OK... to be brutally honest, I am feeling like the worst kind of person possible right now. Buttons tried to nab me last night when I was messing with the door on her cage and when I picked her up, she grabbed a hold of the skin between my thumb and index finger and literally GNAWED the skin and drew blood. It hurt like heck and I tried to be calm but I couldnt' push into it and didn't dare pull away and she seemed to be enjoying it. It made me so mad that I jiggled her a couple of times to help her disengage and then said "NO BITE" a couple of times and jiggled her again and put her on the cage and walked away. It then hit me that I SHOOK my little bird! And it wasn't for her own good, it was because I was mad at her and my hand hurt. I lost my temper and shook my bird. Later that night she gave me kisses and nodded her head at me like always and tonight she's been as good as gold but I feel guilty! Like I made her behave by hurting her and making her afraid of me. I'm embarrassed to tell you all this, but I feel like if I tell you, then you can hold me accountable and next time she hurts me, intentionally or otherwise, I'll not lose my temper. Do you think I've hurt the bond we've been working on by doing that? I am so ashamed by my behavior. For new people, this is NOT the way to behave to your bird! So Sorry!!!

It doesn't sound like you've hurt the bond, but it is something that could hurt the bond if it continues.

You know, we ALL make mistakes. There is nothing wrong with making a mistake, it is when you repeat the mistake that you really should stop and assess the situation.

You know what you did was wrong and readily admitted to it. I think that is a very good thing.

Try not to beat yourself up about this, give your baby some extra loves and I'm sure you will feel better.

And kudos to you for being so honest

ok, Take a deep breath.....do not do it again. Remember you are much bigger then your bird and you are much smarter then your bird. The next time, you TAKE THE BITE and grin and bear it. Only my opinion......

Awww ..don't beat yourself up to bad. Brady bit me pretty dang good a few weeks ago. He got overly excited about me putting some goodies in his treat cups and chomped me good. No blood but hurt pretty good. Now he's not one to bite..he did it when he was younger..trying to show cage aggression. I pushed into it and really didn't have anymore problems. So I was kinda in shock when he let me have it. Instead of pushing into it..I was so mad I swooped him up..put him in his cage..told him bad boy and locked the cage and walked away. I knew it was the wrong thing to do..I let my anger take over. But if it happens again I know better. We all make mistakes. Learning from them is the important part.

I did the same thing, just tonight, Kiwi was on my shoulder and we were going toward the cage, she didn't want to go and bit the CRAP out of my neck, well, i cant push into it from there and I quickly got her on my hand, put her on the cage and told her BAD, NO BITE , go in,, ( she knows that means in cage) she went in and I covered her and said now you go night night, well this was about 1 hour before she usually goes night night, she kept chirping, not sqwaking, and saying cmere, I felt so bad, I uncovered the cage, and told her be good girl. she rubbed the cage with her face, as if to say its ok, im sorry too. ( or at least thats how I like to think of it ) all is ok. But I can understand the feeling bad. It happens. We are always learning with these birds, as they are with us.

oooh wow Renee I know it hurt like h***...It was just a reaction that happened and you had no control over it....I can sympathize with you on the bites.....These things can happen so quickly and without thinking, it just happens....



I think baby will be alright; just give him some reassurance that you love him...

Good luck..........

You know what? You are human. It is very easy for people around here to bellow out theories about how to deal with a bird that bites. But there are bites and there are bites. No two bites are the same and not everyone's level for the tolerance of pain is the same.

The bond......broken because of this single act? Hardly. I have said it before and I'll say it again. We can't keep saying that our Quakers are intelligent living beings with cognitive abilities on the one hand, and then say on the other hand that they "cut the strings" with their favorite human because of one bad experience with their special human. In other words, our bond with our intelligent Quakers is NOT that fragile.

They are smart. They do recognize AND appreciate the things that we do for them. They KNOW that they are dependent on us. If you agree with the above, then you really do agree that they are heartfull intelligent living things for reasons above and beyond the fact that they can repeat a word, or pick up a toy and bring it to you. Now that is not the say that you should be doing this to him often, but I have a feeling that he learned a thing or two about what will happen to him when I bites you for no valid reason.

Just offering a different perspective on things................

Sorry to be a little off topic, but what is the best way to deal with a situation like this? eg. when a bird bites you.
Whats the most effective way to let a bird know that this behaviour is not on.

Well said Marcos. Every moment is a teachable moment and no matter what anyone says.. we have ALLLLLL had teachable moments. Being the mommy to not only a QP and other furred kids.. but also to two REAL little kiddos-- boy have I had a million of these moments. I think children and our pets are more resilient than we think sometimes and that is what makes them so incredibly loveable. Their ability to love unconditionally (to a point, of course) is what keeps us learning from them and trying to do right by them. The fact that you have a conscience about what you do with your fid is total proof that you are a great parront. Birdie will be fine and chalk it up to a "teachable moment!"

