By Jenny Drummey

Bites are complicated. Sometimes it’s hard to say what’s more painful about a bite from your parrot: the physical pain, or the emotional upheaval and the trust it destroys. The scars that bites leave behind are certainly physical, but they’re psychological and emotional too.

The bite has power, its force often shocking. If they’re so unpleasant, and they may eventually cause us to stop interacting with a parrot at all, why do they persist? How can we remove this behavior from our bird’s repertoire? It’s vital that you solve this problem, as it is impossible to build a trusting relationship with your bird if you fear he will bite you.

Start by realizing that bites matter, they have meaning, and they are communication. The question is: Are we listening?

If biting is common in your home, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Biting is a behavior, and like all behavior, it has a function, a reason for happening. The biting behavior persists because it allows the bird access to something he wants or allows him to avoid something he doesn’t want. Bites serve a purpose to the parrot. Examine what that purpose is, and make changes based on that.

Don’t take bites personally. It’s easier to say than do. But when a bird bites you, think of it as communication only. A bite is like the exclamation mark at the end of the parrot’s sentence “I am uncomfortable with this situation!” Employ methods that remove the possibility of the bite happening in the first place.

Change the way you think about why the bite happens. Have you ever heard that a bird bites because he is “jealous” or “grumpy” or “hormonal”? Have you ever attributed a bite to something that happened last week, or longer (“He bit me because we went on vacation last month”)?

This kind of thinking doesn’t solve the problem, but instead attributes the bite to an unverifiable source, because we can never know what an animal is thinking. To change behavior, don’t focus on what the parrot is feeling, but on what the parrot is doing.

Respect your parrot’s personal space. Let your bird choose to come to you. Present food or a toy at least 6 inches away and let your parrot come to it. If stepping up, allow the bird space to come to you, instead of forcing the behavior by, for example, pressing your hand into the bird’s stomach.

Be flexible. The simplest all-purpose solution when a bird’s body language indicates a chomp is imminent: Walk away and come back again in five minutes.

Learn to recognize common bite triggers:
• An object, person, or situation that causes the bird to exhibit body language that we associate with fear or aggression
• Territoriality around the cage or another location such as a play gym
• Caregiver distraction, which can result in inattention to a bird’s body language
• Unwanted attention (or too much attention)
• Caregiver’s body language

Use the Trust Test. A simple and effective tool to evaluate any answer to the problem is to see if it passes the Trust Test. Will the proposed biting solution build or destroy trust?

If it will build trust, the solution is worth a try. If it will destroy trust, forget about it. You know if a solution builds trust if the bird can choose to participate (and is allowed to make that choice!). If the bird is forced to comply with the solution or if you ignore the bird’s reaction, it will likely destroy trust between you.

Offer objects, food or situations that motivate your bird. A bird’s ability to choose the behavior you want her to perform is directly related to your ability to motivate her. The key is knowing what your bird really wants to work for. Offer the bird something of value to her at that moment, and she will choose to perform what you want to get that reward.

In most cases, when you want to change a behavior, you ignore the problem behavior, and reinforce an alternative behavior (using the motivator) instead. You teach the parrot what to do in place of the problem behavior.

Keep a biting notebook. Collect the data and evidence you’ll need to understand the problem and to change it. Each time you are bitten, record the details. What can you do differently? The most important thing to do when you get bitten is something other than what you were doing when you got the bite.

Parrots do not crave the same kinds of interactions that dogs and cats do. Petting generally isn’t something parrots desire – or if they do, it’s usually because it is sexually stimulating. We are so hard wired to the pleasures of touch that we have a hard time seeing past this basic fact. Sometimes as we continually offer affection the bird can show frustration and eventually bite.

Be aware that your bird may see you as a predator. Sometimes it’s hard to see how intimidating we are to our birds, but recognize that it is a distinct possibility that you are approaching your bird in a manner that could set up the bite. Don’t interact when you are stressed or hurried. Approach a parrot with slow, confident movements. Talk quietly to the bird.

CHANGE YOUR EXPECTATIONS. Parrots aren’t children, dogs, cats, or soul mates. Parrots are fascinating, intelligent, wild individuals who we try our best to live with every day. Parrots have evolved to be social creatures, and we are part of their flock. But sometimes we expect our birds to fulfill roles that they cannot, or to behave in ways that are not possible. Having realistic expectations can help you to reduce or eliminate biting, because you won’t be asking your bird to do things that don’t make sense. Consider a bird’s true nature, what he enjoys from interacting with you, and what’s healthy between you.

For more information on biting, see Biting Matters, published by the Phoenix Landing Press.

