Savage Galah....

[CrystalMoon]

Hidey Ho every-one,
I am after some advice from any bird whisperers out there..... I have 2 Galahs one is an older bird that I found on the side of the road nearly dead I nursed him back to health and he is a great old fellow. The other I have had since he was 3 months old, this is the terror I am having trouble with. George is now 3 and a half, he has grown up with all of us and has been handled by all of us with no issues till about 6 months ago. I realize he has decided I am his mate, and doesnt like any one else near me. But he has gotten out of control, he now lines Hubby and Daughter up and lunges at them when they walk past his cage. He does manage to connect with their skin every so often and he draws blood. I can do anything with him he is never aggressive with me, occasionally if I am out of sight they can feed him treats and scratch him. However if he hears my voice he drops the treat and crunches their finger, If I have him out of his cage and inside he will shriek blue murder if they come near us and even fly at them in attack mode. I cant try building a relationship between George and Breanna because he is literally too savage with her(re-pierced her ear, lip and several crunched fingers) I have Gary(hubby)trying but after a crunched man boob he is not particularly keen to try any more....... I am at my wits end with him and cannot understand why he has gotten this nasty, it makes it harder for me to let him out inside because no-one else likes him any-more(even the cat runs away from him lol) Any tips would be much appreciated

 

[JackTheHerper]

Birds are weird - Sell it?

 

[CrystalMoon]

I could never sell him, he would fret for me Birds arent weird lol he is a really funny bird with his antics and extremely loving with me. Just evil to every-one else

 

[JackTheHerper]

I know, Birds hate me, might be coz i smell bad But some birds are cool

 

[oOLaurenOo]

The only thing you can try is spend some time apart. For example, put him in another room one thats out of the way and only have your daughter and husband feed him and interact with him for a while. But honestly, Im not really a huge believer that that works... My mums bird is the same, he attached to her and now its a pain trying to do anything with him (and he is only a cockatiel) a galah bite would hurt like crazy!!!!! Unfortunately these birds do pair up. They will pair for life however if their 'mate' dies or in your case, 'goes away' they will pair up with another 'bird' lol. Goodluck!

 

[Kristy_07]

Yep, sounds like a fairly normal Galah, tbh

Lauren's advice is pretty spot on. If you want George to accept other people, you need to back off, and have your daughter and hubby providing all the best interaction. If you feel bad that Georgie-weorgie will be lonely without you... DON'T! He is currently extremely frustrated thinking that you are his sexual partner and that he can't/isn't allowed to provide you with ALL the necessities he thinks that relationship entails. He might love you, but for a bird, that also includes lots of sexy time!

So change things up. You need to back off and give him the cold shoulder, and your daughter and husband need to be the providers of all the best treats, seeds, nuts, attention, toys, games, whatever. And, you all need to be patient with the process - it will take him time to realise what's going on and be happy about it.

Unfortunately, what you're going through is a fairly common problem in handraised and tame birds. Usually one person in the house is more into birds than others; they are the ones that want the relationship with the bird the most. Bird bonds to them; everyone is happy. Bird does what birds do and thinks that this is a partnership, and consequently is frustrated and upset that they can't "consummate the marriage". Chaos ensues

Good luck. Galahs are great birds, but geez they're a handful!

 

[CrystalMoon]

Thanks, and I have tried the other room trick for a good while the only thing that happens is the other two get lulled into a false sense of security and then he sinks his beak into them.... I spose it wouldnt be so bad except for the fact it hurts my Daughters feelings so much that he wont let her handle him without biting now and they used to play together daily before....

 

[Snake-Supplies]

My Coastal may be able to tame it...

or, make them put gloves on and rub cayene pepper on them... so when he bites... that'll be funny.

 

[vampstorso]

Hey Merle,


Sounds like he's going through his hormonal change.


I can PM you a great avian forum for help if you like

Also Stevo2 on here would be helpful if he sees this but he's also on the other place

 

[Khagan]

I have Gary(hubby)trying but after a crunched man boob he is not particularly keen to try any more.......

Wow a nipple cripple, now that is savage! =p

 

[Ramsayi]

Glove up and let him bite you until he has no bite left.Usually only takes a few minutes and needs to be repeated a few times until he gets the message that biting gets him nowhere.

