Grieving Conure? (Advice Please!)

Hello there,
My green cheeked recently had a HUGE personality switch and Im seeking advice from anyone who might be able to help or let me know what might be going on! Please read below and if you have any help, please let me know.
Thanks a million for your time and advice!



Recently, I lost one of my two birds, Sunny. She passed from old age in mid June. She was a lovebird who stayed in her own cage but right next to my other bird "baby". While the two didnt get along outside of the cage, with Sunny being very dominate and Baby being bigger than her, they really adored each other. Baby learned some lovebird calls to talk with Sunny, and Sunny did her best to talk to Baby (Who primarily uses English words instead of chirping) Note: I brought Baby home 8 years ago, Sunny was already 10 years old then, so she has always known Sunny since shes been here



I sometimes have to go out of town on weekends for work, when I do, family comes over and house sits for me. Sunny passed away in her sleep one night while I was gone. My mom was there at the time and told me everyone got mad at her (Baby would fly to the farthest part of her cage when she entered the room and both my pups who love the birds refused to go near her the rest of the weekend. Assuming since she took Sunny out of the cage, she was responsible for her dying.) My mom actually got me Sunny almost 20 years ago and she was also very upset.



A few weeks went by. I wasn't ready to get another bird just yet and wasn't sure how baby would handle it. She kept calling for Sunny and would imitate Sunny's normal responses to answer herself back. It was breaking my heart. During the days,Baby and I would just talk and cuddle.



After a little over a month, I was walking through petsmart and came across a sun conure. He had been there for months because he bit people. But he flew straight across his cage to me and just started loving on me when I asked to see him. With Petsmart people happy to see him leaving, he came home with me.



At first, Baby seemed to like him. They werent in the same cage and since he's bigger than a lovebird, he got a new cage that I placed next to her. He instantly fell in love with her. He would dance and shake his tail feathers and do absolutely anything to get her to notice him. He's even learned some words just from her.



However, about a week after I got him, Baby's attitude changed. She now bites me. Only me. If anyone else in the family or friends get her out, shes fine with them. But I get bit as hard as she can. And she blows kisses when she does it. I've made sure to give both the birds attention so no one felt replaced or left out. And for a while she was fine. Now I get bit when I get her out, she sits on one hand and tries to bite the other, and tries to break skin when she needs to go back up.



I'm not sure if this is grieving or if she is mad at me for bringing the new bird home (Whom she has started to like. Not as much as he loves her, but she will talk to him and if he gets scared (from the vacuum for instance, she rushes over to the side of the cage near him and starts to talk the way Sunny used to to calm her down)

What should I do? I dont want Baby to stay mad at me. She still talks to me and wants to get out but when she does, she bites me (Only my hands. My hair still gets groomed and she still cuddles under my chin)
Is she grieving? Is she mad at me? Should I just let her have her space and not get her out for a little bit (which I dont want to do. I let them have at least 30 minutes outside the cage a day). Or should I continue to get her out and just endure the biting? Will this go away?

If anyone knows what might be going on or has experienced something like this before, please let me know what I should do! I miss being able to cuddle with her. It makes me incredibly sad to see the bird who adored me and was always the sweetest, suddenly get so angry with me.

So sorry for your loss. Saying good bye to our animal family membrs is never easiy.

First thing these are birds not people. They need to be treated as birds. People do this with dogs all the time. People try and understand their dog by thinking they are feeling the human emotion. You need to look at it with animal eyes not human eyes.

Yes your bird is sad she lost a friend. Animals can tell when a member is gone that is true for sure. When we put our old pit bull down my other dogs heard his collar when I picked it out and came running looking all over for him. It was so sad. They looked for him for a few days but learned he was gone. It was awful. My dogs were more confused than anything because we had him out down at the vets.

Do you know the sex of the bird did you do the dna test or found eggs? I am dealing with a hormonal conure at the moment and he does what you say yours is doing. When you brought in another bird that is showing off this might have triggered your old bird to feel frisky. If you know what I mean. Or has the way you treat your bird change? Like petting her more or loving her more or feeding her more treats and goodies?

