Most people have known a bully. Bullies steal your lunch money, tell you what to do, and pick on people smaller or less fortunate than them. But what about when that bully is only four inches tall and feathered? Kiwi, our male maroon-bellied conure, is a bully. While he lacks thumbs to steal my lunch money or the language skills to make fun of me, it doesn’t stop him from bullying everyone he meets, regardless of their size.
At four inches tall, there’s only so many ways you can bully others, but Kiwi manages. If you’re sitting on the couch with Kiwi and not paying attention, he’ll run up your chest and try to bite you in the face. If his cage mate/conure girlfriend Chicken tries to eat from the same bowl as him, he’ll lunge at her. If you are a stranger and come too close to the cage, he’ll run across his comfy perch and start smashing his head against the bars. Did I mention he laughs the entire time he does this? He can be quite the little terror.
Kiwi trying to eat a papaya treat
You know the phrase “Pick on somebody your own size?” Well, Kiwi doesn’t. A few years ago Kiwi figured out how to open the door near his water bowl and squirm his little body out of the bird cage. He managed to find his way over to our much larger Amazon’s cage and proceeded to try and enter her cage, presumably to pick a fight.
Unfortunately for Kiwi, Contessa was prepared. Kiwi managed to escape with his life that day, but lost the front half of his beak in the process. His beak still hasn’t fully grown back, but instead is like a little snaggletooth, sharp enough for him to eat just fine, but it doesn’t line up as well anymore, creating a goofy tongue-showing appearance that makes him look like he’s always smiling – or crazy.
Despite the scare and our continued efforts to improve his behavior, Kiwi still tries to bully Chicken and us to get his way, although without much of a beak, who is really going to listen to him? I’m sure he’d probably pick a fight with Contessa again if given the chance, but we’ve since gotten him a different cage with heavier doors and we actually keep them secured with metal clips now. Despite his sometimes-naughty behavior, we can’t help but love the little bully because more often than not he is a sweetheart, not a face-biter.
Do you know any bird or pet bullies? Let me know by posting in the comments.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
About 6 months ago I purchased a Goffin Cockatoo. The people I bought him from really didn’t tell the whole truth about him. They said he was hand fed and tame. Well, He might of been hand fed but he certainly is not tame. Altho I can pick him up when he takes off from the cage and is on the floor, but he goes crazy if I try to pick him up off of the cage. He has not tried to bite me,
and is quiet when I have him on my hand. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can
tame him down from this behavior. I have even been trying to sell him and his cage, because
I really don’t know how to deal with him.
Neva,
Having a bird can be challenging, but its worth the reward, in my experience. Birds treat their cage as their territory, so any attempt to reach into the cage or to take the bird from “their territory” can be seen as a threat by your bird. Where is the cage located? If your bird climbs on to the top of the cage and puts himself in a higher position than you it signals to them that they are in control. For birds, higher altitude means higher ranking, so it is important that the bird should not be above your heart level while in or out of the cage. That’s another reason not to let birds to ride on your shoulder. It increases their ranking as well as puts your face, ears, eyes, and lips at risk of a serious bite. Most owners need to learn to anticipate the bad behavior or biting and stop it with a stern look and command before it escalates to a bite.
This article may provide you some helpful tips for correcting the behavior: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?c=5059&articleid=112&d=157&category=568
We spend a lot of time with our birds working on step up and step down commands and are always careful to correct bad behavior when it occurs so as not to reinforce it. It took me a lot longer than 6 months to earn the trust of our birds, so I think you’ve probably got some work ahead of you if you continue to try and build a relationship with your bird. Its a lot of work, but the end result is such a rewarding experience that its worth it.
Neva,
Hi, I’m Keith’s wife and “the bully” Kiwi’s mommy. I can certainly understand what you are going through, as I got Kiwi from a couple who didn’t tell me what I was getting into… At first, I was constantly upset by his aggression and biting. Six years later, Kiwi and I are the best of friends. He’s still a bully, but we’ve learned to compromise. In fact, Kiwi is now the most “hands on” bird we have. He lets me pet his armpits, lift up his wings, and even hold him upside down in my hand. It took years of spending lots of one-on-one time with him, but it has really paid off. I can’t imagine my life now without Kiwi. Our other two birds are extremely well behaved and polite. I can count on one hand the number of times both of them together have ever bitten anyone. The shy, quiet birds are easier to get along with, but it’s the crazy guys like Kiwi that have all the personality!
