New baby grey biting

[Hannibal123]

Hi there, I just brought home my new baby grey. She is about 16 weeks old. She is the sweetest thing and was hand fed with lots of interaction with people. She will step up onto my hand and will hang out..but the problem I have is-sometimes she will just look down at my hand and bite me. Its not just tasting-she is biting really hard. What should I do?? Thanks!

[JillyBeanz]

Hi Hannibal, welcome to our family. Congratulations on your new baby - it's such a great time when they are so young and so adaptable.

She has been removed from what she knows - she will be scared and unsure of the situations you are placing her in. When she bites you, don't react - just firmly tell her "no bite" or ask "what do you want to bite me for". You'll learn not to shout "ouch", because when you do she will do it even more - they love noise and think if you're shouting out you are enjoying it!

You will overcome this, and she will stop for a while - but we all receive a sharp, firm dig from time to time. You'll find out what a REAL bite is when you bleed!!!

There are tons of threads to help you with your grey - or if there is anything specific - just ask away!

Why not go and introduce yourself in our Welcome Room and tell us a bit more about yourself - and any pictures are certainly appreciated

[luvparrots]

Hi Hannibal, congratulations on your new grey. Sometimes baby greys "test" to see a "perch" is stable. That might be what your grey is doing. Present her with a tight fist to step up on so that she has no skin to get a hold of and calmly tell her "no bite." If your hand is very stable that might stop the biting. Remember to praise her when she doesn't bite. I would love to hear more about your grey. What is her name? If you have any pictures of your new baby to share, we would love to see them. Welcome to the Grey Family!

[Hannibal123]

Hi guys, thanks for your replies on my little girl. A little about myself-I have had cockatoos and recently lost my umbrella cockatoo and now have a 16 week old grey baby. I have been giving her time to adjust and get used to stuff...and she really doesnt seem stress AT ALL about the new environment or my other animals...but she HATES me! Today she wont even let me get her out of the cage without biting me and making unhappy noises-not just the grey chatter OR she goes and gets in her bed so I cant get her. But left alone or on the top of the cage she is happy. However I really wanted a bird that wanted to be with me...so far I dont seem to be making her very happy. Dont really know what to do. I even tried hand feeding her the treats that she loved and was given before I got her and she spits them out at me.

[Dave007]

You sound like you just got your bird within the last 2 weeks. No judgments in such a short amount of time can be made concerning the bird's attitude towards you and it's feelings of security yet. It takes quite a while before a bird is used to different people, environments, daily habits and general atmosphere of everything going on. You've gotten a very complex bird who is very different than other species of parrots. This especially applies to a congo grey.
The bird should be allowed to come out of the cage when it wants to. Dealing with a hand who's feeding it can be stressful and cause a bird to bite. The safety of his/her cage is the most important place for a bird to get used to things. I doubt very much that your bird hates you especially at that age. They haven't yet learned how to hate. Many things have to happen before a bird falls into that catagory. Nervous, yes. Leery, yes. Defensive, yes. Afraid of all new things, yes. What's the normal reaction of a bird that's going through all of that?---The only thing it can do, bite. Patience on your part is extremely important. Ignoring the bird is extremely important. Invading a bird's new future home( cage) isn't a good idea. You'll need to learn whether your bird is the type that will or won't accept your hand in a cage. Some do, some don't. It all takes much time to learn about your bird and it'll take time for your bird to learn about you.