Loves half the family, actively hunts other half

My 1 year old Conure Loki came home with us in September. For some reason, he has chosen me as his "mate", which is unfortunate because I am home only for maybe half hour a day. He tolerates being handled by my 12 year old son, who is home after school, and likes to cuddle.

He has always been nervous around my 9 year old daughter, which I understand as she is excitable and twitchy. He used to enjoy my wife too, until one day he started biting her hard.

It's gotten so bad that Loki will actively try to attack wife or daughter if they are near enough. While he looks for ways to get to me for comfort, he looks for ways to get to them in order to attack.

They still like him, and he is adorable, and the wife constantly tries to talk with him and give him fruit and treats throughout the day, but he will avoid the treat in order to take a piece out of her finger.

How do we get him to realize that they are not a threat? I really don't like having a pet that half of the family is terrified of.

Your wife and daughter may be able to handle Loki if you and your son are nowhere to be seen. What happens if they give him attention when no one else is around? Your wife may have to take over cage cleaning and feeding.

Unfortunately some birds do choose certain people and dislike others. My BCC hated my ex fiance even though he gave her all her treats all day. Thankfully though she wasn't aggressive enough to actually fly over and attack him. She just threatened whenever he walked past her. It really hurt his feelings, but there wasn't much I could do. I think it would have helped though if he had answered her when she spoke to him, and if he had done other things she really liked like sing to her.

When a bird bonds to one person, they can be aggressive towards others and jealous of attention other people receive. You need to distance yourself from him and have others in the family be the ones to give him attention. It may take quite some time, especially if he is a regimes bird. My parents BCC hated my dad for the first 2years they had him, and only bonded to my mom. But, my dad was persistant and now he loves my dad just as much and is less territorial with my mom. Patience pays off, but its not always easy. There are many good books about training and bonding with birds. Its all about the time and effort you put in.

Yes, my BCC was not the least bit assertive. I do feel if my ex had paid more attention to her, it would have helped. She was used to being answered when she spoke, and he would ignore her and keep watching TV. So her "Hi"s, "Hellos", and "Whatcha doin?"s went unanswered by him. I think he felt like she should act like a dog, and just sit there quietly next to him or something. He wasn't much interesting in talking to or otherwise interacting with a bird the way birds like.

It would probably help if your wife and daughter did a lot of things Loki really likes with him. If he likes music, they could sing and dance for him. They could play other silly games like peak a boo. They could try wearing bird toys pinned to their shirts.