how do you stop a love bird from stop peaking?

[misty83]

every time i hold him he peaks :(

[LovelySydney]

When you say "peaks" do you mean "bite" or "peck"? If he is biting you than he does not want to be held. Most birds when you bring them home need ample amount of time to get used to their surroundings and learn to trust the new person that is taking care of him or her. You need to give the bird time to recognize where her is and settle into his new home. Forcing him to be held will only make him trust you less, as you are forcing him to do something he does not want to. He needs to do it on his own terms.

Teaching a bird to trust is sometimes a difficult task. It takes a lot of time and patience from the owner. You can start by sitting next to the cage whenever you can and talking to the bird. You can read there and talk on the phone there so that he gets used to your voice and used to you being around. Once he is comfortable with you being around you can try to do millet training. This involves rewarding him for good behavior. There might be some links to that here on the boards or I can give you some if you'd like. Really though, you're going to need to give him time to trust you. This could take days, weeks or months. I had a lovebird once who never learned to like hands. He would step up for me but that is it. I still loved him and we enjoyed one anothers company from afar. I knew I could not force him to let me play with him or hold him, as that is not what he wanted. Some birds are just independent and some birds are cuddle bugs. Once you figure out your birds personality it will be easier to see what type of bird you are dealing with. Even if they never like to be held, which my bird didnt, they are still amazing little creatures who demand your attention in other ways.

The only bird I have ever had that lets me touch him is Neko. & Neko was handled since he was 2 weeks old so he is used to hands. But he only lets me touch him when HE wants to, he lets me know when he doesnt want me near him with my hands & I respect that. Usually before bed or in the morning when I wake him up he lets me give him some pets (maybe its just because he's tired and cant fight me off, LOL!). All my other birds never let me touch them and I just had to learn to deal with it and of course I loved them anyway. It takes a lot of trust for a bird to let you touch them, its a big step for them, almost like letting down their guard.


Good luck with the training. Keep us updated on his progress and just make sure you aren't forcing the bird to do things, this will only slow down the training & trust process.

[Chicklette]

Is he pecking at you or another bird?

[misty83]

he was peaking at me, but he does not do it much anymore, I've had him for 2 weeks (will be 3 weeks on Friday) i'm hoping to get some pics up on here soon, just have to try and get my pics loaded on my computer lol Grrr

[Chicklette]

If he is pecking gently that means he is grooming you. Both my parrots do that to me. It’s very gentle and loving. So if that is what you are talking about it means he thinks of you as part of the flock.

[LovelySydney]

I think she means pecking or biting, although it really hasn't been confirmed. Maybe she means PREENING??

[Ashling]

I at first thought peaking as in raising the tail feathers in an "adults only" way. Sounds like PECKING to me.
misty you haven't had it long so just move slowly and confidently around your bird. He is probably biting out of fear- he doesn't know that you aren't going to hurt him. You have to show him you're not going to hurt him and this takes time to build up a bird's trust. They are PREY animals and we are PREDATORS. His instinct tells him to run/ fly away from anything that looks like a predator and when he can't get away he'll do the only thing he can; bite. When he bites, don't make a fuss, just ignore it. Don't make any noises, just show him that biting will not achieve anything and it won't make you go away. When he doesn't bite give him his favourite treats. Soon he will trust you enough and figure out you are there to give him treats and spoil him and he won't bite out of fear anymore.

[perchingbird]

She might mean peaking, as in that is a sound he is making. Like "Peek peek peek!"