The start of a new year: time to make promises to yourself for positive changes in your life. As you sign up for a gym membership or purge Facebook friends, don’t forget your bird. What resolutions can you make to improve your bird’s life in the coming months?

Don’t get overwhelmed. Start small with an achievable goal for the first few months of the new year. Expand your parrot’s  world with new activities and enrichment items in January. Improve your parrot’s diet in February. March is the month to tackle a behavior problem.

January, when your family is stuck inside, is a great time to make a bunch of simple toys. Begin by re-purposing all of those (safe!) boxes that your holiday gifts came in as foraging toys for your bird, then continue toy making throughout the month. Toys are simple and cheap to make, and Kris Porter’s Parrot Enrichment Activity Book available from parrotenrichment.com  is an excellent free resource. The Facebook group The Parrot’s Workshop provides an almost endless supply of simple toys that are easy to make, often with instructions.

Though toys can be based on items you have in the house, you can also purchase bird toy parts online (a recommended site is makeyourownbirdtoys.com). Recruit your kids and their friends or other bird lovers in your area to have a toy making party. Focus on variety for maximum interest. Experiment with different textures, materials, and colors in the same toy. Toys don’t have to look pretty, they just have to be fun!

By increasing the number and variety of enrichment items, whether these be toys, a new play stand, a wicker basket to perch on, or branches made of safe wood, you offer your bird more choices and more opportunities for learning. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination (and what’s safe for your parrot!).

In February, focus on nutrition. Resolve to introduce a new healthy food item to your parrot each week. This could be food packaged  in a new way. Stuff kale leaves into a cored apple and hang it on a skewer, for example. Try serving fruit or vegetables before they are fully ripe. Split a papaya or cantaloupe in half and let your bird pick out the seeds. Use a food processor to finely chop new foods, then mix them in with a little healthy seed. Another option: slice fruit or vegetables thinly, cut a hole in the middle, and string on a toy.

Offer healthy food prepared in different ways. Your bird may prefer cooked, steamed or raw. See the Phoenix Landing cookbook Nourish to Flourish for a wealth of ideas, methods and information.

During this month, note the foods that your bird will fly through hoops for.

Use your parrot’s coveted treats during the month of March when you focus on behavior. Identify one behavior to train. It could be something as simple as training your parrot to target to a stick or teaching your bird to forage. Training is not difficult, so give it a try.  See the Phoenix Landing Press book Project Parrot for detailed information about training and behavior.

Instead of training a behavior, you could focus on resolving a behavior problem. Biting is a common one.

See the book Biting Matters for tools and techniques to reduce or eliminate bites.

Resolving behavior issues is so often about changing our expectations of our wild companions. An excellent resource for understanding how birds perceive the world is Leigh Ann Hartsfield’s book Birds Beyond Words. Once you understand a bird’s nature, it can be easier to resolve an issue by developing realistic solutions. Rosemary Low’s book, Understanding Parrots: Cues from Nature provides wonderful insight from her travels around the globe over decades to observe species in the wild.

These attainable monthly goals can greatly affect your bird’s quality of life, and the relationship between your bird and his flock, which is your family, in the first few months of the new year. Then, why not repeat this three-month cycle throughout the year?

Use the comments field to share your birdie resolutions!

Although we consider the parrots who live in our homes our companions, they are still biologically wild animals, designed to live in and among trees and plants. Researchers are finding that parrots in the wild eat an abundance of leaves, flowers, twigs and bark.

There are micro-nutrients and trace elements found in whole living plants, whose nutritional benefits are as yet not fully understood, and cannot be replicated in a pellet. Providing your parrot with as many natural materials as possible will enhance both their physical and mental health.

LIVE PLANTS PROVIDE:
Nutrition: vitamins, minerals, micro nutrients, trace elements and live enzymes.
Enrichment: climbing, chewing and shredding plants provide both physical and mental stimulation, which can help alleviate undesirable behaviors such as screaming or feather picking.
Air Quality: plants are natural air filters, removing pollutants from the environment and converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, and help to maintain humidity levels.
Sound Control: both in the home and in the landscape, plants absorb and buffer sound.

HOUSE PLANTS
Safety First! Please make sure that all plants in your house are safe. If you find that you have plants that are on the toxic list, or that you are unsure of, give these to a friend or neighbor without inquisitive parrots in their home.

Always use organic potting soil. Use parrot safe containers. Never use pesticides, or chemical fertilizers. Keep soil covered with plastic mesh or river rock if your bird has a tendency to dig in the soil. Mix some GSE (Grapefruit Seed Extract) into watering solution to inhibit the growth of fungus in the soil.

