BirdChannel Forum / Life With Birds / Bird Behavior

Weird noise

Erines11 — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:34:23 GMT

Okay cheerio makes this weird noise. She does it when she does "so big" normally. SOmetimes she does it when she runs around or after she flies. At first i thought she was hyperventilating since she at first did it after she played. It kinda sound like a hiss but it isnt. Its kinda like a hahaha coming from deep in the throat. Does anyone elses cockatiel do this??

lorikeet and yellowwinged parakeet mating?

cindyluehoo — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:09:19 GMT

I'm a little puzzled - I thought Addicus (my yellow winged parakeet) was a male as well as my rainbow lorikeet. I never DNA tested them. When Addicus lost his sibling two years ago and went into a deep depression, I paired him with my lorikeet and since then he plays again, flies again, eats again, etc. He's happy. But he might be a she. They are constantly shredding newspaper in the corner of the cage, Matey regurges to Addicus, I saw mounting once with Matey on top, and Matey attacks me if I go near Addicus. I don't want an egg bound hen and someone tell me they can't really produce fertile eggs cross species? They adore each other, I can't seperate them, they are thick as theives, it would break their hearts. Any advise welcome.

Cindyluehoo

Taming a stubborn & unsociable cockatiel ?

PheonixSan — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:16:19 GMT

Well, I'm new here. And I need help, advice, tips ? My cockatiel's history starts like this. KiiSan was bought at a petstore as a handfed baby. First owners kept him in a small cage. Just left little guy there. Because he might of bitten them. He's hand shy. Since pet stores are not the best place to buy a bird. KiiSan also could be older then what they said he is too. Now the cockatiel they thought was a cool pet, isn't any more. Lady I adopted him from took KiiSan in. She told me when he was first brought to her. He would scream up a storm.

Biggest problem with KiiSan with his training & taming sessions. Keeps going back and forth. He'll take a couple steps forward being petted, loved, hands are not so scary. Then out of no where take whole bunch of steps backwards. Only thing he has kept step up, step down. KiiSan use to be a cagebound bird. Likes to come out now. Huge seed junkie though. Something he doesn't like, throws it at me or to the ground.

I've had him for three months. Know it takes time to win their trust. Is there a better way to tame a cockatiel ? My mom & I think he is missing companionship. When he was in the petstore KiiSan might of bonded to another cockatiel. Holding a grudge with people is how he deals with his loss. Probably didn't help people poked fingers through the cage bars and teased him. KiiSan is going on 10 months. Would it be okay to start trick training ? For Not so tame bird ? So, he has something else to look forward to. Then instead of being out of his cage.

One more thing. When hes in the cage. Doesn't do anything except stand in the corner of his cage.Won't play with his toys either. Try playing with the toys to show him how, not interested at all. Anything you guys could tell me would be helpful, take care =]

Tara & KiiSan

SQUAKING

vflo91 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 21:13:19 GMT

I have a sun conure (5 months old).She is absolutely beautiful! Although she does get pretty LOUD when I leave the room. What does this mean & should I run to her when she does *SQUAK*. She also doesn't care for head rubs (unless she is distracted).How do I get her to enjoy them?She does enjoy walks around the house on my shoulder. She is learning to eat fruits & Veggies now too *WoooHooo*.

Speaking the language of Birds

amea_gari — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 10:09:19 GMT

I confess, I often found myself at a loss as to what Flicker was saying to me. When she was a baby, she basically made one sound. It was the "feed me!" sound. Easy enough.

My as-of-yet-unnamed senegal baby has a few sounds he makes.
I am having a hard time figuring out what sounds indicate lonliness or neediness, which might indicate hunger, and which might mean "I'm content."

I know the soft beak scrabbling is more or less a calm and content sound. But he also makes a soft growly noise, and sometimes opens his beak at me when he does this. Is he warning me off due to shyness? WHen I put my finger to him at this point, he never lunges, but chews my finger a little. He does this sometimes after he has eaten, sometimes before he has eaten.

There's also a soft squeaking and 'cooing' and tweeting mixture of sounds he does for a while after I have put him back in his box. It almost seems like he is just talking to himself.