Hey Renee, dont feel too bad - I know how the bad the bites can be and have bled a couple of times from them. And it is sometimes very difficult to get their beak off your skin. You havent broken the bond at all. I have a high tolerance for pain and can put up with some of the unintentional bites and I do reinforce the NO BITE command (not with much success I might add). If I get mad at Shah, I find the best thing to do is to just put him in his cage - say nothing - and leave the room for a few minutes until I feel I can cope with him again. As much as I love him, he does get a bit carried away at times. And Marcos, I did enjoy your take on the situation - it is certainly something to think about.

Well said Marcos. Being a parent and a woman that has 8 pets of her own plus 2 extra dogs around, I am very familiar with those "losing" it moments. I think we can all relate. The night Taz (my amazon) bit me in my face, I dropped him, and not in a gentle let him fall of my hand type of a drop. I didn't throw him, but I sure as heck dropped his butt. He wasn't harmed, and he learned really quickly to NOT bite mommy in the face. And rest assured, our bond is not harmed in the least. I'm not saying it was the correct reaction, but heck, it HURT. Put a nice little hole in my cheek and drew a decent amount of blood. To be quite honest, I was absolutely livid about it. He then got picked up and put unceremoniously in his cage for the night (he was headed to bed anyway but usually there are scritches and good nights exchanged). When Jojo bit me out of aggression when I was putting him back in his cage, I quickly yanked my arm out of reach, yelled NO BITE and slammed the cage door shut. Was he harmed? Not in the least. He was actually already on his perch when he bit me. Was he suprised? Heck yea. Did I run back to him and say "Oh baby it will be ok?" Nope. I let him think about it for a bit, and I left him in his cage for a while. When he'd whine for me, I'd show him my arm and say "You hurt Mommy". He'd duck his head down and whine a little. After a couple of hours, I went back and talked to him and told him that if he wanted lovings he had to be nice and spoke to him in nice soothing tones. Took him out of his cage and he instantly snuggled up and made whimpering noises as if to say he was sorry. He hasn't bitten me out of aggression since, and has only pinched me once since then. Even then it was an accident, and as soon as he realized he hurt me he felt bad. Now...some may say he was scared of my reaction or whatever, but seriously...this bird is SMART. And empathetic. He KNOWS he can hurt me with his beak. I know this because when holding him the other day, he started to slip. I was wearing a short sleeved shirt, but he's used to me having sleeves on because it hasn't been warm very long. Well, he went to grab my sleeve, like he's done hundreds of times before, to get a better grip. The very INSTANT he realized his beak touched skin, he let go and proceeded to fall. I caught him and kept him from falling, and as soon as he regained his balance he kept checking the spot on my arm his beak had touched, and kept rubbing it with his closed beak, as though he was checking for injuries.

Suffice to say, sometimes I think a little jolt to their sysytem (as long as it doesn't cause pain or harm to them or excessive amounts of stress) is necessary. Just like with a kid, sometimes you have to get a little extra firm with them to get the point across. These birds are smart enough to know their bites hurt...why do you think they bite? I find it hard to believe the old "don't react and they'll stop". It may very well work, but how do you NOT react when you have an animal gnawing on you or ripping out chunks of flesh?

Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I definitely have things to think about and will remember this next time (because we all know there WILL be a next time ). Thanks again!

Wow... I'm kinda freaked out right now with all this talk about biting. Cricket hasn't tried to bite me yet but I know eventually he will but how do you NOT react?

My parakeet flew into my closet the other day and i was stupid and stuck my hand out for her to step up like I would do with Cricket but she isn't finger trained.

So what did she do? She latched on to my finger and bit me HARD... or what I considered hard. She didn't even draw blood. But it hurt and scared me for a second that I kind of flung her off my finger (while screaming a bad word lol)

She wasn't hurt because she landed on clothes and I was on my hands and knees on the floor but if that hurt and took me by surprise, I can't even imagine what a bite from Cricket will do to me!

Everyone "loses it" at one time or another.What mother not has lost her temper with the kids and yelled and screamed and then realized she handeled it wrong?

Believe me I have lost it withmy green wing male .The night he bit me hard enough to require stitches..I know I handeled it wrong,,but by the time I realized I had screamed at him it was too late.I even grabbed his beak and yelled in his face I had not stopped to consider what I was doing.All i knew at the time is that my arm was dripping blood and it was his fault. I felt awful after returning home (boy did the docs get a kick out of me) but he did not seem bothered by my action.Now had I continued this reaction with every bite...we would be a long way from the friendship we have now.I learned from my mistake...as I am sure you will as well.

Awww, everyone makes mistakes... I made one the other day...

Captain was having another one of her "Spring" days where she yells non-stop and drives me mental. I had just put a pot of water on to boil and run to grab my hairbrush or something. While I was digging it out Captain kept SCREAMING blue bloody murder completely ignoring my "Captain hush. That's enough. Enough. Shush." and I wound up yelling "CAPTAIN! SHUT UP!"

... Then the smoke detector went off.

Turns out a piece of mail had fallen onto the burner of the stove (I hadn't even noticed it sitting beside the stove) and caught fire. I felt so bad for yelling at her when she was trying to be a guard bird. We went on a nice long walk while the house aired out. It didn't harm our bond...

