Yeeeesssssss!!!!

[stoopid]

Yep, I knew this was coming....Sometimes they do it for attention, sometimes it's dominance.
May be the reason the previous owner got rid of him, maybe not.
There are pages upon pages of books about parrot behavior. Good luck with that!

 

[pinkfoxfarm]

well firstly welcome to owning a macaw...the minis are particularly well known for being nippy...

people forget WHAT parrots are...
these are increidbly inteligent and NOT domesticated animals.
they get VERY frustrated very easily...they dont seem to understand why, while they can mimic our language why we as humans are so stupid and dont understand theirs.
Think of a parrot like a toddler...they KNOW what they want, they just cant get it across to us easily and therefore prone to tantrums.

Parrots also do 99% of their communication within the flock with their beaks...between preening eachother to form stronger inferflock bonds to biting their flock mates to ehard them away from danger ect...everything goes in the beak and onto the tounge which iss incredibly sensitive and to them is just as important as fingers are to us...

that being said personally i think the key to avoiding being bitten is to pay some serious attention to your birds body language...and try to figure out WHY hes being "feisty"

now being this is a new bird id put money on it that hes testing his boundries right now and is probably afraid of his new surroundings, both of which are the most common causes for parrots to bite (fear = bite the person im with so they and therefor I move away from the danger)

now i aproach ALL bitds similarly...nip, bite, agressive bite...a SHARP "AH-AH sound and a sudden downward movment of the hand the bird is sat on...your not trying to drop the bird, simply throw off his balance to refocus him. if that doesnt work i typically take my fingers and press lightly on either side of the beak on the soft "cheek" portion...your not trying to pry the beak open or cause pain, but simply letting the bird know that its not acceptable. desired responce is to move...so by pulling away or Ouch ect you reinforce that that action gets a desired reaction...
again this goes for ALL bites, no matter what the reason...ive found a loud sound and the "perch" suddenly becomming temporarily unstable is enough to distract and "break" the bite without associating the desired responce with the bite.

now in terms of the rest of the reaction, it realy depends on WHY

you NEVER want to pull the apendage being bitten away...a bites sole purpose is to get a responce....typically the desired responce of MOVING...
typically ive found a loud ahah and sudden unstability underfoot is enough to break the bite and the birds focus.

the rest of the reaction from me depends on WHY the bird is biting...

Dominance...this tends to be an "overused" reason and not as common as its thought, but common in "teenagers" (for mini macaws between 2-5 years of age) in this case, 1: bird is not allowed higher than the chest...his eyes must be lower than mine, plain and simple...
I personaly have no problem with birds on the shoulder...BUT they have to earn it first...and if a bird is being nippy/bitey and you cant identify ANY other reason, assume its dominance and keep them low.

Fear...birds bite when afraid, they would bite enachother to encorage their flock mates to move away from danger, these are animals that would be eaten by bigger animals, strange things are scary.
my way of handling fear is 2 fold. 1: i WILL move away from the scary thing not quickly not paniked, just an "ok" in a calm tone and move the bird away from whatevers freeking him out. 2: put him down a couple of feet away from the problem then you go back to whatever spooked the bird calmly, the idea is you as "top bird" need to show him theres nothign to be afraid of without forcing him to face the problem head on.

play...birds play with their beaks, everything goes in the mouth, if this is the case they get 1 warning...if the biting continues its time for a time out.
ive found this is typically a problem related to excitment, so 1: i never pick up a bird immediatly after arriving home or first thing in the morning...instead i open the cage and allow them to come out on their own and relax a little first. (now i will add jack jack is NOT cage agressive or cage dominant, and he knows if i put my hand in his cage its NOT to be bitten...you do have to be carefull abut letting the bird come and go on his own if hes cage agressive) once settled down he gets to come onto me and snuggle play ect...
2: if the play biting starts after that, i practice 1 "unsteadying" he gets 1 warning...if the biting continues after that i have a "time out cage", its 24" dog crate (i NEVER EVER use his cage as a punishment) in the back bedroom. the cage has a couple of perches nd 1 toy...
Time outs should be VERY short, birds have short attention spans. so i never put him in there for more than 5 mins.

Jack Jack is very smart
and this managment tecnique seems to work quite well for him...BUT jack jack is also a Baby, hes not qute a year and a half old yet and im EXPECTING to have a difficulties as he sexually matures...

Age 100% absolutly plays a big part on beakyness 2-5 yrs old for minis is very common due to sexual maturutiy.

what i CAN promise you about owning a macaw is there will be days when you wonder what the heck you were thinking bringing this odd moody creature into your home....
youll get bitten and pooped on and screamed at and given the "evil eye", youll clean up more tossed food bits of wood ect than you thought possible and spend more money on new toys for your bird then you do on things for youself!

But then youll look over at the cage and there will be your macaw, all fluffed up, a toy draped over his shoulder, a plastic measuring cup on his head and one foot "holding his head on" making weird sounds and you cant help but smile at your silly little feathered dinosaur and its all worth it...

Thats my Jack Jack, hes a severe macaw

 

[stoopid]

Great explanation, pinkfoxfarm! Very well said!