Biting faces

[Hermionestwin]

Hi I have a 3 year old female ringneck, and we hadnt clipped her wings since her moult, she was loving the freedom of flying around and following us from room to room. But then she started biting mine and my mums faces, mainly the lips. We do kiss her, but its a closed mouth, with her just putting her beak to our lips...She bite my lip, after i fed her in the morning, because when we give her food we go "kiss" and she kisses us...and she lunged at me and bit my lip and didnt let go, we put her in a time out. Then during the week, she attacked my mum when she was putting make up on(Granted i blame mum for that as we know Evie hates it when we put make up on) then last saturday before I was leaving to put her in her cage, I went "Evie Kiss" and She bit me harder than before and made me bleed alot, she was put in solitary confinement. Then we thought it maybe her wings not being clipped, she we clipped them and she settled down SO much, she was back to being our lovely gentle Evie. Today she bit my lip, without warning, she was on my shoulder and bit it...Then i got home she jumped on my shoulder and bit my face. What is going on? Is it hormones? Help?!?

[Jen&Bug]

Hi, Bug can get bitey sometimes too, in similar situations. I ran a thread on this a while back and the problem still hasn't gone away completely. We're just managing it by reducing situations in which a bite is likely to happen, especially up-close contact near the face. Yes it is sad not to have 'kisses' anymore, but there are many other ways to interact with a IRN that are just as much fun! Bug loves being talked to, or having squeaky noises made for him, for example.

I'm a little worried about your response to Evie's behaviour - parrots have no concept of punishment, so 'time out' or 'solitary confinement' won't teach her anything. You need to manage her behaviour positively by reinforcing the good stuff and ignoring the bad stuff. There's plenty of literature (on the web or in books) about positive behaviour management for birds...Barbara Heidenreich's 'goodbirdinc' website might be a place to start if you're not across this already.

Anyway, good luck finding other ways to show Evie how much you love her, that don't involve drawing blood...