Charlie African grey

Question
Hello, for the last few weeks I have had a few minor problems with charlie. He is almost 2 years old and since I got him at 8 months old he has been a real gent. Now he is starting to bite a bit and not as willing to be handled and petted.I realise this is most likely to be because of his age. He also started to fly all over the house and climbe on to the curtains.After getting himself tied up in the curtains,I made the decision to have his wings cliped. My vet has done a very good job of this and Charlie can glide down in controle but not gain height.He is fed Harrisons high potency pellets, plus a veriety of fruit and veg and a few nuts. He also gets very limited food what I eat. A few months ago he was very ill and was kept in the vets for a week,being tube fed and in an incubator but thankfuly has made a full recovery.No clamidya was present and it was put down to a inflamatory infection.But as I say he is very well now,do you think his experience at the vets has also had an influence on his behaviour.He is also getting used to a t stand and is doing quite well. He knows basic comands such as on, down and can also wave. He also knows what night night, nice bath, and by by mean. He also has quite a good vocabulary for a young bird although he only uses the words yum yum for food in context.If I say no and give him a stern look when he attempts to bite it seems to make him worse Please could you give me some more advice.I hope I have given you enough information .  

Answer
Hi Sheila,

It sounds like Charlie is really trying to figure out his boundries and test your authority. However, without knowing your bird and the environment you have created for him, it is hard for me to assist you in correcting the behavior. What I will do is refer you to some excellent resources about biting behavior that will help you pin point anything that might be encouraging Charlie to bite. Once you've done this, you can more successfully use techniques to limit his biting/nipping behavior.

It was a good idea to get his wings trimmed, this will help.

Here are the articles/books:

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww12eii.htm

http://www3.upatsix.com/liz/articles/biting.html

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww20eiv.htm

http://www.companionparrot.com/beakbook.html (The Beak Book is also available on www.amazon.com)

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww5eii.htm

I hope this helps.

-Maggie