Your birds new nippy behavior has nothing to do with the lose of his friend but everything to do with this new bird. This new bird is making her feel somthing new.

Just work throw it things will get better don't give up don't take it personally. I blame the hormones. Time of the year can trigger hormonal changes but other things can do it too.

Good luck it should get better. Congrats on your new baby bird.

I am so very sorry for the loss of Sunny. It is so hard to lose a beloved family member, skin, feathered, or fur. I have no experience with your problem, but what Snowflake said really made sense to me.

So sorry for your loss. RIP sunny☀️

lovebug said:

Hello there,
My green cheeked recently had a HUGE personality switch and Im seeking advice from anyone who might be able to help or let me know what might be going on! Please read below and if you have any help, please let me know.
Thanks a million for your time and advice!
Recently, I lost one of my two birds, Sunny. She passed from old age in mid June. She was a lovebird who stayed in her own cage but right next to my other bird "baby". While the two didnt get along outside of the cage, with Sunny being very dominate and Baby being bigger than her, they really adored each other. Baby learned some lovebird calls to talk with Sunny, and Sunny did her best to talk to Baby (Who primarily uses English words instead of chirping) Note: I brought Baby home 8 years ago, Sunny was already 10 years old then, so she has always known Sunny since shes been here
I sometimes have to go out of town on weekends for work, when I do, family comes over and house sits for me. Sunny passed away in her sleep one night while I was gone. My mom was there at the time and told me everyone got mad at her (Baby would fly to the farthest part of her cage when she entered the room and both my pups who love the birds refused to go near her the rest of the weekend. Assuming since she took Sunny out of the cage, she was responsible for her dying.) My mom actually got me Sunny almost 20 years ago and she was also very upset.
A few weeks went by. I wasn't ready to get another bird just yet and wasn't sure how baby would handle it. She kept calling for Sunny and would imitate Sunny's normal responses to answer herself back. It was breaking my heart. During the days,Baby and I would just talk and cuddle.
After a little over a month, I was walking through petsmart and came across a sun conure. He had been there for months because he bit people. But he flew straight across his cage to me and just started loving on me when I asked to see him. With Petsmart people happy to see him leaving, he came home with me.
At first, Baby seemed to like him. They werent in the same cage and since he's bigger than a lovebird, he got a new cage that I placed next to her. He instantly fell in love with her. He would dance and shake his tail feathers and do absolutely anything to get her to notice him. He's even learned some words just from her.
However, about a week after I got him, Baby's attitude changed. She now bites me. Only me. If anyone else in the family or friends get her out, shes fine with them. But I get bit as hard as she can. And she blows kisses when she does it. I've made sure to give both the birds attention so no one felt replaced or left out. And for a while she was fine. Now I get bit when I get her out, she sits on one hand and tries to bite the other, and tries to break skin when she needs to go back up.
I'm not sure if this is grieving or if she is mad at me for bringing the new bird home (Whom she has started to like. Not as much as he loves her, but she will talk to him and if he gets scared (from the vacuum for instance, she rushes over to the side of the cage near him and starts to talk the way Sunny used to to calm her down)
What should I do? I dont want Baby to stay mad at me. She still talks to me and wants to get out but when she does, she bites me (Only my hands. My hair still gets groomed and she still cuddles under my chin)
Is she grieving? Is she mad at me? Should I just let her have her space and not get her out for a little bit (which I dont want to do. I let them have at least 30 minutes outside the cage a day). Or should I continue to get her out and just endure the biting? Will this go away?
If anyone knows what might be going on or has experienced something like this before, please let me know what I should do! I miss being able to cuddle with her. It makes me incredibly sad to see the bird who adored me and was always the sweetest, suddenly get so angry with me.

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Hi firstly sorry for the loss of Sunny.
Secondly, I would move their cages apart and give them some space to get used to each other slowly. I feel that the biting could be jealousy so you will need to make sure Baby doesn't feel pushed aside. Remember that Baby came into a home that already contained Sunny, she was the newbie then but she isn't now.
BTW did you consider doing a quarantine period?