Green Cheek Conure scared of my hands

Akottic

New member
Aug 27, 2015
6
0
I bought my 5 month old green cheeked conure about 3 days ago (Raised hand fed) and so far he/She seems to already be very comfortable with me and his/her environment. When I open his cage in the morning he comes right out and perches himself on top of his cage. I'll put his little playground right next to his cage so he can climb over to it and play on it (Which he does). The only problem is I would LOVE to handle him and teach him to step up but he is so afraid of my hand. Every time I put my finger by his feet and tell him to step up he just freezes there and stares at my finger. And if I push my finger against his lower abdominal section lightly he'll lightly bite my finger. How do I earn his trust to handle him? He stepped up onto a handler at the pet store I bought him from no problem he even stepped up onto my finger at the store. I can tell he wants to interact with me he'll sit up on his cage look at me and look vary anxious by bobbing his head looking up and down and he'll even fly off and land at my feet (Although he almost immediately walks back to his cage after landing) Any suggestions?? Thanks a lot!
 

WilliamKenyon

New member
Aug 21, 2015
579
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Parrots
Mango: Male cockatiel, Ruby: Female eclectus
Ok so it sound like the bird is not a bad biter, great :D . You should start by feeding him treats such as millet spray. if he likes the treat give him more every few minuets so that he will see that your hand is not a threat. when the bird becomes comfortable with your hand (this may take a day or two) you can then start to try and get him to step up by pressing on his abdomen (like you were before. A way that you might find easier to get him to step up is to hold the treat just behind your finger so that the gcc has more of an incentive to step up. when the bird does this say step up and give him a treat, then put him down and try the trick again and again. eventually he will pick up that when you say step up he needs to "step up". When you get to this point in the training he will probably have built up enough trust to step up multiple times without a treat. i hope this will help you and your bird, good luck. :41: :)
 

Dinosrawr

New member
Aug 15, 2013
1,587
8
Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Parrots
Avery, a GCC born on March 5th, 2013 & Shiko, a blue IRN born on February 25th, 2014
I have a different view than William when it comes to the belly pushing, but I follow more of Barbara Heidenreich's methods so it doesn't ever involve actually physically coercing an animal. I totally agree with the finger and a treat incentive though.

When my mother and sister came to visit me, my IRN was terrified of their hands. So I used BH's approach - grip on to a perch, the cage, or anything that the bird feels comfortable on and simply don't move the hand. Keep the arm level like a perch. Use a treat like millet, and work to bring your conure closer and closer to your "perch" hand. Eventually, you should be able to get your bird to move onto your hand or arm, and at that point is when they get a jackpot of treats instead of just a nibble or two. Eventually your bird is going to realize that being on you isn't going to result in something negative, but instead will be a positive experience.

A lot of it is desensitizing your bird to being on something that moves. Another big part of it is trust (are you SURE you're not going to eat me?!). From there, it's your bird realizing that good things come from being on you (scritches, treats, love, attention!).
 

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