Ask Lafeber

my budgie keeps hurting my little sister

my budgie Corry goes out of her way to hurt my little sister, my sister has not done anything to her and I would like to know why and ways to stop it from happening.

Hi,

It sounds like she is being territorial. Biting is not personal – it is all based on natural instinct. If she does this when your sister gets near the cage, she is just tying to defend her home. The easy answer is have your sister keep her distance. If the bird can fly, either have her clipped or not, but this means she needs to stay in her cage. If she has always pulled back when bitten, this is a sure way to teach a bird to bite. It’s natural to pull away, but undoes any training. They do not respond to punishment. You have to ignore bad behavior and reward good behavior. I’ll give you the links to our behavior and training pages.

Pet Bird and Parrot Behavior

Teaching Your Bird

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda