New green cheeked, odd behavior

[Jcm91]

My little brother just got a green cheeked. He is about 5 months old. He loves to be front and center in the cage and dances for attention. Loves to be hand fed through cage as well. However once hand is in cage he is a different bird. Bites and runs. Will not decide to perch on hand or finger. Is this normal? Does he just need.more time

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Most parrots are territorial. If I stick my hand in my parrots cage most likely I will get bit. Either use a dowel to remove the bird and take it away from the cage to be handled,or allow it to come out first. It may or may not be territorial on the top of the cage. It's important to work on the up command which can help establish a good relationship and keep you in charge.

 

[ellend]

My little brother just got a green cheeked. He is about 5 months old. He loves to be front and center in the cage and dances for attention. Loves to be hand fed through cage as well. However once hand is in cage he is a different bird. Bites and runs. Will not decide to perch on hand or finger. Is this normal? Does he just need.more time

Get in touch with your local parrot rescue and take (free) classes. You're going to need a lot more advice in the future than this minor question. Please do it for the sake of your bird. The entire family should attend, if possible.
Yes, parrots feel threatened when approached in their cages. There are many YouTube videos on parrots, care, training, and handling. Hopefully you know not to feed a lot of seed, as it causes fatty liver disease. A good parrot mix doesn't have a lot of seed. Good luck.

 

[sourland]

Great posts by the two previous posters. I agree with @oldhenlikesdogs that the bird is biting as a result of you invading his territory.

 

[Quailobsessed]

The bird sounds territorial. Is he aggressive when outside the cage? I would start with hands-off training to get him used to you.

Most people don't realise stepping up is not a command, it's a trick. If the bird doesn't have an reason to step up, it won't. Birds need a different training approach to dogs for example. While dogs aim to please their owners, parrots don't. They are self-serving creatures and will only want to interact if they have a reason to.

It sounds like the bird takes treats. The very first thing I would do is target/touch training. Simply put, target/touch training is getting a bird to touch the end of a stick. Here are some videos that explain it in more detail.

Target training is helpful because it is a request from you to the bird in a language that the bird understands.

When I first got my rescue galah, he would bite constantly and wouldn't step up. I started target training first which really helped when I needed him to go somewhere and I couldn't grab him.

There are many more things I could go through, but this should hopefully be a good start.