Okay after receiving numerous emails for help on the same topic I decided to write tips and suggestions on how to get a baby bird not to bite. And before I get any further on this please note that this will take time and lots of patience. Remember hitting your bird solves nothing and in fact makes them loose trust in you and makes the situation worse... so NEVER hit your bird for what ever the reason.
When baby birds are around 3-6 months old they usually go through a "teething" stage which we in the bird world call "beaking". They start exploring with their beaks and bite down on everything and anything they can get their beaks on. They of course dont know they can cause pain and when they bite down and you react to it with a big old yelp they just think its the funniest thing in the world, so why not try it again? Hey its funny and fun.
So the first thing is to teach them it hurts us. When your baby bites or nips you gently pinch his/her beak, press on the corners of the jaws (gently) and hold for a second or two. While saying "No Bite" in a stern voice. They hate this and teaches them bitting or nipping gets them in the beak hold and its no fun for them or us.
Another safe way to get them to stop bitting is to distract their bites/nips. To do this you simply blow on their face. Again dont forget to give them the stern "No Bite" or they wont know what you are doing that for. If that doesnt work try lowering your hand so the baby looses balance but doesnt fall and again give the stern "No Bite".
So okay you tried all of these and baby still doesn't stop bitting. Well now you really have to put your foot down and give time outs as well as set up your dominanace again. Show him/her your the boss. Do the laddering technique. Its quite simple just get him/her to step up, one after another for about 15 step ups. Do this a few times a day. When the baby bites do the pinching on the beak (dont forget the stern "No Bite") and place him/her in the cage for about 15 minutes and tell him/her "Time Out". Dont give in or this wont work. Dont even look over there! After the time out time passed take the baby out of the cage but dont force him/her out. Leave the cage door open if she/he doesnt want to step up for you and once he/she is out get them to step up. Do the laddering technique and if he/she is good praise him/her with treats or cuddles through out the time he/she is with you. Dont this all the time or the baby will think bitting gets him/her to his/her cage so make sure to not over do it.
So now he/she is doing better so how do I prevent future bitting? Its quite simple, just avoid it! If you notice the baby bites when you do a certain gesture then avoid it. Distract with toys if he/she likes bitting your nails or rings. And don't forget to reward the baby for being good. Dont give your babies toys that make them go into breeding mode since this makes them get irritated easily. And if the baby is really hyper when you take them out of the cage then first let them burn that out then go to handle them. And most important be patient dont force them and never ever hit your baby. |