So what I wonder is, does anyone have experience with baby bird noises? Is there something I should be looking out for, some particular noise that does mean he needs me? Or that he's still hungry?
Or does this just take time :D

Remember the only stupid question is the one unasked

luvmycadillac — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:39:05 GMT

That being said why is it when the full spectrum lighting is on Cadillac is EXTREMELY active and entertaining. When the light is off though he is still active and entertaining its not as much. I know he cant be the only one out there that acts like this. We use a 25 watt Avilux light

Senegal is acting strange

Misonokiji — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:09:01 GMT

I'm a bit worried. Last night, after I took out my Senegal Benji, he started opening his mouth repeatedly. It look kend of like he was yawning, and his neck was stretched out. He also did it this morning.

Any ideas? I hope nothing's wrong. Other than that his behavior is entirely normal

Feather Plucking

Misonokiji — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:00:01 GMT

My Jenday Conure, Soleil, started plucking her feathers around September. She's been plucking on her legs, underneath her wings, and her back. It's getting worse. Today she lifter her wings and it's almost bald in one area. I have no idea why she is doing this, and I don't know what to do.

Not normal behavior

Erines11 — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:56:17 GMT

Okay so you know how parakeets are suppose to be this tough little creature ready to push anything around? Well mystic has been a sweet little angel lateley like the past week. Well lately shes been terrified of cheerio which you all have read about but cheerio has been attacking Mystic kinda when they get close to eachother (trying to introduce them) Well lately cheerio been opening her mouth and having herwings spread out slightly which i believe is agressiveness. Well everything i read is that cockatiels are docil birds and rather run than fight and keets rather fight than run. Its like freaky friday in my house!! the birds have swiched attitudes. My main question have i done something wrong to cause them to act like this? Cheerio has been around keets before and just ignored them. So now im confuzeled bout her behavior.

Griffin's always....in the mood

Heartlets — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:01:45 GMT

Okay, so recently i've noticed that all Griffin want's to do is go in my bathroom. after he flies in there he sits on the shower curtain rail and...well....masturbates. he's never done this before, he only started this about a week ago and he won't stop. every time i let him out, that's the first place he goes. i don't encourage it, when he does it i take him out and he flies right back in so eventually i have to close the door so he can't get in. When i do that he gets extremely moody. What should i do!! it seems like there's nothing i can do to get his mind off it.

Panophobia? Seperation anxiety?

myasaurus_of_animals — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:33:52 GMT

Tikki is about 3 yrs old, a female lovebird.

That. Will. Not. Let. There. Be. Silence!

Even as I type she is up against the bars of her cage SCREAMING. Tikki was a rare screamer, but this year she's just gone INSANE. At first I thought it was just healthy fears of things. But today for example; I woke up, uncovered her cage, and the screeching began. After a while of the skreeching(I thought she was just doing her normal "joy to the morning!" morning song), we checked her food dish to see it was empty. We gave her food, but she still stands SCREAMING on the edge of her perch. It couldn't have been because we took her bed out(she was laying infertile eggs)- she was skreeching long before her bed was gone.We took out her bed because she was ripping out feathers to build a more confortable nest.

We moved her cage, but that could not be the reason she is screaming because the original place her cage was, she screamed there, too. It can't be the rain; she screams in clear weather also. Tho I have noticed more and more wild birds and large flocks of crows and hawks visiting or just passing by the lake view Tikki has set her off.

I am wondering if it is seperation anxiety; my sister(we all live in the same house, btw) was Tikki's owner and it so happens that Tikki's cage was in her room until we moved it out in front of the sliding glass door in a corner. My sister stayed homeschooled for all Tikki's life, but now she is in school, meaning Tikki hardly ever sees her because my sister leaves early, and as soon as she is back she is busy with homework in her room, where Tikki cannot see or hear her and vise versa. It was my sister who taught Tikki all her words(Tikki-baby, Hello, Tikki, Tikki-bird). If it is seperation anxiety, what can we do? My sister cannot have Tikki in her room because Tikki is a distraction and even if Tikki could be near and see my sister, she would only want to play with her and then scream about that because her mom would be busy with homework. Poor Tikki resents everyone but my sister, and if I-ANYONE- take her out to play while my sister is away, she immediatly takes off and flies away. I am worried about her sudden flying habit because she has hit a window four times (luckily without injury... so far)and what if she flies into the fan? Or out a window? The hazards are endless.

