Djurdja
Vukelic Rozic, CR
Free Verse
Bird Bites
There are
pet birds that bite
When upset, scared or afraid
Causing a good deal of pain.
They will peck and pinch you friendly
In need of love and attention
Make you return to them again.
Treat them just like your friends
Let them calm down, go to bed.
Or you can be seated
Therefore smaller threat
For your tiny, feathery pet.
When your bird bites
You can scream or command “No!“
Thinking your language it must know.
You should not slap its face
Or hit it with the broom
Don’t let it suffocate in the smoking room.
Only verbal reprimands
It clearly understands.
Remember, big bird's jaws may be strong
If you have kids, think twice
Should that birdie be taken along.
Source:
WPVI PHILADELPHIA NEWS, "Parenting: Kids and bird bites".
Wednesday, November 09, 2011 by David Murphy
Story:
Parenting: Traveling With Kids - Los Angeles
Winged Wisdom Pet Bird Magazine has a nice
article describing the types of birds that bite and the
situations that can lead to biting. In most cases, the bird
is upset or afraid and that's when bird bites can be at
their worst, even breaking the skin at times, and in all
cases, causing a good deal of pain. There are also more
friendly pecks and pinches that certain birds will use to
get attention. Avoidance involves several tactics, according
to Winged Wisdom's Kelly Tucker, including avoiding contact
when the animal is upset. Another idea is to make yourself
smaller and less threatening by, say, sitting next to a
bird's stoop and offering a perch with one's hand or arm
from beneath the bird rather than above.
The One Commandment
It's also possible to teach birds how hard of a grip is
acceptable by making a loud command like "nooooo!" or "owwww!"
each time the bird bites too severely. Since birds use their
beaks to climb and negotiate their surroundings, a certain
amount of gripping and latching on is natural, but a bird
can be taught limits. Avoiding the bird altogether should
not be an option, as birds need contact and stimulus to stay
healthy and mentally sharp. And by the way, birds do not
respond to physical punishment, so hitting is not
appropriate. Verbal reprimands are best.
My daughter, a professional bird keeper at the Philadelphia
Zoo, who has raised parakeets from hatchlings and has been
the primary care giver to our pet conure, also is a fan of
putting a young bird on the floor immediately after each
instance of bad behavior. Birds don't like this and in the
case of our conure, the bird did learn fairly quickly that a
bad bite was consistently followed by an unpleasant
expulsion and therefore not a desirable behavior.
There are also different techniques for picking-up a bird
described in the aforementioned article. In general,
providing a perch for the bird beneath and in front of him
is a good practice, saying the words "step up" as he climbs
aboard with the goal of being able to have the bird follow
that command on his own in the future.
Bigger and Badder
Another point to make is that the larger the bird you keep,
the worse the potential bite as bird's jaws get stronger as
they grow larger. Anything larger than a cockatiel for a
family with kids may not be a good idea. Plus, some advisers
point out that while part of the fun of bonding with a bird
is having the animal ride around on family members'
shoulders, a large bird may be attracted to a human ear or
eye as a target for chomping. It's also claimed by some that
placing a bird above your eye level (which would naturally
happen with a larger bird on a shoulder) can create a sense
of dominance for the bird, which is not a position you want
to concede, not only to a bird but to any essentially wild
animal.
From a medical perspective, the Centers For Disease
Control's webpage concerning animal bites has very little to
say about bird bites, other than the fact that sick birds
have in the past spread the deadly bird flu. However, this
has occurred in distant parts of the world and would not be
so much of a concern with domestically kept house pets.
Other diseases can be spread through the air and through
contact with feces, but again, the bird has to be sick in
order to pass along these additional diseases and a healthy
house pet would not be an issue. In general, hand-washing
following any contact with droppings is essential, just as
it would be with any other sort of pet.
