Budgie keeps biting me

[budgie11]

My budgie started going on my finger 3 weeks ago with millet, she bite sometimes but it only hurt a little bit. I started putting my finger in with no millet and she bites really hard, or as soon as she carnt reach the millet she bites really hard I try and get her of but she wont. And now she chases after my finger to bite. I think she's thinks it's a game or her telling me to give her millet. I've checked her food and has 3 toys which I swap one every day and she looks healthy. Do you have any advice, please

[ijustcantsayno]

I’m sure someone with more experience will chime in but IGNORE, and AVOID would be my suggestions. And always, always, always end on a good note. Take your hand away gently and calmly before the biting point.

Given that budgies are prey animals biting is normally a defense mechanism but only after fleeing is no longer an option. Any animal that is scared will bite. But biting can also be a learned behavior that is accidentally trained. The only way to safely teach a budgie not to bite, when it is a learned behavior, (that I know of) is to not react when they do bite. That will teach them biting gets no negative or positive reinforcement. Without reinforcement, and without fear they have no reason to bite.

Taking a step back in the taming process might also help, just in case it is a fear reaction.

[Hezz]

How old is the bird, and how long have you had her?

One of your points that concerns me is you say she has 3 toys which I swap one every day. That is not much in the way of stimulation for any bird. She needs a drawer-full of toys and to have these rotated on a weekly basis. She needs bells, swings, shiny things, chewable things, she needs things she can hang off, things she can rattle, things that jingle and things she can destroy. A bored bird can often become an aggressive bird. If she doesn't yet come out of the cage for exercise then she needs plenty of stimulation inside it. Also, how often do you change her food? What is she eating?

When you get her to step up, wait until she has and then reward her with millet - you need to give the treat before she gets in a bite ... it is all in the timing. Don't give her a heap of millet, just pull off a small bobble from the spray as her reward for doing as asked. If you want to take her training further, and this can help with birds who want to randomly bite, start target training with her, it will also help relieve some of her boredom.