Starting from scratch...

So I mentioned before i have had Jax, my sun for about 4 months now. He is very cage aggressive/ cage bound. I clipped his wings and tried to work with him having him step up when he is on top of his cage and bringing him around the house with me. It has made him much more aggressive and he seems to dread when i walk by his cage.
I think i am going to start over buidling trust and leaving him alone aside from treats and talking to him. Try to be more aware of the pace he is setting.
He will come to the cage door for treats and take them from me (he couldnt get enough mango yesteraday) , so he isnt too bad off i guess. and when i talk to him from across the room he does the neck stretch/ tilt. I'm sure he will come around some day.
I think i am going to go out today and get him some cage top toys too now that he will get on top for a few minutes a day.
Wish me luck!

Good luck! I think it is a good idea to step back a bit and let him set the pace.

Maybe a table top play gym would make him happy. You could start with it on top of the cage, then next to the cage, and eventually he may be happy with it wherever you put it. Conures seem to be very toy oriented, so the more stuff you can put on it for him to do, the better.

I wish you luck, better to start off again... a clean slate so to speak
So lets begin again ......

[FONT=&quot]To gain your trust could take days, weeks, months even years. Each and every bird is so different. He obviously feels a comfort zone is his cage.
Sit near the cage, talking and singing to the bird. Let him become familiar with your voice. Leaving the cage door open, offer him treats through the bars at first. When he willingly accepts them, try placing a treat near the open door. Eventually he will starts taking the treats from the door, make no attempt to touch him. When he does come out, he will probably climb around on the cage. Let him explore in his own time. To get him back in, place a treat inside the cage, making sure it's visible.
Remember: baby steps go a lot further in a life time
Good luck

[/FONT]

Thank you both. Just got home with some cage top toys and a gym for the top. It really seems to bother him but im sure thats normal. i just dont expect him to come out for a few days. i did add some dry treats to the gym though so when he does get up there he will notice them!

I would get him away from his cage, if he is cage aggressive- he should be more willing to step up and train if you have a stand that is shorter than you~ good luck!

I am in the same position as you. I just got my Blue fronted Amazon in January. His last owner warned me that he is very hormonal and cage possessive.

Even so, I let him come out on his own at least twice a day. He will strike at me and try to scare me off any time I need to change his food or water bowls. I do it from the outside thanks to swinging doors but he still tries to get at me. lol

Despite his territorial nature, he does step up for me every now and then, but I let him decide if he wants to or not. I offer my hand and if he fluffs the feathers on the back of his neck, pins his eyes and flares his tail feathers, I just leave him be. I'm trying the slow and steady game just like you.

We'll have to keep in touch and see how we progress. Don't give up. I remember my last Quaker took a good 7 months before he started to bond with me.

triordan:
i was so torn on how to approach it. i started with suffering through the hand mauling and getting him into a small quiet room to train. He is great outside of his cage although he has an attitude like he would rather not be around me. But when i would go for another session he just got progressively more aggressive to the point where nibbles became bruises and now he is breaking skin. I thought maybe with letting him do it his way it might be better, but im also worried it will make him even more set in his ways....

KellyH:
definitley, i'm hoping it will be something wonderful to look back on thinking how far he came.
Jax is already 6 yrs old and use to life in a cage from his last home. i know this is going to be a long process...

Don't feel bad Holly, my FeeBee is 14 and I am his 4th home.

I know exactly how frustrated you are feeling right now. FeeBee is the same. When/if you can get him away from his cage, he's just a delight. But the question is - do you force him away from it or wait for him to ask? I'm worried that if I always wait for him to ask, he may decide to ask less and less and just be satisfied with playing in or on his cage.

I've got some training DVD's from Barbara Heidenrich's Good Bird Inc. website coming so maybe those will help. I'll let you know.

