My sun conure suddenly wants to eat people! From sweet heart to killer in an instant

So, one of my favourite things about Lemon is how friendly and social he is. As a matter of fact when people come over (strangers he has never met before even), he will be so curious to check them out. He will do that hang of the edge of my shoulder and flutter his wings thing that tells me he wants to go onto them. He would then go on to preen them or check out their watch or perhaps try to take off a button on their shirt He would accept scratches from anyone and was friendly with everyone. So, strangely enough he just SUDDENLY out of nowhere decided he wanted to eat my niece! I have NEVER seen him lunge or try to bite before until Saturday. Now I know what biting means! I had never experienced that before neither with him nor my budgie (RIP) that I owned for 13 years. Now I don't mean he tried to nip her finger....he was actually hunting her! Frantically rushing from one side of his cage to the other trying to get at her! At first I thought he was happy to see her so I took him out and she went to get him to step up and give him a scratch and then he lunged and hurt the poor thing. She's 5, but she took it like a soldier. He left a good mark on her forearm through her sleeve! Later on in the day, I took him to get his nails trimmed (although I used to do it for my budgie, I'm trying really hard to harness train him and I don't want to chance any kind of loss of trust with toweling etc). Anyways, last time he was there he was so nice with everyone and some customers were petting him and he was his usual sweetheart. This time, he tried to eat a couple of the women who work there! One of them was really good at calming him down and even picked out some pin feathers for him. The other one was finally able to handle him when he fluttered to the ground and she went to get him to step up. I guess being on the floor can get a bird to accept things he normally wouldn't lol. Anyways, he was fine with his family. Me, my wife, and my girls can handle him no problem. However, the next day he was kind of giving warning nips to one of my daughters (not wanting to eat her like my niece). He did grab her finger but didn't bite too hard. She just grabbed his beak and told him to be nice and removed it (I was so proud of her-she is 5 also). Anyways, I was wondering if this sounds like anything anyone else has experienced? Could it be a hormonal thing (he's 8 months)? Maybe he is no longer going to accept "everyone" and just allow handling by certain people? I sure hope not. I also would welcome any advice on how to approach this. Like I said, I had a sweetheart of a budgie who NEVER bit anyone in his 13 years and up until 2 days ago, Lemon had never bit anyone either. He is nippy, yes. Chews on things including fingers when playing, yes. But never went into stealth hunting mode on the attack LOL. Sorry for being so dramatic about him wanting to eat people but it was kinda shocking to see him act this way. Also, sorry for the novel, but I just started typing and my fingers couldn't stop! Thanks in advance for any advice.

Your bird was hatched in 2014? Sounds like Lemon has reached puberty (I believe conures reach it at around a year old) and is experiencing hormones for the first time. Is he a DNA male? Males often get it worse than females when it comes to aggression. It is totally normal for parrots to become "suddenly aggressive" at puberty and there are many things you can do to curb the hormonal surges. Most important would be to make sure he is on a consistent sleep schedule (light/dark) and is either covered at night or put in a dark room to sleep so he does not notice changes in daylight (which trigger the hormones by signaling the beginning of mating season). You should also offer more chewing toys (wood), decrease fruit and up veggie intake (the sugar!) and immediately start bite pressure training. You also need to address the aggression. In many cases, this involves re-training the bird to reinforce bond, socialization and reinforce positive interactions. You should also be implementing consequences for negative behaviors, such as an immediate time out for attacking, biting along with completely ignoring less severe behaviors like masturbation (yes, some birds do) and regurgitation. Do not pet him below the neck, as many areas below the neck are 'sensual' for a bird and may indicate to him you want to be his mate. Also be sure to remove from the cage or prevent him from going when out of the cage any areas that could be perceived as a nest (i.e. happy huts, nest boxes, behind/under furniture, pillow forts ect...).

At the onset of puberty, many birds will have constant hormones for a year or two before it tapers off to a once a year thing (typically in the spring) and becomes much less severe (so long as you take proactive steps now to discourage the negative behaviors). And don't worry, it may sounds cary, but all parrot owners deal with it and once you know what it is and how to deal, it makes it much easier It also may be best to keep him locked up when your niece (or other young children) is around for both the child and the birds safety until you get a handle on it.

I think sun conures are closer to 2 before they reach maturity. I'm guessing your sun is getting possessive of his/her humans.

I'd be careful with your kids. Even the most well behaved bird can have moments of unpredictability.

I agree with Karen. More likely an overbonding issue...

or possibly hard molt moodiness?

Thank you, Kiwibird, the karens, and Birdman666. I will definitely take your suggestions into consideration. I have already told my niece that every time she comes over, she gets to grab a sunflower seed and feed him it Same thing with my girls-although like I said he still is ok with them, but I don't want to risk him suddenly doing the same to them. I will remove his snuggle hut. He already has lots of chew toys and fruits are a treat as I mainly feed veggies and pellets so I think he's ok on the sugar front. One thing I hadn't considered is the springtime extra long days affecting him. Being so far north, in the summer the sun can set close to 10:30 pm so maybe I should start covering his cage at a specified time.
I will also give him extra showers and try to preen his pin feathers for him. He seemed back to his normal self over the past few days and when my niece came over again I didn't notice him trying to get at her so that's good!

Oh and I guess I should ask. If it IS an overbonding issue, is getting others to periodically give him treats the right way to approach it? Is there anything else I should do to curb overbonding? I know to ignore regurgitation. Should I interrupt regurgitation with a clap or movement of the arm, for example? I guess I'm kind of not sure how to get him to accept others and stay friendly with others as he has been thus far.

Thanks for all of the advice!

Very helpful! I am having a similar issue between my green cheek and my mother. I hope your birdie is back to his best behavior soon, just keep trying different things until something works. Good luck.

If they don't get handled by more than just you, then they overbond with you, and resist going to other people.

Teaching him to step up for strangers without biting goes a long way to curb these behaviors.

Having other people interact with them helps.

All three of my conures were out and about birds. So, that's how I curbed this in mine. My two rescue conures were quite evil when I got them.

My little sunnie would actually go to everyone, pretty much all the time. He had all sorts of constant interaction from people, not just me, everyone in the house, including visitors. I was still a favorite, and he'd fly to me, and give me "the greeting" when I got home, but he loved everyone. And he never bit or attacked anyone.

Pair bond birds need extra socialization work.

Thanks! This is very helpful! I will definitely put these suggestions to use!