Budgie keeps biting? Best way to train her?

[cherubim]

So I've got a lovely female budgie (Honey) that's a few months old, who is healthy and active and she definitely loves to bite and nibble everything she can. Both me and my partner has spoiled her with a lot of chewing and shredding toys and we make sure to circulate them in her cage (which is big that she can move around in). She sings a lot and shows signs of happiness when we talk to her and when we're around, and even when we approach the cage. She has no problems with our hands being in the cage (be for hand training or for organising/cleaning her cage) - she even sits on our hands, fingers and has even gone up our arms. We want to take her out more to fly since we don't like the idea of her being in the cage permanently, but the problem is.. she is very, very bitey - and since she has toys to keep her beak nice, her break it's very sharp.

We've looked up different ways to try to discourage her from biting once she's on our hands (we never try to scare her though) including ignoring her for a few minutes as soon as she's bitten us, not to try have our hands near when she's tired. All methods so far has been ineffective, I don't know if she really means to do it since she seems to bite everything she likes. I understand that sometimes she does 'testing' bites to see if our skin is OK to stand on, and sometimes to help herself move, but sometimes it's a really sharp, sudden bite that  can be quite painful and leave marks.

Any ideas how to train Honey out of it? She's a really lovely bird, we adore her a lot, and she definitely enjoys our company back. We just want her not to bite us, intentional or not. 

[suesbird]

Been there and had the marks. someone will come on later to help. Hens can be bitey, usually my neck and it hurts 😂

[Hezz]

Often all budgies, not just the hens, go through a bitey stage in the first year of their life; it's perfectly normal and quite often is referred to as the toddler/teens stage. They want to see what they can get away with; they are still learning the social boundaries. How you deal with it depends on what you are comfortable doing with her. You don't want to scare her, definitely no physical punishment, but also definitely letting her know that you are not happy. Whether you use a sharp 'NO!', a push on her beak, put her off you (immediately) or even several together, decide on what you do and stick to it. There is no point on one person telling her in one way and the other in a completely different way. The one thing you do need to do, if she wants to be with you, is immediately put her off you, anywhere, it doesn't matter, as long as she isn't on you. Don't take the time to walk her back to the cage - too long and she will have forgotten why by the time you get there - it must be immediate and decisive. Most importantly try to read her body language (harder in budgies than with the bigger birds, I feel, because they can be so quick) and you may find that you come to know when she is about to and make moves to prevent the bite. If it because you want her to do something that she doesn't want to do, then gradually the built up of trust will enable you to gently and slowly get her to the point where she isn't scared. That is a different sort of bite. If you can learn to understand why each bite has occurred, you can start to avoid these bites.
There is the scared bite; the naughty bite; the "life-threatening" bite, the gentle tasting nibble, and there is also using her beak to get around. You are going to get bitten if you need to confine her in your hand, unless she is used to that, you'll most likely be bitten if you have to give her meds. You have a bird; expect some bites, so you have to pick your fights. If you have a mole/freckle on your neck expect that she will try to peck it off - it looks like a seed to her (yumm, free food ) She shouldn't be chastised for that.

[cherubim]

Jul 5, 2019 1:29:07 GMT Hezz said:

Often all budgies, not just the hens, go through a bitey stage in the first year of their life; it's perfectly normal and quite often is referred to as the toddler/teens stage. They want to see what they can get away with; they are still learning the social boundaries. How you deal with it depends on what you are comfortable doing with her. You don't want to scare her, definitely no physical punishment, but also definitely letting her know that you are not happy. Whether you use a sharp 'NO!', a push on her beak, put her off you (immediately) or even several together, decide on what you do and stick to it. There is no point on one person telling her in one way and the other in a completely different way. The one thing you do need to do, if she wants to be with you, is immediately put her off you, anywhere, it doesn't matter, as long as she isn't on you. Don't take the time to walk her back to the cage - too long and she will have forgotten why by the time you get there - it must be immediate and decisive. Most importantly try to read her body language (harder in budgies than with the bigger birds, I feel, because they can be so quick) and you may find that you come to know when she is about to and make moves to prevent the bite. If it because you want her to do something that she doesn't want to do, then gradually the built up of trust will enable you to gently and slowly get her to the point where she isn't scared. That is a different sort of bite. If you can learn to understand why each bite has occurred, you can start to avoid these bites.
There is the scared bite; the naughty bite; the "life-threatening" bite, the gentle tasting nibble, and there is also using her beak to get around. You are going to get bitten if you need to confine her in your hand, unless she is used to that, you'll most likely be bitten if you have to give her meds. You have a bird; expect some bites, so you have to pick your fights. If you have a mole/freckle on your neck except that she will try to peck it off - it looks like a seed to her (yumm, free food ) She shouldn't be chastised for that.

Thank you so much for your response! This is incredibly helpful and insightful. I showed this to my partner and we agree to try the methods you recommended and stick to it. I think maybe the other methods we tried before took too long for her to truly register why we were doing it. You're right about the body language too, she's very quick so it's very hard to know when she's about to do a lil naughty bite. I'll make sure to keep an eye on my mole, too! I do have one on my neck, so I'll remember not to chastise her for potentially nibbling it. 

[cherubim]

Jul 4, 2019 18:38:19 GMT suesbird said:

Been there and had the marks. someone will come on later to help. Hens can be bitey, usually my neck and it hurts 😂

Yes!! Yesterday she bit me quite hard on my wrist, didn't feel good at all on that soft skin 😂

[Hezz]

You will also come to recognise that there are times when you know to expect her to attempt a bite, whether it be a certain time of day or when you need her somewhere, etc. These are the times to divert her attention - use treats if she has a favourite food (millet usually works wonders), give her a favourite toy, if she has one, or you can try training her to step up and down onto a stick, with due rewards for a job well done.