ive lost my confidence, just need a bit of advice.....

[Gosberry]

hi all

As some know we have two IRN, one of each sex ..... Max is extremely responsive and is doing so well considering we have only had them for a week hes now flying onto hands and feeding off them. Max is even started grooming my OH eyebrows!!!!

Ruby seemed to be a bit more hand shy, but after seeing max being feed sunflower seeds she started to be intrigued and eventually took a seed from me..... i was so happy .... she did bite me but i ignored it ....... she was feeding from me nicely then out of nowhere she bite me really hard and took a more than a few layers of skin with her, there was no way i was gonna be able to keep quiet and i yelled, not at her but 'owwww'
she quickly ran away from me.

She is still taking sunflower seeds from my fingers but Ive kind of lost the want to bond with her and my confidence with her has gone and I don't even want to feed max who I know is extremely gentle.

I just want some advice on how I can get over this.

Reading back over this it even sounds silly that I feel this way buts its really making me feel like I should re-home her

[Janet]

I had one gentle bird and one absolute terror who took big bites out of me. I learned to look for the signs that she was about to bite. Her eyes would pin and she would bob down ready to attach. I would withdraw what I was offering and she would stop. I also offered her foot toys, the sort where I could hold one end and she could chew on the other end quite a distance away.

I know they can hurt and I have had huge chunks taken out of me. BUT the good news is that I now have two gentle birds. Floss (the biter) is no longer interested in biting me and likes to give me parrot kisses (presses her beak against my lips) without taking a bite. She will preen my face and rub her beak against my neck. Bird is as gentle as he always has been.

I now have two new birds. Summer is gentle but Freckles seems to enjoy taking a swipe at me whenever he can (he also loves to sit on me and chat). I expect that he will grow out of the biting like Flossie did.

Try to persevere. It is absolutely worth it. I don't think any bird could have bitten more than Floss but she is a happy and gentle little bird now. The frequency of my injuries reduced as soon as I paid attention to what she was doing and acted to avoid the bites. She lost interest, it seems, or maybe just grew out of it.

[bec]

dont give up on her the fact that she was intuiged by what max was doing shows that she wants to bond with you but shes just not as confidant as he is

try using bigger treats this worked for me when kieron was biting me all the time my guys have always responded to brocoli or carrot & apple sticks