 

[12-08-67]

ha - you need to be less attractive to him it can be hard when he has won a few battles already so would be feeling very confident in what he is doing but maybe getting some else to do his feeding and bribery goes along way. Goodluck with it, fingers crossed it may be a faze only

 

[Crystal..Discus]

^ all the above advice is great, and one more tip.

Naughty Cage.

Whenever he bites, hisses, lunges - naughty cage. We do that with out Indian Ringneck who learned very quickly that unacceptable behaviour got her half an hour all the way up to half a day in the naughty cage. There's a water bowl, a food bowl, but no toys and she's covered up so she can't see anything. Only takes once or twice :lol:

 

[Kristy_07]

Remember that teenage feeling (or not-so-teenage feeling!) of being at a party with your current boy/girlfriend, and that gut-wrenching, sickening anger/jealousy/resentment towards other members of the party moving in on and flirting with your partner? (That wasn't just me, right?? ) Now, imagine those same slu... err, people... living with you 24/7, constantly flirting with your partner, your partner responding to their flirting all the time, and THEN, them trying to be besties with you... trying to hug you, stroke your hair, bring you drinks, coo over you... but all the while, they are clearly trying to steal your mate away from you!! :evil: Imagine that sick feeling you had at the party, then multiplied by a thousand, every minute of the day! That would be something akin to what George is going through (yes, even despite the anthroposmorphism!). It's no wonder he bites them - you'd probably want to punch those whor... err, people... in the face, too!

The problem with gloving up and letting him bite you is that George is left with nothing positive to dwell on. He is biting your child and partner because he a) has an unhealthily close relationship with you, b) feels angry/jealous/resentful of their relationship with you, and c) has no other way to express himself and tell them to back off if they are in his space or getting too close to his girl... you!

If your daughter is trying to handle him at this stage, you need to slow things right down. Give it a time frame if you have to - no handling for a month and then reassess. Remember, he's not a reptile - if you're getting bitten, YOU are doing something wrong Don't get me wrong, I say this with a hand full of scars from my rescued eclectus! We went through a similar process of building trust and getting bitten when he arrived, and 18mths on (yep, EIGHTEEN, just in case that could be interpreted as a typo) things are pretty good. Although, I did cop a bit of a hard one yesterday when I touched a certain toy of his - naughty

Go slower - he doesn't need to be in a different room, but you need to give him the cold shoulder, and leave all the sunflower seeds and scritches up to your daughter and husband. If scratching is too much for him, take another step back and look into hands-off trick training (dumb pet tricks like spinning in a circle or climbing a fire pole can really come in handy if you need them to!) on a T-stand that your daughter can do with him to build their relationship.

 

[CrystalMoon]

^ all the above advice is great, and one more tip.

Naughty Cage.

Whenever he bites, hisses, lunges - naughty cage. We do that with out Indian Ringneck who learned very quickly that unacceptable behaviour got her half an hour all the way up to half a day in the naughty cage. There's a water bowl, a food bowl, but no toys and she's covered up so she can't see anything. Only takes once or twice :lol:

see here lies the problem.... I do give him time outs and Ramsayi, I get the glove idea unfortunately he is like a Galah ninja and will bite any extremity poking out(nose, lips and ears)he will even launch to reach them. He has bitten me once when my Daughter came too close and he got intensely irate, I just acted like I didnt even notice(he didnt bite very hard)and he let go. He is very cunning too he will chatter away to them and puff his feathers up saying "scratch Georgie, kiss kiss kiss" and lure them over let them feed/scratch him then go crunch on fingers and then to add insult to injury he laughs(he mimics my laugh)I wind up in the poo because I laugh too because it looks like something out of a comic skit lol but really at the end of the day he needs to keep his little beak to himself

 

[richardsc]

yep his chosen you,the biting the others is his way of saying back of,i own her

the naughty corner cage idea is good,we used to do that with out galah,she would get sucky and nice to be let out,and if she got bitey,she went back in,cheeky bugger used to go nuts when trying to put her back in,but they learn from it

main thing is you have to teach them to not just socialise with you,as you have seen,they can get quite protective and aggressive to anyone else,including other pets u may have