Now if I so much as move or type on the keyboard, Tikki has a fit and goes to attack her toys and cuttlebone, so at least she lets the stress out. Ever since we took out the bed she's taken interest in her toys.

Fears I think Tikki has:
Wild birds
Typing sounds
Clicking sounds
Loud, sudden sounds
Any sound Tikki did not make herself
Tall men
Large objects
Violent storms?
My other pets
Sneezing
The outside world(she hates outside time in her little blue cage)
The car
A ride in the car

Help, please!

Mystic and cheerio gone back a step.

Erines11 — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:20:14 GMT

We were doing so well. Urgh cheerio bit mystic on the foot. Atleast i think so bit her on the foot or her little purple bracelet. It happened so fast i took the birds out a little bit to play in my moms bedroom. They were doing fine ignoring eachother. At this time it was getting kinda late a bit past there bed time but we were having fun so i let them stay up a bit. then i got mystic down from her play pen and sat down and was spending some time with her. I placed her down on my leg cheerio walked over nicely and mystic didnt freak out so I thought this was a good sign urgh. Then it happened so fast cheerio like bent down and looked like shes was attempting (opposite side of mystic so i couldnt see really well.) I dont even know if there was contact but mystic started spazing out so i seperated them as fast as possible. URGH they make me wanna pull my hair out some days. Is it possible that it wasnt agressive but it fits in cheerios mouth so so wanna grab it??? like puppies like grabbing small things?

Erica

a good day

gmicklus — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:47:44 GMT

well i am new around here but I just had to share today was a wonderful day after about a week of agressive behavior my sammy (2yr yellow nape) and I had a nice day my biggist change today was lighting i only trained / handled in dim light could be fluke but i hope not we will see tomorrow

A time of tranquility

Pepper's Pa — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:29:41 GMT

Has anyone else’s fids had an obvious positive change in behavior?
For the past month, Pepper has been near perfect. He’s been extra agreeable, very cuddly and not a hard or aggressive bite given. At first, I was wondering if he was concerned about being on a plate at Thanksgiving or was trying to earn a spot on Santa’s list of the good fids this past year.
My scientific nature took over. I hypothesized if it was because he’s finished with his molting, the temperature and humidity have lowered, it’s the end of his reproductive season, and/or because of the change in hours of sunlight since he’s now getting nearly two hours more sleep each night then during the summer.

So has anyone else observed that his or her fids have recently been more calm and friendly?

Cockatiel that won't be quiet!

psycho_the_cockatiel — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:52:01 GMT

She has been doing this the past 3 days and i'm not sure what to do. She just says pretty bird in the most highest note she can and won't stop... When we take her out of her cage she stops. Anyone have any ideas to get her to stop? Shes driving my mom CRAZY!

Excited biting?

broccoli — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:37:28 GMT

Past two days broc has been doing a hard bite AFTER we take her out of her cage- I say no, put her back, then take her out like 10 minutes later, and she doesn't do it- but I'm not sure if she's mad or she's just overly excited? Anything I can do to calm her down?

Introducing fids and update

Erines11 — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:45:54 GMT

Okay so tomorrow quarantine time is up for cheerio. So i was wondering how should i start introducing them to eachother?? I know i should do it slowly and it might take weeks even months but im just wondering how I should start. I have some ideas tell me what you think.

1 have them on either side of room (might be difficult cheerio flies to me)
2. bring them closer and closer (over a couple of hours or days depending on how they interact)
3. give them each there there favorite treat on a play area on opposite sides and see how they act around food.
4 take away food. let them check each other out and see how they act but watching carefully.

So how does that sound?? probably forgetting something. Neither one of my fids are food aggressive at least toward me ive worked on it for a while with them.

