My partner has a 10 or 11 week old ringneck named Charlie. He was going very well until last weekend when we had a young girl over who was a little overzealous in her handling of him, nothing too severe but it has obviously had an affect. He stopped threatening to bite after we had him for less than a week, but since she was over 9 days ago now he threatens and nips at times as well. He doesnt hurt when he nips they seem more like warnings than an attempt to hurt. He will still step up on command after he has threatened or nipped u and if hes on the floor is more than happy to step up without any bother, just now i had him on my shoulder for a while he was fine then i turned my head slowly and he bit my eye........... I reacted but he got my eyeball and it hurt so was very hard to stop, then he proceeded over the next fifteen minutes to attack my ear and neck every now and again. In saying all this he is a little better with my partner he only seems to threaten her and sometimes not @ all. I keep referring to Charlie as a he but i dont know his sex if that makes any difference.
I sometimes have problems like that with our female bird, Janey. We will go for weeks and she's as good as anything but then, one day, she'll lash out at us. She must have a reason... but we don't know what it is.
Whilst I believe that there are things you can do to produce a different response in your bird... some birds have more of a tendency to be this one than others.
We have two birds, Janey & Charlie. Charlie has never bitten us the way that Janey has... and yet, of the two, Janey is the most strongly bonded to us. I think it's because she cares more about what we do then Charlie does (if that makes sense).
I think the key to solving parrot behaviour problems is to try to figure out the cause... and then try to work out what you can do about it. The other thing to keep in mind is that they can get riled up and their moods and behaviours can be changeable. I think this is especially true for females. Throughout the course of your bird's life, your relationship will go through good patches and bad patches.
I'm sorry I don't have any silver bullets for you... but I can tell you that you're not alone.
With Janey, I recently decided that I wouldn't let her on my shoulder any more... I find that when she is on my hand I have more control over which parts of my body she can access. This has been hard, because she is used to getting on my hand and running straight to the shoulder. I've been working on paying lots of positive attention to her whilst on my hand in an attempt to keep her there. At the beginning, I would stand near her play gym when she was on my hand so that if she made movements to go to my shoulder I made her stop onto the gym. If she managed to get to the shoulder, I would lower myself and try to get her to go back on the gym... when she refused to go, I'd keep offering the gym to her and stop talking to her... and I found that eventually she would hop off. Now, I'm finding this is mostly working for me... but not my husband yet... We're going to have to do some work on that to help him get there too. Now, usually just a "no" when she looks in the direction of the shoulder works.
charlie is still young and all hope should not be lost. persistance is the key.
ellie got it right, there are far too many sources recommending not to let your parrot accustom to your shoulder, as it gives them a power position. in saying that, my iggy has never been a problem on my shoulder. parrots are still wild animals, and are highly reactionary creatures. keep this in mind when your bird is being naughty, and dont be too worried by some troublesome behaviour. just keep calm take your time, and charlie will calm down and be okay. they will learn their boundaries and set their comfort zones as long as you persist. it sounds like its too young to be bluffing yet, so watch out for that! but dont be too stressed
but he got my eyeball and it hurt so was very hard to stop, then he proceeded over the next fifteen minutes to attack my ear and neck every now and again. In saying all this he is a little better with my partner he only seems to threaten her and sometimes not @ all. I keep referring to Charlie as a he but i dont know his sex if that makes any difference.
