It may also help to not allow them up on top of cages anymore. Birds standing on top of cages think they are the boss. Kiwi is never allowed anymore on shoulders or on things that are taller than everyone in the room. It seems to help! The higher up physically a bird is, the higher their status. If a bird is up on top of a cage, its their instinct to protect that high status in the flock. Trying to remove them from that spot is an insult, like saying, “you’re not king of the hill anymore.” But if they are not allowed to be high up (say, higher than chest level with you), they can be more manageable.

You could also try taking them to “neutral” territory to interact where there are no cages. Parrots can be very cage aggressive, staking out and defending territories from all invaders, even you or their flock-mates.

Drs. Foster and Smith carry a lot of nice foraging toys, too, to help keep the naughty birds from getting bored and frustrated. Any distraction from bullying is a good distraction. We have been trying them with Kiwi, and he seems to be beating up his toys and his flock mates less.

A lot of people like to put their birds on their shoulders but this is actually not recommended because it actually tells your bird that it is on the same status level with you and does not necessarily have to respect your rules. I would recommend holding your bird no higher than chin level on your finger and see if that helps curtail some of behavior. If the bird still goes to bite, you can drop your finger down a bit to make the bird unsteady, essentially reprimanding them for their behavior. Birds don’t like to be off balance. Don’t do it so forcefully that he falls, just enough for him to know “hey, if I bite, she makes me off balance – not cool” You can also read through some of the articles on our site (linked in my response above) and see if any of the ideas in there help. Keep in mind that the biting could be related to other issues, such as health or stress, so re-evaluate your bird in that context as well to make sure there’s nothing awry.

I have 3 birds, 2 cockatiel and conure. I have a question for you about conure. Three weeks ago, I brought a conure from the pet store, it’s a baby but it’s not full grown yet. My mother name her or him Rainbow because it is so pretty color. Rainbow get nippy and easy to bite. Rainbow love to be around me and want me to get closer to rainbow.
My question is: How can I stop Rainbow from biting my ears, my chest, and my finger? I keep telling rainbow ” no bite “, many time and it doesn’t help, rainbow is not listening to me when I said ” no “. My friend at the pet store told me I need to buy a click trainer for bird and teach conure a lession. Once while Rainbow love me to pick up to put on my shoulder. Rainbow love to play my hair and hide rainbow’s face. It is so cute. I’m afriad if rainbow will keep biting my ears, my chest, and my finger. I like to rub Rainbow’s neck. Anyone who can explain to me what is the best I can do for Rainbow? Will you please help me to understand what to do and teach rainbow a lession? Thank you Crystal Simmons

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

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!)

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.

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.

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.