Many caged birds bite, and they bite for one reason; their owners unintentionally trained them to bite. Once birds learn how to actually bite it takes a while to train them not to so it is best not to train them to bite in the first place.

For the purposes of this article we are talking about tame pet birds, parrots, budgies, and so forth.  You should note that some birds sold in pet stores are not really "tame" they may come from mass breeders where they were never handled and may have a "fear" issue involved too.

©Nandy Conure, painting by author.

How Pet Birds Learn to Bite

Birds are pretty smart, but when you stick your hand (or finger) out for the bird to step onto it still must “test” it. This is what it would do in nature too, when moving from one branch to another, it has to test the new branch to make sure it is strong. As such when the bird first reaches for your finger it is probably not “biting” at all, just testing; unless it had an earlier owner who did not raise it correctly.

When this happens a lot the bird soon learns the pattern – you put your finger in, it reaches to test, you pull back. The bird actually sees this as a bit of a game, and each subsequent time it might be faster, or bite harder. Basically over a period of days or weeks, you have trained your bird to bite!  The bird has learned cause and effect, it is "rewarded" for biting you by seeing you pull back, which it finds entertaining in a strange sort of way.  This is the same thing they learn when a person sticks their fingers in the bars and they bite it.

Note:  The times when the bird is “testing” it usually moves slow and although its beak may feel a bit painful, it is not nearly as bad as actually being bitten. An actual bite can break the skin, or leave a nasty mark. The testing is sometimes called being “beaked”.

How to Prevent Birds Biting

Once you know what not to do, the trick is not to do it! If your bird has not learned to bite, and is just at the stage when it is testing, or beaking you, you must not pull back. Instead leave your hand in place, let the bird test it, then step up onto it. Some people feel safer using leather gloves, and if this works then do it, because if you are afraid and pull your hand back it will make your bird nervous and will train it to bite.

Laddering is a good way of teaching your bird to step up without biting. This is the act of getting the bird to step up, then to step up, again, and again. Note that birds respond more to rewards than punishment, and love being rewarded for doing “good”; bribes tend to work well too!

Fear Biting

Bird owners should be aware that if they buy a bird that is not tame, or perhaps one that has been abused or mishandled, it might bite out of fear. If you suspect your bird is biting out of fear it may be good to get a bird behaviorist specialist work with the bird, and you.

Birds are very smart. If you “think” you know what you are doing but do not “know” what you are doing you can actually make problems worse. A professional would know how to read the subtle signals your bird is sending and could help you both best