chicoshuman
Regular Member
Hey so I'm sure some of you lovely people will know my past issues with Chico and his aggression. You may also know that I have a new addition to the flock in the form of a blue and gold macaw Rhaegar!
So things between them are fine, they aren't buddies which isn't what I hoped for or expected from them especially Chico if they do buddy up one day great but it's not really an issue if they don't.
I have been intensely working with Chico with his behaviour continuing to build our bond and out trust which is going extremely well. I taught him the "hop" trick and this has even now started to just develop into a recall which for a very nervous flyer (I believe he was clipped as a baby and all his life) I find a massive development due to the amount of trust he must have in my to jump/fly to my hand on command which he's actually incredibly responsive to doing. He has even started to place a foot on my mothers hand when she askes him to step up even though he used to despise her.
However... NOTHING has stopped his biting, even of me, in fact it seems as though it's even increasing as though he's becoming more confident to tell me he doesn't want to do something. I realise the simple answer is "don't make him do something he doesn't want to do" but these things aren't really avoidable without him being locked in his cage all day which he would scream the house down because he was locked away all day in his previous home... Examples of the biting behaviour are having a drink anywhere around him (he will find ways to get to drinks to attack them and obviously being a bird no where is out of reach) moving from my house to my studio is becoming unbearable as it's an outside walk. It's literally 5 steps and I spend around 13 hours a day in my studio so he kind of has to come, he was also fine with his before but has since started to bite in the last month and a half. There are a few others but I'll keep it short and to the worst and most frequent.
I believe a lot of these issues are from his previous homes which it turns out I'm his 4th home in his 4 years of life which really upsets me... I started to feel I'm not experienced enough to train these complex bad behaviours out of him as I have absolutely no success but when it comes to new positive things like tricks I get on fine. How I'm now having to try and deal with the biting is if it's a really bad persistent attack he has to go in his cage and I have to leave him to cool off, I can't just ignore it and leave him to do whatever as I have 2 dogs and a cat as well as people in the house so just walking away and ignoring it isn't an option (he's also rather distructive like all birds and has now destroyed 2 apple keyboards and a PS4 controller) I could never give up on him I've become way too attached and to think of him with someone else not caring properly for him breaks my heart to even think about...
I've begun to consider if there were any expert training "birdy boot camps" out there in the U.K. that's could help me with this as I'm scared he's going to end up getting stuck in his cage because he's becoming unhandlable and my work life is suffering for having to constantly deal with chicos bad behaviour...
Thank you for reading and I know it probably seems like I've been here before but, as I say I'm really not sure what training I could do myself that would help as I seem to be able to grasp all other training well with now multiple birds but he just seems to become possessed with aggression...
So things between them are fine, they aren't buddies which isn't what I hoped for or expected from them especially Chico if they do buddy up one day great but it's not really an issue if they don't.
I have been intensely working with Chico with his behaviour continuing to build our bond and out trust which is going extremely well. I taught him the "hop" trick and this has even now started to just develop into a recall which for a very nervous flyer (I believe he was clipped as a baby and all his life) I find a massive development due to the amount of trust he must have in my to jump/fly to my hand on command which he's actually incredibly responsive to doing. He has even started to place a foot on my mothers hand when she askes him to step up even though he used to despise her.
However... NOTHING has stopped his biting, even of me, in fact it seems as though it's even increasing as though he's becoming more confident to tell me he doesn't want to do something. I realise the simple answer is "don't make him do something he doesn't want to do" but these things aren't really avoidable without him being locked in his cage all day which he would scream the house down because he was locked away all day in his previous home... Examples of the biting behaviour are having a drink anywhere around him (he will find ways to get to drinks to attack them and obviously being a bird no where is out of reach) moving from my house to my studio is becoming unbearable as it's an outside walk. It's literally 5 steps and I spend around 13 hours a day in my studio so he kind of has to come, he was also fine with his before but has since started to bite in the last month and a half. There are a few others but I'll keep it short and to the worst and most frequent.
I believe a lot of these issues are from his previous homes which it turns out I'm his 4th home in his 4 years of life which really upsets me... I started to feel I'm not experienced enough to train these complex bad behaviours out of him as I have absolutely no success but when it comes to new positive things like tricks I get on fine. How I'm now having to try and deal with the biting is if it's a really bad persistent attack he has to go in his cage and I have to leave him to cool off, I can't just ignore it and leave him to do whatever as I have 2 dogs and a cat as well as people in the house so just walking away and ignoring it isn't an option (he's also rather distructive like all birds and has now destroyed 2 apple keyboards and a PS4 controller) I could never give up on him I've become way too attached and to think of him with someone else not caring properly for him breaks my heart to even think about...
I've begun to consider if there were any expert training "birdy boot camps" out there in the U.K. that's could help me with this as I'm scared he's going to end up getting stuck in his cage because he's becoming unhandlable and my work life is suffering for having to constantly deal with chicos bad behaviour...
Thank you for reading and I know it probably seems like I've been here before but, as I say I'm really not sure what training I could do myself that would help as I seem to be able to grasp all other training well with now multiple birds but he just seems to become possessed with aggression...