Parrot being aggressive during moult.

[marsbar121]

I am new to this forum and would like some advice on my female eclectus parrot called Lexi.

She is a beautiful bird around me (I am her main owner) but not around my family. She bites them quite a bit. She is going through her first ever big moult as she is only one year old. I am assuming her biting and moodiness is something to do with that, but I am a bit worried as she has been moulting for months that the biting will become a bad habit.

I would like some guidance on whether moulting can make them grumpy and maybe some advice on a way to try and get her to stop biting
.
Thanks Marie

 

[amusic20]

I'm not sure the molting is 100% to blame for her aggressive behavior, but it's likely that it's contributing to this. You'll probably need to do some training with your family members, one by one. Look up Good Bird Inc; she has great suggestions.

 

[Boyd75]

I know when my quaker is in molthe still likes to be petted but when i accudentally touch some of the new quills on his neck he can get fussy but will usually go beck to being petted if i promise not to touch those new growths againlol

 

[Kiwibird]

Moulting is highly uncomfortable for a parrot, and their discomfort makes them lash out. Large parrots also typically go through something of a "terrible 2's" stage as young birds where they test boundaries and it is VERY important the human carer reinforces positive behavior and has a consistent reaction to negative behaviors (just like you would with a little kid). You are probably dealing with a combination of those 2 factors.

It would help to know under what circumstances she bites? When you pet her? When you ask her to step up? Also, what techniques are you using to socialize and train her? The more info we have, the better help we can give

 

[marsbar121]

Hi Kiwibird thank you for the response

She bites any one of family when they try to pet her and when they try and get her to step up, except for when they get her to step up off the floor. Also she very territorial at her cage except with me.

We have tried to use positive reinforcement and ignoring bad behaviours, unfortunately this is very difficult as she only bites my family really hard, whereas if it was me I could ignore it. Through my research there are so many conflicting opinions on what works, so we have also tried saying a firm no. For a while we have just been lost of what to do hence why I am posting here.

 

[Boyd75]

in my unproffesional opinion the bird lashing it is most likely out of frustration and incapability to express it in another way, saying no while it may teach him the word no means hes doing something you dont like it most likely wont stop the action Because the action is kinda like him telling you no. Lol like a no-off. And thats pretty frustating