# Ouch!



## Sus (Jan 25, 2017)

My cockatiel likes to preen me. Is it normal for her to pinch too hard? I don't think she's trying to hurt me but would be good to know if it's a behaviour or just something she will learn with training. She is 8 mos old.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

She's not going to understand that she's pinching too hard. They can get a little overenthusiastic and not realize how hard they are preening. It's not really something you can train out of her, but you can redirect her with millet to get her attention away from whatever part of you she's chewing on.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

There is a technique that is often useful with birds that are pinching too hard but not actually trying to cause pain. From my article at http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/taming-biting.html :

"If non-violent use of the beak causes discomfort, you can teach your bird limits by calmly withdrawing your hand [immediately after the pinch] while saying something like "gentle" and then ignoring the bird for a few seconds (thereby showing the bird that the fun stops when it pinches too hard with the beak)."


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

My boy is incredibly gentle when he preens me or when he plays with my ear or also when he grabs my finger with his beak because he wants me to do something, but occasionally he makes a mistake or miscalculates his strength...


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## EllenD (Oct 9, 2016)

Yes, perfectly normal with specifically cockatiels in my personal experience. She most likely is not at all trying to "bite" or even nip you, she's just using her beak to preen, play with you, etc., and for whatever reason cockatiels just are not aware of how hard they are using their beaks. 

It's very odd to me that this is common with cockatiels. It is also a very, very common and well-known problem with very large birds that have very large beaks, like Macaws, African Grays, Cockatoos, Amazons, etc. With these larger birds it makes complete sense that they use their humongous beaks too hard when applying it to people, their beaks are huge! Their beaks and their "jaws" are also strong enough to snap a thick broomstick in half, so it's not surprising that when they use their beaks to help them step-up onto a person's finger or arm, or use their beaks to climb up a person's leg or onto their shoulders, or when they are trying to nicely preen a person's hair or take a treat from a person's hand, that they can easily use too much pressure, which is often mistaken by new owners or people unfamiliar with parrots as the bird purposely biting them to cause pain. So most people that acquire a large parrot that has this problem with an overly strong beak will immediately start something officially called either "Bite Training" or "Pressure Training" their parrot (I've heard it called both). It's accomplished in the way the poster above described it, and if you search for "Bite Training" or "Pressure Training" here on the forums you'll find all kinds of information and different methods of quickly stopping this behavior. 

I'm not sure if you'll find much about anyone Bite Training/Pressure Training a cockatiel (or any small bird for that matter), but it's possible. Either way Bite Training/Pressure Training would be done the same way for a large bird as a small one, so any of the many articles on it will work for you. It's just funny to me how it's typically cockatiels that are the small birds that have this problem, my female cockatiel has the same problem! She is the sweetest little bird I've ever owned and wants nothing in life but to cuddle and snuggle with me, get scritches from me, play ball (she loves rolling a little plastic cat ball with the holes in it back and forth), and just hang out on my shoulder or with my green cheek conure. But man, when she is climbing onto my hand or especially when we're playing and she gets excited, I have to watch out! She gets excited, and I know she's just playing, but the longer we play the harder she uses her beak, to the point that if she's on my shoulder and she gets worked up I have to watch my ears/face! She'll be sitting on my shoulder preening my hair while I'm watching TV, and I can tell that she's gradually getting excited about it because she starts chirping and kind of mumbling quietly to herself, and I can start to feel her beak hitting my neck or my head or my ear, and eventually I yell "Ouch! Duff!", and she looks at me with the saddest, most shocked face you've ever scene. She doesn't know what she did that was wrong, and I have to remind myself of that. I suppose I should start Bite Training/Pressure Training her too. It's just amazing to me it's usually cockatiels that do this, I've never owned or known of any other small bird that has done this, not a conure, a Quaker (my Quaker, who I would think would be the roughest, is actually the gentlest bird I have ever had), a budgie, none but every cockatiel I've ever owned. Must just be a genetic trait that cockatiels carry...

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk


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## Sus (Jan 25, 2017)

Thanks all for the advice and experiences you've shared. 
I have been telling her gentle and she stops, then when and if she tries again and is softer I praise her. She seems to be starting to understand! 
So cute!


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## Lore (Dec 5, 2016)

Sus, good luck with the training!  Let's hope it works 

EllenD, thanks for sharing this! Interesting to read an experience about this, from someone who's owned or at least worked with both larger and smaller birds. Puck luckily was either trained by his breeder to use his closed beak for stepping up, or somehow self-taught this. Most parrots and toos we have at school that are trained to step up, do this too.

Puck has hurt me once preening my lip. My lip was chapped and he got very focussed on ripping off a piece of dry skin  Ouch! And he can go a bit crazy on my industrial piercing, but I think that's because it's shiney? I swear this bird was a magpie in his previous life.... :lol:


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

Lore said:


> Puck has hurt me once preening my lip. My lip was chapped and he got very focussed on ripping off a piece of dry skin  Ouch!


It happened to me too... They've got such good eyes they can spot even the tiniest bit of dry skin immediately. And a couple of times my boy tried to play with some tiny moles on my skin... Not funny! Ouch!


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## Sus (Jan 25, 2017)

Ha ha 
Yes! Sookie has been doing the same with my lips the last few days! 
And if I lay down with my eyes closed she goes for my eyelashes and eyelids. Ouch 
She does seem to be responding to my words of being gentle more now which helps


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## chrissy055 (Jan 16, 2017)

EllenD, how did you get her to play with the ball? I got some good advise on here about a good book to get and a clicker but how did you start it with her? Thanks!


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