Considering a Blue Crowned Conure

Hi folks,

New to the forum but not to birds. I won't go into my bird history but suffice it to say that I have about 20 years of experience with many different types of birds from the very tiny to the very large and many stories of why I no longer have them in my life.

Currently I am at the end of a painful divorce process and will be moving to my own place on April 30th. I have come across an 8 year old Blue Crowned Conure that I am considering providing a home for. Many years ago I used to have a Patagonian conure who was my pride and joy! Sadly he was stolen from a local petshop where I had boarded him over the Christmas holidays. It was so hearbreaking. We are going to meet him tonight.

So my question is this: My patagonian was incredibly loud. On par with a macaw almost. I did have him in an apartment and had no complaints. However, as I am moving into a rented semi I am concerned about noise levels for my neighbours. I know I can't be evicted because I have a pet (it's the law here) but I also don't want to start off on a bad footing with my neighbours.

Does anyone have a blue crowned? Can you describe to me their noise level say in comparison to other small parrots? If noise levels at "the witching hours of dawn and dusk" are normal for this bird, should I consider something else? How are they personality wise? Everything I'm reading says they're great and this guy already has a fairly large vocabulary. She's re-homing him because she is moving to an apartment that won't allow him she says...but I will find out more tonight.

TIA!
Wendy

I fostered a patty... her name was Cleo. (Cuz of those eyes. Cleopatty... get it?!) Sorry for your loss.

Blue Crowns are Aratinga conures. They do tend to be the loudest of the bunch. Any conure can be a screamer. Training them not to scream generally works, and screaming protocols are posted on this site.

Conures tend to be line of sight screamers anyway, so put them out on a boing or a playstand where they can see you, and the screaming stops.

Blue Crowns are "guardian angel" pair bond birds. Like some of the amazon species (Red Lored's for example) in the wild they watch over the sick and the injured, which means they tend to be really bonded with their people.

They can be halfway decent talkers as well.

I have two of them. The noise level can be....impressive. At times. But a lot of that noise is them in a feedback loop with each other. They sure can raise the roof if they get riled up, though. Alarm calling can be almost painful. In my old apartment, they sent technicians in to test the fire alarms and the guy could not tell if the alarm in my place was sounding. They were freaked out though. Loud noise + stranger = bad combination.

My old lady, Tootsie, is a very reactive bird. Touch a pin feather and it is like you are trying to twist her foot off. Rosco, the younger male, is quieter. I think if he was a solo bird he would be a major talker but probably not a whole lot of squawking. He talks some but does not have a large vocabulary.

While I am home, they generally don't make a whole lot of noise except at around 7:30 in the evening when Rosco starts stirring things up. But I think that they call a lot when I'm not home. Sometimes they are calling when I ride up on my bike and they don't know I'm home yet. The one good thing is that their voices don't penetrate walls as well as some other birds. I can hear my senegal calling from down the street but I can't detect the blue crowns until I get closer.

I attached a video of them getting excited one evening. That is their version of "singing". You can hear that it overwhelmed the camera's microphone. And as quickly as it started, they calmed down and went back to preening each other. Bear in mind, that is two of them sounding off so that didn't help the microphone any.

I have a suggestion for you to gauge how loud your potential companion can be. Ask the owners if he contact calls if they leave the room. If he does, then ask them if everyone can go out of his sight and see if he starts calling. Or if you can, play the video of my birds sounding off. If he hears other blue crowns squawking then most likely he will get excited and sound off too.

They are wonderful birds, though. I love their personalities. I would certainly recommend them.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n82pHloOcx8"]Tootsie and Rosco make noise! - YouTube[/ame]

Birdman666 said:

Blue Crowns are "guardian angel" pair bond birds. Like some of the amazon species (Red Lored's for example) in the wild they watch over the sick and the injured, which means they tend to be really bonded with their people.

Click to expand...

