Jackson- my very agressive IRN

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Juicy
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Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:08 pm

Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by Juicy »

Hi all,
I have been on this site for about 10 months now, since when we first bought Jackson who was 4 months of age at the time of purchase.
He was sold to us as semi tame but in fact he was far from that. I was prepared to accept that, wanting to help him and was not expecting a magical progression within a short time... Jackson started to warm up to us, getting on ok with coming out of this cage and being stroked. The big problem that we have is, he constantly wants to bit! He even got this bad where he recently swoped me and bit me in my face :-( When I handle him, it is only with my thick bathrobe, which he also bites! My skin is very senitive and I start bleeding like crazy (although his bits are quite nasty and deep). I do not know what I am doing wrong! He is out of his cage twice a day, once in the morning ( about 45min in the conservatory) and then again in the evening (about 1 h with me in the kitchen or living room). He has his 5 good seconds, where I give him a pat on his head bUT then instantly he bits my finger... I am very sad about this but what is even worse, my HUsband gets very frustrated as Jackson is constantly attacking us and I walk around having bite marks on my face hands etc... I would be very helpful for any information as I am desperate and dont know what to do...
AJPeter
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Re: Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by AJPeter »

I would recommend you don not try to touch him he does not trust you, it is not a good idea to stroke him he is not a toy, let him be his normal self and he will warm to you a hands off approach is best.
sanjays mummi
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Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:07 pm
Location: Bedfordshire UK

Re: Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by sanjays mummi »

Animals bite for two reasons, angst (fear) or because they want you to stop what you're doing, and you are obviously upsetting your bird, especially if he is drawing blood!. ^#(^
Juicy
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Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:08 pm

Re: Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by Juicy »

Hi all,
thanks for the response. I agree with you all and I would never treat him like a toy! Never! But his behaviour is very deceiving. Once when I stroke him, he is fine. Cooes a bit and then suddenly out of nowhere he bits! This is what is confusing me. And I am starting to think that this is not normal but i just dont understand what I am doing wrong. I am seriously considering to give him to someone more experienced as I do not want him to get upset with me and I can clearly not do a thing wright by him x_x
Juicy
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:08 pm

Re: Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by Juicy »

sanjays mummi wrote:Animals bite for two reasons, angst (fear) or because they want you to stop what you're doing, and you are obviously upsetting your bird, especially if he is drawing blood!. ^#(^
I understand what you are saying. Angst and wanting to stop BUT what about when we are sitting in the room, without actually doing a thing to him? He comes up to me ( or even the Husband) and bites us. How can I explaind that :cry: ?
sanjays mummi
Posts: 2050
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:07 pm
Location: Bedfordshire UK

Re: Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by sanjays mummi »

Parrots as a species are very fickle, love you one minute hate you the next, I don't know why this is. I can only suggest that when he "turns" you put him back in his cage for time out, when he is being affable, give him a treat. After all, you're going to look pretty silly with a sticking plaster on your nose! :-bd
Lady-E
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Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2016 3:34 pm

Re: Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by Lady-E »

Juicy wrote:Hi all,
thanks for the response. I agree with you all and I would never treat him like a toy! Never! But his behaviour is very deceiving. Once when I stroke him, he is fine. Cooes a bit and then suddenly out of nowhere he bits! This is what is confusing me. And I am starting to think that this is not normal but i just dont understand what I am doing wrong. I am seriously considering to give him to someone more experienced as I do not want him to get upset with me and I can clearly not do a thing wright by him x_x
I think others may not like this but this idea doesn't sound so bad at all-first you can make you and your bird both happier with giving him to someone who will know how to handle him and be affectionate to him too and you get yourself a truly tamed bird. I'm telling this from my own experience with a cockatiel I had once - it was a female who didn't like any of us at all! She would bite us, scream all the time and be completely unaffectionate to us. I gave her to my very good friend and imagine my surprise when I visited her in month or so -she was entirely different bird! She started talking, she was very cuddly, she would ask you to kiss her in head by bending her head down (like birds do often :) ) and snuggle with you, they had windows open in rooms she would never go to window or try to fly out...you can't even imagine how different that bird was! She was cuddling with me too at their home but never when she was with us, she simply didn't like something there and wasn't happy, neither were we. If you had no luck with your IRN that might not be a bad idea gifting him/her to someone who you know can take good care of him. We bought young hand fed IRN and he is a very affectionate bird who really loves to cuddle, even at some moments he turns his beak towards a finger he will never bite it, he just goes for it but doesn't bite, and ofc when he goes like that I stop as I see he doesn't like that so we have no problem at all. He likes to test everything with his beak but he doesn't bite us and I can only imagine how strong their bites can be when he tries to take something from us that we don't want to give lol also if you don't want to give up yet simply move your hands near him/her and if he bites just put him in a cage so he knows he did a bad thing and ofc don't let him come near your place, bird like that can't be trusted.
sanjays mummi
Posts: 2050
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:07 pm
Location: Bedfordshire UK

