OMG - Hunnybird is acting like a little green witch instead of my sweet baby. Her and Kirby are not getting along at the moment. Kirby really took to my daughter so he is living in her room and she is responsible for all of his care. I still spend all of my time with Hunnybird so she won't feel left out. Hunnybird has never cared for my daughter so I know that is not the issue. I did show my daughter how to handle the pin feathers and how to get Kirby to eat with you but that is it. Well, tonight Hunnybird decided to go postal on me. I guess just those 2 interactions with the new bird was enough. She kept nipping at my arm whenever I would hold her. I grabbed her beak and told her "no", put her back in her cage for time out and would move her whenever she started to nip. I am at a loss on what to do to correct this behaviour. My right arm looks like I have the chicken pox because of her nipping. She is not biting me like she normally would. She is grabbing little pieces of skin and nipping so I have all these little red, sore bumps on my arm! Any advice would be appreciated. If there is something I did not try then let me know. Wow talk about moody!

Hey I noticed something you could do, see you put her in her cage for time out which could be reinforcing her behavior if she wants to go in her cage. Keep putting her in time out, just stick her in a bathroom (with the toilet seat down of course lol) for a minute or so and then see if she is sweeter.

Have you tried the earthquake method? When she bites move your hand like an earthquake to make her keep her balance instead of biting. And don't give any reaction to her biting either

Also are her wings clipped? If they are, you may consider clipping them it may help.

Hope this helps

I keep her wings clipped. The earthquake method doesn't work as she grabs on even harder then. Sigh!

I will try the time out method in another room if she starts again this evening. Maybe that will cure her ill behaviour. Heck, at this point I am willing to try just about anything!

Thanks, Dana

She does not need to be on time out. And she certainly doesn't need to be on time out even longer, this will not reinforce any behavior. She may be having a reaction to the new bird, so she will need your help for her to understand that it is ok. Keep doing positive reinforcement with her, rewarding her with her favorite treats. As for the biting, do not say "no", hold her beak, and put her back in her cage. Instead, just ignore her completely and put her down and step back or walk away for a bit, just a few seconds or a minute. Then come back and step her up and reward her for this. Saying "no" and holding her beak IS a reaction to the bite. And longer time outs just means longer time between the incident and the reinforcer which means she will NOT be learning.

You know, when I'm holding Clyde on one hand and he nibbles on the other as I'm trying to pet him, I just lift him away from the hand he's biting and he has to stop and let go. At the same time I say something like "hey" or "quit chewing on Mommy." If he bites the hand he's sitting on, I do earthquake, but you said that didn't work. It doesn't always work on Clyde, either.

Have you tried keeping a toy handy and if she bites, present the toy to her? That sometimes works, too. Clyde will squawk at the toy and lunge at it and it distracts him from nibbling.

I may be way off base but what you describe sounds like how Ekko used to do me when I'd be gone any amount of time during his first year with me. He was obsessivly over preening me, I too had tiny little nips from my arms where he took the tiniest piece of skin. I always assumed it was his way of reassuring himself...like preening a mate when they return to the nest kind of behavior. Since adding the new bird to your home he could be assuring himself he is still part of your flock, establishing his place. I'm no bird behavioralist just how I deciphered Ekko's compulsion to constantly pick at my hands, arms and whatever other area he got to. I had a buddy even tease me about I shouldn't have named him Ekko cause the bird now thinks he IS a chainsaw! Yeah, he THOUGHT he was funny!
Like I said I may be way off base but I know Ekko did quit as he got older and got used to my leaving and returning. Now its my hair and eyebrows he preens and preens and preens...but I don't have to have even left the house for him to do that! We just call it "getting momma's fleas!" Lol
Good luck with Hunnybird, cute name by the way!

When I'm holding Rico and he bites me I blow on his face or head and say 'no'. It kind of startles him and he stops, though many times he will try it again quickly. I just repeat the same each time he tries until I can grab a toy or something else that will distract him. Sometimes I'll just start singing to him and he will stop and listen to me. Then he forgets he was biting.

I've found with my horses that if they are in a bad 'mode' or not cooperating for a minute, that distracting them with something else gets them out of that mindset. It's like they forget that they were not happy. The same thing seems to work with Rico, although not all of the time. Sometimes he just does NOT want to be fooled with!

I don't have nearly as much experience with QPs as most on this forum, but it may be worth a try.

Well, things are finally starting to settle down. Hunnybird is not nipping me as much. I have tried several different things suggested and there is no one true fix. So, what I have started to do is rotate all the different things that were suggested so she never knows what is coming next. That has been a big help. Her and Kirby are still testing each other but it is getting better. Hunnybird seems to start the nipping whenever I touch Kirby so I know for a fact that it is jealousy. Oh well, she will just have to get over it. Thanks to everyone for their advice and help. I appreciate it very much.

Dana