Shoulder sitting

[Flapjack]

Hi all! It’s been almost two weeks since I got Kure, my GGC, and we have been running into a bit of an issue with shoulders. I have heard a lot of contrasting information about letting your bird sit on your shoulder. Some seem to have no problem, some say it causes a dominance issue, and other are in between. Well, it seems that all Kure wants to do is sit on my shoulders! It appears that she has chosen that as her safe space and she will try to climb up whenever something frightens her. I don’t want to take this away from her but I have a lot of trouble getting her off of my shoulders when I need to, which makes me worry about her being up there. We have been working on this by giving her a treat when she steps up from the shoulders but sometimes she won’t come down for that either which leads both of us to get frustrated. When she is out it she won’t forage or play with her toys, even if I am messing with them, she just wants to sit and preen herself and my head/ears. It makes me worry about what she does while I am not home, because she is not showing much interest in her toys at all. I’m interested to hear what you guys think about shoulder sitting and any advice you may have.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hi all! It’s been almost two weeks since I got Kure, my GGC, and we have been running into a bit of an issue with shoulders. I have heard a lot of contrasting information about letting your bird sit on your shoulder. Some seem to have no problem, some say it causes a dominance issue, and other are in between. Well, it seems that all Kure wants to do is sit on my shoulders! It appears that she has chosen that as her safe space and she will try to climb up whenever something frightens her. I don’t want to take this away from her but I have a lot of trouble getting her off of my shoulders when I need to, which makes me worry about her being up there. We have been working on this by giving her a treat when she steps up from the shoulders but sometimes she won’t come down for that either which leads both of us to get frustrated. When she is out it she won’t forage or play with her toys, even if I am messing with them, she just wants to sit and preen herself and my head/ears. It makes me worry about what she does while I am not home, because she is not showing much interest in her toys at all. I’m interested to hear what you guys think about shoulder sitting and any advice you may have.

I wouldn't let any bird larger than a budgie sit on my shoulder until I was certain he wouldn't get overly excited, scared, or angy and bite my ears or fence until I was Shoulder sitt

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I wouldn't let any bird larger than a budgie sit on my shoulder until I was certain he wouldn't get overly excited, scared, or angy and bite my ears or fence until I was Shoulder sitt

Oops. No shoulder privileges until certain the bird won't bite my ears or face. I don't want to have plastic surgery to put my cheek back together. I always recommend that people wear a hoodie when they don't entirely trust their bird.
When a bird is sitting on your shoulder you cannot read it's body language to get warnings of potential bites.

 

[wrench13]

Know Thy Bird. If you cant tell when your parrot is not in the mood to be on the shoulder, or is acting unpredictably, then he should not be on your shoulder

At almost 9 years, I know Salty's moods and times when I would rather put a loaded gun to my ear then have him on my shoulder.

 

[Free as a bird]

Know thy bird... Words of wisdom

In this case the bird has only been with them for 2 weeks so I think it's good that it's spending so much time on the shoulder. It obviously trusts them. As long as it's not causing trouble I think it's fine.

 

[Chenetaqwa]

Hi all! It’s been almost two weeks since I got Kure, my GGC, and we have been running into a bit of an issue with shoulders. I have heard a lot of contrasting information about letting your bird sit on your shoulder. Some seem to have no problem, some say it causes a dominance issue, and other are in between. Well, it seems that all Kure wants to do is sit on my shoulders! It appears that she has chosen that as her safe space and she will try to climb up whenever something frightens her. I don’t want to take this away from her but I have a lot of trouble getting her off of my shoulders when I need to, which makes me worry about her being up there. We have been working on this by giving her a treat when she steps up from the shoulders but sometimes she won’t come down for that either which leads both of us to get frustrated. When she is out it she won’t forage or play with her toys, even if I am messing with them, she just wants to sit and preen herself and my head/ears. It makes me worry about what she does while I am not home, because she is not showing much interest in her toys at all. I’m interested to hear what you guys think about shoulder sitting and any advice you may have.

That's one thing about green cheeks... they love the shoulder.
I have 2 and they both love the shoulder perch .. I noticed they both seem to feel more secure there and as long as they don't bite anything when there I don't mind ..as soon as they get nippy off they go!
As far as getting them off that's important...they have to be trained to come off when told

 

[TeekoGreenCheek]

Teeko sits on my head lol but..he doesnt bite..maybe it just depends..i eventually warmed him up to it. But he doesnt get aggressive with my ears or anything. I think he just wants to be with me everywhere i go.

 

[Birds-of-middle-earth]

I've never heard about it causing dominance issues, but I'd try to discourage it until you know your bird's moods enough to be sure he won't bite your face.

 

[Flapjack]

Thank you all for your replies, life got insanely busy and I completely forgot this forum existed for a bit. She is currently doing much better with it, I’ve realized that she starts getting a bit more nippy on my ears when she has to go to the bathroom :/ but otherwise it has become less of an issue. She is also so so sooo much better at playing with toys. We are getting much better at reading each other. Thank you again!