Mina is biting! I'm soon going to need a transfusion.

[Minamommy]

For the past week Mina has been biting me like crazy! Once in the nose and once on the finger BAD. I talked to a behaviorist about some things with her. Well one of my questions was how do you tell a bird no. She said put your hand up like stop and say "stop" firmly. Hence my very deep and painful finger bite. I mean she paused and looked at me like really you think you can pull that with me and launched herself at me. So I ask you wonderful people HELP how do you tell a bird no without needing a transfusion. Some of you know Mina she is a 19 month U2.

[Pinkbirdy]

Knowing your bird ,I would rate her mood. If she wants to come out great [if she doesn't try later] same )if she wants to see you . Take her out .If her mood turns put her back in cage .Have a perch handy to maneuver her around so you don't get bit.My younger 2s will nip hard if their super excited [how old is your 2 ] I would just relax and be like everyday could be different.[Also praise and make a big deal when being good ). I think they respond better to this.

[Honesty]

I also think it is a case of trying to learn their body language. If you think Mina is in a bad mood, then just walk away from him for a while until his mood subsides.

I have the same situation with Codie, but it is very easy to see when he is going to attack as he fans his tail out and pins his eyes. When he is like this, I walk away and just let him do his own thing. I go back to him an hour later and he is absolutely fine again.

[Mare]

I agree with the girls, above. Reading body language and sensing a birds mood is utmost important when trying to handle them. Sometimes, when I'm prying Amigo off of something he shouldn't be on, he will act like he's going to bite me and I will tell him 'no' firmly but calmly. This works for me but no one else :(

[Blancaej]

One of the best things you can do for yourself when owning a bird is learning their body language. It's like their sign language for us. They can talk, yes, but not when we really need them to! LOL!

[Turquoise]

Each bird is different as well as species difference. I have no experience with Toos, but in some ways they are not much different than macaws when they are mad or want something they can't have. My Catalina Roscoe is an imp most of the time, but I know this bird inside and out. What I mean by that is I have owned him since he was 4 1/2 months old and he is now 26 months old. He loves to take nip bites at my bicep when I take him out and he will often times tell me "Roscoe no, quit, annnt, annnt, annnt" while nipping me. If he is really getting nippy and already on my arm I take hold of his upper mandible with my middle finger and slide it over his tongue while holding the outer part upper mandible with my thumb and 1st finger. He knows he can't bite down hard on my finger while I have it that way. I will carry him to his play perch on my arm while holding his beak & I tell him, "Control the beak~~Control the bird" just because it seems to deflate his impishness a bit & I want him to say it one day. When Roscoe really does not want to be picked up usually he won't even get on my arm, rather he will strut along his perches in his enclosure and jabber at me in nonsense verse. Those days I leave him be and check back later.

Tony (plax) has a couple of videos demonstrating the technique I mention I use on Roscoe for controlling macaws that try to nip or bite. he does say it may not work on all birds, but could be worth a try. Maybe you can get some ideas about how to control a U2 as well. You can find the videos in this thread: [Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks] in the Parrot Behavior forum on here.:th_biggrin:

Roscoe did put a small gash in my cheek last week with his upper beak point. He was on his door when I walked into his enclosure to get his fresh food bowl. This was one of his "I don't want to come out" days. Lately he has developed a giraffe neck and can reach much farther than he used to. I thought I had the door swung open far enough he couldn't reach me. He did the typical macaw lunge and scraped my cheek as I past by him. It was nothing to me, I put a little ointment & band aid on it. I took the band aid off for work and my coworker friend saw it and asked what happened. The look on her face was priceless when I told her my macaw did it. She is not an animal person to begin with and she looked horrified that I would keep such 'dangerous' creatures in my home. :th_hehe:

[Feathers First Aviary]

Ya know, a year ago I would have been saying exactly what everyone else has said, watch body language, avoid the bite, etc. With that being said, I will say, our U2, Orion, has nailed me very hard, once to the point that I'm pretty sure I should have gone to the hospital. And every single time it was completely without warning. The first time I blew it off and figured I just missed his signals but the worse time he got me there really were no signs. He literally sat on the couch cuddling with me for a half an hour and then out of nowhere bit me about five times from my inner elbow down to my wrist before finally sinking his beak into the muscle on my palm, the big one that allows you to move your thumb. I have pictures but I really doubt anyone wants to see that, it's not terrible but it really isn't pretty. He sunk his beak so deep into the muscle in my hand that I literally couldn't move my thumb at all for three days, which was fantastic because it was my right hand/arm and I was hand feeding almost 20 babies at the time! That was a pretty brutal week, let me tell you. Even now, several months later, there is a very obvious dent in that muscle where his beak tore into it. What's weirder yet is that every time he has bit me like this, it's always completely by surprise, he will be enjoying cuddle time or just hanging out on me and then it's like a switch flips and he just starts biting me literally as hard as he can. There is no gentle nibble with this bird, he goes all or nothing. The other thing is, he has only ever done this to me, no one else. I hate to say it but I've sort of just dumbed it down to the fact that he just doesn't care for me, which I have to be honest, kind of bugs me because I have always seemed to have a thing with cockatoos, he is the first one I've ever met that didn't like me, and of course it's the one that we ended up with lol. I really wish I could try to work with him more but since I'm the only one in the house that can syringe feed the babies, I really can't afford to risk getting seriously injured to the point that I can't hand feed. So until I have a baby break, my husband does all the playtime with him so he still gets plenty of interaction :) I'm not sure if any of this is similar to what you're going through, I just wanted to say, sometimes they don't give any warnings, but most of the time they do give signs, Ry is the first bird I've ever worked with that really didn't, but now that I know this, I have been wondering if there aren't other cockatoos that are the same way, even if it's just with certain family members.

[Pinkbirdy]

Sara , Ive read what your talking about [the stories always involve a Umbrella} must just be how they are . My other "White Toos" are fine [you can read them]. But my Grey is the unpredictable one in my house[he can give you the random chomp if your not quick enough. I think MinaMommy ,I would accept this can happen [and change your close,close interaction with her.

[Minamommy]

Sara , Ive read what your talking about [the stories always involve a Umbrella} must just be how they are . My other "White Toos" are fine [you can read them]. But my Grey is the unpredictable one in my house[he can give you the random chomp if your not quick enough. I think MinaMommy ,I would accept this can happen [and change your close,close interaction with her.

That's what I do now. And sad to say when she gets close to my face I now put my hand up to guard it. Especially my nose and eyes. She gives no warning. She runs towards me all happy runs up on my lap kind of like she has a smile on her face nope. Blamo full speed ahead for the bite to your face. I haven't had any since. I got chamomile drops and I give her 2 drops around 5 pm. That way I can enjoy her a little later. Otherwise as soon as the sun goes down she would have to be caged😞. I love her so much we have a life time to work it out.

[Mare]

I'm happy to know your name, Minamommy! Kim, when the sun goes down at our place, my cockatoos are ready for bed. They start their screaming, turn out the lights, please cover Sassy, call, and that is end of story for the day. If I tried to keep my birds up after sundown, which I've done, it's not a good scenario. These cockatoos like to go to bed with the sun.

Gosh, if you work all day I understand your dilemma, it gets dark early. Can't help you there, alls I know is they go down with the sun.

[Minamommy]

Mare you are exactly right. As soon as the sun goes down she is a different bird. My husband and I tease her that she has sun downers. Lol. Tonight I really messed up by putting some sugar in our cream of wheat. Oops. Sugar high = hyper bird. So she went to bed early so I could stay intact and both of us happy ��