It is nice to know im not the only one that is clueless on how to take this. I hope you find improvement soon as well! But yes that is the exact same way i am thinking! The possibility of him just staying happy in his cage, or the worry that pushing is making him more fearful. Jax is fine outside of his cage too and would even prefer to be on my shoulder then on a window ledge or dresser.
so what do you do!
Please let me know if the videos help at all. I got in touch with a parrot rescue in my area and im waiting to get a call back from her for some advice as well!
So happy i found this site, it is very helpful and reassuring!

What I did with Pete, was open the door to let him out. He immediately went to the top of the cage and didn't want to step up for me. I sat on the floor, and he came down the side to see what I was doing. I offered my hand, and back up he went. We repeated this for awhile, but then he finally got on my hand. Once he did he decided he wanted to snuggle against my shirt, so I let him do that for awhile, but I didn't try to pet him. The next day we repeated this entire scenario, but he let me pet him and he really enjoyed it. Every once in awhile he still goes to the top of the cage, but as soon as I sit on the floor he comes to me. But, I also let him stay up there for awhile now just to hang out. Then we have our cuddle/pet time and then I can put him on his play gym for exercise and toys to play with.

holly6386 said:

So I mentioned before i have had Jax, my sun for about 4 months now. He is very cage aggressive/ cage bound. I clipped his wings and tried to work with him having him step up when he is on top of his cage and bringing him around the house with me. It has made him much more aggressive and he seems to dread when i walk by his cage.
I think i am going to start over buidling trust and leaving him alone aside from treats and talking to him. Try to be more aware of the pace he is setting.
He will come to the cage door for treats and take them from me (he couldnt get enough mango yesteraday) , so he isnt too bad off i guess. and when i talk to him from across the room he does the neck stretch/ tilt. I'm sure he will come around some day.
I think i am going to go out today and get him some cage top toys too now that he will get on top for a few minutes a day.
Wish me luck!

Click to expand...

As you have already been given some great advice I will just post this link it will help to understand why your little guy is cage aggressive.

Site Name - Articles - Behavioral - The Importance of The Cage Territory

holly6386 said:

triordan:
i was so torn on how to approach it. i started with suffering through the hand mauling and getting him into a small quiet room to train. He is great outside of his cage although he has an attitude like he would rather not be around me. But when i would go for another session he just got progressively more aggressive to the point where nibbles became bruises and now he is breaking skin. I thought maybe with letting him do it his way it might be better, but im also worried it will make him even more set in his ways....

Click to expand...

It sounds like he will step up, is that correct? Or does he only do it when he wants to? This is something I too have been working on with my bird~ I went and saw the Bird Whisperer, jesse james, at the pet expo last month and he said that it was important to have them step up when you want them to....I was thinking the same thing as you, let him do it on his own, but after 18 months of having him, it wasnt working, so I have been getting him on his playstand, luring him with a treat and having him step up when asked...if he wont do it on his own I use a stick to make him do it and it has been helping...now if i could get him to do it from his cage...but we are still working on it ...good luck!

Thanks for the link pedro!

He steps up the first time every time when he isnt in view of his cage. If he is, his little neck is stretching and bobbing trying to find a way to get to it and he doesnt care what you say or do.
Inside the cage is a different story. after giving a few very good bites he will step up but then he will hop off immediatley. the only way to get him out of the cage is to put your free hand on his back as soon as he steps up.

Oh, another one I found with Pete is that he is more likely to step down than to step up. So once I figured that out, I was lot more likely to get him on my hand in one try. I don't know if this is how he was taught, or if it's just his natural inclination. So it is better for my hand to be under him than in front of him. Merlin does this sometimes, too. She will step up, and then the next time she wants to step down. I have to figure it out by what she is doing with her feet.

Maybe Jax is like this, too. You might try it and see if he will step down to your hand.

If you sit on the floor and talk to him or sing to him, does he climb down the cage to be closer to you? I think with a shy bird, sitting on the floor relaxes them. Pete isn't the only bird I've done that with. I did it a lot as well with my Blue Crown when she first came home from the breeder. Pete isn't actually shy, but he was bonded to his owner of 28 years and it wasn't his idea to be uprooted from his life to come live with me. But, it still helps when he isn't being cooperative because his curiosity always gets the best of him, and he has to come see what I'm doing down there. And it helps with his wanting to "step down" as well.

