New conure help

So Zack is my newest addition I got from a pet store. He wasn't handled there and was terrified of everyone but I got him anyways as he really seemed to want to interact with Genesis.

Day one I put Zack in a separate cage and worked around the house. By the afternoon I let him out and he seemed interested in everything. I decided to let Genesis in to see how they acted. They immediantly fought but I pulled them away. I waited a bit then let them let them sit near where they could see but not interact and gave both treats. About every ten min or so I let them in closer.

By the second day they were preening each other and other than a few incidences were doing fine. Zack was also perching on my fingers after seeing Genesis doing it.

By the third day, Zack was letting me scratch his head.

By the fourth he let me scratch his wings/underneath them/feet,touch tail.
Its been a good three days from that and although he will even perch on my shoulder and cuddle up to me, he doesn't like it when I hold him. He's okay with his wings being touched but not his back. I'm not sure why? I know it will take a while but I just want to know if there is anything else I can do. No one else seems to be able to answer my question as he lets me touch him up to a point.

saka_sandora said:

By the fourth he let me scratch his wings/underneath them/feet,touch tail.
Its been a good three days from that and although he will even perch on my shoulder and cuddle up to me, he doesn't like it when I hold him. He's okay with his wings being touched but not his back. I'm not sure why? I know it will take a while but I just want to know if there is anything else I can do. No one else seems to be able to answer my question as he lets me touch him up to a point.

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Often, birds that come from breeder facilities get little or no handling before they are shipped to pet stores.....even birds that are designated as hand-raised may not really been held, other than for tube feeding, so just give Zack more time to get used to his surroundings and new flock mates.....

You are actually quite lucky as often the resident bird will feel a new bird is encroaching on its territory and cutting in on its personal time with you.....

As to being on their back, not all parrots like that, it is an unnatural position and leaves the bird vulnerable to attack of its unprotected underbelly.....again, time and patience may bring him around.....I have a sun conure that I rehomed from a friend, that let the better half and one of the girls turn her over & tickle her belly on the 800 mile trip home.....her previous owner told me that Teekee had never done that in the 10 years she had had her, so it is possible with new birds in new surroundings.....

Normally, it takes a while for a bird to get settled in, and then when they do & have their working understanding of their new home, they might try to establish themselves and exhibit a totally different demeanor, testing the waters.....think young child who is being taught the meaning of NO.....

Good luck.....

Some birds just have different boundaries than others, and petting on the back isn't exactly the greatest place to be touching for a bird anyways. When you touch a bird on the back, you're signalling to their hormones that it's time to mount or be mounted, and it may make the bird feel uncomfortable because they don't exactly care for it at that given time. So I would take your time and continue to learn and respect your new bird's boundaries and not push them if it makes him uncomfortable.

Depending on how the bird was raised and handled as a baby.. that is going to have a HUGE impact on how they like to be handled for the rest of their lives. A good comparison is my tiels. One tiel lets me touch her any way I want. Her tail, her back, her neck, her feet anywhere, while another tiel just barely lets my get a head scratch in.
Like the others have said... it will take time and patience. Little by little I'm sure your conure will begin to trust you more and more but he will probably always have some boundaries.

Zack needs more time. Just be patient and don't rush him