Alice
Hatchling
Posts: 10 
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Post by Alice on Sept 30, 2015 9:56:35 GMT -5
I am asking this question for my mom. She just bought a 3 year old, female, quaker parrot and she is having an aggression problem. The bird, Chloe, likes to sit on her head and chew on my moms glasses. Well when my mom doesn't let her Chloe gets mad and bites, really hard....any suggestions on how to avoid this behavior?
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Post by easttex on Sept 30, 2015 13:01:38 GMT -5
Your mom needs to get hand control of Chloe. Eyeglasses are very attractive for a lot of birds, and while you can train birds to do or not do many things, you can't really do that with the subject of the training perched on your head.  She should start working with Chloe on the step up/down before she gets a chance to land on her. Training with positive reinforcement is a good way to build a bond with a new bird and should help channel some of Chloe's energy and get your mom and her off on the right foot. Just make sure Chloe has had a chance to settle into her new environment. It's not clear from your description, but this might not really be true aggression, but more uncertainty. When birds don't feel safe, they head for higher elevation. |
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Post by biteybird on Sept 30, 2015 23:54:54 GMT -5
Quakers LOVE to chew on anything they can get their beaks into (e.g., TV remotes, computer keyboards, cables, eyeglasses, plastic...you name it). I don't think, at 3 years old, your mum will be able to lessen her quaker's interest in chewing on this stuff. So, easttex is right, your mum needs to work on building trust and control using simple command such as 'step up', whilst not allowing Chloe to be above her shoulder. There are several threads on this forum devoted to teaching 'step up' - the approach being to reward the bird (with, say, a food treat such as a favourite seed) for appropriate behaviour. Please ask more questions if you need to... |
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Post by siobhan on Oct 1, 2015 11:52:07 GMT -5
Generally, with any parrot, you have to offer some alternative they like more than they like the thing you don't want them to do. It's not a matter of "training" so much as "redirecting." I have a cockatoo and believe me, you do not want to be chomped by THAT beak. He's fond of remodeling my clothes. So I keep a toy or some junk mail handy and when he starts doing that, rather than saying "no" or trying to push the giant scary beak away (which could prompt a chomp, though he's devoted to me and wouldn't bite hard) I say, "Here, chew on this!" very brightly and enthusiastically, and he almost always accepts. It also works with Clyde, stubborn as he is, when he's doing things I'd rather he didn't. But he's not toy motivated like Rocky, so I whistle or do the duck noise or the Green Giant laugh and most of the time, he'll do it, too, and then I've redirected his attention. You don't ORDER a parrot to do things. You REQUEST.
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Alice
Hatchling
Posts: 10
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Post by Alice on Oct 1, 2015 14:18:18 GMT -5
Thank you everyone! I will pass all of this on to her ASAP.
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Post by biteybird on Oct 1, 2015 22:20:58 GMT -5
So I keep a toy or some junk mail handy and when he starts doing that, rather than saying "no" or trying to push the giant scary beak away (which could prompt a chomp, though he's devoted to me and wouldn't bite hard) I say, "Here, chew on this!" very brightly and enthusiastically, and he almost always accepts...You don't ORDER a parrot to do things. You REQUEST. Siobhan has summed this up very well. This is what we do with Bonnie - although Siobhan redirects with more 'class' than we do (I just say "Here, stick this in your gob!") . |
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She should start working with Chloe on the step up/down before she gets a chance to land on her.
