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Post by lromanony on Feb 2, 2018 22:38:46 GMT -5
Hi Everyone. I just got my first bird...a 10 month old Quaker named Jack. I have had him 2 days now and he gives me kisses, walks around on my shoulders and just started letting me pet his neck. He has this habit however of walking on my shoulders and then WHAM...he will bite me and laugh like crazy. I know this is something he has learned from the person I got him from. I am working on trying to stop this habit. I tell him no bite and if he is on cage I will walk away. But if he is on my shoulders when he does this I just tell him "no bite" and let him climb back on his cage. He begs to get out of his cage and craves my attention. He always wants to climb on my shoulders when he is out of the cage but I would like to have him not bite me at any given time.  He is very intelligent and learning very quick. We bonded almost instantly the day after I brought him home. I fell in love with this little guy as soon as I saw him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for letting me join. |
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Post by dinucci on Feb 3, 2018 8:18:13 GMT -5
Hello and welcome to the forum ! I just had to laugh reading your post. Like you,I am a 1st time bird owner,have an 11 month old quaker boy named buddy. He has done the very same thing to me. Like jack,it's his way of demanding attention and trying to assert himself over you. When the biting thing happens here,buddy is shoe d away using the cap on my head or a towel in a non aggressive manner. He then flys back to his cage.i have yelled at him when he does this to get his attention,and put him in lockup for a few minutes. Since then,he hasn't done this for maybe a month. So I guess it's working. Now for the laughing thing,haha,I have a habit of chuckling when he's pissed defending his cage. So now when he tries to defend his belongings,cage,his "mate"laura,my girlfriend,he struts around and laughs but I know he's being aggressive twards me. So maybe Jacks prior owner did this as well. ..something I have to work on!
As for the cage aggression,I just stand right next to,or fold my arms on top of his cage and talk to him in a way to "change the subject"...sweet talk ect. This really works as I'm able to clean and replace his dishes easily as well as reach in to take him out. To me,walking away when he is standing guard only reinforced this behavior. The mailman gets bitten by dogs because the dog barks,he puts the mail in the box and walks away as the dog goes nuts. This is a learned defence of territory that even the sweetest dog will bite if he gets out at the mailman. I think the same thing goes for our birds.
Hope this helps a bit..and once again welcome ! Cheers!
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Post by lromanony on Feb 3, 2018 12:19:05 GMT -5
Thank you so much for the information and input. This helps me understand him a little more. I am going to give the "folding arms on top of cage and talking to him" It does make sense that this will help. I was able to hold him for a little bit this morning and found his attitude to be totally different. I was rubbing his neck and he seemed to like it. But when I put him back up on the cage he was holding his mouth open and moving his tongue around. I couldn't quite tell if he was kind of panting or not. Is this something to worry about?
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Post by julianna on Feb 3, 2018 15:48:37 GMT -5
Hello Iromanony... and welcome. The bill open is usually a sign of aggression and with the tongue moving around as well. His cage is his territory therefore, you need to respect that as was suggested earlier... try distraction when you want to get close to it. Sing a song or give him a treat. My Oscar will allow only me to get near any of his cages... everyone else better watch out. But every now and then he will remind even me (his girlfriend) that this is HIS house... and I need to back off.
I would not worry about it.. it is normal...
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Post by cnyguy on Feb 3, 2018 23:01:50 GMT -5
Happy to have you and Jack join us on the Forum! |
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Post by biteybird on Feb 4, 2018 2:32:46 GMT -5
Welcome to you and Jack! They are funny little characters and it's really hard not to laugh at their antics sometimes. Our Bonnie nipped me one day and I said "Oww!" - it only took twice and she said "Oww" the next time she did it. They are so clever it's scary! Bonnie still tries to attack our hands whenever we change her food/water dishes, so now we do the ones in both cages when she isn't there (i.e., in the other cage/room). It's just normal territorial behaviour...whatever "normal" is, ha-ha! Distraction does actually work quite often, such as whistling or telling her she's pretty, etc. - sometimes she then forgets she is protecting her cage. Oh, giving Bonnie a pumpkin seed makes her forget about everything else! |
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He is very intelligent and learning very quick. We bonded almost instantly the day after I brought him home. I fell in love with this little guy as soon as I saw him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for letting me join.