I will try "step down" tomorrow. He went to sleep for the night and i dont dare wake him.
i have never tried that one with him so i have no idea if that is something he even knows. He has no interest in me at all. sitting on the floor means i am a safe distance away from him so he is happy. The only time he will willingly come to me is if i put him down somewhere like a dresser or on the window. but other then that the farther the better. He came from a breeder who kept him because he had a birth defect. i cant remember the name but his foot didnt work. his sister cant fly and her legs are completely crippled. But they did a lot of pt on him and his leg is fine now other then his middle toe sticks straight out when he is perching. He seems to have a bit of trouble when it comes to conure antics. he cant hang from it but it doesnt stop him.
Anyways they did a lot of rehab for his foot and then just left him in his cage since he was sterile and couldnt breed. His outside of the cage time was rare since they were busy socializing the babies and when he did have it it was in a room just interacting with other conures.They sold off all of their conures when they wanted to travel. i seen Jax in the far back in a small cage, i fell in love and he has yet to feel the same.

I've had a few cage aggressive birds... What I did was target training... They will bite the target stick, because it invades their space, and then you immediate click and treat... Eventually the bird will go for the target stick anywhere in the cage, and then you can start targeting him up on a handheld perch (which is not a frightening as hands)..

You'd need to look up clicker training for birds for this...

i looked into the clicker training, that is a really neat approach. thank you. i have a clicker here that i use for my dogs too!

Roxynoodle: he just wasnt interested in me no matter how long i sat with him since i preferred going the slow route. so i tried what i read in the article mixed with some info the bird rescue woman gave me. so far so good.. He doesnt seem to know step down though, i know nudging above the legs prompts step up. what do you do to teach step down?

he knows step up perfectly outside of his cage so we started doing it in his cage i gave him a piece of apple after each success then let him get off to eat it. After the first few times of being bit he seemed to catch on. so we are doing that now.
and it was such a beautiful day outside i couldnt resist getting him out for some fresh air. So i got him out of the cage with the step up and treat. we went out and he sat nicely on my shoulder (hiswings are very clipped now so he isnt going anywhere). He even sat farther from my head for a bit to squak and look at me, and he was even nice enough to groom my hair. He also had some fun screaming back at the birds outside. After we went in i put him back in his cage and tried the step up with treat again worrying that it may have set him back some, but he did great. i didnt let him see the treat and still no bites, just a perfect step up. Im really excited i may have found a way to get him to open up!

thanks so much everyone for all your help! This forum has been wonderful and i look foreward to updating everyone on how it is going! Please forgive me though if i do still need helpand ask questions, he is my first bird and i want to do this right!

Holly you'll get there, it's just time & it's not alway's easy working with an adult bird from previous homes. What your doing seems to be working, give yourself 6 to 12 months. Jax just has to get used to everything new & different in his life.

I was given an alexandrine last week & his noise first thing in the morning is driving me nuts. LOL. He doesn't like being handled at all. Not sure how i will approach it yet, I am just letting him settle in for now.

I'm not really sure how to teach step down. Pete spent 28.5 years in another home before I adopted him. But, I kept offering my hand and he wouldn't get on (I had never met a bird before that steps down instead of up). But when I put it under him, he got on. And he's been doing that ever since, so I think he was trained to do it that way. So I suggested it in case Jax was also that way. If I put my hand above his feet, like you normally would, he doesn't seem to know what to do. I've also had him step into the tray in his cage while cleaning his grate. Then I go to put the grate back and he has all kinds of trouble just stepping up that inch or so to get back on the grate. It's like he doesn't get it. He can step down just fine, but up is confusing to him. And Merlin keeps going back and forth on me. First she steps up, then she wants to step down. Merlin was also in another home for 21 years and I just recently adopted her.

My conure pretty much always steps up, but that is what I taught her. It's supposed to be more natural for birds to want to go up as they step from one thing to another.