# Fist Bite Fight



## Birdie21 (May 24, 2008)

Snitch has been awfully mean to me as long as I've had her. I know it's wrong thing to do, but I just have been letting her do her own thing. Today, I slowly, lovingly, put my hand in the cage and she went into attack mode, as usual, so I went into Fist mode for my protection She still attacked. 
Then my brain went into Domination mode. I just lifted my fist above her head. She stopped.  She backed down, even went into a corner. Why didn't I think of that before?


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## xxxSpikexxx (Jul 30, 2007)

I would start at the beginning with the training. Iam not sure if the fist method is a good one. It sounds like it scares her and that means you are losing her trust. Spike still gets nippy with me but he never draws blood. Lots of tiels are all bark and no (real) bite. Mabey sit outside her cage and read a story to her to show her you are not going to hurt her


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## atvchick95 (Sep 17, 2007)

xxxSpikexxx said:


> I would start at the beginning with the training. Iam not sure if the fist method is a good one. It sounds like it scares her and that means you are losing her trust. Spike still gets nippy with me but he never draws blood. Lots of tiels are all bark and no (real) bite. Mabey sit outside her cage and read a story to her to show her you are not going to hurt her



I agree 

its like with a dog if you lift your hand up at them like your going to hit them they cower, run with their tail between their legs, and whine They think your going to hurt them EVEN if your not! 

its the same in this situation - Birds do NOT like anything above their heads, to them its a predator - Predators normally attack birds from Above. so anything above them is a predator in their mind.


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## Birdie21 (May 24, 2008)

*Lost trust in the beginning.*

I lost it when I first got her she flew a little, landed on floor and I picked her up wrong. Hand over body...I'll never do that again and should have thought before I acted. That sure hurt, and bled. ( She will step up when she crashes) So I got a little chicken. I've tried everything. It seems we keep going backwards. I was able to sweet talk her and she let me do scritches. Not any more. Acted like I could give scritches, then turned on me. Also after getting bit, when she tried again, I'd pull back. "chicken, that's me". I've had her since end of May and it gets worse. She even gets angry with her toys. I have taken away all mirrors. As well as sunflower seeds. I'm trying anything. I'm just about ready to give up. My Piper and I are getting along wonderfully. I don't want to breed anyway, as my age and health are to be considered also.

Thanks Spike. You are such a big help. 
Discouraged


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## Plukie (Aug 26, 2007)

No, no, no!! Don't be discouraged. If you could read the posts that I made about me and Dooby, you would be surprised to see that it is almost identical to your situation. I was afraid of him biting me and I used to pull away my hand, but.....after putting a video clip up on here and people seeing what was happening, the advice that I was given was brilliant. How I managed it was.....I got this thought in my head..."Well, he's bitten me loads of times and I know that hurts, but it can't hurt more!" So, I just went for it...I made him step up and he bit me, I just kept going at him until he had to step up. You have to show that you are confident and that they really don't bother you. I swear to you, within a couple of hours, Dooby had given up biting. I don't mean go at them again and again and again, just put your hand in her cage confidently and don't pull back if she starts to lunge or bite you. I know it's difficult, I had six months of **** with Dooby, but really, it is the only way. You can sit quietly and talk to her for a couple of days, then gradually, gradually build up her trust again, open the cage, move slowly, talking to her all the time and when she goes to bite you, just move your hand forward a little quicker so that she can't have a good chomp on you, if you slightly unbalance them when they are on the perch, they forget about biting and step up, grit your teeth and bear it. I promise you, give her a day or two to get used to the fact that you aren't going to give in and that you are not afraid of her and she will be better. The point is, if you are a little hesitant, they pick it up, the can sense that you are not really in charge and they take over. It's like a child with a tantrum, if you keep letting them get away with it, the will stamp their feet and scream every time they want something. In this instance, your little lady wants you to leave her alone, well, you are doing that by withdrawing your hand, she knows that if she bites or even goes to bite, you will withdraw your hand, thereby giving her what she wants. Believe me, I KNOW it's hard, I too am an older one with thin skin (literally) on my hands and yes, Dooby hurt a couple of times, but if you can just grit your teeth, move towards them slowly but confidently, I'm sure it will all work out good in the end.


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## Birdie21 (May 24, 2008)

*Thank you*

For your support Plukie. As I tell new people on here, this is a wonderful support group. It is true, she's got my number alright. lol One of the things I've read to try is removing all mirrors, and eliminate the sunflower seed. Did that now. I will keep trying but she's not going to draw blood again, that's for sure. Your advise is well taken. I shall continue. The thing that gets me is when her previous owner had her, we were ok there. I used to babysit there and would let her out. After she became mine, It was that first time she hit the floor and not sure about my cats yet that I picked her up wrong. It frightened her. I understand why I got bit so hard. It just ruined all her trust and we went back to square -1. I'll learn yet if it kills me. Thank you again. I'll set aside the tissues for now.


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## atvchick95 (Sep 17, 2007)

we've come to learn the hard way of course, one of the best ways to pick up our tiels is to cup them in our hands, with their face, facing the palms of our hands. 

I'm not sure why But this seems to calm them down 

another awesome trick we use every night to put the birds to bed, Is I operate the light switch While my boyfriend gets the birds, (budgies first then tiels), I shut out the light he picks up 1 or 2 depending on how many are there, I turn the light on he puts them in the cage - we do this until all birds are put back up 

it works best when there is just a very small amount of light (so you can actually see what your doing and where you are going) - we have outside pole lights that shine into our bird room window that helps us. 

When you shut the light out on them after its been on for a bit - it takes a minute for thier eyes to focus, Just like with our eyes. and that gives us enough time to scoop em' up and put em' up  we also use a child's butter fly net Works great  

but the cupping our hands around the tiels seem to work every time they don't freak out as badly - we also do it to them with the lights out when they haven't went into the cage on their own by the time we're done with all the budgies


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## Birdie21 (May 24, 2008)

*That's Clever*

Now what do you do during the day time? If she's out on her own, I put a piece of millet spray in the cage and she goes in without my help. I just shut the door behind her.  Your idea will come in handy in the winter time when it is dark early. Thank you.


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## Plukie (Aug 26, 2007)

Instead of putting the millet in her cage, try holding it in your hand until she comes to you, obviously calling her and talking to her all the time. Eventually, she will come to you if only to get the millet, then talk to her on your hand for a little while, then put her in the cage. Oh, it all sounds so easy doesn't it? LOL. I would set aside a good half an hour just for getting her to come to your hand with the millet!!! As for catching them in a butterfly net, wow, that must be so scary for them........I wouldn't ever do that.


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## elijahfan (Jul 28, 2008)

mine only get millet in there cages when i am trying to train them that way they acosiate me with millet


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## xxxSpikexxx (Jul 30, 2007)

When I got Spike he would get millet only outside of the cage with me holding it. Now he does not let me hold any food for him, I guess he thinks he is a big bird now


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