 

[CrystalMoon]

Remember that teenage feeling (or not-so-teenage feeling!) of being at a party with your current boy/girlfriend, and that gut-wrenching, sickening anger/jealousy/resentment towards other members of the party moving in on and flirting with your partner? (That wasn't just me, right?? ) Now, imagine those same slu... err, people... living with you 24/7, constantly flirting with your partner, your partner responding to their flirting all the time, and THEN, them trying to be besties with you... trying to hug you, stroke your hair, bring you drinks, coo over you... but all the while, they are clearly trying to steal your mate away from you!! :evil: Imagine that sick feeling you had at the party, then multiplied by a thousand, every minute of the day! That would be something akin to what George is going through (yes, even despite the anthroposmorphism!). It's no wonder he bites them - you'd probably want to punch those whor... err, people... in the face, too!

The problem with gloving up and letting him bite you is that George is left with nothing positive to dwell on. He is biting your child and partner because he a) has an unhealthily close relationship with you, b) feels angry/jealous/resentful of their relationship with you, and c) has no other way to express himself and tell them to back off if they are in his space or getting too close to his girl... you!

If your daughter is trying to handle him at this stage, you need to slow things right down. Give it a time frame if you have to - no handling for a month and then reassess. Remember, he's not a reptile - if you're getting bitten, YOU are doing something wrong Don't get me wrong, I say this with a hand full of scars from my rescued eclectus! We went through a similar process of building trust and getting bitten when he arrived, and 18mths on (yep, EIGHTEEN, just in case that could be interpreted as a typo) things are pretty good. Although, I did cop a bit of a hard one yesterday when I touched a certain toy of his - naughty

Go slower - he doesn't need to be in a different room, but you need to give him the cold shoulder, and leave all the sunflower seeds and scritches up to your daughter and husband. If scratching is too much for him, take another step back and look into hands-off trick training (dumb pet tricks like spinning in a circle or climbing a fire pole can really come in handy if you need them to!) on a T-stand that your daughter can do with him to build their relationship.

You certainly have a way with words..... as I am mopping up splattered coffee that I just sprayed everywhere lol I do think your right, I need to step back a bit from him. This situation wouldnt be an issue if it was just me handling him... but the whole family love him and have handled him from the time we got him. Mind you I am the one who cleans his cage and feeds him, I will try what you have suggested and see how I go.
Thank-you

 

[Snakewoman]

He is very cunning too he will chatter away to them and puff his feathers up saying "scratch Georgie, kiss kiss kiss" and lure them over let them feed/scratch him then go crunch on fingers and then to add insult to injury he laughs

My Nanna had a Cockatoo named Joe who used to do the same thing, but mainly to my Auntie Diane who he hated. One day in particular my Nanna took my Auntie out to see him, and he kept saying "Come here Diane" He put his head down for a scratch and when she got close enough he flew at her. After that he was hopping around on one leg with his crest up and was imitating my Nanna's laugh. :lol:

My Mother had the same problem with a male Cockatiel that you're having, he loved her and hated everyone else, and he would attack other birds that came near her in the aviary. She spent less time with him and now he doesn't like anyone, but at least he doesn't attack the other birds anymore.

I hope everything turns out ok, Galahs bloody hurt when they bite, particularly if they get you on the face... I still cringe when I remember it happening to me.

 

[Skelhorn]

As said above hormones...Teenage years are coming on, and being an *** comes into play. Just give him time and leave him be. Also if his "cage" defensive remove him from the cage. If you have a play gym try putting him on that each morning. Seemed to work with our Eckies! And boy they do have a nasty bite when they latch!

 

[Ziggy]

My Scaley Breasted Lori just turned three, I have the exact same problem with her. She wont let anyone near me when shes out and is also incredibly cage defensive with my other (human) family members. It seems to be the norm with Lorikeets though, more of a one person bird. Though, we used to have two galahs as well, Cobber and Wharfy. Cobber would only be nice to the rottie, Blocka. Wharfy, however, was such a beautiful old man.

To try and change Eugenes' behaviour I've just been putting her away when she does something unsociable, like lunge and grab my grandmothers nose! :/