Sudden Female Conure Aggression

I rehomed my 10 year old rescue Conure Jake, about a year and a bit ago. When I first got her she was a little bit nippy with hands but would step up and loved a cuddle.

Over the last 2-3 months she has suddenly become aggressive with not just me but everyone, going so far as to not take even a treat from hands and actually preferring to attack fingers. When she's out, she'll ask to come over but as soon as shes near me she'll attack my face.

I took her to the vets concerned that something was internally wrong but after a nice big bill, i was told that she was in fact in perfect health. So i continued to try her out, give her space and take her out for target training which she is now not at all interested in.

I'm at my wits end and hope that someone on this forum can help as to why she's doing this and how to help me and her. I just want my sweet little girl back.

Read this whole thread:
http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/80513-badness-coming.html

No huts/tents/dark spaces...
NO CUDDLES...
No petting anywhere other than the head/neck
No wrapping in blankets or allowing access to nesting materials
Establish a solid wake-up and bed routine (10-12 hours of solid, uninterrupted sleep min)
Provide lots of out of cage time and enrichment
Limit seeds and fruits (encourage veg, pellets and some seed)
Keep warm/mushy foods to a minimum..
Try not to react when bitten IF you do not know the cause. What do you do immediately after she bites/attacks? It is likely reinforcing the behavior.


This could all easily be hormonal (esp given what you said about cuddles...which are no good).

What kind of conure?
It can be very easy to break trust and make them fear hands. Do you live alone, or are their others in the house? I ask because sometimes someone else in the house may be the cause.

I accidentally made my sweet GCC afraid of hands. I had been useing my hands to shoo her away from my other birds she was being a bully to, several times a day. My hands became the enemy, a d she would fly, run to me to bite them. I had to spend time hand feeding her treats, and being very clear, calm and precise in my movements, and talking sweetly to her. You can also put a tiny treat dish in her cage, and walk over say hi, out treat in dish, walk away and repeat often all day long. Until she comes happily to dish and waits for yummy treat, then you can start giving by hand.
Many members here have recommend to past people, to act like this is the first day you brought your parrot home. Start completely over getting to know her. Good luck!;