upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Hi
I have a 21 year old yellow nape amazon. Hes been in my family his whole life. He has been mine since I got married 4 years ago and took him with me. He is a bitter. I read on the net that parrots bite because they are afraid. Well a few weeks ago Pete the parrot flew off from the top of his cage onto me and bit me big time. Swelling and bruising followed. Over the last year he has been more violent. I love him and would never give him up. Any ideas as to how to get him to be nicer to me and my husband? I don't know anyone who has any older Amazon parrots. I don't know why my sweet Pete has been so hard to understand. He is in the main part of the house and I let him out of his cage almost everyday. I want to get him a big gym to play on but I'm afraid of his behavior too. Please help!!!

I sympathize with you. I don't have an Amazon, and stories like this are what has kept me from taking the plunge. However, I still really like the Amazons because they are very honest birds. Most times, you can tell when they are a little crazy and should be left alone. Some members with Amazons should be on shortly, but I'll start with some ideas...

Amazons, especially the hot three (Yellow Nape, Blue Front, and Double Yellow Head), can be difficult and aggressive when they are going through their hormonal periods. Males can be worse than females. If he is acting excited - eyes pinning and fanned tail, I would leave him in his cage. I would take him out when he seems calmer. If you don't have one already, I would also suggest you buy one of those hand perches so you can move him back and forth without having him on your hand or arm.

If Pete is flying off his cage to attack you, I would recommend you clip his wings. If you are not comfortable doing it yourself, you can take him to an avian vet or groomer. Sometimes clipping the flight feathers can help modify aggressive behavior. Plus you won't have to worry about the arial attacks.

Either my husband and I have been very lucky or our 3 Amazons have never read a book on how to act. We are 3 for 3 in the "hot" 3. One male Yellow Nape who will be 20 next month. One male Double Yellow Head who will be 50+/- in December and one female Double Yellow Head who will be 14 next month.

The nape was a rescue/rehome who hated all men and I mean coming off his cage attacking with bites to bone if he could. Then he met my husband and now 11 years later that bird worships the ground my husband walks on. They do everything together and my husband is his mate or so the Nape thinks. My husband can not go anyplace for more than 24 hours without coming home to a parrot that is really pissed off at him. It takes our nape up to 4 days to forgive my husband and be lovey again. Until then he will try and bite him and love on me big time to make husband jealous.

Our male DYH who is almost 50 is the biggest lover in the world. We rescued him 4 years ago Christmas Eve. He is slowly going blind in one eye and has arthritis in both feet so need a bit of special care. He has never even tried to bite in all this time. He just loves to cuddle on my chest for hours on end.

Our female DYH loves her mom and still hasn't decided whether to bite daddy are like him. She loves to play with him if he keeps his distance (on the other side of a closed cage door).

All 3 are our of their cages from about 8am until 9pm everyday. None of them have their wings clipped (we cant' clip the 50+ guy because he uses them for balance).

Not sure if any of this might help you or not. I agree with the others though something has changed to make him be upset. Trying to figure it out might take sometime but don't give up.

Slave to our Amazons and love it!

Sorry, forgot to say that fear is at the bottom of the list since you've had him all his life. Another thing I thought of is did you move his cage to a different part of the room/house sometime before this started? Even just a few feet?

Thanks for all the replies! I'm so glad I came here to get some help.
I should mention the day Pete the parrot bit me he was a little hyper. He was hyper all day ready to get you lunging kind of hyper. I went over to the window and stepped away from the cage when he lunged at me. I thought i was out of range til he jumped/flew off the cage. So clipping the wings has been a no no cause we like it when he flies. Sometimes he goes after my husband ( I think that is 1 of the reasons he is naughty sometimes), Now when I pick him up I have to put on gloves, bring over his pearch and then he will get on so I can put him back in his cage. Used to be he'd get on my arm and I could carry him around.
My husband used to be able to kiss Pete on the beak til 1 day Pete junped on him biting his lip. And about 2 weeks ago on of out friends gave him a almond and Pete bit him enough to bleed Now when hes out of his cage I will hold up a piece of junk mail and if he attack the mail I know he's not in a cuddly mood. I know he is happy where he is cause he was really awful when we moved him to a corner and a psychic told us he liked the place be the window better. When we moved him to the window he was happier.