Captain has bit me like you were describing too, only mine was on top of a knuckle. Hurt like the dickens! Try to remember that because it's springtime and everyone is getting a little randy and frustrated that your parrot may not even know why he/she is biting. Kind of like when we get stressed out at the end of a bad day and 1 little mistake like too much ketchup on a burger seems like the end of the world. I know there have been little things I got mad about after a long day that I looked back on and went "My goodness, that was silly. I wonder why I got so mad."

Don't feel bad Learn from it and keep on trucking!

holy h3ll... mine bites my fiance hard sometimes but never enough to draw blood even. I don't think I will show him this or he will definitely stop trying to handle Q Although my cat did bite him hard enough to draw blood, it got infected too, and left a scar. I told him a million times to let me bathe my cat. it's kind of a funny story, he picked my cat up and my cat for whatever reason freaked out and peed all over the place and that's why he was trying to bathe him

That was a bite from a greenwing macaw..not my quaker

Well, Marcos made a point when I wrote about Gabby biting my chin and he said that we don't think about THEM breaking the bond by BITING us or breaking trust...I mean, I am not offering my chin for her to "kiss" any longer..so, I don't have the same trust in her that I had before...Good point, huh? ..
I can't say that I was patient and talked softly when she bit me HARD and I was bleeding!!...I must have screamed BAD BIRD!!! because she was saying that later that day..Made me feel a little bad, BUT, I kinda gave her the silent treatment for a while, because not only did she bit my chin, she bit my hand (thru the towel) when I put her onto her cage...Now, Gabby is an African Grey and their beaks can do some major damage...my chin looks like I got smacked in the chin...it's looking better..but it could have been MUCH worse, had it been my lip, ear, or eye...
But I said all that to say THIS: when we get hurt, most of the time we react without thinking..I had just been bragging that Gabby doesn't bite...SO, I didn't plan on what to do when that event happened...it just happened..Just like she suddenly BIT me..well, I suddenly yelled..LOL!!! Please don't take me wrong, everyone knows I totally disagree with "disciplining", but I guess when I put her onto her cage and didn't talk to her for a while, that was discipline..??? what can I say?
It hurts, you don't have time to think about pushing into the bite when your chin in that black vise-grip...LOL!!! We make mistakes, but they do too...and we still love them...

So, would I handle it differently next time? I think I would, but who knows? Things happen...Gabby knew that what she did was wrong, but it was done and we can't go back and undo it. She's still just as loving, and talkative, but I just don't allow the loving kisses any longer...I am not so lax....

Rebecca

Georgie bit the holy turd out of my daughter one day last week. Poor thing let Georgie bite her and didn't say a word. Matter of fact, she got an odd reaction from Georgie like "well, that didn't work."

I can relate about loosing your cool, it just catches you off guard and is a natural reaction.

I wouldn't worry about it hun. I imagine Buttons loves you well enough to have probably forgotten all about it.

Yea that is about right Rebecca. It takes "two to bond". Bonding is NOT a one way street. If your bird strikes hard out of the blue, you can't just dismiss it the way a lot of people around here do. I read some of the excuses make for a bird's doing things like that and I just can't help but laugh. It's kind of hysterical....rediculous if you think about it. A human accidently does something to piss off their bird, and you see post after post about how you have to worry about your bird not trusting you and breaking the bond with you. On the other hand if you open your bird's cage in the morning, and say "Good Morning" in your nice cheery way, then your bird lunges at you and takes a piece of skin out of your chin, and people dismiss it and claim it's the result of a bird waking up on the wrong side of the perch.

Trust me, you have to work hard to break your bird's trust. The bond is NOT a fragile one. Once earned, it is NOT easily broken. The bird recognizes you as the person that services his cage, gives him his food, buys him his toys, takes him out to show him the world, takes him to the vet to make him feel better when he is sick......uhhhh ....what am I missing? It's certainly not the point. These guys are not dumb idiots. If your bird does wrong, you have to put him in his place so he knows he should think twice about doing it again.

Trust me,if Maxie does that to me, he will feel my wrath in a safe way.

Actually, it sounds like you did just what you are supposed to do...THE EARTHQUAKE!!! Shaking them a bit to get them to let go!!

From your post, it doesn't sound like you VIOLENTLY shook your hand to get her off! I know it hurts like the dickens and your first thought is to 'GET THAT THING OFF ME!!' but doing the earthquake and shaking her to get her off balance a bit so she'll let go sounds like the perfect solution.

And then putting her in time out with a NO BITE is the proper way to teach her that biting puts her out of your presence. Nothing wrong with that. They learn quick. And they are usually quick to forgive, as it appears she is.

Don't be hard on yourself. Sounds like all is ok in your fid house!

Thanks everyone! You were all right. Buttons and I are back to "normal" and she's actually been seeking out my attention more right now than before the incident. It was so nice to be able to cringingly admit what had happened, and to get encouragement. I'm still learning so it's great to have you all as my sounding board. Thanks again!!!

There was never any doubt in my mind that your bond was severed. like I said, they don't break nearly as quickly as many people on this site would have you believe that it would. You kind of have to work at breaking it, just as hard as you have to work at building it. Always give your fid credit for not being so simple minded and shallow. They know when they have a good thing.