Stop a Parakeet from Biting

When you adopt a parakeet or budgie as a pet, the last thing you want is for your new feathered friend to bite you. In fact, this behavior, once it begins, can become ingrained in the parakeet, and this can threaten your love for your pet. In order to stop your parakeet from biting you, follow these guidelines.

Steps

Bonding With Your Parakeet

  1. Adopt a parakeet from the youngest age possible. Parakeets are very sociable,[1] and if you become part of their flock, you will have a more loving friend. To do this, simply spend lots of time with your bird from a young age, and he or she will become accustomed to your hands. This will help prevent your parakeet from biting you in the first place.
  2. Feed the parakeet from your hand. If a parakeet associates your hand with something positive—like food—it will be less scared and therefore less likely to bite you. Not only can this help keep the bird from biting you, it will help them become friendlier in general.
    • If the parakeet feels threatened by your hand, you may have trouble feeding it from your hand. In this case, try using a spoon at first and gradually choking up on the handle, then placing the spoon head in your fingers, then palm, etc. until you can discontinue using the spoon and encourage the bird to eat from your hand.
  3. Reward the parakeet with treats and food. Feeding your parakeet from your hand is one way to develop a bond, but you can also use food and treats to reward the bird for good behavior. For example, if you successfully got the parakeet onto your hand or even out of the cage for the first time (see parts below) you can use treats or food to reward the bird for that behavior. When the bird understands the reward system, it will learn to do what you want it to do in exchange for the food or treat.
  4. Look for reasons why the bird is biting. Parakeets may bite out of fear or jealousy, because they are tired, due to unintended reinforcement of biting behavior, in anticipation of being placed back in the cage when they do not want to be, or to protect their territory.[2] You will be more successful at bonding with your parakeet and reducing biting behavior if you know why your bird bites. Armed with this information, you may tailor your approach to helping put a stop to biting more specifically.

Interacting Appropriately With Your Parakeet

  1. Move very slowly. If you move too fast you'll scare the bird. In general, you must move slowly around the bird if you want them to become tame enough to stop biting behavior. Do not place the cage in a high-traffic of your home, as too much commotion may be disturbing.
  2. Stay calm if the bird bites you. If you quickly remove your hand from the cage when your bird bites, he or she may be getting just the reaction they are hoping for and continue the behavior. The bird may also be entertained by your reaction and continue the behavior for this reason. Be sure to remain calm if the bird bites—its bites are unlikely to break the skin, and they will probably not hurt that much. In response to biting behavior, simply say no firmly and cover the cage. The isolation this produces is not something the bird likes, so you will be discouraging biting behavior. It also calms the bird.[3]
  3. Talk softly to your bird. The goal of proper interaction with your parakeet is essentially taming the bird. Talking softly around the bird helps it to feel calm around you, which can help with taming. Talking too loudly or shouting near the bird (not even necessarily to the bird) can scare it.[4]

Training Your Parakeet

  1. Train the parakeet to perch on your finger. Getting your parakeet to perch on your finger is part of hand-training. Finger-perching may take a while to achieve, but the patience should pay off in the end by developing a strong bond between you and your bird and minimizing biting behavior. Follow subsequent steps in this section to achieve finger-perching.[5]
    • Be mindful of the bird's mood—he or she may not be interested in trying finger-perching just because you want him or her to. Keep this in mind as you begin to train the bird, and try to be aware of the bird's mood so you don't irritate or frustrate it.
  2. Put your finger on the parakeet's chest and push lightly. This does not hurt your bird, but it will make it lose its balance and coax it into putting its foot on your finger. It may not happen the first time, so if the bird flies away, try again the next day.[5]
    • Practice these steps each day to get the bird comfortable perching on your hand. Doing so will help put an end to biting behavior.
  3. Finger-train your parakeet out-of-the-cage. Once your bird is comfortable perching on your finger, begin trying to bring it outside the cage on your finger. Use a vocal cue such as saying "up" in an enthusiastic voice. The bird may not want to venture too far outside the cage, but keep trying and you should be able to get him or her to go farther and farther each time. If they fly away, they will eventually go back to their cage, as that's where they feel safe.[6]
    • Once your bird is finger trained out-of-the-cage, he or she will trust you a lot more, so biting should cease.

Tips

  • If your bird backs off, don't follow it with your finger, just leave it to relax for a few minutes.
  • Don't clap or click your fingers. That scares them.
  • When you take your bird out, try keeping it in one room and close all doors and windows. It will be one less room for you to look around for it. Make sure the bird is put away before you (or anyone else) opens the door.
  • Have some toys out. Your bird loves to play too.
  • Keep the cage open, just in case your bird gets tired before you're ready to put it away.
  • Check on it after one hour(or more hours) of the day to make sure it is safe.
  • Take your bird out when you are alone and the house is quiet, as too much noise or too many people might scare him or her.
  • Always keep a perch handy. Take one out of the cage in case your bird is somewhere you can't reach.
  • Always put some water and food in their cage. Pellets or seeds and fruits and vegetables are especially nutritious.
  • Keep taking the bird out at the same time every day so he can come to rely on quality time with you.
  • Finger-training may take longer if you have more than one bird, as they will be more attached to the other bird than they are to you.
  • Show them love and show them that you care before you teach him or her new things.

Warnings

  • Keep a close eye. Birds can get lost, stepped on, or sat on if you don't pay attention to where they go.
  • Keep birds away from children. They can mistakenly hurt birds by thinking of them as playful toys, and the birds may even bite or injure the child.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://pets.thenest.com/bonding-parakeet-9600.html
  2. ↑ http://www.petbudgie.com/biting/territorial/
  3. ↑ http://www.lisashea.com/petinfo/handtrain/biting.html
  4. ↑ http://budgieplace.com/taming.html
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.lisashea.com/petinfo/articles/bird_hand.html
  6. ↑ http://www.lisashea.com/petinfo/handtrain/fingerout.html

You may like

Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Stop_a_Parakeet_from_Biting&oldid=283107"