I was reading a thread here & every one was talking about getting bitten. [& I was just on another forum & the same thing.] Everyone was talking about how each bird bites but i want to know how to avoid them & how everyone deals with their own biting issues.

... now i know Laker seems to entering his hormonal phase again - why Septembrer - why???

So the questions are:
1) what are the best techniques to 'curb' biting?
2) What triggers different species?


I'll start with Budgies - cause they're the ones i know best. I'll leave Tiels for someone else although Moe & Alice used to bite me but don't any more.

Laker Bites when
- he's tired, hungry or feeling neglected. He still does if i'm not aware of his needs & body language.
What worked: He used to bite because he was territorial & afraid of hands. That has gone away as he's learned the when i say, "Excuse me" & pause to make sure he understands - he steps aside & is very relaxed. So a cue word or 2 + reading body language & knowing when to back off is positive

Rio bites whenever he can - well he used to. I think it was baby attitude & fear. He will not be 'bullied' & wants his space. But now he's getting sweet & is offering beaking instead. So I'd say my patience is paying off.
What worked: I tried the pushing back & ignoring bites but that didn't work very well. Hanging out with him & offering no physical interaction while offering treats has been much more successful. So i'd say from this that he needed space & time to get comfortable & it was probably driven by fear.

PS: I was not paying attention a minute ago & reached for the mouse & got Laker instead - lots of twitters & a bite. I had to say 'sorry' - he looked at me & then he relaxed. I guess i'm forgiven.

Well it's not a natural parrot behavior to bite each other all the time to communicate. Even though you see some "direction" being given by them to each other using their beaks. Like warning signs and in the case of Parrotlets unexplained foot biting when too excited.

A lady had her Amazon she just adopted 12 years old in a store and said about biting. No previous bird experience. Well when I was talking to her I moved my hand from left to right in an ark and the bird went for her. I tried to explain about he was alerting her to my movement being dangerous but how to you impart all that stuff that's second nature to someone who couldnt possibly have known that. It's tough.

Then you have people INSISTING the bird perform certain things that you know they hate. Like perches for example. If the bird hates the perch leave them alone and do something else.

I think this comes from decades of people giving bad advise either with good intentions or just trying to be egotistical saying to do things to "break their spirit" like oh we're the boss and they have to learn it. Totally wrong imo and ime and mean, too.

Of course a misguided hand going to Laker's Mouse doesnt count LOLOL.

I think it all boils down to self defense and frustration having to live in a human world where they can't communicate with their own kind. This is why I'm so adamant about a captive parrot having at least another one if not their own exact species opposite gender. It must be very lonely being a single parrot IMO, like if one of us had to go live on Mars with another species of being forever and ever. No offense to single bird households but I'm just giving my opinion.

I've always believed in letting a bird be a bird and eventually they all figure out what they need to do to live in our world. IF we do the right compassionate things at the same time.

Oh sorry, ignored the questions LOL what else is new...My opinions are to curb biting: Pay attention what triggered it and leave the bird alone and don't do those same things LOL.

That's what I actually do. Just change my own approach. Even Piper looks at Toby like "Are you a MORON?" when he does a little biting thing for no reason LOL she almost rolls her eyes even.

That doesnt mean I don't get them to do what I want but I trick them into wanting it too.

Number two: Triggers are diet, low calcium, sleep deprived, not having humans they understand, insecurity, fear, boredom, cage bound, lack of enrichment, lack of trust, breeding stimulis without a partner, and living conditions like being alone all day or up all night, too much and too bright lighting, or made to cuddle instead of enrichment type bird things and most important being made to do something they don't want to do. The alternative is flooding and being forced to submit which will never get you the trust bond they need. Which also sucks for them to have to trust humans so much and then they get shuffled around anyway.

Hmmmm, so how are we defining a "bite"? Someone once told me that, "if it's not bleeding profusely, it's a pinch not a bite. And, if it doesn't need stitches, he or she is still a pet." LOL

With that definition in mind, I can honestly say that I have only been bitten by two of my birds: Cricket, my caique, and Charley, my ekkie. Those bites were completely my fault and due to my failure to carefully read the warning signs of an impending bite.

With Cricket, I walked past her while she was on a playstand and I had a bath towel on my head. Cricket, I learned that day, has an intense hatred of towels and she launched herself at my head! When I went to remove her, she made mincemeat of my fingers -- I bled, and I bled a lot!! At first I thought she must hate me but then the lightbulb went off in my head about the towel. Later, I laid a towel on my bed and placed her next to it and she turned into a towel-eating monster!! Needless to say, Cricket now lives in a towel-free environment!