Some common SAFE houseplants include: Aloe, African Violet, Asparagus Fern, Boston Fern, Bromeliads, Coleus, Norfolk Island Pine, Prayer Plant, Schefflera, Spider Plant, Staghorn Fern, Swedish Ivy and Wandering Jew.

Some common TOXIC houseplants; Amaryllis, Dieffenbachia, Philodendron and Poinsettia.

ALOE is a houseplant that every parrot owner should have. Aloe contains powerful pain relievers, anti-inflammatory compounds; relieves itchiness; soothes the digestive tract; heals abscesses and cysts; kills E.Coli, fungus, mycobacterium, strep and staph infections, and salmonella; and treats respiratory infections, yeast infections and parasites.

NATURAL BRANCH PERCHES provide an endless variety of shapes, diameters and textures that enhance the health of your parrot’s feet. Placing branches at unusual angles can provide climbing and balancing exercise. You can make you own perches by selecting a parrot safe variety of wood, scrub well with an organic, nontoxic soap, rinse well, and dry in the sun. Ends can be wedged between cage bars, notched to fit around bars, or fitted with hanger bolts and wing nuts.

Chewing and stripping bark off of natural branch perches provide additional enrichment and nutritional benefits. Branches and twigs can also be bundled and placed in the cage for foraging enrichment. Try some with fresh leaves still intact too.

Some SAFE woods for parrots include: Ash, Apple, Aspen, Bamboo, Beech, Birch, Butterfly Bush, Cottonwood, Crabapple, Dogwood, Grapevine, Lilac, Magnolia, Mulberry, Pear, Poplar, Sassafras, Sweet Gum, Sycamore, Viburnum, and Willow. Remember to use only branches from trees that have not been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides.

GARDEN IN A POT
If you don’t have the time or space for a big garden, consider creating a container garden. By choosing and a variety of textures and shades of healthy greens, and mixing in a few vegetables, berries, herbs and some edible flowers, you can have a container garden that is delicious, nutritious and beautiful. Choose a parrot safe container, such as plastics or unglazed terracotta. Avoid glazed terracotta, as many glazes contain heavy metals and other toxic substances. Use organic potting soil made specifically for containers (NOT garden soil) and organic fertilizers such as those made from seaweed. Whenever possible, choose organically grown seeds or plants. Gently remove the soil from the roots of non-organic plants, and replant in organic soil. Wait at least 30 days before offering it to your parrot. Avoid plants that have been treated with pesticides or chemical fertilizers.

WHY GROW YOUR OWN?
Freshness: Vitamins and nutrient values found in fresh vegetables and other produce steadily decline as soon as they are harvested. In some vegetables their vitamin content may be depleted by as much as half, only minutes after being cut (harvested) and up to 70% or more by the time you see them at your grocery store.

Organic: You have control over the type of soil, fertilizers, weed and pest control.

Variety: There are far more varieties of a given plant available in a nursery or garden center than are available in a grocery store or even most farmers markets. There are even more varieties of a given plant available to grow from seed than can be found as plants in a nursery or garden center.

Dark Leafy Greens & Veggies are rich in vitamin A (critical to parrot’s heath and lacking in most diets), omega 3s (which support the brain, heart and immune system); calcium (for bone strength, and a variety of other vitamins, minerals & nutrients). Try Kale, Cabbages, Collard Greens, Mustard Greens, Turnip Greens, Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Broccoli Rabb, Arugula, Celery, Beets and Carrots.

Herbs add wonderful fragrance to your home, when chewed on by your parrot, making for a safe and healthy alternative to dangerous chemical air fresheners. Many herbs are known to have medical benefits as well. Try Parsley, Cilantro, Dill, Fennel, Basil, Rosemary, Lemon Balm, Peppermint and it’s different flavored mint cousins.

Edible Flowers not only add visual appeal to any garden, but are greatly relished by most parrots. Many edible flowers contain nutritional and medicinal properties. Try Calendula, Chamomile, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Pansies, Violets, Carnations, Daylilies, Petunias, Lilacs, and Butterfly Bush. Remember that the flowers of your dark leafy greens and herbs are edible too. NEVER give your parrots from a florist!!!!!

Bring the container garden into the house for brief foraging sessions for your parrot. You can harvest some plants and add to your parrot’s food bowl, stainless steel foraging basket, or weave between the bars of her cage.

If you’re lucky enough to have the money and the space to buy or build an outdoor aviary, the plants can be kept inside the aviary and available when the birds come outside.

Bring you parrot outside in a travel cage, or better yet, make your own Cageoller, carrier or travel cage mounted on a baby stroller base, which can be easily moved around the yard for a variety of plant chewing experiences.

For more excellent information from Laura Ford about gardening for parrots, go to: https://abirdsbestlife.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/benefits-of-plants-for-parrots/