Help my baby is nawing on me

[Timnethy's Daddy]

Yesterday i just got a new baby. He is a Timneh Grey.
He's near 8 months old and just got taken away from his origional home to my new home..
He loves scratches.. He's doing ok about stepping up but every now n then he is nawing on my fingers and breaking skin.. He's only a baby as i understand and i dont think he's biting me but he likes pulling on my skin of my fingers or even from my ears..
He of course dont realize this is painful and is causing alot of bleeding of the fingers from the ripping of the skin..
Maybe this is his taste test but i dont want it to continue..
When he does this i may blow in his face to get him to stop..
But he continues it..
What should i try differently??

[j2times]

It does not sound like your bird has completely weaned. Are you still hand feeding it? I'm not going to get into that aspect of your question. I'll leave those issues for you to address with a vet or ask Dr. C.

I do believe you're right in that he's does not believe he's biting you. He's exploring his environment in the clumsy, funny way that all young birds do. I would not blow on his face, or use any other aversive means for that matter. The best way to prevent this behavior from occurring is to not provide the opportunity for it to happen in the first place. How are you training these step ups? Are you giving him any type of treat or head scratches when he does it? If the problem is that he is going for your fingers with his beak instead of stepping up, try keeping his attention higher by holding a treat or toy in your other hand. Also, it is easier for birds to step up rather than down. If you're holding your hand low, he's going to be more likely to use his beak as part of the process.

Like I said, I don't think these are bites, but you don't want them to become bites either. An animal that practices aggression gets better at it, so better to not provide that opportunity in the first place.

[Shirley]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

Where in Indiana? I'm in Noblesville. :)

I strongly recommend Dr. Cook's DVD - Happily Ever After with Parrots... A Learning Game for teaching your Timneh behavior you desire.

Punishing (aversives such as blowing in the face) does not work with birds, and will end up backfiring on you.

Learn all you can about "correct" positive reinforcement - the Science of Behavior - and start by teaching him to "target". No, you don't want to encourage the gnawing or nibbling or biting. And I advise he not be allowed on your shoulders - it's rather painful to get bitten on the ears or face, and you sure don't want him running up someone's arm and biting their ears later on.

Training can occur through the cage bars until you have some TRUST built with your new bird.

Watch this video clip for an introduction to teaching with positive reinforcement and target training - it was limited to 7 min and had to be about "clicker training" as it was a contest piece (and won 1st place in its category) but this can also be done without the clicker. This video shows Dr. Cook (Cicero, IN) teaching parrots.

http://canisfilmfestival.com/submissions_09.html

Her full-length DVD came out after this was submitted -

Keep the questions coming - we're all here to help one another! :)

Edit: And J2Times gave you excellent advice! We posted at the same time.

[CocosMomma]

Coco certainly went through a stage where she investigated what might happen if she applied continual and increasing pressure on my fingers...:foot-tap: she was not a 'chewer' or gnawer, so to speak. If it is this experimental stage that many parrots go through, and it sounds like it is, then it is good to 'nip it' (pardon the pun), and as J2 states, ensure that it doesn't go any further or get more intense.

When Coco has gone through these stages, I did a couple things: first, I began targeting my finger, and later my cheek for her to 'touch' with her closed beak in order to get the verbal and treat reward. To this day if I ask her to give me a kiss, she will press her closed beak against my cheek. Targeting is one of the skills covered in the video Shirley mentioned.

Also, Coco has a thing with freckles or any other 'imperfections'.... (not that I have any 'skin imperfections', of course)...:rolleyes: So when I would see her going for one (a paper cut on my hand, or a freckle on my arm), now since she knows the word 'touch' and how it is used to target my body parts by pressing her closed beak against the target, I can ask her if she wants to touch it, and she can do so and get a good girl/thank you and a treat. Any type of scab is particularly enticing to her since I think it is natural for birds to want to preen/remove any perceived imperfections or rough spots on us.

She will also use her beak as a general communication tool, perhaps taking my finger and drawing it closer to her so she can step up, or putting her beak on a finger that is touching a toy that displeases her. They use their beaks for all different sorts of communications, and they know just how much pressure to apply...with the same beak she can crack a walnut or take the skin off a pea...:funny: But when young or in the learning process, we help them understand how much pressure is/is not acceptable. For Coco, I have determined that I don't want her open beak on me at all, thus I have selected targeting with the closed beak as one several means to obtain this objective.