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When Ducky bit me
Topic Started: Dec 19 2009, 05:32 AM (386 Views)
Crazy Bird Lady


I would not be surprised if I was there for a day. I know animals can and do adapt to their environment. But a bird is a bird and some of the behaviours you do, like screaming/yelling can be interpreted by the bird as a happy thing and not a reprimand. This is not me talking, but seasoned professionals. If u noted, I also did say, put the bird on the floor. I know they hate that and feel insecure, that is why they say to do that. It puts them in their place. It makes them think, and now that their attention has been redirected from the bad behavior they have to now think about getting up high, a great distraction. A good thing. There was this green winged macaw, biting everyone. My friend was there to get the bird, my hubby, me, my friends. All of them attempted to handle the bird. I did not. I just watched. Then the bird flew, crash landed and THEN and only then, did I offer my arm as I knew all he would want was up, which he did nicely and did not bite me. :) The only one in the room hahaha.

I have the german shep version of ducky, my boy came to me the same, stressed, ill and anxious. He is gold now. Same reaction by most, they all want him.

Tish, Im sure you know your animal, and youve done wonders with him. The fact that u stayed with and gave him that good home and have zero tolerance for bites. My kind of person, I only object to the screaming/yelling part. Just my opinion. You do what works, u dont need to be told by me :)

Try not to take the bites personally but do try to find the common denominator of why you are getting these intermittent bad bites. Theres gotta be a reason, maybe only Ducky knows.


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Tishrei
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Hi,

After this reply, I'm going to take a break. I will admit that I'm a bit miffed that I appear to be an abusive towards Ducky. He acts so non-abused and acts like he owns the place and I'm here to serve him.

You mentioned the floor thing. In my previous post, that's exactly what I used to do. Initially he hated being on the floor and would immediately head to a place he could climb up and be perched up on high -- until one day. I put him on the floor and instead of heading to high ground, he looked around and started to explore. He has not stopped since. He's always on the floor wandering around. His latest is he has picked this piece of area and stands there -- ON THE FLOOR -- near the sliding glass door. In fact, that's where he is right now. Since he's taken up wandering around about 5 years ago, it's a pain for me because I always, and I mean ALWAYS watch where I'm going because he could be anywhere.

Since Ducky has lived with me, he has never flown around in such a frenzy. I remember quite a few years ago when he was still in his lunatic stage, he had latched onto my finger and it HURT like the dickens. I was shaking my hand and he finally let go and went flying and landed on the couch. He was sort of in shock and then it dawned on him how fun it was. Now his stupid game that he likes to play is I stand on one side of the living room across from the couch and I toss him and he flies to the couch. He then climbs down, walks over to me so I can toss him again. If I don't put a stop to it, I could be there for an hour tossing him because he likes it so much.

I don't take the bites personally but I can't let him get away with biting. I allow for just about everything but those nasty bites, though really far and few between now, are simply not acceptable. I was the same with my beloved Tulip. Pigs go through this stage when they move up in the herd and try and take the head honcho status in the herd. Well, I was her herd member and one day, she was bout 1 or 1 1/2 years old when she full on attacked me. To make a long story short, I ran off to my room and called the vet who told me what was going on and said to fight her and put her in her place. Well, I did -- and at one point, I ended up on my butt with her charging me. I scooted the the side, put my feet into her side and pushed as hard as I could. She fell over, I heard the wind get knocked out of her and I though I harmed her. She got up, tail wagging and came over to me. She knew she lost her fight to take over as head honcho. (Boy I still miss that girl).

Ducky will always receive a negative consequence when he bites. He knows that biting is against the rules and I simply am not going to put up with it. Part of having a bird with a beak the size of Ducky's beak is that I know I will get bitten again. However, when that happens he will receive a negative consequence. All other methods that experts have advised have turned into a fun game with him. He thinks its fun. I think part of the reason other methods don't work is because of his background, he no longer fears that he's going to be harmed. No one is going to hit him and no one is going to make him sit in a dark covered cage for hours and hours with nothing to do. I know he remembers these things because if someone has a stick type of thing, he gets scared. He's not scared if I have a stick because he trusts me and he likes to play "stick" with me.

I don't get the morning loud calls and I don't get the evening loud calls. He always knows where to find me because I don't lock him in his cage except when I'm not home. I just ran to the store because I was out of cream. I didn't bother locking him up because I was going to be gone just a short time. I left and came back and he was where I last saw him, right smack in middle of his new hang-out area -- on the floor. He likes it down there for some odd reason.

If he has bitten me (but not one of those really, really hard ones where I need to ice it), and I've yelled at him, I have put my finger against his beak. It's kind of my way of letting him know that I'm not scared and he better not do it again. He's NEVER bit down again after I scold him. He knows that he's not supposed to do that.

Anyway, thank you for caring enough to look out for Ducky. I will think about what you said and see if there is something else I can come up with. What you and other experts have mentioned don't work with Ducky because those methods are fun things for him. That would be like giving him a peanut for biting me.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! Ducky says Merry Christmas to all -- and of all things, he's the right color for this time of year, green with red wing tips. :P

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Crazy Bird Lady


omg lmao about the pig story. no tish, I wouldnt call u the least bit abusisve to ur bird. Anyone can see that if u took a severly plucked bird and he is as calm as u say, that u have done right by this bird, and u are right, owners will know their own better than anyone. I agree, with some pets, one punishment will work with some and not with others. Not sure I would have even stuck with him with all the screaming, just goes to show you, what I've always said, pets act and are a product of their environment. Obviously ducky feels safe and loved to be wondering around the floor. I agree with u regarding the negative consquences if he bites, that has to be done. We have a zero tolerance around here for any aggression with our dogs. they are big with big teeth and having two boys means most people cannot handle that, but our boys are stellar, gentlemen, this is how we raise them, not a day goes by without someone commenting on that. for whatever reason, hubby and me together make up that good team that allows them to live in harmony, couldnt say that for sure if it were just one of us. he is the fun ticket and I am the one who cracks the whip. Seems to be a great combo.

