Severa Qs on a pyscho Conure?

Question

Well a new Mitred Conure has arrived and so far has not drawn blood but its just a matter of time. He is half plucked, petrified of hands and sticks, will jump onto a forearm and sit on my shoulder but then after a couple of mins will try to bite. Hes only a young bird from what i can tell and I know hes had at least 5 changes of home now in 5 months. Hes interested in my Zon and she would love to be froends with him but I have been warned he attacks other birds. Hes a good weight and eats well. So advice and ideas on

1, stop him biting

2, stop him hitting himself in the head (repeatedly and violently)

3, stop the occasional 120000 decible scream (so far covering him seams to be helping and uncovering him for 5 mins of quiet)

4, stop him plucking, he came with lot and lots of toys and I have not seen him pluck any so far.

more details, he is already eating a mix of Roudybush and pretty boy (never heard of these) pellets and he adores peanuts as does my Amazon. He will try most things offered, he dosnt like green foods though but then neither does my Zon (36 year old rescue) or me for that matter. he has been sitting on my arm for an hour and has been relaxed there much more comfortable than anywhere else. He hasnt even attempted to bite, in fact he has been grooming/plucking me! As I said he has not bitten me yet but I saw the scars from him on his previous person. the head hitting is literally that he hits himself HARD in his head with his foot over and over again. He went to an avain vet for a wing clip 2 weeks before I got hm and they did blood tests and gave him a clean bill of head. I am sure most of his issues are from being passed around so much to people who do not understand parrots. please email me direct mips1970@yahoo with a list of questions I will try to answer and any suggestions.

Answer 1

He's a young bird?
Oh my God!
This is going to take me a while. Tell you what...I'm going to need some time to work on this.
My first suggestion to you is: Do not shoulder him. You are putting an out of control parrot near your head and eyes. Not a good idea, okay?
2. stop trying to handle him. He's obviously horrified and don't use stick training sticks for now. Just leave him be.
3. Try and determine what his favorite food is. You are going to need this to be able to rehabilitate him.
4. Ignore the scream, but when there are moments of quiet, reinforce this with his favorite food.
5. Has he been to an Avian Vet? He may have a bacterial situation going on with his skin causing him to pluck. Take him in to rule out any bacterial or fungal probelms.


This is going to be a Loooong post and it's going to take me some time. I'm going to have to do it bit by bit and it's late for me as I have been up since very early this morning. Let me do some puzzle piece fitting and I'll get back to this tomorrow.
In the mean time, can you edit your question with any more detail?
Where did you get him?
How long have you had him?
How was it that you ended up with him?
How many other birds do you have?
Do you have a lot of experience and or education regarding birds?
Fill me in on the "head hitting".
What were the other homes like?
Was this a formerly abusive situation?
How is his diet ? What was he fed and what are you feeding now?
Let's start there and maybe I can come up with a game plan for you.
If you would care to do this another way, you can always email me.
Glad to help any way I can....but I need time and some more information.
Thanks.
Phoenix

Answer 2

1. This takes time. You will eventually need to stick train him, for one. This must be done over a long period of time, where you first allow him to get used to the stick.

I have a feeling that with patience and love, the biting will clear up, but here are a few tips: Never hit or flick him when he bites. I trained both my conures using the following method - Until you are sure he will not bite, keep him off your shoulder and AWAY FROM YOU FACE. When he tried to bite your hand/arm, drop your arm slightly. Not enough to knock him down, but enough to put him off balance. Birds hate that feeling, and he will learn to associate this with biting, so will stop. Just keep being consistent.

2. This, too, will take time. This and the plucking is a sign of severe stress. There is really no telling what he has been through so far in his short life, but the fact that he has had 5 homes tells me he is ver insecure and needs to be able to become comfortable and trusting of his environment. Just give him a forever home....it will stop.

