Chewbirdy

[LauraO]

We have a three month old Seagreen whom we named ChewBirdy (Chewy for short) because all he does is chew and knaw and bite and chew and bite and chew. He's chewing on my hands as I type. He's not being mean but he bites just hard enough and constantly that it's starting to drive me INSANE :eek:. I've tried the holding the beak, telling him no, giving him other stuff to chew, moving him to the other side of the room, etc. Nothing seems to work. In fact, his favorite game when I'm fed up is to latch onto my face and bite my nose. What makes matters worse is we handfed him and he thinks I'm his mamma and always wants to "hang out." Well, hang out and bite and chew and knaw and chew :rolleyes:.

Anyone got any ideas :)

[mangotiki]

my two hand fed WELL socialized babies did this incessently for a few months. They have since stopped completely, they are about 5 and 8 months old now. with Oliver I tried giving him pellets to munch on but it only made it worse. I think it is like puppy biting, they grow out of it. Not that fun, but it is endearing in a painful kind of way...... :eek:
I posted on the old site about it and Linda replied that it is a normal phase for youngsters.
good luck :D
traci

[sdgilley]

Hi Laura,
I agree with Traci, this is probably just a stage. Peepo went through that chewy stage, and has since learned to use it more as communication. She does still chew a little, but it's more gentle when she does it for fun. The hard nips usually mean to return her to her cage. I have her in an out of her cage frequently during the day, so that helps. Because if nipping hard gets her back to her cage and that's NOT what she wants - then she stops that behavior.

Peepo was handfed from day one (as her mother didn't feed her so the breeder had to). She was very socialized.

Good luck!

[LauraO]

Thanks :). I was thinking it was a stage as well, but none of my baby birds have done it quite this much.

Traci: I've been thinking about handfed/well socialized birds lately as I have three on hand now. One is about six months old and the other two are three months. They seem a lot more crazy and out of control than the babies I've either brought home or who are parent raised. I'm wondering if you notice any of this with the babies you were talking about. OH! And it's too funny that you mention the puppy thing because that totally reminds me of my three. They are always trying to get attention and climbing all over me, and I've often compared them to puppies :D.