Golden Conure... Sexual behavior

I have a Golden Conure that I've had for about a month of previously unknown gender that I have been trying to train to step up on my finger or arm. It rubs it's face on my hand and licks my hand but would not step up. One day it turned around and backed on to the back of my hand as if it was going to sit there... I thought Cool, it's finally going to step up... and then it started rubbing it's bottom left and right on the back of my hand. I was feeling a little violated so I removed my hand, jeeze... I did an internet search and found that the backing up behavior was female sexual behavior. I'm thinking it's a girl, and from now on "it" is "she". One other thing is that "Pollo" now has a little stuffed bear in the cage that she violates twice a day and makes happy bird noises. Since it's probably a female, should I be expecting infertile eggs at some point? LOL... I am not making this up!

I thought I'd point out that my male GGC (DNA tested) likes to sit on his behind.
He has his favorite stick to sit on, which he rests his bottom on like a seat while he preens.

I think shes accepting you as her mate, this could cause behavior problems. you have to discourage this. remove the bear from her cage, the bear is encouraging her behavior. when she rubs your hand just ignore her and walk away. limit her daylight hours, dont stroke her down the back or tail, and feed her less soy, and if she has any happy huts or sleeping tents, take them out of the cage. also dont let her in small dark places like closets, under the couch, shoes, stuff like that. another thing you can do is cut down on baths. the rainy season is when parrots breed because thats when there is optimal food for raising babies. frequent baths stimulates this, and though not that common, can cause breeding behavior. hope i helped, good luck!!! btw ive allways wanted a golden conure, she's beautiful!!!

ann said:

I think shes accepting you as her mate, this could cause behavior problems.

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I knew she was accepting me as her mate but didn't know that could cause behavior problems. Now that you mention it she screeches alot more whenever I leave the room or if she hears my voice but can't see me. I have been covering her cage everytime she screeches and I think it is slowly helping.

ann said:

remove the bear from her cage, the bear is encouraging her behavior.

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Thank you, I did remove the bear this morning and trust me, I haven't let her back-up to my hand after that first time.

ann said:

when she rubs your hand just ignore her and walk away.

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She does also rub her head on my fingers when I scratch her neck through the bars... Is that good or not?

ann said:

limit her daylight hours.

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She is usually up from 9am to 7pm but gets covered, up to 20 times per day for screeching. How much should I limit?

ann said:

if she has any happy huts or sleeping tents, take them out of the cage.

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She doesn't but I was thinking about getting her something like that because her new cage is pretty big and I thought it might be nice to have a place to go that would make her feel more secure. Should I not get her one?

ann said:

another thing you can do is cut down on baths..

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Sorry for all the questions, but your post hit alot of them, I have a bird bath in the bottom of her cage that she is free to use anytime. She isn't very interested in baths though. She put her face in it a few times. That's about it. Should I remove it?

ann said:

hope i helped, good luck!!! btw ive allways wanted a golden conure, she's beautiful!!!

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Yes, you have helped alot, thank you! She has been a great bird except for the screetching for me. We do get about 5 calls a week from bird owners looking for their lost birds but none looking for her. (She was a found bird, but that was another thread, lol.) Thanks so much for all your help!

Covering her for screaming is not really effective, instead, I would suggest either ignoring her or leaving the room. If you have to approach the cage, like covering it, you are giving her what she wants, ie your attention, also I would note that conures can be very noisy so it is unlikely to eliminate it entirely. I am glad that you are working so diligently to bond and work with her.

Pollo has two different kind of screeches... One is a "caw! caw! caw!...............caw! caw!.......... caw! caw!" (with little breaks between). Sort of a calling your flock kind of thing and I can and do ignore that one and she will eventually stop. The other one is an ear pierceing "CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW!" continueing until I cover her and then she's quiet. That one I just can't ignore. (for me it's a fight or flight kind of thing)Sometimes when I go to cover her during one of those meltdowns it sounds like she says "Okay, okay, okay okay!"... It's kind of funny. She is making progress though. I have found that keeping her busy is the best way to keep her from screeching. This morning a took a strip of sheet and tied some knots in it and hung it from the top of her cage and she has been busy playing with it. She's been a good girl today so far with just alot of talking and babbleing and some flock calling.

You might try this My Bogart has an ear piercing screech instead of hollering (shut up or covering him I started to whistle a monotone note every time he screeched, he'd screech and I'd whistle on the second day he screeched and then whistled the note I stopped what I was doing and praised him for being so smart and picking up the monotone note. now he hardly ever makes his screech problem solved.
Please post an update on your new bird !