you use? Zons sometimes require a little more 'firm' of an approach than other birds.

 

[Hawk]

Hello Marine,
Kiwi's post was informative and if I may add to that as a bird trainer of hawks, owls and falcons as well as breaking in new birds at exotic bird stores and for people for 30 years, I'd like to offer up some advice.

First of all, it is a new member of your family, it will take some time. Move it away from any high traffic area and allow it to observe from a distance. Pull up a chair next to cage and talk to it. Read a book to it, show it pictures on lap top, sing a few songs. Have a treat with it, and offer to share your treat.
Birds chose there mates, or those humans it wishes to bond with, you don't chose it. That being said, the issue in your case involves trust and bonding. Once it trusts you, it will bond to you.
I tell everyone this, "ALL BIRDS WILL BITE" The ones that don't bite at all have not been discovered yet. They are NOT domestic creatures. They are wild, even though they may have been raised in captivity. Lions are raised in captivity as well yet they are wild animals that can adapt, they are still wild.
No Bird likes to be approached when they are preening, have their back turned, or sleeping, they will snap at you or bite.
Their cage is their safety zone, it belongs to them, respect that, and ask the parrot to get yum yum for them and they won't bite entering the cage. To them your stealing their food, they will protect their food and territory.
Amazons are not hard to train, a little harder than cockatoo's like Kiwi said, but they bond much better than a cockatoo, and understand spoken words much better than even an African Grey. The blue fronted amazon is considered one of the truly unique species of parrots that actually understands emotions as well as spoken words. Be care of the tone of voice used, even when bitten.
I use a time out for my birds, if they bite, they are told no, and put in their cage to cool down. after about 30 minutes I ask if they want out, my Grey will nod it's head up and down, my amazon will say "Yes, okay, up up, come on, come on, out out" they both won't bite then because they don't want to spend time in their cage. My birds are allowed out time most of the day. They have been conditioned to fun things, they want out, they behave, they bite or test me, they get a time out. which they don't like, but they learned to respect that and I respect them.
Establish who's boss.....Birds will bite to establish dominance, like chickens do in the case of a "pecking order", to a parrot your part of the flock, it wants to be boss over you, if you get bit then don't acknowledge it and run, I reach under my birds wings with first finger and little finger and raise them up above me when they bite, then back down, this releases any bite they have and establishes dominance over them. The under wing touch and tail base on top touch, pouch (under chin) is sensitive and usually only their mates are allowed to touch..... They change quickly after that, trust me, and a bird that normally bites and wants nothing to do with you will suddenly find you are their best buddy now. Works with hawks and chickens as well.

 

[Birdman666]

The cage biting is classic amazon territorialism... in my opinion. He's protecting his nest. That goes away when you are no longer perceived as a threat to the nest. Getting him on a playstand away from the cage reduces this behavior.

However, amazons are very territorial birds, especially males, and most especially during breeding season. It never goes away 100%. So the answer is watch his body language and be aware of him when he's acting territorial around his cage.

 

[marine54]

Your comments were quite helpful. Today "Sabhan" is acting with less aggression as I got him out of the cage and on the play stand. Although he bites my hand sometimes but I feel it is a "Friendly Bite" to the extent that I managed to let him have my finger in his beak for short periods. In addition he is flying to my hand from the stand when called.
I am following the "Positive Enforcement" method in training him and I think he is doing well.