Re: Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by sanjays mummi »

My bird is semi feral, aviary hatched and parent reared. I have found, you can only go so far, he isn't a hand sitter or shoulder rider, but that's ok with me, but he has his soppy moments, as long as I keep my hands off, as far as biting goes, only once, when I had just got him, and that was definitely fear. He kisses and nibbles, he even preens my hair, but there are times when he will suddenly pin his eyes and hiss, so that's when I step back and leave him alone.
If a bird improved with a different owner, it suggests to me the previous owner was doing something wrong, we rescued and straightened out enough problem dogs to know this.
Lady-E
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2016 3:34 pm

Re: Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by Lady-E »

well something she definitely didn't like about us, like I said when I went to visit friend she cuddled with me too so it can't be she hated me only lol and we had 1 before her that was very affectionate but somehow flew away to my mom, he was out and she left balcony door open by a mistake...also one after that was very affectionate too and has been with us 10+ years always very nice, talking, cuddling, on a shoulder, eating with us and ofc never ever biting but what I read so far about IRN's they're different story and more feral and harder to tame which is why I suggested that if she can't tame him successfully maybe both of them can be happier with another owner/bird. And ofc you're right about pinning eyes, have to pay attention to that but even that can be misleading sometimes as they tend to pin them when they really love something and when they really hate something lol but as you said since he/she is they way it is it's best to keep hands away from him/her. Somehow I always felt that untamed birds see hands as something that may trap them and their only defense is their beak. People in shops use to catch birds that are feral by hands (trapping them) and after that they don't return anymore (go to new owner), that probably causes trauma to both birds that go away and those that stay in cage. Maybe I'm over analyzing this lol but somehow always when I see that can't help but think how stressful that is to birds...
sanjays mummi
Posts: 2050
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:07 pm
Location: Bedfordshire UK

Re: Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by sanjays mummi »

Well, yes, the chairman of our local parrot society said, it sounds like Sanjay was grabbed at some stage, she suggested putting my arm in the cage and waiting for him to perch on it, well, he is territorial!, only allows me in his cage when he is playing out and I am cleaning the interior. Otherwise forget it!, it's His space!. I am happy with the progress we've made, considering he wasn't hand tame and I refuse to have his wings clipped. A kiss or preen is a huge bonus! :-bd
Juicy
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:08 pm

Re: Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by Juicy »

Hello all,
thank you very much for the response! Which I am very happy to admit that it really made me feel more comfortable to read. I would like to say that I am loving my Jackson very much and despite wanting a very tame parrot/ second bff, I am ok with accepting the fact that he might not be as comfortable with being touched... I want to give us a further chance, simply because I am not ready to give up on him! Happy to say that after I have changed my approach to him, I think he has started to become a tad less aggressive. Still launches at me and my head at times but I think that everything takes time getting used to? I would not want to give him to someone else... He gets all his needs with us: out in the morning for an hour and then in the afternoons, best food, cage, etc. but if it needs, it would have to be. I am just thinking about, if it would maybe change his behaviour again if we were to relocate his cage? He currently has his cage in the living room, so we get as much time together as possible and also daily access to 'his' conservatory but maybe he needs his own room? ( we have a bedroom to spare).. Any advice? x
sanjays mummi
Posts: 2050
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:07 pm
Location: Bedfordshire UK

Re: Jackson- my very agressive IRN

Post by sanjays mummi »

Isolating him would be a backward step, he needs his "flock" to interact with. Funnily enough, yesterday and today my bird climbed on to my arm when out of his cage!, yesterday he squawked and flew off again, today he tasted my skin!, I said "ow!" and he flew off, but after seven years, he is finally bold enough to sit on me!.
Just bond with your bird, and let him take his own sweet time. b-(
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