Expert: Marie Charon - 10/9/2009

Question
We have a cockatiel that I bought back in April of this year. He (she, not sure) was a baby and I feed him with a syringe and eventually weaned him. My whole family loves him very much and he spends most of the day out of the cage with us. He follows me around the house from room to room when I leave him.
Recently he has developed a most annoying habit of nipping us. Our necks, face or wherever he can reach. My husband thinks he is grooming and I tend to agree excepts it is quite uncomfortable and almost constant. I find myself wanting to put him in his cage more now and it makes me sad. I have consistently told him no firmly when he does this but it hasn't seem to have made a difference. Any suggestions?

Answer
One thing that is for certain is that if you give him less attention and more time in the cage away from you than he/she is used to, your cockatiel will start acting out and you will end up with more behavioral issues than just this one, such as screaming and biting, feather plucking etc.

Start training your cockatiel that shoulders are off limits. I believe most cockatiels can safely ride on a person’s shoulder, but the ones that bite or nip shouldn’t be allowed that privilege.

Instead perch him on your hand or knee. When he gets nippy tell him firmly but gently no. Make sure when you are interacting with him and you are happy with his behavior you talk in a cooing voice, that way when he is misbehaving you can say no in a sterner tone. No need yell, yelling will only aggravate the situation. Just use a different tone of voice, I call it my correction voice.

You can distract him with a toy or treat, When he get nippy say no in your "correction" voice, and then give him something that occupies his mouth. They actually make bird necklaces that you can wear for him to chew on, but I don't recommend this until you have broken his bad habit. However carrying a chew toy or two won't hurt. Just hold it up to him to distract the unwanted behavior. I find shiny metallic toys work the best for this.

This is never my first choice but it does work when all else fails, you can also try blowing very gently in his face (with your mouth) when he is nipping.  Say no, then blow just a bit of air at him. They HATE this, they will usually learn to avoid anything that leads to this. Although if it makes him act out more aggressively, then this technique will not work, and you will need to move onto something different.

With that said, be patient and consistent and he will learn.