Biting

[karlene]

Hi



Harper and I are new to the forum. In fact we are new to each other We have been together now for about 1.5 months. He is hand reared and about 5/6 months now. A beautiful little boy! He is totally tame, climbs on your finger in the cage, sits on your shoulder.

He wasn't biting, and we were handling him everyday, multiple times a day. But he has started biting when you put your hand in the cage. He also bites when he is out of the cage and on your shoulder for example.



How do I address this?



See how beautiful he is in his selfie???



K





Read more: budgerigarsforum.proboards.com/thread/13408/harper#ixzz4AQQ2G7n0

[OP]

Hello and welcome. There is no definite way to answer your question, although there are many ways to address the problem. First you will need to try and find out why. There is a good chance that he is going through a major moult. If this is the case then he is entitled to feel a bit grumpy and the problem will pass all by itself. Are you seeing any signs of him moulting?

[karlene]

I don't really know what to look for Harper is my first budgie. I guess he is losing a couple of downey feathers, but whether that is moulting or not I don't know.

[OP]

Sorry I didn't thik. He may lose downy feathers quite often, but if you see larger feathers from the wings or tail then he is moulting.
It may not br that. He may be starting what we term as the terrible teens. It's like children growing and becoming teenagers. Once again he will grow out of that. If you can I would tend to ignore the bites unless they become really vicious.

[ffiscool]

Welcome to you and Harper. Great name btw

i had a bout of a month or so, when Bailey started biting.. it could be as OP said, their teenage time...

or has anything else changed?

Bailey though would sit on my shoulder and bite my ear.. or on my finger and bite me anywhere he could reach.. I tried all sorts of actions to try to stop it.. putting him in his cage, saying no... or making a loud noise.. to no avail.

he stopped all on his own, so I put it down to teenage time.

what do you do, when he bites?

[karlene]

Hi

We tell him no and he seems to stop and listen, but then he settles in for another go

If he continues we put him back in his cage, but i have just read that that is a bad idea as the cage is supposed to be a safe place, a happy place, not somewhere you go when you are a naughty birdie

If he is on my shoulder and bites my neck, I take him away and put him on my knee or next to me on the couch.

I just read that you must push back (gently) when they bite? Is this true? Also, doing nothing when he is biting can land up being a rather sore exercise!

If he bites when we go to take him out of his cage then we will leave him in there if he puts up to much of a fuss.

K

[ffiscool]

hard one as each will be different in how they respond

i did also tap Bailey's beak.. but as I said, he just stopped after a while. it was often my neck, ear, nose that got it.. or if he does it, is there something you could easily pick up to distract him.

I think unfortunately, it is a case of waiting it out

[Hezz]

I am copying what I put into your introductory thread ......

At his age he is hitting the hormonal teens and pushing the boundaries, seeing what he can get away with and what he can't. There is an expectation that he will grow out of it, if he is a he, but it is up to you to let him know that biting is not tolerated; you just need to decide how you are going to address that. Think naughty child and how you would correct bad behaviour there, and apply the same to your bird. He will learn, as long as you are consistent.

But I will add, in answer to some of your questions, putting him back into the cage when he is out and biting is definitely acceptable. If he wants to be with you, he will learn he can't bite. If he is on you and he bites, remove him further away than onto your knee; there he is still getting your attention. If he is in his cage and bites, he is more likely protecting "his" space, but again, this is not good behaviour so if you can gently tap him away, ignore him, tell him NO!! very firmly .... whatever seems to work the best, and stick to it.

As for moulting, you will know when he moults. Generally your bird is lose a few downy feathers most days, but once a moult starts you will there has been murder in the camp by the number of little feathers all over the bottom of the cage, and it can happen literally overnight. All feathers will be moulted out, but not all with each moult and certainly not all at once. Generally the feather loss lasts for a few days to a week, there will be about a week of calm and then you will see signs of the new feathers coming through, particularly on the head - he will look like a pin cushion, with lots of little needle-like spikes poking through the rest of his feathers. These are pin feathers, and in the beginning they have a blood supply, so if broken they bleed like a stuck pig! Very frightening but usually not terribly serious, unless the bleeding doesn't stop. He will lose downy feathers, flight feathers, tail feathers; the lot. You will get to recognise which are which, and may find that if he loses too many flight feathers that he either has to work harder to fly, or might even lose the ability for a short while until the new feathers grow back in. Pin feathers can be itchy, so a tepid water spray can help them remove the keratin sheath if it is ready to come off, or once you are comfortable with each other he might even allow you to give his head a scratch to help him through.

Sorry; that was all a bit long-winded.

[karlene]

Not long-winded at all!  I welcome all the feedback  I am quite clueless when it comes to my little man and only want the best for him.  The bit about the moulting will really help when that happens as I would have panicked!  I think he must have moulted just before we got him as he had the little spikey hairdo going on

I had him out this morning and he really laid into me, such a stout.  I pushed back on his bite and also told him no with a finger!  He stopped and sat looking at my finger for a few seconds and then bit on my hand again. So i put him back in his cage after a couple of rounds

He is a cheeky little thing, but I am so in love!  Even with the biting.  I didn't know they had such wonderful personalities.  Even the vet said he has a super little personality

Thanks so much for the welcomes and advice, I just hope I do the right thing for my little boy!

K

[Hezz]

The best thing to do is be persistent and consistent. It sounds as though he listens when you reprimand him, so a gentle bop on the beak as well could possibly help get the message through. Act grumpy with him; they are smart little creatures, but you just need to find what he responds to best.

[OP]

If Whiskers starts biting when he is on my finger I just point my finger at his chest as though I am going to touch him. He flies away squealing.

[karlene]

Oh no, we are allowed to touch Harper, he doesn't fly off. He may sometimes walk away a little if he isn't in the mood for cuddles. He is even getting used to "koppie krap". He is really a fabulous little man!

[OP]

I need educating here please? "Koppie Krap". Even Google is struggling.!

[karlene]

Direct translation is "head scratch". I rub his head or back of his neck and say "koppie krap, koppie krap" and he is allowing it sometimes now. He still ducks his head now and again, but comes up when he feels that its not a threat when i touch him there.

[OP]

Ah! so it's your invention then. It must be nice to raise a budgie from scratch (no pun intended). Apart from my first budgie, Joey who was a young adult, they have been re-homed. This means they have a lot of their previous owners training or lack of in them and are fully mature. I still have trained the to my ways but there is only one, Whiskers, who is very tame. Even he won't allow touching unless he is doing the touching. Enjoy the bringing up of your Harper.