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Grey's are such contrary little buggers at times! 🤣 I too have been on the receiving end of a bite from Alfie after he has stepped up nicely. And it confused me too as I always give him the option of refusing the step up and don't pursue him if he refuses, I always back off. But every so often Alfie will willingly step up and just grab my hand/wrist seemingly out of nowhere. It doesn't happen often at all. But I usually just try not to react, set him down somewhere and ignore him for a few mins. When Alfie spooks, he typically takes off in flight instead of biting. It does mean there's been a couple of times when I've been smacked by a wing unexpectedly! How old is Vim? It could be boundary testing depending on her age or because she's more settled. They do have a toddler attitude about most things! Or it could be hormonal. Alfie is very distant from me at the moment. He'll fly over to see what I'm up to but he is absolutely not interested in head scratches right now. A couple of months back and he was like a velcro bird- always flying to sit with me for some head scritches. Now if I try to offer head scritches he ignores me or shakes his head if I go to touch him. I know full well if I tried to persist, I'd get bitten. They can change, even month to month in what they'll tolerate/like. And they do figure out how to push your buttons as well, just like a child would. And other times it can be as simple as something spooked them or something they don't like happened nearby so they take it out on you! I sometimes find the trickiest part is not letting it hurt my feelings! Especially when you can't figure out the trigger.

Hi Timbersmom and neoow. Thank you for the responses, it makes me feel better about the way I've been handling this. I'll keep on with telling her, "I bite," putting her down, and walking away. She hasn't bitten me in a week now, and I spend a lot of time with her each day. Vim was born in June of 2021, so she's 2. Right now she's a bit of a velcro bird. Boundary pushing is certainly on the table; she is changing a bit, although she still has a very gentle and shy personality. I've also increased her sleep from 12 hours to 13.5. With how attached she is recently, I am worried that she's becoming hormonal, even though I've tried to follow the rules surrounding hormonal behavior (no body scratches, plenty of sleep, no nesting material, etc.).

Great suggestions here, Hormones definitely cause biting! My birds are hormonal from early spring until August!

YES! I totally agree! I too, have found that "NO BITES" said by me and me walking away & ignoring them works very well. They do understand what no bites mean. My amazon has a cage with the top that flips down, I have to put my hand in her cage (which for my amazon is a NO NO! she hates anyone's hand in her domain!!) & I put her breakfast food bowl on it in the am. She would try & bite me hard most times..Now I say over & over again nonstop .:.no bites no bites no bites" the entire time. Then when she doesn't, I clap loudly & say, " Yay! No bites, good girrrlll, over & over (which she loves) & continue clapping..she get very excited by the attention I give her..her eyes start pinning & she clucks when she is excited! It's now our morning ritual. I rarely get a bite anymore when I do that. You own a parrot, you ARE going to get bitten..many times never really knowing why..just respect their boundaries & move forward without making a fuss!

I agree with all Talon said. I've had Timber (rehome) for ten years and think I know him well. On a rare occasion, he will still bite, seemingly out of the blue. I just have to accept that he has his reasons, though I don't know what they are. I just say "no bite" firmly and back to the cage he goes. I suspect that is what he wants, since that is his safe place. There are times I can read his body language and know to leave him be, but the times he has bitten in recent history there were no indications it was coming. Good luck and God bless