Yes I have heard of it before....flighted means independence means biting and other dominance issues.

I have to say with my birds being PBFD they rarely bite. It seems to be an instinct with them that they are reliant upon me and know they need me. They rarely bite, if they do get hold it isn't enough to break the skin. If they do it is superficial. It is just a warning...I can tell you how I feel, please don't do that, I don't like it, but I won't bite you because I know I need you. (this has been explored in labs and proven as correct...PBFD birds rarely bite, why?? scientific evidence is still unsure, but it remains a fact)
I have witnessed a full on Cockatoo bite. It is nothing compared to my PBFD birds grazing my skin.

Hope this helps.

Sue.

I do not clip any of my greys,for some reasons I find that greys are clumsy, and clipping their wings creates more problems and possible injuries,I clipped one of my greys once and man she went to fly and hit the ground like a rock,I will never do that again,you can work on bitting issues,but you can't fix injuries.

Thank you all for your replies. I've been very careful with her lately..watching her body language...watching for the 'look' she gives right before a bite. So far, so good. I've been praising her when she does something good...we're going to start clicker training soon. We need to find her favorite foods/treats for that. How big of a treat can I give to her if I'm going to be giving her 20+pieces a day. Maybe A LOT more than that??

We did get Harrison's wings clipped when we first got her 2 years ago. We found out later that the vet did a hack job and it was causing her to pick at her wings. Every time she'd fold her wings in, it would poke her sides...causing her to pick at it. The vet who hacked her told me she was plucking and we needed to do more with her...stimulate her more...etc....we took her to a different vet who is the one who told us she was hacked. It took 2 YEARS for her wings to grow back enough for her to fly and she doesn't pluck or pick anymore. The ONLY reason I would even consider clipping her again is so she doesn't get out. But, we don't have kids or anything so we're able to be pretty careful with the doors and windows.

Anyway, thank you all for everything...i've come to you so many times with problems and you always make me feel better even when the problem hasn't been solved yet. You're great!!!

Thanks,
Heather

Heather especially in the beginning of teaching the clicker, you sure do reward a lot. I would use a treat about the size of a half sunflower seed. An almond could be cut into many pieces. To start her off you'll have to do what's called "loading the clicker." Which means you need to teach her that the click = treat. So at first all you're going to do is click/treat, click/treat, click/treat. Until she learns that when she hears the click sound that means a treat is coming. Once she learns that you're off and running and will be able to teach her all kinds of positive behaviors to replace the biting. Good luck and I look forward to hearing all about her progress.

I clipped a bird for the first time in my life recently but it broke my heart to do it and I am not planning on keeping him clipped, it was just a last resource, temporary measure to avoid his attacking other birds (he also attacks me but I would not have clipped him for that).

Is it true that clipping diminishes aggression in biting birds? Yes, it is for some of them but not all. For others, it makes it worse. And clipping brings other problems to the table so, in my personal opinion, you don't use a remedy that might be worse than the disease was in the first place and, most especially, you don't use it on a grey that has a history of plucking when clipped.

This time of the year, it's normal for birds to get more aggressive than usual and, at 2.5 years of age, she is at 'that' age when aggression towards the parents that don't allow her to leave the nest and look for a mate sets in so, for what is worth, my advice is to ride it out, keep her to a strict natural daylight schedule so the hormonal surges subside once molt sets in in the summer, and work on reading her body language and identifying the circumstances that bring on the bites so you can avoid them without taking such a drastic measure. You might want to reduce your interaction with her for a while and only pay attention to her when she initiates it.

Clipping is a choice, but it's only a choice made by the human for the human, it's not an option for the birds and it never benefits them.

I think i am going to keep jazz clipped. Just always being on guard that ceiling fans are off and watching the doors with others in the house makes me crazy.

Fans are always sighted as a problem & on another board I read a sad tail regarding doors & fans [scared by the fan & out the otherwise closed door.]. I wonder if you keep your bird in these areas all the time? Is it out of its cage all the time?

Some thoughts regarding cohabitation in our homes:
When I bird-sat, the bird in question had to live near my kitchen, paintings & beaded curtain & right across from a 29th fl balcony door in frequent use. I left her out most of the time. Everyone in the house was involved. If the balcony door opened we checked her first. If she was interested - in her cage she went - but mostly we faced her 100% as we learned to back out of the apt.

Could you see yourself one day offering a flying room to your bird with cage time in the fan room - or fan off when your bird is out?

I think that watching doors should be just as important with a clipped bird as well since they can and will fly if they get out. I don't believe that clipping means we should be more complacent.

I couldn't agree more!

Thanks guys...I have been paying more attention and also limiting my contact with her. When she asks for a scratch, I scratch her for a few seconds and stop before she has the chance to bite me. I wait for her to ask again before I scratch her again. Poor thing is confused though...she asks her ball with bell in it to scratch her head and she backs up to it with her head touching the ball...lol. She is so good with communication that I'm relying on her to give me cues as to what she wants to do. When I get her out of her cage, I say "wanna come out?" and now she says that when she wants to come out. She asks for what I'm eating by saying "want some?". She has said "wanna go back" (go back to her cage) a few times but I don't think she knows what it means like the other requests she makes. We're for surely not going to clip her, I think you guys are right, it would just bring up a lot of other problems and she loves to fly...I don't want to take that from her. We have no fans in the house and only adults live in the house....so no doors are left open carelessly. Thanks again for all the replies!!

Heather