A little advice needed

[Shades Of Grey]

I have only had my adopted male CAG for two days. He is three years old and fairly social. He has a bit of a stubborn attitude and has not been trained much. I am glad to see that he has taken a liking to me already and asks to step up by either lifting his foot to me or crawling across the cage and climbing up my chair. I am getting used to him perching on my arm now although I wear a cotton sweater because his nails need to be cut and its too early to take him in for that, he needs to settle in a bit. I am still a little cautious when I hold him because I am not familiar with him yet.

 

My issue is that he insists on climbing up to my shoulder after a bit of time on my arm. He has been partially trained to stay on the arm and the previous owner. She had a cotton perch she stepped him up onto to get him off her shoulder. When he is on my shoulder, I try to step him off with my opposite hand but he refuses to move. He bites the 'step up" perch and has tried to bite my husband when he offered his hand. I worry that he may get angry and bite my face. The only way I can step him down is to offer a peanut on his cage then he will climb down to the cage top. Peanuts seem to be the only way to entice him to listen but I can't offer too many of course.

I don't want to avoid handling him if he is asking to be held but I need a little direction of what to do when he is on my shoulder or if he is on my arm and refuses to move back to the cage. I had to hold him for quite some time yesterday because he refused to step down and play on his cage. I know he is still settling in but the previous owner said she had problems with him doing this as well so its learned behavior. Any suggestions on how to work with him before this becomes a bigger problem ?

[danmcq]

The quickest answer is to block your grey from climbing up your arm to the shoulder, if you do not want it there. The problem is then resolved. A Grey (Or other bird) that will not step up from the shoulder, has not been trained properly or is of such a strong will, that it will bite to stay there.

 

ONly you can decide if you wish to allow your grey on your shoulder or not and trust him/her.

[Dave007]

Like Dan said, concerning your bird on the shoulder area--- it's a no no. You simply can't let him up there. When he tries, stop him. Keep the arm that he's standing on in front of you not the side. The problem is that when your bird is on your shoulder he can see all of you but you can't see him. If a person in your situation tries to take the bird off of one shoulder, it's very easy for the bird to scoot over to the other side and if a person continues chasing the bird from shoulder to shoulder, he'll eventually bite. There's other problems that involve other situations with shoulders, namely the birdon the shoulder who likes to bite earlobes, jewelry, clothing and even the cheeks. The same rule applies to that bird too. No shoulders is the only way to stop what he's doing.

[Guest jamalbirdbiz]

after being bit about a thousand times my greys are not allowed to shoulder anymore.

[Shades Of Grey]

Thanks for the suggestions I am getting a little more comfortable handling Tui. I have some serious scratches and gouges on my skin though. He's one big bird! He goes to the vet for his first check up tomorrow and I am going to have her trim his nails. I found a nice article with pictures on how to properly hold a larger bird. I find that holding him on my hand with my thumb over his feet works pretty well. I hold him away from me with my elbow bent. He still manages to weasel out of the hold sometimes but its a work in progress