Hello
While looking for information about IRN's, I was fortunate to find this web site. And have enjoyed it a lot. We have a yellow bird. About 7 months old. Who is going through the biting stange. I guess she does not know how much it hurts? I called out bird " Max". I'm not sure if he is a he or she as yet. But, I suspect that he is a she. So "Maxine" may be her real name. She has a large cage (home) and it is parked in the busiest part of our home. She's quite a caracter. Has a passion for whatever we eat. No kidding. She eats anything we eat. At our Tea time. She has a ceramic small bowl. Which we give portions of our food to her. This has become normal now. If we don't, she is between our mouth and the dinner plate, till her bowl gets a deposit. She loves corn on the cob. Takes her hours to demolish it and just as long for us to clean up.
Max loves to sit on our shoulder and potter about with us. The ears get the odd nip. Max would rather sit on the girls shoulders. I guess it's cause they have hair to play with. Where I have a number 2 head shave and am not as much fun to chew. She wont stop chewing either. I figure she has a lot of energy and the beak goes flat out. Nothing gets missed.
She says "hello" when she wants attention. I'm suprised she has not picked up a few other words. I call her a big beak when she screams out. We say "off" when we want her back in top of her cage. Her cage is fitted with gum tree branches. And the top of the cage has a double trap door which enables her to go in and out. We close this lid when we go out or to bed each day. I would not like to think she is wandering about chewing electrical wires when we're not home.
Max enjoys our company. And gets upset when she has not had people company for a while during the day. Cooking our evening meal is fun. Wanting her trying to help, or just getting in the way. She wont let us touch or stroke her as yet. I guess she does not know what we're up to when the hand gets too close to her. All in all. We love her and put up with her adolecent biting. I hope she'll grow out of this and realise the pain she inflicts. We will work with her and have a great friend in "Max"
Paul
Melbourne
Australia
Our new addition
Moderator: Mods
Welcome to the board!
Sounds like you are encouraging a bit of bad behaviour! I let one bird eat with me when I did, and from that day on every single day he wanted to do the same! The two birds I have now are not allowed at the dinner table, and if they want a snack, they are allowed a snack away from the table when I eat. If Max is biting a lot too, no shoulder time, right now I'm training a green cheek conure along with a yellow ringneck the two have no shoulder time at all until fully trained, a pierced ear when not wanted is quite painfull!
don't put up with her biting! and definatly don't jerk away when max bites, they realize that they can get you to back off if they bite!
there are many articles out there on biting and what to do. I reccomend clicker training, it works well with most birds, I'm sure many people here have been bitten and can share stories on how to stop the biting! with my female ringneck she knows if she bites that means she can't go back to her 'safe' zone, she has to stay sitting on a perch outside of her cage, she stops biting, then she goes back into her cage. she's not hand tame at all and she's 12 years old! so nip this biting in the bud right away!!
Sounds like you are encouraging a bit of bad behaviour! I let one bird eat with me when I did, and from that day on every single day he wanted to do the same! The two birds I have now are not allowed at the dinner table, and if they want a snack, they are allowed a snack away from the table when I eat. If Max is biting a lot too, no shoulder time, right now I'm training a green cheek conure along with a yellow ringneck the two have no shoulder time at all until fully trained, a pierced ear when not wanted is quite painfull!
don't put up with her biting! and definatly don't jerk away when max bites, they realize that they can get you to back off if they bite!
there are many articles out there on biting and what to do. I reccomend clicker training, it works well with most birds, I'm sure many people here have been bitten and can share stories on how to stop the biting! with my female ringneck she knows if she bites that means she can't go back to her 'safe' zone, she has to stay sitting on a perch outside of her cage, she stops biting, then she goes back into her cage. she's not hand tame at all and she's 12 years old! so nip this biting in the bud right away!!