Cheerios been in quarantine for 3 weeks now well tommorrow. Her weight has leveled out at 77 grams and shes eating seeds for the past week now on some days without even my mushy food i make her on two of those days. (is her weight low? ive been feeding her lots but it seemed to level out at this point) Ive moved in some more toys for her throught the time ive gotten her. Mystic and cheerio has seen each other and mystic seems afraid of cheerio when she flies after me (went in my room where mystic lives to get something) cheerio decied she wanted to land on mystics cage (poor baby)

Mystic scratched her eye the other day we think it was when she was scratching it with her foot. We really dont know what happened because i went to grandmas for thanksgiving and then when we got home there was a small scratch. its not that big and shes acting fine. Its not red or puffy so we didnt take her into the vets. she also acting fine like a nut ball haha.

Thats a quick up date on fids sorry its so long lol. Any advice will be greatfully appreciated!! Have a nice day!!

bird biting cloth

giraffes4 — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:55:26 GMT

I have a little GCC and she will sometimes chew on clothes when you are not paying attention to her. Recently she has started destoying clothes. We sometimes let her in our dresser and she climbs down into other drawers and has chewed up jeans and other clothes. It seems like she's getting worse. Does anyone else's bird do this?

Strange Jenday!

FemmeMetale — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:46:51 GMT

I've had my Jenday, Nummers, for two years. I've been with him since he was a few weeks old, hand-fed him, and all that jazz. I love him to pieces.

Lately though, he's been acting strange and won't step up anymore. When I leave his cage door open, he's quite happy to come out, poop on the floor, and crawl around on his cage (especially when the cover is half on and he can crawl under it ). However, any time I try and get him to step up when he's outside the cage, he mumbles at me and crawls away or goes back in his cage so I can't get him. Never bites though.

Is this just his way of playing a game with me or what's going on? It's only been within the last two or so weeks.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the fact that usually when I do get him to step up, it means a trip to my work to visit with his future sister, Motley (my baby White Capped Pionus). He loves his carrier though, so I don't see why that would be a problem.

There's also a new cage set up next to his (which will belong to Motley when she comes home). But he doesn't seem to be afraid of it or anything. Indifferent, really.

So what's going on with my little Nummy? Is he just being bratty and playing games with me (which I think is the case..) or is there something actually wrong?

Thanks a million!!!

Laying on back

Caique — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:06:27 GMT

Can anybody tell me how to get my caique to lay on her back.

Lovebird acting strange...

emobeast88 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:41:04 GMT

This is max my lovebird and i have posted on here before about her and they told me her doing this was a mating thing. But now i have a video so everyone can see what i'm talking about.

http://s448.photobucket.com/albums/qq203/emobeast88/?action=view&current=100_0324.flv

click the link

Please watch and tell me what you think she is doing. I haven't had any of my birds except for her that do this. So i was puzzled when i saw her doing it.

Frat-ism

Filippo&Debz — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:34:21 GMT

Talk about being a frat! Sheesh... Pipz is really feeling very JUSTIFIABLY rebellious lately. Mum is working overtime, and he now finds himself having to share all his stuff including mom with his little new flock mate. So my question is, how long should time out be?

Buddy- uncontrollable biting still...

BirdCrazy — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:25:03 GMT

I had posted awhile back about Buddy biting uncontrollably...nobody in the family wants to mess with him anymore He draws blood 90% of the time when he bites- out of the blue. We have tried and tried to figure out what is causing him to be this way...It has progressed to the point that whenever we even walk into my brother's room- he aggressively attacks the cage bars trying to get to us. Accompanying this action is his attack squawk- which he does whenever he gets too excited about something. If we hear it...someone is going to get bit, hard. I'm completely at a loss with what to do. Any suggestions???

(*Update*By the way, in an older topic of mine I had said he was plucking... awhile back he was plucking his feathers- he plucked under his wings enough that some of them have yet to grow back, if they ever will. He stopped plucking his feathers just above his chest however- he is starting to grow them back now- yay!)

Oh another biting post- but different perspective.