3. Conures = loud mouths! Sorry, but birds scream, especially conures. Ignoring the behavior will help, some. Even covering him may be more harmful. Birds often scream for attention, and for a young bird with so many emotional issues, even negative attention is attention. Just ignore it.

4. Again, this all goes back to not having constancy in his life. Birds like to bond and be comfortable. As far as he knows, life in captivity is endlessly being passed from home to home, ever being able to trust that the persons he loves will be there permanently.

Please, be patient with him. It may take months, but he will come around. Just don't give up on him, stay consistent, and show as much affection as you can!

Good luck.

Answer 3

Is it Pretty Bird pellets? for the plucking, my female African grey plucked for a while and I found it it was due to the artificial dies in the food, changed the food and she's fine. How often do you take the bird out of the cage? We have two Green Cheeks and a Sun Conure, they scream like crazy when they know we are home and want out of their cages. Is he banging his head against the cage by chance? That too is an attention thing. The biting will stop with a while. He is probably scared and doesn't want to get used to anyone knowing he might have to change homes again. One of our Green Cheeks is only 5 months old. He ALWAYS bite me when I took him out of the cage, after about two weeks of sternly saying no when he bit and handling him daily, he only bites now when he's scared or when he's loosing balance when I'm walking around the house with him.

Answer 4

I hope this isn't too long to read. I have a lot of ideas. First of all, kudos to you for taking him on! I have a bird who came with behavior problems two years ago, and he is a gem now.

He needs several things. The first is a routine: breakfast at this time, training at this time, and 13 hours straight of covered sleep in a dark room -- the extra hour is to simulate winter to prevent him from becoming hormonal, and for extra rest because he's probably molting. Offer him positive reinforcement for good behaviors. There are tons of things that you can do about biting but "No!" won't work. They like "No!" This is the advice no matter were you look. I thought it was nonsense when I adopted my Timneh, Ross. He liked to rip out his feathers and scratch his neck with them, he bit when you tried to feed him, and he had really bad sinuses and dandruff.

First we gave him mixed veggies to eat during dinner, and opened his door so he could "join us" on top of the cage. We converted him to pellets, and he doesn't produce much dandruff now. That stopped a lot of the feather pulling. He's in a nice cage now, so he can take a bath in one of his extra cups when his skin is dry, too. He has a concrete pedi-perch, a straight perch near his food and water, and a manzita perch to exercise his feet and legs. I keep the concrete perch at the top since it's the one they like to sit on. It stops their skin from drying and cracking. Nobody who smokes smokes inside.

We stopped the "stick" business. I wouldn't like having a stick waived at me, and I decided he deserved some leeway. He stays clipped so he doesn't endanger himself while he can't be held. After a lot of evenings side-by-side and offering him my hand from a reasonable distance, he decided last year to let me pet him. He walks right into his cage when I tell him it's time. He appreciates not being pressured. If he gets scared and bites we say "I'm sorry" and try again. I ignore him if he's bitten for any reason other than fear.

I have a Hahns (mini-) macaw, and they sound just like a conure. They're sassy too. I give her 8 hours while we sleep and a five hour covered nap in the afternoon, instead of 13 hours at night. It really recharges her sweetheart batteries. Little birds like that just overload on too much touch and excitement. While we're not one-on-one, she has her toys and radio, and she learns to entertain herself. Nothing will ever stop the call from being loud, but that cuts it down. If the plucking doesn't stop after all that, consult a vet. He could have a skin condition. He may also nip his skin and open it to a lethal infection. A member of my favorite bird board lost her Timneh to that a few months ago, and he wasn't even a plucker! He just got a cut, got an infection and died one day.

There's a book called the Guide to a Well Behaved Parrot that's full of great taming information. You can stop by the Conure forum here, even if it's just to read. It's a fun place to join and everyone is really cool: http://www.tailfeathersnetwork.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=16

Answer 5

Sounds as if he could have been abused by one of his past owners, and is not used to being in a stable loving home. It will take some time, so you must be patient with him.

Good luck.