My tame bird suddenly bites

Question
QUESTION: I've had my parakeet for about five months now. He learned very quickly to step on my finger and within the first week, I could have him out of the cage. I can carry him from room to room and he sits on my shoulder.
Within the last few days, he is suddenly attacking my finger. Lunging at it and biting HARD. I don't know what to do, why he's started doing this, and how to make it stop.
Thanks.

ANSWER: Hi, Desiree,

How old is the bird?  What are you doing when the bird attacks your finger?  What is the bird doing when he attacks you (is the bird sleeping, outside its cage, are you trying to put the bird back in its cage when it bites, is the bird in its cage when it bites you, etc.)?  If need more details about what is going on when this biting occurs.  Has the bird been frightened by someone recently?  Does the bird have a mate?  Is this a female or male bird?  What type of diet?  Any other animals in the house?  Birds bite for reasons, especially tame birds, so I need more information.

Chrys

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Did my last response go through?

ANSWER: Hi again, Desiree,

I don't know...the above is all I have.

Chrys

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Huh, that's strange, I guess I didn't. Well since I last wrote you, my bird has been back to himself during the day. I think he is getting cranky at night. The night I sent you my question, he was biting at me non-stop. What really surprised me about it though was I had his mate, Lucy, in my hand and was putting her back on her swing. I wasn't trying to do anything with him, but at the sight of my hand he just lunged at it and bit. Also if I raised my hand anywhere outside the cage he would just lunge at the air in that direction! It was just surprising to me because he has never behaved like this before. There are no other birds in the house and he is on a seed diet.

Sometimes during the day he opens his beak at me when I try to take him out as though he's going to bite...just wondering if you have any other suggestions on how to tame him a little more. His mate doesn't bite at all when handled.

Answer
Hi again, Desiree,

Birds prefer other birds to humans.  How long have you had the female?  This is most likely why the male is lunging/biting at you, especially now that he has a female.  The male is trying to protect the inside of his cage and trying to protect his female.  When you put your hand inside the cage to bring him/them out, you are cornering him and the only way he knows to defend himself is to bite/lunge.  Birds become very territorial of their cages, so I recommend you allow him/them to come out of their cage before you start interacting with them.  Do not put your hand in the cage and bring the bird(s) out.  You are actually causing mistrust in your bird(s) by doing this.  You want to build trust in order to help tame him.  The fact that you now have 2 birds versus just 1, taming will be very difficult if not impossible for the male.  They have each other now and don't need you!  All you can do at this point is work with the male separately in another room every day, away from the other bird and away from his cage.  I also recommend you trim/have trimmed their wing flight feathers.  This will help control them a little more and help tame them and keep them tame.  With clipped flight feathers, they won't be able to gain altitude when they fly (if the clipping is done properly).  This will result in them having to rely on you for most of their mobility.

An all-seed diet can affect everything about a bird, including behavior.  Seed is high in fat and low in nutritional value...a poor diet.  Your birds need to be on a variety of healthy, nutritional human foods, pellets, with seed kept to a minimum.  Any diet change should be gradual so as not to upset their digestional system.  Visit my website for more general information:  www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Chrys