QuakerLuv127 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:18:38 GMT

We recently bought a friend for my parakeet and he is just beautiful.. I have never seen like a .. dilute? parakeet before. He is white and blue but the blue is very very light and almost hard to see. But anyway, he came from a pet store and obviously isn't tame. I have been trying to handle him but he is SO mean. I understand his fear and am trying to work around it but he is so bazaar.. he will let you pet him and doesn't run from your hand but man does he bite if you ask him to step up. He will and then he tries to fly away (his wings are clipped). I am truly running out of idea's. This morning he got me really good to the point where I actually yelled. I usually just ignore it, like your supposed to, but he got in between my nail and my skin and held the **** on as tight as he could. Needless to say this monster keet made me bleed and my finger is a bit swollen. Ive been bit by conures and macaw's and I swear that one hurt the worst. Help!!

My bird doesn't trust me! Please Help???

jserio77 — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:13:19 GMT

Hello everyone,

Let me start off by saying how I have wanted a Blue Front Amazon since I was 12 years old. I went to one of the top Parrot shops in South East Michigan were I am from. I also used to go with my parents when I was a kid. At 27 I was put on a waiting list for a blue front. After being on the list for over a year a lot had happened in this time. I met a beautiful French girl who is now my Wife :) This past April 23 my blue front was hatched. I recieved a call from the owner of the shop late may and I was really excited. My wife and I visited the baby just about everyday until we brought her home in mid July. (I'm making a long story short). My blue front named Carrina who is a girl is in love with my wife. My wife can flip her and kiss her and do anything she wants with her. She loves to kiss my wife and they have a lot of fun. Carrina allows me to kiss her and loves to be on my shoulder and is a great bird. She just won't let me pet her. NEVER. My wife will put her finger by her head and the bird will put her head down and my wife can pet her with no problem. My wife is inbetween jobs right now so she has a lot of time to spend with her. My question is, how can I get Carrina to trust my hands so I can pet her? Maybe it's weird for me to feel bad, but I have wanted an Amazon since I was a kid. Any help would be very appreciated.

Thank You,

Joe

Lovebird "Banging" Sound

_Bird_Lover_ — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:00:14 GMT

Lately Apple-Jack has been making this weird banging sound with his beak whenever Orrin comes near his cage. It is hard to describe, but it is a clacking-like sound that he makes by snapping his beak together really fast. It almost sounds like Thumper's thumping from that old Disney cartoon Bambi. Is this a lovebird thing? Is he trying to defend his territory? Just excitement? Thanks for your help!

nippy all of a sudden

precious — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:24:47 GMT

My bird has been home fora little over 3 weeks . He is friendly gets plenty of time out of his cage . The last couple of days when I go to take hime out he steps up but then he keeps nipping at my finger . Is this normal what should I do?

making friends with my new bird

tonabyrd — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:48:48 GMT

i just adopted an amazon a week ago. he was not handled much at the breeders. he is 4 months old. we are making some progress. he has learned to step up well on to the branch. he stepped onto my arm once, and sat in my lap a couple times but only for a few minutes. he lets me pet his beak most of the time and gives kisses. occasionally i can pet his chest for a second. he seems afraid of my hands sometimes though. i cant touch his back or wings. i know it will take time. but my sun was very tame as i got him from a pet store and had been handled a lot and my lovebird just took to me right away. i was just wondering if you could give some insight on the proper techniques to use with him. i dont want to do anything to make him more fearful. like i said we have made a little progress. i also hand feed him alot. i just want to do things the proper way so i can be as close with him as i am to my other boys.

What do you do to adjust bed schedule when time changes?

Tucker'sMom — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:18:32 GMT

I just realized the time changes Sunday morning and with the clock falling back we will get an extra hour of sleep (yippy!). How do you get your fid adjusted to the time change when it comes to bed time? Do you still put them to bed at the same time or change over slowly?

Bird crying at night

broccoli — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:00:24 GMT

Every night when I put broc to bed, she cries, she makes this sad and pathetic noise and I feel terrible, but she has to be put to bed!

Does your bird do this? Am I putting her to bed too early? Her bedtime is 8:30 pm.

Buddy- uncontrollable biting

BirdCrazy — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:06:33 GMT

Hey guys, need help! We know our quakers are very territorial lil guys. And we expect to get bit by them every now and then (specially when we recognize the signs that they are going to bite, but pick them up anyways haha). But Buddy has become a demon bird. He bites and bites and bites- all of which draw blood...for seemingly no reason. Just out of the blue. My whole family has sat down, and thought about what we are doing when he bites, and were able to come up with nothing that would give him reason to bite.