Charley bit me very, very hard a couple of times the first week he was with me. Charley had been a neglected youngster (kept in a bin for 13 months with no toys or other mental stimulation, no lighting, and fed a horrible diet). He was a very frightened little guy when he first came to live with me and I stupidly pushed too fast too early in trying to get him to step up for me in his cage. He bit me out of fear and I did not blame him one bit. I since learned to watch Charley's eyes as they will let me know when he is scared. I know then it best to maybe sing a little to him in a happy voice and chortle a bit to help him relax. I can actually see him let his guard down and his confidence rise. Then and only then do I attempt to get him to step up for me.

Cooper, my macaw is an expert at pinching without breaking the skin to get my attention.

Stella, my 'zon, can go into sensory overload when playing with her toys -- she goes into "kill that toy at all costs" mode at times and I've learned it best to not try and take the toy away from her at that point as I think I might lose a finger or two in the process! LOL She will literally attack anything that moves close to her when she gets that worked up.

All of my birds (except my caiques so far) seem fascinated with human ears and think they should be removed. Their attempts are never done with malice but in a matter of fact approach of "hey, that thing just does not look right there, I think I will see if I can take it off"! And earrings -- well, I just don't wear them around my birds as they spot them immediately and become determined to remove even though attached to my ears!

I guess what I am saying is that you have to figure out why your bird is biting. Unfortunately, I think many teach their birds to bite by giving them what they want when they bite -- the hungry bird learns to bite to get returned to his cage; the scared bird learns that you will go away if he bites, etc. Knowing your bird's triggers will help you avoid bites -- avoid the triggers and you should not have any bites.

Also, for those of you with new baby birds, you will see that they are quite "beaky" -- they test everything with their beaks! When I first brought Stella home -- she being my very first parrot and only 6 months old -- I thought she was trying to bite me when she was actually just learning how to use her beak. They all as youngsters need to learn about proper beak pressure -- what is acceptable and what is not. In teaching them, you have to endure a lot of contact with their beaks and a few "tests" by them. It's up to you to teach them in a kind and compassionate way when the pressure is too much. They do learn and learn quickly (thankfully!).

Great topic, Jac!

I very much agree with Cindy on this. My opinion is that most bites are caused by the human. It took me a while to learn this with Quito. She's my buddy and she loves to be with me, riding my shoulder or hanging off my shirt by one foot and flies to me constantly, but she doesn't care for a lot of physical touching. A quick little scritch here and there, fine. Any more than that and you're going to get bit. Could I convince her that it won't do her any good to bite and persevere until I've bullied her into accepting being handled more? Probably, but what's the point? Is our relationship all about me making her accept what I want her to do? Why should she, and why would that be important for me?

Tausi is a bit different. He's very beaky, but hardly ever bites hard. He's much more comfortable with physical contact, in fact in his case I have to be careful not to give him too much because he tends to overbond very easily. All I have to do is speak to him or hold out a finger, and he's regurgitating for all he's worth. It would be very easy to make him into a "cuddler", but I don't believe it is a good idea to let a bird think you are going to be their mate. Let's face it, we humans make lousy avian mates. But to get back to biting, the only times he's ever bitten hard (and that's only once or twice) is because I've been trying to force him into something he didn't want to do.

Chico is an altogether different story. He will bite hard with little or no provocation, and he goes for blood. We are still working through just what our relationship will be. He loves scritches, but is a hormonal mess a lot of the time, and very cage protective. Hey, he's a mature male DYH Zon with an uncertain past, what do you want? Again, I've learned to avoid bites by avoiding putting him in a position where he will (and is able) to bite me. There is a fair amount of bluff involved in his behavior, and again, I'm sure I could be more aggressive and force him into changing his behavior. I prefer to let him be who he is, and if in time he decides to become more accepting of me through trust, that's fine.

My opinions and perspectives on our relationships with all animals has changed a lot over the years. I was brought up on a farm with animals of all sorts. Later in life I was a police dog handler. In both cases, it was all about getting the animals to do what you wanted them to do. Now I'm all about letting the animals be who they are, and having a relationship with them without constantly imposing my will (or my human values of what defines a relationship) on them. This seems to work very well in regard to birds. They really don't react well to having their will subjugated. They bite. If you persist, and bully them into submission, they develop psychological problems and sometimes literally physically tear themselves apart. It's not easy sometimes, but we have to let them be birds.

I have been bitten a few times recently, but not hard enough to draw blood. The aviary bird Thunder has tried to bite and once succeeded simply because he is scared and does not particularly think he wing should be looked at. If I hold him right I can avoid the beak altogether.

Peewee the pet budgie has decided she should not be kissed at night anymore or she is angry at being removed from a shoulder. She does step from shoulder to finger very easily, but giving her a wing kiss or beak kiss on the way to the cage results in a bite on the lip. In the morning it is no problem to ask for kisses. If she is put directly on the cage, she has no objection.