Maybe I didn't explain myself too well. I have not seen much use in clipping his wings because me and my husband like having him fly sometimes. Most of the day he's in his cage, when I let him out he get to stretch his wings and stuff maybe he will fly and when he does that he usually flies around the room and explores. We get him back in his cage if we need to. Also when we have any children or someone who is not familiar we put him back in his cage.

But I will probably end up clipping his wings when we decide to have children for their safety or if he starts flying only to attack. There have been times where he has jumped to attack as I have mentioned but never a fly accross the room to attack us. When we moved him to the corner he was gloomy and acted diffeent more yelling and angry. By the window he seemed happier.

I should mention he can be a very sweet parrot and when he is you can pet him and make noises and whistle back and forth and he plays so cutely with his toys. I just want get him not to bite and trust more.
I am willing to work on him and am happy to get advice at all. I loved to hear there are people out there that have amazons older than mine that are cuddly even if my parrot is never cuddly he can be sweet and has a winning personality.

I should mention the day Pete the parrot bit me he was a little hyper. He was hyper all day ready to get you lunging kind of hyper. I went over to the window and stepped away from the cage when he lunged at me. I thought i was out of range til he jumped/flew off the cage.

If you are not going to clip his wings, then you should not even take him out of his cage when he is acting like this. If Pete can fly, you are NEVER out of range.

So clipping the wings has been a no no cause we like it when he flies. Sometimes he goes after my husband ( I think that is 1 of the reasons he is naughty sometimes)

You are not doing Pete any favors by not clipping his wings. He's learned that he can fly and bite and get away with it. It's only a matter of time before he bites someone bad enough to cause a scar, if he hasn't already (your husband's lip).

There are other ways for a bird to get exercise without flying. Each of my birds has a very large cage. They climb around all over inside it, and sometimes I will see them hanging from a rope perch or toy, flapping their wings.

Me and my husband have been thinking of buying a gym for him we found one for a really great price, but need to find some space for it. Do you think it would help with his aggression?

Also has anyone heard of something like cage aggression or possessiveness?
I read something about it once.Pete is really cuddly when we take him to the vet and can be easily handled when he is far, far away from his cage.

Kia has her wings clipped and we exercise just about every day by doing some "mock flying". She holds onto my finger or a rope and flaps her wings for a few minutes at a time. It's great exercise and I'm convinced it gets out some of her aggressiveness. I"m not saying she is aggressive, but she's definitely a bit moody some days. I think any kind of playing would probably be a good idea. But remember that they get worked up when playing, so you have to watch out for that.

Kia is possessive of her night time sleeping cage, but not of the downstairs one. But, when shes' moody, she's moody whether shes' by a cage or not...lol.

How much sleep is he getting? I know that's probably not associated with lunging attacks, but if you give him 13 or 14 hours of sleep a night, it might make a difference. I definitely notice a difference in kia if she misses a nap or wakes up a few times during the night. I guess they get crabby just like me.

Good luck!

You know, I think a playstand, in a different room than his cage, may be well worth the try for you. It sounds like he may be territorial of his cage.

If he's flying at people to attack them, then you may just have to clip his wings, at least once, as a last resort. Clipping his wings would probably calm him down enough that you could start working with him daily on step ups to let him know that there are some rules he has to abide by.

Good luck with Pete!

You really do need to trim those wings!!!!!!

Amazons can be too unpredictable to let them be flighted in a house... I have a 10 year old Blue-front male and I make sure he's clipped... my boy has never bitten me but, I realize that he may some day and I simply don't want that to happen... plus clipping wings prevents a lot of other accidents from happening in a household environment.

Please, for your sake and Pete's clip the wings and perhaps read some behaviorists books such as Sally Blanchard's.

Good luck!