Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 8/14/2006

Question
why does our three and a half african grey bite  all the time.  he is my wifes  bird but comes to me once  in  awhile when i ask  him to  get up  on my hand he bites me more than twice and he does draw blood

Answer
Garrett -

I wanted to add something I forgot to include.  If this parrot is bonded to your wife, it bites you because it considers you a threat to the relationship your bird has with your wife...you are an "intruder" in the eyes of your grey.  There isn't much you can do about this if this is the case with your grey.  

Chrys
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Hi again, Garrett.

Your parrot bites because somewhere along the line, he has learned that biting gets him what he wants.  I know in a previous posting you stated this bird bobs his head when you talk to him...do you know if this bird was handfed as a baby?  If not, then he was not imprinted on humans.  If he was, then he has learned that biting gets him his way.  Biting in caged parrots is a learned behavior.

It probably started long ago.  Someone put their hand up to the bird, the bird bit/lunged, and that someone pulled their hand back (naturally).  This process teaches a parrot that biting results in the human leaving them alone, at least for that moment.  The continual process of allowing the bird to have his own way when he bites results in this behavior.  In order to try and curb this negative behavior, you have to train your bird that even if/when he bites, this does not mean he will get his way.  You have to be in control of your parrot, not vice versa.

My website has more information on this if you want to visit:

http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Come back with any questions.

Chrys