Peanut has bitten me and everyone else but the trigger is removing him from my shoulder. He will not allow anyone to take him from me and if I ask him to step on to my hand he sometimes hides behind my back. Taking him off me when he is not ready results in a warning pinch to me and a bloodletting to anyone else. To avoid the conflict I get him to step from my shoulder to the gym. Earings are to be removed and also any mark or blemish, does this count as biting?

It is getting towards our breeding season so I have been dive bombed by breeding suns in the aviary, but I fully understand this behavior. Do not mess with the nest box, simple rule. Once they lay eggs the aggression will go away and the nest box is no longer off limits.

Great topic.

I'm also a big believer in letting the birds be birds and not imposing human wants and needs upon them. I respect them and in turn they respect me instead of me simply trying to dominate them.

Jerry nips (rarely bites with real intention) for a couple reasons:
1) Stimulation overload - if he's wound up super tight with tons of energy and someone is trying to be too touchy/feely with him, they'll most likely get nipped. In that situation, I read his body language, understand that he's extremely excited and a ball of energy and let him blow off steam (usually by flying) - sure he'll want to hang out with me during some of these times, but it's more like "rough housing" and playing hard (games like "throw the budgie") and observing and knowing the limits. We can both have a ball at these times without anyone getting hurt.

2) Crankiness due to lack of sleep or molting. The solution there is easy, early to bed and respect that he might want to be left alone when he's itchy and full of pins. If he seeks me out for head scritches my nose will be there in a second, but it's his choice.

Lulu nips for a couple reasons as well:
1) Well I don't know the reallll reason for #1, I just like to call it the diva in her LOL. We'll be scritching her head, she'll be in heaven, then she'll nip and get huffy as if to say we're not doing it right. Then literally the next second she's begging for more scritches. Typical female

2) She'll nip, more forcefully, as a warning to us. If she is on us and getting attention and Jerry tries to fly over and butt in, she nips us to warn us that a blue monster has entered her territory.

I haven't been bitten by Winston at all thus far. We're still getting to know each other. He's not extremely hands on, but that's fine. We have a mutual trust and respect - I KNOW that if I pressured him more I could be more hands on, but I don't feel the need to dominate him. He's still learning and exploring this new world of interacting with and co-existing with humans and it's totally foreign to him. I'd be hesitant too and not want people forcing me to do weird things. That being said, we get along beautifully. This evening he spent quite a bit of time walking around on my lap and checking out the couch cushions that I was leaning against and in those times we talk to each other and there's a lot of trust there and I don't have to force more physical contact on him.

As a few others have said, I also believe that most bites are a result of humans misinterpreting the situation or trying to manipulate it for their own wants/needs.

Afa nips when she wants my undivided attention. Mr Buddy grabs me if he doesnt want to be touched but will bite John to blood out of the blue. Occy doesnt bite, nip , grab or anything. Alex, I dont know what on earth made that poor little guy the biter he is. Ive learned to work around it and havent been bit in a while from him. I just give them the respect of a wild animal that uses it s mouth to communicate touch. A dog can be the same way. sitting to get pet, then the next thing you know, the dog bits the hand. I stopped putting too much thought into it. I try to move as one with the birds, and they are good to me. I really cant complain. Alex is the only one I watch. If he wont step up, I dont push him. If I NEED him to step up but he wont, I get the wood perch and he steps right up. I trained him to it. This way I dont get bit!

I have to redefine bites!
~ after reading everyones replies so far - i guess my guys 'nip' more than they bite.
Rio[Budgie] was biting/nipping & working my skin to see if it was strong. I let him explore my skin & nothing bad happened. He was very good at posturing - "hey lady - if you try that, this open beak is going to be my defense" statement. He doesn't do that any more - so i guess i got the point.
With the Tiels - i was really patient with Moe & gave him his space which he responded to really well & no longer hisses or bites me [he'd saw at you - now he's even gentle when nail-clipping is happening]. Alice was very nippy but that has stopped as well.

It seems everyone accepts that it is a human/bird problem.
That birds will always be wild animals - never really tame - & we shouldn't expect them to be co-operative when we want them to be.

I appreciate the time that went in to all the replies. It also shows that you take the time necessary for your individual birds - no matter their history or species. I am so happy to have met you all.

This is a very good article about biting;

Biting is just part of having a parrot as a pet.” Does that sound familiar? It should. It is the most common attitude associated with companion parrot ownership. However, we feel the opposite is true. A parrot owner should strive to never get bit. That is a pretty bold statement for such a common problem. The fact is that biting is not a natural behavior for parrots. They don’t bite each other in the wild, at least not hard enough to make another parrot bleed.

Continued at; Natural Encounters, Inc.