Galah behaviour

[huff]

Hi everyone,

I am the proud parent of a 5 month old galah. I brought him home at about six weeks after he was hand raised by a reputable bird specialist store in the Sydney region. His name is Albi, I refer to Albi as him but he has not been DNA tested so I'm not really certain if he is a boy or girl. I have previously, and still do, own budgies and lorikeets which I would define as semi-tame. I wanted to own something a bit bigger so decided to get Albi.

When we first bought Albi home, he was easily handled by all family members. Both my children, 1 and 6, would pat and feed him. He sleeps inside nightly and has reasonably large cage outside were he lives during the day. He seems quite happy with this and either plays or sleeps the day away. His diet is a mixture of parrot mix, nuts, pellets and fresh vegetables and fruit. He is not overly noisy only screaming a little bit in the afternoon when the local wild galahs fly over. Every night he comes out for at least 1 to 2 hours of cuddles, scratching and free time. He steps up but usually in his own time.

Over the past 2 to 3 weeks he has began to get nippy. He hisses at the kids and bites them unless he is getting a scratch. My wife carries him outside each day and occasionally he will play up and nip her. When I handle him, he does nip a little bit, but usually only at edges of clothing, ears, fingernails and any freckles he sees on my arms or legs. This behaviour came on quite suddenly with nothing major happening which may have scared him and ruined any trust. The only difference in him is the new growth of feathers which are sprouting out. Not sure if is irritating him and causing him some frustration. Any ideas on why the sudden behaviour change? It's not overly aggressive behaviour, but I did want him to be able to be handled by my wife and, to a lesser degree, my 6 year old. My wife believes he is bonded to me as he rarely nips me as hard as he nips them.

Another thing is, he won't go near his bath bowl. I put him in the shower, or spray him with a spray bottle, and while he tolerates it, you can tell that he is not enjoying himself. Other than that, he plays well, eats well, destroys his toys well and is a great new addition to our family.

Any thoughts, advice and recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks. Craig

[zena]

I'm not exactly sure with Galahs (I haven't had one) but it may be due to moulting (many birds can be grumpy during their moulting) or he/she may be bonded to you and see others as a threat (?) but I'm not exactly sure, so someone with more experience should be able to give you better answer...

[joiner]

Hi Craig,
I'm no expert but I've had a galah from about the same age up to now, and he's about 18 months. So I can give you my thought on what I've perceived.

Firstly nipping can be an affection thing. Nibbling at your buttons and freckles is probably him grooming you, which is affectionate. They don't really have much more than their beak to express themselves physically, and I know my guy likes to peck, rub his beak and sometimes get a little too excited with nipping and even biting quite hard during excited play.

But ... he also bites to tell me when he doesn't like something.

And I think its important to realise that galah's are very social flock animals, and right now you and your family are his flock. Just like dogs and even people, galahs will work out a pecking order. Your galah will try and climb the totem pole. So he might be trying to establish his superiority to your family, and because he has bonded to you he could be telling them to keep away.

As he gets older the problem can become much worse, so it's important to nip it early. Let him know that biting is not a good thing, by turning your backs and ignoring him, or moving him immediately back to his cage when he bites. I've not tried using sound as a negative, but I have had great success with clicker training as a positive reinforcement. I've begun to wonder if another device with a different sound could do the same as a 'NO' or negative reinforcement. I'll let you know how I go.

I hope this helps. As I said, I'm no expert but I'm just giving you a condensed version of what I've seen over the past 18 months.
Cheers
Joiner

[debq]

galahs tend to bond with one member of the family more than others I have found.isnt it true that they mate for life?my old bird Jacko she loved my late husband and tolerated me.its taken more than two years to get her complete trust. Now I can freely handle her and bathe her. For a long time she looked for him and still doesn't groom herself properly .I can still see her sitting on his pillow when he was ill ,just sitting quietly for hours and it was like she knew how bad he was.
so I think you will be lucky to get your galah to bond equally with all the family.

[amp]

Hi Craig I am proud owner of a Galah which we hand raised from before feathers.
I suspect you have a female. Ours attached to my ex strongly and he had to push her from him when she began nipping and attaching more to him. She also loves eating cereal with the family and gets upset with people who care for her in our absence as she thinks that means we are going. She remembers and mimics all the family members and gets excited for their attention when they are absent for long times. It is important to let her know not to nip as a parent bird woul.. A simple put asid at the time worked for us. She feeds on almonds as a treat. Will do anything for a taste of Nutella and prefers smaller cockatiel mixes. She loves to crawl into sleeping bags with people and mimic whistles.

Enjoy your bird and give her knotted rope. Ours unites shoelaces but we can't get her to tie them for us.

Cheers AMP