From reading some other posts, some of the biting is definitely attention getting- where we would be sitting around watching tv with him on our shoulder, or lap, and he will all of a sudden run to the nearest area (ears, neck, fingers- anywhere there is skin exposed) and will bite- hard. If he can't get to skin, he will viciously attack folds in clothing.

We have racked our brains, and can't come up with any reason to this behavior. He will be sweet and cuddly one second, then trying to take off whatever body parts he can the next.

Help! We don't know what to do, and I have a feeling if it keeps up, Buddy may have to find a new home. I would hate to have my brother have to give him up just because of behavioral issues.

Lucy laid an egg again - Please give me tips on how to handle it

lucylu216 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:25:51 GMT

Hey Everybody!

I have been off the site for awhile because I have been so busy. Today though, Lucy laid and egg. Lucy has been doing very well. She laid two eggs back in August. She hasn't laid any since, until today. Last time she had been acting very different and hiding in her cage alot before she laid her egg and I had been worried about her, until she laid an egg.

Now the vet told me to leave the egg in for about two weeks. Last time, I took the first egg out and left the second in. She only held interest in that egg for about 2 days then started kicking it around and she broke it so I took it out. I have been giving her between 10-12 hours of darkness since then and was hoping that did the trick. Since she didn't lay anymore, I thought it did. Until today, she laid an egg unexpectedly.

So I was already given some tips from people here and the vet. Many are somewhat contradictory though. So I wanted to bring up the topic again.

Should I leave the egg in the cage or not?

How long should I leave it in?

Should I give her a box, nest or something or just let her sit on it on the crate?

These are some of my questions. Thanks!

Haha, Gizmo is a trip...

BirdCrazy — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:57:31 GMT

Ok, so I read an article on hear about water bottles, but couldn't find it... You all were saying to move the water bottle to another spot in the cage, for fids that like to shove pellets up the spout, and they should stop doing it because they dont want to go across the cage to do this. I hadn't thought about that before, and Gizmo is a bigtime shover of pellets. He gets em wet, then eats em. So, I moved the water bottle last night. As I was browsing through articles on here, lo and behold, I look over. Guess what the lil stinker was doing? carting pellets one by one to shove them up the spout and eat them. Only my Gizmo....haha

Does He Know He's Supposed To Fly?

cloud dancer's mom — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:48:23 GMT

Weird Question. Does Cloud Dancer understand he's supposed to fly? I've never seen him attempt it. Yes, he beats his wings wildly(while shrieking), but he makes no attempt to take off. I don't know how young he was when he was shipped off to Petco. There, he was caged always. His flock at home all walk (me, my daughter, and the cat) and he walks everywhere he wants to go. And climbs. I know this is a skill usually taught by mama bird, but I don't know how long he was with his mama, if at all. Should I be trying to teach him? OMG what would I do, throw him up in the air? AAAHHH, I don't think I could. Is not flying scarring him for life?

Biting

Pepper's Pa — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:32:58 GMT

Biting . . . it’s a topic we don’t post about here very often. We all regularly post about the fun we have with our fids, but the bites don’t seem to be discussed. It's as if it's the behavior we don't discuss.
Here’s a thread to share our experience with parrots and biting. By biting, I’m only talking about aggressive bites and not normal beaking behavior that our fids so regularly demonstrate.

There seems to be a progression or range of bites that are demonstrated. Here’s a breakdown of bites as I consider and describe them or as shared with me by ladyhawke50.