I can really see that in Rosco. He watches what happens in my place and sounds the alarm if my senegal is getting into something he should not. And as I was told by the rescue that I adopted him from, he was bonded with another blue crown. I don't know what happened, but that bird became ill and passed away. The person at the rescue told me that Rosco stayed by the side of the other bird the entire time watching over him/her.

Hey, i don't have a blue crown but i do have a sun which would be considered by most a very loud bird, i find mine very manageable though. His screech can be painful if he's sat on your shoulder and all conures in general have a very high pitched call.

Birdyman hit the nail on the head when he mentioned that conures are prone to "line of sight screaming" or contact calling as opposed to light sensitivity for example my conure will wake up with my partner around 7:30 am but will not start making noise until he hears me coughing or moving around, he has never called at sunrise or sunset but will always start calling to me if i go out the room he's in.

In my experience my conure was noisiest when we first got him, he's been with us for over a year now and while he can have his "naughty days" he has steadily become better behaved over time and is much better at being independant. (sometimes he even let's me leave the room without a fuss... sometimes......) The biggest improvement i noticed in lessening the screaming was when he learned to talk, he responded very well to positive reinforcement when he spoke and ignoring unwanted behaviour while still keeping an eye out for potential triggers. This would be a good tactic for a blue crown as they are known to be one of the only conures with with a good talking ability though this obviously depends on the birds personality.

anyway i hope this helped somehow and i hope your visit with him went well =)

kodimerlyn said:

Hi folks,

New to the forum but not to birds. I won't go into my bird history but suffice it to say that I have about 20 years of experience with many different types of birds from the very tiny to the very large and many stories of why I no longer have them in my life.

Currently I am at the end of a painful divorce process and will be moving to my own place on April 30th. I have come across an 8 year old Blue Crowned Conure that I am considering providing a home for. Many years ago I used to have a Patagonian conure who was my pride and joy! Sadly he was stolen from a local petshop where I had boarded him over the Christmas holidays. It was so hearbreaking. We are going to meet him tonight.

So my question is this: My patagonian was incredibly loud. On par with a macaw almost. I did have him in an apartment and had no complaints. However, as I am moving into a rented semi I am concerned about noise levels for my neighbours. I know I can't be evicted because I have a pet (it's the law here) but I also don't want to start off on a bad footing with my neighbours.

Does anyone have a blue crowned? Can you describe to me their noise level say in comparison to other small parrots? If noise levels at "the witching hours of dawn and dusk" are normal for this bird, should I consider something else? How are they personality wise? Everything I'm reading says they're great and this guy already has a fairly large vocabulary. She's re-homing him because she is moving to an apartment that won't allow him she says...but I will find out more tonight.

TIA!
Wendy

Click to expand...

Hi,

Ahhhh the Blue crowned Conure, ever seen the movie Paulie ??, that was a Blue Crowned. Quite adorable.

My Niece has one that I watch for her and her husband when they travel unexpectedly.

They do a flock calling shrill I call it, and sometimes repeatedly. But I have seen much louder birds. My Zon can wake the dead. The blue crown however sounds like a blender on high speed....weeeeeeee sound.
Since you are moving into an apartment I take it, that can be a problem with a blue crown. They are noisy and can be destructive little buggers as well if you take your eyes off them. They get bored easily. They are like a gerbil on a pot of coffee. Loads of energy....I mean that literally.

But all in all they are not that bad really, they are very intelligent birds, and be pre-pared to play as they love play time and interacting with you.
They are pretty decent in their attitudes as they are not the bitey
nippy kind of parrots as others are, and they are very loveable cuddle bunnies. Though a bit bossy as times and quite frequently want to be the leader of the flock regardless of how big the other birds are.

They need loys of toys as they will chew them to smithereens in time flat.

Hope this helps.

kodimerlyn said:

Sadly he was stolen from a local petshop where I had boarded him over the Christmas holidays.

Click to expand...

Do pet shops really board animals? Was it like a local pet shop?

Sabo said:

kodimerlyn said:

Sadly he was stolen from a local petshop where I had boarded him over the Christmas holidays.

Click to expand...

Do pet shops really board animals? Was it like a local pet shop?

