New behavioral wrinkle

[Greytness]

My oldest son has never really cared for Maalik. He's always saying things like, he's a demon bird, even though Maalik's never done anything to him or to anyone else for that matter...

 

Until tonight. When my son entered our dining room, Maalik flew up behind him and bit the h#*! out of his ear and out of the back of his neck making them bleed. He's never attacked anyone before, so this behavior really surprised the heck out of us.

 

I truly believe that Maalik has picked up on my son's negative energies towards him. He's an absolute sweetheart to the rest of us, especially to my youngest son and me.

[Talon]

Yup, I have the same issues with certain interactions between my birds and certain people. They can sense the negative energy, and thus react accordingly. Many times they bite the (negative for lack of a better) word person to make them go away as their way of protecting their chosen flock member (you)

[Brat Birds]

Have the same problem here. My birds have to be caged when my daughter comes over. Actually, it is the Sun that needs to be caged because of aggression. My TAG has to be caged because he will let the Sun out! LOL

[Luvparrots]

None of my children like my parrots. They however do not harass my fids. If the parrots are out when the family is over, the parrots sit on their window perches or me and just keep an eye on the hostile humans. My CAG, will squeal like a high pitched banshee if anyone other than me comes into their birdroom. My kids ignore my feathered family. I call it respect between the species and everyone knows their boundaries. Because I am an older person, I have found others to adopt my birds if need be.

 

My solution for you is to just keep your "unliked person" away from your parrot and ask that person to think positive if he/she wishes to remain unscarred. Our parrots do sense hostility.

Edited December 21, 2014 by luvparrots

[SRSeedBurners]

Same issue here except a little different. GreycieMae does not like my daughter but my daughter is very much a bird person. She shows a lot of fear towards Greycie and I think Greycie picks up on that. She's the only person I've ever seen Greycie show any aggression towards.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

My heart goes out to everyone that has struggled to acclimate birds, kids and spouses. It is very difficult. My kids now 20 and 23, still refer to Sophie as the " devil child!" While they all get along quite well, they know what she is capable of.

It is always difficult when having a younger family member, to help them get over their fear, as the chances are, the grey will bite them. I know what worked for us for Sophie to love and tolerate my kids. Always think " out of the box", and I am sure you can make it work Nancy

[Greytness]

It's my oldest son, the 23 year old, who Maalik attacked. My son has always made negative comments about him which I have repeatedly asked him not to do. And when he says those derogatory remarks about him, he usually says it with disdain.

 

My son won't go into the room whenever Maalik's out now, which is the best thing he could do. Even tonight, when my son peered through the curtain to see if he was out, he said, "Oh, there's the demon bird", after which time Maalik made a swooping pass along the curtain.

 

It's incredible how these birds can pick up on the negativity.

[katana600]

My red bellied parrot was young when we "replaced" our youngest daughter with her right as we transitioned to an empty nest. When our daughter came home on college breaks Java would seek her out to dive bomb and generally harass with malice. Our daughter posted videos on her social media of the devil bird with red eyes. We brokered a peace accord and enlisted the daughter to give it a chance. First she would be the only one to offer treats or to open the cage once she came home on break. Then we would go to the tv room in the basement leaving Java behind upstairs in the dark. Kelsey would come up with a perch stock, turn on the lights and offer a "rescue" to join us. It was a lot of work and took a willing spirit on all parts but we did overcome the hostility. They see each other a few times a year now and are cordial. The first thing that has to stop is for your son to have the self control not to speak harshly in Maalik out of love and respect to you and for him to understand its not personal. If Java sees anyone hug me she will take note and often will seek them out to harass them in some way. We agreed to keep shows of affection out of her sight and she has mellowed over the years to accept everyone in my life. It takes time and understanding of all involved. If you son is a little put out about you showing affection to Maalik you might find a trade off to have special time with your son away from Maalik to see if that eases his animosity to turn this around before it gets any worse.

[Greywings]

From reading what you have written not only is your son expressing hostility but the "demon" has seen and heard you correct his attitude, perhaps she is backing up your correction with her own response. I love your approach Katana, good work getting everyone on the same page. Pretty fortunate here most of the family either interacts with them or ignores them so very little negativity, just hubby shows his trepidation once in a while,( learned response ).

[Greytness]

My son is very rigid in his thinking. Once he believes strongly about something, he won't let it go. So for now I'm going to keep them segregated and will hold out hope that at some point in time my son will come around. However, I'm not holding out much hope.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Nonsense! Your son is human. Your bird is important to you! Ryan and Sean my kids, have jumped thru hoops to make sure Sophie has a safe home, and she has accepted them. They have always revered her to being " the devil child!" Why YES she is! Nancy