Very grumpy Conure!

Hi all! I'm brand new here, so it's really really great to meet you all! I hope I make lots of friends and get loads of advice here.

First of all, about three weeks ago I adopted a conure from a family who couldn't keep him. He's had loads of attention from us, we're always talking to him and giving him fresh fruit, something he never seemed to have before. He gets plenty of sunlight and we're training him to step up. He's usually really tame, even laying on his back in my hand and being all cute and snuggly (then nibbling us to the point of biting, but we're getting there)

Today though, he's very VERY grumpy. We can't even get near him. He's drawn blood on both me and my boyfriend, and for the last week he's been having grumpy and violent days and soppy cute days. He's moulting at the moment and has lots of pin feathers, which we're trying to soothe by scratching and bathing.

What can we do to help him through this? Will he always be grumpy like this? Because when he's sweet, he is so cute, but when he's like this I feel so sad for him.

Hope you all have some ideas!

Delfin gave you some good advice.

It could be hormones causing it, or it could just be because he's molting, or maybe a combination of both.

How old is he?

Target training could also help.

Bathing daily and a good diet should help with a molt. Molting normally lasts a few months.

If he is hormonal, decrease the amount of daylight, don't allow him to find any dark places and don't touch him anywhere apart from his head.

Is he DNA sexed?

Thank you, I'll definitely be doing that. He's in a very calm mood this morning, very quiet. He's had a morning snuggle and he's flapping around the room quite happily (his wings aren't clipped yet).

He seems to like being petted on the neck in a way that goes against his feathers at the moment.

He's a year and a half old, and to be honest we still have to have him sexed. Since I'm a full time student and my partner works full time, we just haven't had the chance yet.

I'm a little confused by Frumpydumple's response- decrease his daylight but don't allow him to find any dark places? Why is this?

I'm a first time bird owner, so this is all new to me. Thanks for your responses!

A year old could easily mean he is hitting maturity.

And dark places encourage nesting behavior in birds. And also if your bird is actually female, it could lay eggs, leading to more problems. If they are allowed to go in dark spaces, they can get aggressive, decide on a nesting place and protect their nest.

Since the weather is getting warmer and spring is starting, it is breeding season for parrots and having less daylight can help simulate winter, so putting him to bed early could help to discourage hormonal behavior.

I think it sounds like a combination of maturity and molting.

I used to have a male Green Cheek Conure that matured at only 6 months old and he was molting at the same time. He bit constantly and wouldn't let go when he did bite. He also wanted to mate with my female GCC and she was 3 years old at the time. He was acting the same way your bird is. One minute I would be scratching his head and the next minute, he was latched on to my hand and wouldn't let go. My female GCC matured at one year old, she went for being nice to being mean often too.

But anyway, I'm pretty sure your bird is just maturing. I think you should get him DNA sexed as there's a chance he might be female.