Click to expand...

Not all to my knowledge, however my birds were boarded with an Avian store....They ONLY sell Parrots of just about any species and some rescues as well. But will only board birds that are from that store and have a clear bill of health.

They are so clean in there you could eat off the floor, and every bird for sale has a variety of toys in their cages and the cages are spotlessly cleaned daily. Their food and water is changed frequently to keep it fresh. Birds here are very happy and my birds were very well cared for for 2 weeks when I had to go over seas on a trip.

They charge 12 dollars a day for my birds....and are let out, and cared for.
A former Avian vet bought the store and really has a superb set up with private rooms that have chairs and perches to get to know your prospective bird in private and play and hold it. Very well set up.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! My son and I went to visit and meet him on Friday. He is a very sweet bird and quite accustomed to spending a lot of time alone...read not very well socialized, but not a biter at all. I think this will help in the adjustment period for moving. He was doing the alarm thing when he knew there were strangers in the house but it wasn't really that loud. My patagonian was INCREDIBLY loud...painfully loud. But once he was tamed down he was great.

I think this little Blue Crown is going to be a good addition to my new life. I can work with him on being more socialized and hopefully he will bond with me. He is quite bonded to his current owner which does concern me a bit. She's had him for 8 years, but I think he's been left a lot to his own devices over that time. He is not a destructive chewer and seems to stick with his toys which is good. So because he is accustomed to spending time alone, the adjustment period should go well for him. Although his current cage is far too small, I decided to take it until he's adapted to us. I will then transition him slowly to the large cage that I have for him. So yes, I did put a deposit on him and he will come home on a one month trial on Saturday. Sadly I am moving the week after that so he will have a lot of transitioning to do in that period but this can't be helped so will just do my best to not traumatize him. Off to read more on acclimation if I can find it. It's been some time since I've had to do this!

Thanks again! Wendy

JamesC said:

Birdman666 said:

Blue Crowns are "guardian angel" pair bond birds. Like some of the amazon species (Red Lored's for example) in the wild they watch over the sick and the injured, which means they tend to be really bonded with their people.

Click to expand...

I can really see that in Rosco. He watches what happens in my place and sounds the alarm if my senegal is getting into something he should not. And as I was told by the rescue that I adopted him from, he was bonded with another blue crown. I don't know what happened, but that bird became ill and passed away. The person at the rescue told me that Rosco stayed by the side of the other bird the entire time watching over him/her.

Click to expand...

Yep. It's just what they do. Their brains are hard wired for that...

My red lored (another "guardian angel" species) watches over the entire flock, and mother hens them. Even my greenwing defers to her opinions on things... She is my "flock leader."

I wish you all the best with him. Hopefully he will adjust quickly and take the 2nd move in stride.

Birdman666 said:

I fostered a patty... her name was Cleo. (Cuz of those eyes. Cleopatty... get it?!) Sorry for your loss.

Conures tend to be line of sight screamers anyway, so put them out on a boing or a playstand where they can see you, and the screaming stops.

They can be halfway decent talkers as well.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the condolences...it was twenty or more years ago and I still get sad when I think about him. He was such a great bird.

Can I ask what a boing is!? I HAVE been out of birds for a while!

So far this guy has a pretty good wee vocabulary! So that's nice. I'm confident he will be a great talker after having spent a lot of time with us! Thanks for your post!

Wendy

Curled up rope perch on a wire. You can just hang it on a hanger, hang a couple of favorite toys up with it, and move it from room to room. Makes a great inexpensive portable playstand!

Well I have decided against getting the conure. I've done a bit more research and I am so concerned that my neighbours will be disturbed. The owner says that he does have his dawn and dusk calling episodes and they are quite robust. I feel bad but he's such a sweet bird I know she will find the right home for him...and I need to make sure the bird I get is a good match for my life and family. I have located a 6 year old African Grey. I have always wanted one and I can afford it right now so I'm going to meet her tonight. Thanks so much for all the advice. I think I am making the right decision.