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My IRN is exhibiting behavior I'm not used to when it comes to a bird of this age. I placed it inside a cage and when I wanted to take it out some time later, it attacked my hand. Although it's beak is still not trained to bite my hand off (joking), still I was surprised that it did so. Once the bird came out of the cage, it became a good natured bird as it always is. I've had it for 2-3 days now.

What I see is that the bird is becoming territorial inside the cage. I fear that it will be aggressive towards me in the near future if I keep it in a cage and may not remain tame at all (a similar thing happened with my fischer lovebird). I am thinking of keeping it on a perch instead of a cage. I think that way it may not be territorial at all. Is that a good idea? Can anyone suggest a better way to approach the problem?

Gosh there a lot of threads like this one at the moment! Try searching the forum for "biting" and reading everything you find by Missk.

Your bird hasn't had much time to settle in and learn to trust you. It takes time for a bird to get fully comfortable with a new person and a new house. You can build up trust by dropping treats into his/her dish while the bird is in the cage. This will create a positive association for the bird when you approach the cage and the bird will start wanting you to come close to his/her house. You can also open the door and let the bird climb out of the cage and give it a treat.

Try to understand things from your birds perspective and be patient with it.

Hi. I am now a little scared of what I might have said in the past - I talk *SO* much. But yes, please do some back reading. A lot of people have had the biting, including me and my Rocky. Some have had better success than others in helping their bird learn another way. I am personally so convinced that biting is something that can be overcome that as I look for my second IRN I actually say "biting is OK!" I should probably quit saying that and use biting as a reason to offer less money..... I'm hoping I do find a second hand biting bird for next to nothing.

What I'd really like to address in this post, however, is this part:

I am thinking of keeping it on a perch instead of a cage. I think that way it may not be territorial at all. Is that a good idea?

I am going to say this is, actually, not really a good idea. My reasons are three.

1) If the problem is truly an issue of territoriality, your bird will learn to guard a perch as readily as a cage. Imagine how that would be - every passerby could get attacked without the relative safety of a cage wall between them and birdie.
2) When the bird is allowed to live without the cage he learns to feel that cages are intolerable. When life changes and the bird must be caged for whatever reason, usually suddenly and unexpectedly, he cannot tolerate being caged and is in serious danger of losing his home, or his rescuer, as the case may be. Don't think life will never change and you can be assured he will always be able to have his freedom. At least two others have had this problem recently. AND you owe it to your bird to maintain him in an adoptable state, in case you should meet with accident or misfortune.
3) Retraining a bird (or anyone) to accept less freedom than that to which he has been accustomed is hard. When the bird in question objects by screaming, plucking, self-mutilating, going off the feed, whatever, everyone suffers. Notice above, how I am willing, even eager, to take in a biting parrot? I am very, very accommodating and patient with my animals, and strive to provide each with all the compassion and resources they need to live happy and healthy. I absolutely will not take in a parrot who cannot accept being caged. It's a deal breaker for me, and I can count my deal breakers on one hand.

Please, everyone, even if you do prefer your bird to live cage-free, cage him frequently and kindly enough to preserve (or instill) a tolerance for caged living. His well-being very possibly could depend on it one day.