It sounds like your Goffin’s definitely has cage territory issues. Many parrots don’t like having people’s hands inside their cage, even if it’s to pick them up. He may have been “tame” with his previous home, but he just might not fully trust you yet. Cockatoos are extremely intelligent and can understand complex social situations. They also tend to be really empathetic birds and can tell when you are uneasy or stressed. If you approach a parrot with confidence, they will respect you more and be easier to handle.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?c=5059&articleid=216&d=157&category=568
Another alternative might be to stick-train your Goffin. Teach him to step onto a longish perch while he is inside his cage to get him to come out. Make sure you have a really good grip on the perch by tucking the last few inches under your wrist and gripping it with your fist, he won’t want to step on it if it’s wobbly. Put it gently up against his chest and say “Step Up.” He should instinctually step up onto the higher stick. Then give him a yummy treat. Don’t give up, even if he complains. Once he’s out of the cage, take him to a neutral room where he can’t see his cage. Then you two can bond. My birds enjoy being read aloud to, dancing to music, and being cuddled. Yours might, too.
Hang in there, I hope you come back to let us know how things are going.
I have two Sun Conures. One is a 10 year old female and very shy. The other is a 6 1/2 year old male and very outgoing. He turns into a bully whenever I have visitors over. In fact, I have now been trained to go make sure the cage is closed before I let visitors in. He will climb out of his cage and fly to the guest and literally attack at the face and neck. If he’s in his cage, he will be plastered against the cage wall at the closest point to the guest squalking at full volume.
The funny thing is, he is friendly towards my shy female conure but she pushes him away. I was afraid to put them in the same cage at first, but they do just fine. They really do not interact much except to fuss over sleeping arrangements and to fuss over one hogging all the food.
Also, I’ll mention that my 10 year old female is terrified of people’s hands and is very nervous outside of the cage. But she’s well behaved compared to him. She not socialized so she doesn’t know what to do with herself sometimes.
Hey Mike,
Wow, your conure pair sounds exactly like mine in terms of the temperament between the male and the female and the way they act with others. I wonder if that’s a more common social arrangement than I had first thought? My wife often jokes that our female conure has social anxiety disorder. This past week especially the male has been acting crazy, not sure if its the change in weather (temps have dropped and we just got hit with snow) or what. Maybe he’s just trying to tell us what he wants for Christmas? (hint: a trip to the naughty list if he keeps it up!)
i have a 3 year old male indian ringneck that is a bully and mean. His name is pettie bird and he will tell ya. He talks alot but is mean with certain people especially my husband. He has his own room at our house and whenever anyone enters he flies to his cage and sits with this innocent look until people come up to him then he lets out this ear piercing squark and starts snapping at people and lately he flies at them while he is squaking. As soon as you leave the room he will start his talking about being a pretty bird. My husband got him a mirror so he can see himself but he calls it his girlfriend and u can’t get close to it or he attacks you. When he looks in the mirror he makes this hilarious display. He puts his wings out like he is about to fly and arches back and makes his hilarious noice. (i call it his billy badass) He is a very funny bird but I’m not sure what to do about his behavior. We got him from a friend when he was 1 and she had a quaker parrot so she didn’t spend alot of time with pettie. So, because of that we can not handle him at all unless we wear gloves. He bites hard. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve tried to work with him but he tolerates me i guess but i can not pick him up. I’ve gotten to where i can touch his tail without getting my hand bitten off so i guess that’s a start. Any help or advice with this would be greatly appreciated. Is there such thing as bird obedience classes?
Judy,
Pettie does sound like a bully! Sorry to hear about the biting. Birds will often bite out of fear, stress, any number of things, really. It’s harder to train a bird that has grown accustomed to not being handled, but it’s not impossible. If your bird knows you are afraid of him, it only makes his biting a more powerful tool for him. I’m not sure if there are any bird obedience classes out there (there aren’t by me, but if you live in a larger city there might be something offered by a local exotic birds group or animal behaviorist), but we do have a number of good articles that help with bad bird behavior, including biting, on our site. I’d recommend you check those out and see if they help any with Pettie’s problems. Stick training might be a good way to try and teach him to step up without the danger of getting bit.
Correcting bird biting behavior: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?c=5059&articleid=112&d=157&category=568
Why do birds bite? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?c=5059&articleid=113&d=157&category=568
Influences of Bird Behavior: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?c=5059&articleid=2453&d=157&category=568
How to Teach Your Bird to Step Up: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?c=5059&articleid=216&d=157&category=568