Ok.. so it finally happened. I got real broken skin from a bird for the first time in 10 years....

How many have you experienced a bite from an over excited bird? And you look back and see it could have been prevented by you? This isn't a topic often discussed, so I wanted to bring it up. We MUST be cautious when our birds are in a hyper stimulated mode. They are WILD creatures really... still not domesticated. We have the power in most situations to aviod bites. I had the power in this one, and was not paying enough attention.

Red was even talking TO me last night... said hello and hi to me while he was outside a few feet (on Dad), and I was inside; he said it about 30 times with an accompanying foot waggle in the air, with me responding enthusiastically of course!. He's been in that phase (since we got him!) that he will not talk to me, but rather goes all baby mush as soon as I enter a room, or he hears me. So that was quite a breakthrough! Trouble is, he was so overstimulated when dad brought him back inside, and I had Tiki on my shoulder, I tried to pick him up... he nailed me with the worst bite I've received in 10 years, on my right wrist. My fault, I got him all worked up, and wasn't paying enough attention. It was certainly an over-excitement bite. He only ever tries to bite like that when someone moves unexpectedly and he is that worked up...I honestly think I startled him. Otherwise he's a mushball; I should have known better. Boy he's strong!

I have been lucky enough to not have had broken skin in at least 10 years. It was my fault, I was sooooo excited he was talking to me, and he was feeding off of my excitement.




To avoid this I usually:
-Be extra special careful and move a bit slower when they are in hyper excite mode.
-Don't force an issue.
-Don't initiate a step up that I will need to enforce.
-Try not to get them that worked up.
-pay attention to eye pinning and reactions.

Sooooo, please share your experiences and methods for avoiding bites during play or excitement. They are afterall, "wild" creatures only a few generations out of the wild and not yet domesticated.

Sorry for your pain but I guess it is worth it because he spoke to you. I get bitten in excitement but never that hard, mostly it is jealousy of another bird, have to watch the eyes and the fluffy head style.