Still biting

[reenie]

Are some budgies just biters and there's nothing you can do about it?
Kevin has been bitey since I got him at about 8 weeks old. You can actually see it in his eye that he's going to nip. I always flick him off my hand when he does it, but he's always taking a nip at Stuart too (who has never bitten either me or Kevin).
There doesn't seem to be any real aggression - it's not like he's attacking. He just seems to bite and that's it.
I seldom get bitten now, as I can see it coming and put him down, but I'd love to be able to have him sitting on my hand or shoulder without having to keep an eye on him.
He seldom flies to me unless Stuart is already there, then he'll nip out at either Stuart or me. Almost like jealousy, or he's telling Stuart to get off me.
They're both super tame and step up no bother, and both will fly to me for treats. Kevin will only come to me without a treat if Stuart's already there or if he's trying to tell me something (like their food needs a top up or it's past their bedtime).
Is there anything else I can do to stop the biting? Kevin's about 10 months old and Stuart is almost 2.

[Deleted]

It's hard to say. He may grow out of it as he becomes more mature, or it may just be him. Munchy is quite the aggressive, grumpy little sausage at times. Even though we got along really well you could never touch him to request a step up, it had to be at least a jump away.

Indie has never bitten. Yuki has occasionally bitten at me if I held him, but only once properly. He has threatened me if I get him to step up when he's tired but not gone for me. I think it is something that's very variable.

[Morgan]

My girl Monkey used to get overly excited when it was treat time and bite at my fingers after shooing everyone else away, as if my fingers were also competing for the millet! I either ignored it or shooed her off, depending on how she was being and she seems to have outgrown this at now over a year old.

I’ve heard that with bonded birds you should sop them off, but sometimes even bonded birds will bite to get a reaction from you, even if it’s just shooing them off! If that might be the case, ignoring it completely could be a better solution - but not if he bites hard and it hurts!

I’d just keep doing what you are doing and not letting him bite you, and I would hope he grows out of it. He’s still young, and if it has become a habit already it may take time for him to break it.

Wish I could help more, I have only ever dealt with a minimum of biting. I’m sure someone else will be along soon with some better input for you.


Oh I just remembered in the training book I purchased recently, it said for biting parrots (usually bigger ones but buds are parrots too!) to prevent biting step one is of course to not get bitten. But then replacing the biting with some other activity like target training is good to teach the bird that they can learn something from you and there’s another way to interact with you. You can do this from inside the cage too. You just take a small stick (I use a cheap wooden bbq skewer) and present it to the bird. They should touch it naturally with their beaks to check it out cause it’s such a tiny piece of chewy wood. If not you can bring the stick to your bud and touch his beak. Whenever contact is made you offer a small treat, like a single bobble of millet. Every time they touch the stick without fail you give a reward. Then you can lead your bird around places by this method and have them target to wherever you’d like them to go. That’s the general gist of it, it’s usually very easy to train, and it’s fun! You can read more about it online and once your buds have that down maybe you’d enjoy teaching other simple tricks too!

[Hezz]

Some budgies are just more inclined to bite than others, but at only two months old I wouldn't be putting Kevin in that category just yet. It took my first hen and I 12 months to reach an understanding regarding her biting. We agreed that she wouldn't bite all the time and I wouldn't push her too much. In the end, due to health issues I had need to medicate and hold her almost every day, and she became almost clingy instead of the stand-off madam that she had been. I didn't give up on her, but then again I didn't let her get her way all the time.
As you say, you know when Kevin is about to by him pinning his eyes and so you can be pre-emptive and put him off you before he gets to do so - the best bite is the one that doesn't happen.

I would be very surprised if he doesn't settle down as a mature adult, especially being so tame and wanting to spend time with you. Keep doing what you are doing. The bite that you do ignore is the one that is going to happen when you need to hold him, examine him etc for his own good. He is going to be scared, afraid of whatever it might be that you intend to do to him once you have hold of him. In that case talk softly to him, hold him close, give him a kiss etc, and almost always they will settle down and become more calm. If you do need to hold him for anything, once you have finished, don't just let him go but rather place him on his favourite perch, play stand or whatever. He needs to know that you released him purposely, that he didn't have to escape.

