Sudden Aggression

[Stormo27]

Hi there,
New to the forum. I have a 7.5 month old male IRN who almost 2 weeks ago suddenly became very aggressive. Up until this point he had been a very sweet boy. He was learning lots of tricks would step up and allow us to gently pet him on the head. Almost 2 weeks ago the change was like night and day, he will step up but began lunging and striking at us biting or attempting to bite. We still try to handle him but now there are many times we cannot even attempt to put our hands in his cage for fear of relentless biting. It has gotten to the point where if you stand in front of his cage he rushes to where you are standing, pins his eyes, and lunges at the cage attempting to bite you through it. It is even worse if your hand is near the cage
I have tried to talk to him through the cage to calm him down and coax him to step up which he will some times but he will then start repeatedly biting the hand he is standing on.
Some days it seems he has improved and he will act more his normal self but then the next day acts completely different.
I have read about bluffing but i thought that that stage of biting is earlier in life.

I thought maybe at first he was acting hormonal or cage territorial but I am out or ideas. Has anyone else experienced this before? Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Danielle

[TomAndGene]

The best thing you can do, Although it's very difficult to do - is to show your bird that biting has no effect on you at all.

My bird was a biter too, To counter the biting i simply let him bite, Sure they hurt and it was difficult to do, often drawing blood. But now my bird knows that biting is not an option to control me, Every time you react you reinforce your birds belief that biting will make you stop what you're doing.

Birds rarely learn like humans do, For example: If your bird was going to bite whilst on your finger, Instead of telling him off and pointing at him, You just roll your finger enough so he loses his balance slightly, This will often snap him out of the biting phase as he tries to regain his stability and it also shows him that if you go to bite while on my finger, You might fall off. It's simple negative reinforcement.

I chose to do these things with my bird and now he won't bite me at all, ever. I havent been bitten in months unless it's just playfull nips and nibbles.

(P.S, If the biting is too painful show the back of your clenched fist to your bird, He will try to bite you but won't get a grip on anything, I've found this to be less effective but it still works, Especially on younger birds)

Good luck,
Tom.

[Stormo27]

Thanks. I started doing this and its almost instant change in his behavior. I am able to handle him again albeit with a few chunks of skin missing but those will heal and I will have a behaved bird in the long run. Much appreciation!

[TomAndGene]

So glad it's working for you