The “Nip” – a quick, firm bite that doesn’t break the skin or bruise tissue.
The “Bruise” – a longer lasting, harder bite that doesn’t break the skin, but will leave you with a tender area for several hours or a day.
The “Bite” – a quick, hard bite that breaks the skin and leaves a small puncture in your skin, which is easy to stop bleeding.
The “Spike” – a quick, hard, puncture wound produced by having the tip of the upper beak driven into the flesh. This is similar to a puncture wound from a knife. This produces a deep wound that bleeds profusely and will take days to several weeks to fully heal.
The “Slash” – a quick, slashing wound where the beak is whipped across the skin causing a laceration that may be shallow or deep. This is similar to a slice from a knife or cut from a piece of broken glass. This may range from a simple scratch to a wound requiring stitches. May leave a scar.
The “Clamp and Grind” – a long-lasting, hard bite. The parrot will clamp on, apply lots of pressure, grind its lower beak into your flesh and hold this bite for 15 seconds to over a minute. This bite creates two wounds. The lesser wound is made by the upper beak and is a small to moderate puncture wound. The more serious wound is caused by the grinding lower beak and will produce a wide, deep wound that will be hard to stop bleeding, possibly need some stitches and will take several weeks to fully heal.
The “Chunk” – a quick, hard, aggressive bite where a deep wound is created and a piece or “chunk” of flesh is removed. May range from small to large. Usually difficult to stop the bleeding. Likely to leave a scar.

So, here’s what I’d like from you . . . what biting experience do you have from your companion parrots?
1) How do you describe the bites you receive?
2) How frequently are you bitten?
3) Are the bites spread evenly throughout the year or is there a seasonal pattern to them? Is there a daily pattern to the bites?
4) What did you do that contributed to the bite?

Think about the bites you’ve received and please share your “bite” experiences.

They are still afraid of me!

C&H MOM — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:49:32 GMT

I bought a parakeet, Charlie, about 8 months ago at a pet store, and I added a friend, Harry, about 4 months ago from a pet store. They both still fly away when I open the cage. Charlie will sit on my hand inside the cage if I have some millet. Other than that, they want nothing to do with me. A few months ago, before Harry arrived, I did as a popular book suggested and took Charlie's cage into the bathroom. I would chase him around the cage and when I caught him, I would talk to him softly and stroke his head for just a few minutes. I did this a couple of times a day for at least a week. As the days went on, he just seemed to be more fearful of me and depressed, so I stopped. I would love to have a much closer relationship with my birds, but I just don't know how to go about it

Anni & Chile

Kito&TupisMom&Dad — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:25:35 GMT

K&T Dad... Our Keets cage (Bourke's, Budgie & Scarlet Chested) is right next to our Lineolated Parakeets cage(Chile). Mom brought something to my attention a few weeks ago. She said that Anni(Budgie)& Chile(Linnie) are always(much of the time)as close to each other as they can be. So I observed this my self. They tend to follow each other when possible. When mom was cleaning there cage the other day, the cages ended up really close together. These two were right next to each other the whole time! About 10 minutes ago I walked into the bird romm and they were again close to each other, looking at each other, and talking back and forth to each other! That was so cool to watch! Now I am so tempted to put Chile in the Keets cage for a visit... This is so cute I had to share! If it continues, I just may try another mad experiment and put him in there for a visit. I would never do a permanent move unless they got along great, and then got an even bigger flight cage for all of them.

Sleepy Meyer's Parrot

JustInItForTheMoney — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:38:30 GMT

I just got a Meyer's parrot today and he's great: he's adjusted very well so far and we're getting to be pals. However, he seems to be really sleepy whenever he's not being interacted with. He's wide awake and active when I'm playing with him, but as soon as he's on my shoulder or in his cage, he starts nodding off and napping.
Is this okay? Is there some possibility that he's sick? If he's just really chill, that's cool, I just wanna make sure he's healthy.

KitoandTupisMom&Dad..Julio

JacysMom — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:45:09 GMT

Jacy's breeder also very occasionally has black capped conures available. I have never known anyone who owned one as a pet.

What is Julio's personality like? I loved your videos

CHEWING DOOR FRAMES

loviemom — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:05:30 GMT

I recently moved into a house and have decided to let my 2 lovebirds have full flight back. They love it and are flying all over [supervised]. The one problem I have is in their bedroom. When they are out in there, they have decided the best thing to do is chew up the door frame. I provide a lot of in cage toys and out cage toys including a bungee rope from the ceiling and stands, yet they love the door frame. I prefer not to clip the wings again [my male went into a severe depression after having his wings trimmed once], and want to know if there is any kind of bird safe product to put on the frame that would deter them from chewing. I have put foil on the corners that they chew, but they just moved to a new spot on the frame. I have not tried anything else. Any ideas???