[reenie]

Thanks everyone. I'll keep persevering. He's a happy wee guy, and exceptionally clever and cute, so he's easy to love, even with the nipping. Hezz he's actually 10 months old (I got him at 2 months), so I had hoped he'd have grown out of it by now, but I'll keep going with him. He's worth it. Maybe Stuart will fight back one day and shock him out of it. Lol

[mona]

Just to mention about the target training, I would like to say, it's very important to study their body language and behavior pre-training and during training. I see how magically that technique works for some birds, but my personal experience lead into them trusting me less. To mention, I had been super gentle with them, started with them touching the beak + treat, one foot step up, etc. Breezie would put one feet on the stick later, but I realized it's not out of will, based on his body language for a few days. He gave me warnings by gently touching my fingers, later followed by nipping my finger gently followed by what can be called a gentle bite that doesn't hurt much. He stopped flying past my arms, hesitated to eat veggies or seeds from my hand and so on.. I have read about cases where such forced step up create biting behavior in turn later on in birds, when they feel comfortable enough and retaliate to their experience. So, I took his warnings and stopped target training with them, backed off, just went with feeding them their favorite food from hand. I guess mine like the natural way of bonding more than any training stuff. To mention it again, it works for most of the birds out there, it didn't for mine.

[Hezz]

Oops, sorry for getting the timing/age wrong. I missed that at the end of your original post. But he still has some maturing to do, mentally at least. It would be a good thing if Stuart did snap at him from time to time.

[reenie]

Nov 15, 2020 19:41:52 GMT mona said:

Just to mention about the target training, I would like to say, it's very important to study their body language and behavior pre-training and during training. I see how magically that technique works for some birds, but my personal experience lead into them trusting me less. To mention, I had been super gentle with them, started with them touching the beak + treat, one foot step up, etc. Breezie would put one feet on the stick later, but I realized it's not out of will, based on his body language for a few days. He gave me warnings by gently touching my fingers, later followed by nipping my finger gently followed by what can be called a gentle bite that doesn't hurt much. He stopped flying past my arms, hesitated to eat veggies or seeds from my hand and so on.. I have read about cases where such forced step up create biting behavior in turn later on in birds, when they feel comfortable enough and retaliate to their experience. So, I took his warnings and stopped target training with them, backed off, just went with feeding them their favorite food from hand. I guess mine like the natural way of bonding more than any training stuff. To mention it again, it works for most of the birds out there, it didn't for mine.

Thanks mona target training might be quite good for Kevin actually. He likes a twig for stepping up, and always takes the end in his beak to hold it in place as he steps onto it, so he's halfway there. I'll give that a go!

[reenie]

Nov 15, 2020 19:44:13 GMT Hezz said:

Oops, sorry for getting the timing/age wrong. I missed that at the end of your original post. But he still has some maturing to do, mentally at least. It would be a good thing if Stuart did snap at him from time to time.

Thanks Hezz unfortunately I don't think there's any chance of Stuart snapping back, he's much too besotted with Kev. Kevin will chase him, nip him relentlessly one minute, then next thing he's demanding that Stuart feeds him, and the sweet wee guy does it. 😘

[tweetiepiesmom]

Aren't their personalities so fascinating? Buddy used to dominate Tweetie Pie, demanding what he wanted, insisting on being the first at the feed cup, etc. Then one day something happened that changed their relationship - I didn't see it. I think Tweetie Pie had enough and let Buddy have it! My timid little Tweetie Pie pushes Buddy away from the millet, eats what he wants and then leaves so Buddy can finish it up. He still sits calmly by when Buddy rushes over to play but when he's had enough, he opens his beak at Buddy and Buddy will jump to another perch. Stuart and Kevin's relationship will most likely continue to evolve as they mature.

[reenie]

I do hope so tweetiepiesmom I know it's just natural behaviour, but you do tend to humanise it and want to see the underdog come out on top. I hate to say it, but Kevin's a lot more clever, so however it develops, I don't see Stuart ever getting top-bird status.

[Hezz]

dIt is hard to see the older first resident bird be knocked off his #1 perch as it were, but that's just what budgie dynamics throws around. There is nothing we, as their owners, can do to change this.