Adopted a Pair of Conures

Animal · Jun 6, 2010

I adopted a couple of Green Cheek Conures today. They're 10 years old and a breeding pair (but I'm not going to breed them). They were originally owned by someone that just bred them and did not interact with them at all so they're not tame. I'm hoping that I'll be able to tame them.

Here they are in their new (temporary) cage:

greycloud · Jun 6, 2010

Congrats! As long as they are together it will be very difficult to tame them. Even separated it may never happen. If they have been together for so long I don't know if it would be fair to separate them. They are truely bonded to eachother.

parrotqueen · Jun 6, 2010

They are both gorgeous, I love their colors!

Greycloud is right; since they are a bonded pair, it will be much more difficult. It isn't impossible, just more time-consuming and challenging.

Here are a couple of links to help you tame them, I hope they are of use to you. You can also use these strategies for your pair of sun conures.

Taming Birds
How to Tame a Wild Pet Bird | eHow.com

My best wishes for you and your birds!

Animal · Jun 6, 2010

I knew that it would be hard to tame them but I'm still really hoping that I'll be able to. I don't think I'll separate them because it would make me feel really bad.

Thanks for links parrotqueen!

Mel · Jun 6, 2010

Good luck with your beautiful babies. I think you've done a wonderful thing taking them in. Even if you can't tame them as long as they have company and the right food/envirnment they'll be happy so you've done well.

Animal · Jun 6, 2010

I'm going to get their wings clipped in a couple weeks so I can start working with them.

I hope they at least get comfortable around us so that I'll be able to let them walk around on top of their cage so they don't have to be crammed in their cage all the time.

Spiritbird · Jun 7, 2010

Are you taking them to an avain vet for the wing clip? If it is the first clip it may be the way to go. How does one keep a breeding pair of birds from breeding? I am not familiar with any aspect of breeding birds so please do not laugh at my question.

Animal · Jun 7, 2010

Spiritbird said:
Are you taking them to an avain vet for the wing clip? If it is the first clip it may be the way to go. How does one keep a breeding pair of birds from breeding? I am not familiar with any aspect of breeding birds so please do not laugh at my question.

I was going to take them to the same place where we get our cockatiels wings clipped which is a locally owned bird store.

I'm pretty sure I've read that birds won't breed unless they have a nest box or somewhere else to lay their eggs (other than some or all finches).

I made them a bowl of mixed fruits and vegetables that had shredded carrots, broccoli, and sliced apples but they don't seem to want it

. I also bought them a lot of toys

.

GreenCheek · Jun 7, 2010

They're beautiful!

They may not want the mix because they've possibly never had it before. It's pretty tough to get a parrot that has grown up on seed/pellets only to try new things.

Animal · Jun 7, 2010

Every once in a while they'll nibble a little bit of it but they never really take bites of it.

I also figured out how to tell them apart. One of them has one black toenail and the rest are semi clear and the other one only has semi clear toenails.

They also have different personalities.

Spiritbird · Jun 7, 2010

Stand by the cage and eat an apple slice or grape and let them see you doing that several times. It may peak their interest. After the wing clip they can be at the table with you while you eat what you want them to eat. The reason I asked about the vet clipping the wings is because if it is the first time the stress level may be over the roof. Hard to tell.

Animal · Jun 7, 2010

Spiritbird said:
Stand by the cage and eat an apple slice or grape and let them see you doing that several times. It may peak their interest. After the wing clip they can be at the table with you while you eat what you want them to eat. The reason I asked about the vet clipping the wings is because if it is the first time the stress level may be over the roof. Hard to tell.

Well they both started eating the broccoli but I'm not sure if they're the carrots and apple yet so I'll have to try what you recommended. They love to get a peanut out of their bowl and bring it up to their perch and eat it lol.

When they get their wings clipped on Wednesday I'm going to move them to a bigger cage that has more perches.

Spiritbird · Jun 7, 2010

One more response to you and then I will be quiet for a while that is. You mentioned peanuts. Here is a link I put on the forum a while ago before you were here. You may find it interesting and informative: Aspergillus Peanuts and Parrots

Animal · Jun 7, 2010

Spiritbird said:
One more response to you and then I will be quiet for a while that is. You mentioned peanuts. Here is a link I put on the forum a while ago before you were here. You may find it interesting and informative: Aspergillus Peanuts and Parrots

Thanks for posting that article!

The vet is the one that actually gave us a bag of the food they were feeding the birds (because they didn't know I already had food for them) and it had a mixture of seeds and peanuts but I've heard that peanuts are fattening so I have been trying to switch them to the vitamin enriched pellet diet that we feed our cockatiels anyways. I've been adding the pellets to the food that the vet gave us so they can get used to the pellets. I'll be switching them all the way over to the pellets in a few days.

carrie · Jun 17, 2010

If you seperate a bonded pair like that they might kill themselves from starvation because they are so used to being together. So i would talk to the pet shop before doing that.

Adopted a Pair of Conures

Animal

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greycloud

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parrotqueen

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Animal

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Mel

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Animal

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Spiritbird

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Animal

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GreenCheek

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Animal

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Spiritbird

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carrie

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Sun Conure Taming (please answer quickly)

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