biting baby Male lovebird

[Dorothy]

I recently kept a baby from my most recent clutch. I had the bird DNA sexed and it is a male. in all my years breeding and owning lovebirds this is the first male who is a biter. as a matter of fact I did think it was a female by its behavior before I had it sexed by its aggressive behavior as a baby. to make a long story short I wondered if anyone else every had a male baby be as nippy as a female. he is four months old and I think just going through a stage that he will outgrow but I am just curious if anyone else has ever had a male be like this? thanks Dorothy

[linda040899]

Hi Dorothy and welcome to Lovebirds Plus Community! We are happy to have you with us!

Most males are pretty docile. I've found that to be my own personal experience but that doesn't mean there can't be an exception! Four months can be a testy age so you never know.

Are there particular times when you get bitten or is it all the time. Is there a particular part of your anatomy that gets the most abuse? Hands can be big targets, as some parrots just don't like hands, no matter what! If you've tried all the normal ways to discourage the behavior, I can think of one way to let him know for sure that biting makes you unhappy. Water bottles set on "stream" and used immediately after the bite will quickly get your message across and the worst that will happen is that he will get wet. :) We have several members here who have used this method and they have mentioned that, after a short while, just the sight of the water bottle gets the message across. No action required. Parrots don't understand punishment but getting wet isn't punishment. It's a reaction from you to let him know in no uncertain terms that his behavior is unacceptable and you don't like it!

One other thought. What kind of DNA sexing did you have done? If it was blood sexing and the nail wasn't cleaned well enough prior to the sample being taken, the sample could have been contaminated. This doesn't happen very often but it's a possibility. A contaminated sample can return male when the bird in question is actually a female. DNA sexed hens are always hens.

Do you have any pictures of your lovie?

[Dorothy]

hi Linda, there does not seem to be just one area he likes to bite. when he comes out he just seems really wired, like a cross between the energizer bunny and a two year old child. I hand raised him and touched him a lot
so it is not fear. when I did the DNA I did the feather sexing which I had done by avian biotech who has never steered me wrong. his pelvic check, for whatever that is worth, indicates male. the reason I had not tried the spray bottle as over the years comments I read made me feel like I shouldn't even though I never feel personally that it was a terrible thing to do. I think I will try the spray bottle and if he keeps it up indefinitely redo the DNA. he is a American yellow o p a line I believe. if I can get a picture, he I s scared of the camera, I will try to post it.
thank you for responding and for your feedback. Dorothy

[Dorothy]

p.s. excuse any typos, my auto correct on kindle messes things up. Dorothy

[linda040899]

If you did feather sexing, that should eliminate the room for error so you may just have a nippy male. :omg: I agree with you when you say he has no fear because you handled him a lot! Interesting comparison between an energizer bunny and a 2 year old.....really good comment! This could also just be his age and he may calm down as he matures a bit. At age 16 weeks, he's still very young and needs to mature a bit. I'm sure your anatomy will appreciate it a lot!

See if the water bottle has any affect at all. :)

[Dorothy]

thanks, and my anatomy is looking forward to the break lol! I'll let you know if the water bottle works. Dorothy

[linda040899]

Here is a link to an article on our Resource Library that does an excellent job of explaining biting in parrots: http://www.naturalencounters.com/images/Publications&Presentations/Biting_Its_Not_For_The_Birds-Steve_Martin.pdf
Another excellent site is this one: http://www.goodbirdinc.com/barbaraheidenreich-bio.html

[Dorothy]

the first link does not work. Dorothy

[linda040899]

The article must have been moved. I copy/pasted the link into my browser and got the same thing. However, go to our Resource Library and about halfway down, there's a link to an article entitled "Biting. It's Not for the Birds." That link opens.

[Dorothy]

ok, I will check it out. thanks Dorothy

[Dorothy]

Linda, read the article, thanks for telling me about it. I started yesterday with the spray bottle. it's a little hard to time it but I think it might help. I'm glad I talked with you.Dorothy

[linda040899]

Steve Martin is one of my favorite avian experts. He looks at why the behavior is what it is and works with that. Many behaviorists advocate methods that don't build trust relationships (this is what you are aiming for) but work on a method best described as deconditioning. The parrot doesn't like a certain thing or is afraid of a certain thing but repeatedly subjecting the parrot to what it doesn't instinctively like will finally get it used to what it doesn't like..... A trust relationship is built on mutual trust. There's no winner and there's no loser. The spray bottle is a reaction to an action and it gets the message across with no misundertanding. Rewards for GOOD behavior are also very effective. You need to focus on both. :)