Biting in Hand Training

User Question
Hi my name is Sandy and we have a pet parakeet named Jay. We have had Jay for about 6 weeks now. He appears to be a young bird , eye buttonlike and black (recently in the light I can see an iris), a pinkish cere (it appears to be turning blue), and lines on his head from the cere back. He lost his shyness very quickly and took to perch training very well. About 2 weeks ago we began experincing behavior problems with Jay. He would jump right on his hand held perch, but began walking down the perch towards our hands and biting us. At first I thought this was his way of "testing" the perch our hand, but he would do it again and again harder and harder. I have spoken to a few people and they have suggested blowing on him and saying "no bite". My younger son is now afraid of him, I have to admitt I work with him but I'm not trilled about his behavior (it can be unsettling and hurt). Any idea what started this? How long it will take to stop him from biting? I am afraid to begin finger training due to his nipping. ( And would like to get the biting under control before we start). How often do we need to work with him with out "overdoing" it. He does come out of his cage on his perch, and will walk on us, or go on our hands sometimes. He goes right back on his perch if we say up and present him the perch. But is he doesn't want to go back in his cage he really starts the biting. I'm at a loss what to do next. I feel like I am so afraid to upset him, he's in charge of us making demands. I have asked quite a few people, and used bird forums to post questions with no luck. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

Lisa's Answer
You're definitely right that you have to show the keet that this is wrong early on, otherwise he'll think it's a perfectly normal way to get his way. Like temper tantrums :)

Just to mention, I wouldn't bring a keet out of the cage if it's not fully hand trained and especially if he's biting you. He should be fully tame before you let him out, in case of emergency.

Working on training daily is important to keep things moving along. So once or twice a day is quite fine, really training is about him building trust in you and a friendship bond.

OK, so about the biting. He likes to get a reaction out of you. Loud noises in return (like screaming NO NO NO!!!) would just excite him more. So the best reaction is to ostracize him from his flock. Birds are very much flock animals and hate to be alone. So if he bites you, say "NO" in a low, firm voice and immediately take your hand out of the cage, close the cage and cover him up with a towel and leave the room, turning off the radio if you have one on. Leave him in dark silence for 15 minutes.

Birds usually bite when they are feeling grumpy or threatened, so I would go slowly on the perch training and make sure he's really comfortable with the stage you're on. It's better to take longer on a given stage vs getting an upset bird that develops bad behaviors by going too quickly.

All Questions in this Category

List of Parakeet Question Categories

NOTE: Because of the huge volume of incoming questions, I no longer answer them one by one. Instead, we have created a live, free Parakeet Forum which is very active, where people are online 24 hours a day to help you with your parakeet related questions. If you have any questions about parakeet care - or simply want to share your parakeet stories and photos - please join us!

Parakeet Forum