  SGR 1806-20 has been observed for more than 2 years with the INTEGRAL
satellite. In this period the source went from a quiescent state into a very
active one culminating in a giant flare on December 27 2004. Here we report on
the properties of all the short bursts detected with INTEGRAL before the giant
flare. We derive their number-intensity distribution and confirm the
hardness-intensity correlation for the bursts found by Gotz et al. (2004a). Our
sample includes a very bright outburst that occurred on October 5 2004, during
which over one hundred bursts were emitted in 10 minutes, involving an energy
release of 3 x 1E42 erg. We present a detailed analysis of it and discuss our
results in the framework of the magnetar model.