Tish, I may come across as opinionated, but I only mean well for the critters, didnt mean to upset u. Not my intention. I would never call u abusive. We seem to have the same mentality for animal training. We dont take any guff. I was just worried that you may have hurt his feelings with the yelling, I have a vivid imagination and the thought of him pitifully following you around and then beggin forgiveness was a sad image for me, but I guess the chomp of your flesh is sad too. lol. Maybe I will work on that image and feel less sorry for ducky.



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VIOLET12
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"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" Tish and Ducky.

Do you really need to take a break?????????? I will miss you guys. :
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cspags
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Please do not take a break, you and maryann both care and love all critters, please do not let a difference of opinion about ducky make you pull away for Just Budgies, you and maryann are treasured members by all and we love your posts. I know personally I would miss hearing about Ducky and the Mertzs and of course Pippy. Please reconsider and hang in with us. Sometimes as busy as the holiday season is, we need JB more because lets face it family members can only take so many birdie or critter stories before there eyes roll. lol
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VIOLET12
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Ha ha Cathy....maybe Trish and Ducky are just going away for the holidays.
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Tishrei
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Hi, maybe I overreacted -- I'm sorry. I guess I was a bit miffed that I came across as abusive.

My intent was to hurt Ducky's feelings, not hurt him. Every other punishment suggested by the experts becomes a fun game for him. I might as well start giving him a peanut when he bites. Anyway, he's had enough physical punishments (hitting him with a stick) in his life and enough solitude. I don't want to make putting him in his cage a punishment as I want him to like his cage for when I go to work. And yeah, it's kind of sad that he followed me around wanting to make up. But I did not shun him for long -- I had to wait until that throbbing in my arm subsided. It was a deep and nasty bite. There has to be a consequence to him when he bites. Fortunately, he doesn't bite that often -- actually, it's somewhat rare when he really chomps down. He does nip and while the nips are uncomfortable, they are harmless and don't generally break the skin. With those nippy bites, I just say really, really sternly "OUCH" -- which brings up a funny story.

We were playing one day and he did one of his nips and before I could say "OUCH" he said it first. Now he has made that a fun game (dang, he turns everything into a fun game for himself) -- he'll nip me on purpose (but not hard) and say "ouch" on my behalf. Another thing that he has turned into a game for himself -- in the beginning when he would bite down on my finger (but not really really hard) he would shake my finger back and forth to get him to let go. What he now does is take my finger in his mouth and start to shake his head back and forth -- I call it Ducky's shaking game.

This bird has taken away all the known expert punishments and turned them into a fun game for himself leaving me with nothing except to yell at him and walk away. That's the only thing he doesn't like and it's the only thing that works. And if I did not react to his biting, he would bite at will.

That all being said, he does not bite that often -- actually it's become a rather rare occurrence. This year, I've only been bitten twice. This last bite and once when I came home. I was out with a friend this beautiful summer evening at Starbucks. It was about 10:00 p.m. and Ducky had his muffin, and was perched on the back of the chair with his eyes closed. He was so comfortable enjoying the warm night air. My friend insisted that Ducky was sleepy and I should take him home and put him to bed. I thought Ducky was having a good time but my friend really felt sorry for Ducky so he drove me home. Well turns out Ducky did not want to go home, he was enjoying himself in the warm summer breeze and did not want to leave. Actually, I knew that because when I went to pick him up, he nipped me and tried to move away from me. Anyway, as soon as I walked in the house, he nailed me. He did not want to come home just yet.

I usually can read his body language and with this last bite, I missed it. He was ticked that I was watching a birdy video. After watching it, I went over to him and before I could even touch him, out of the blue he leaned over and nailed me. I knew right away why he did it -- he was jealous. He was punishing me. When I pick him up when he doesn't want to be picked up or do something to him he doesn't want, he does not bite but will give a nip -- sometimes the nips are stronger than others but it's a nip and not a full on bite. The nips, even if when they are given in annoyance, only receive an "OUCH" but the full on bites will receive a negative consequence that's unpleasant to him. I won't lock him up in his cage because of his past abusive history. He now likes his cage and goes there on his own and hangs out.

The one thing I've worked really hard at with Ducky is to make him feel safe and not afraid. He has had enough of that in the first 15 years of his life. He apparently feels safe and secure. He no longer screams. Actually, there was a time when I thought something was wrong with him because he would go days and days and days without squawking. Now the only time he really squawks is if I'm late in feeding him his breakfast (I cook him a hot breakfast). I really thought he was sick or something when I realized he was not screaming anymore. But it's been a few years now and he goes days and days without me hearing that loud ear piercing squawk.

Really, thank you for being worried about Ducky. I honestly think he is a well adjusted bird and feels secure with me. That "punishment" that you felt was over the top is reserved ONLY for when he does one of his really nasty bites. That's a behavior that I will not tolerate and will always be rewarded with something that is unpleasant to him.
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cspags
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Sounds like Ducky is blessed in his new home. I sometimes forget just how smart birds are and it appears ducky is a pretty bright guy. Unfortunately birds learn sometimes a little too quick. I will never get bored with hearing birdie tales!
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Crazy Bird Lady


R u sure he's not a dog with feathers?
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Tishrei
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My one friend said Ducky is a 3 year old stuck in a bird's body, LOL
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