tips on bonding with baby sun conure

hi guys..this weekend i brought home a new sun conure from a breeder, the wife told me she was about 4 months old, 3 weeks weaned. her name is mango. she has a nice big cage to run around and climb all over in. i would like some tips from fellow sun owners on how to bond with her...

the breeder and wife told me i should towel her, wrap her up with her head out, just hold her and talk to her while she looks at me from 15mins up to an hour a day, if she flies away or jumps onto the floor im supposed to cover her in the towel for 2 minutes for punishment. i think this sounds like its just going to make her more angry so i have not done this. ive just been talking to her by her cage and opening the door to give her some treats which she takes. she does show some aggression but fluffing feathers on her head and lunging at us, biting the bars. but shes getting better.

she clings to the side of the cage for most of the day. she has a very thick perch the cage came with and rarely stands on it, so im thinking maybe she doesnt like it and needs new ones. she climbs around all of the bars and plays with her toys though. she squaks and chirps, kinda sounds like a goose lol. she has a swing perch in there but hasnt got on it yet, just chews it and swings it around with her beak.

any tips for me on bonding would be much appreciated

Honestly neither approach is more or less "right" but I applaud you the approach you're actually taking! There's a time and place for towelling - sometimes birds need to realize that hands really aren't evil, or faces won't hurt them, etc, and the only way is to actually make them go through it - but for a baby it's not necessary. You're doing the right thing, getting the conure interested in you. My boyfriend got his own Sun conure this weekend and she's a fiesty little thing, but last night we had some progress as she obviously wanted a cracker I was munching on (for her benefit) and offering her bits and pieces of. It won't be overnight, but keep by their side, pique their curiosity and try offering good tidbits. My GCC loved dried papaya bits which she took through the bars; now it's Ritz crackers (which I'm trying to keep her from getting as they're higher in calories but she has my BF wrapped around her finger). It's what got her close to us and to realize hands didn't have to be bad, but it took two weeks before she got to that point.

Keep up with the gentle nudges (metaphorically speaking), let her get interested in you then try to let her see hands aren't the enemy. Spend time with her, even just by sitting her cage next to you as you watch TV, surf the interwebs, etc. As she gets used to you, she'll come to trust you a bit more and that, just maybe, hands don't have to be evil.

When she first lets you touch her, it'll be awesome. These little guys are a hoot, just have fun with these last quiet days you'll likely have with the little darling.

Congratulations on your new baby!

As you can see I'm a fellow Sun Parront lol. Cal took a meagre 4-5 weeks from aviary no contact (she was 3 months old) to literall velcro bird who wants to be with us 24/7.

Anything you would like to know I will try to help with, but it sounds to me like you're just doing fine - especially by disregarding what you were initially told as force will not work with parrots, they need to be in control for the most part initially.

I read everything I could get my hands on (and still do!) before I got Cal and if I could give you any tip with bonding it is this. Listen to your bird. I got so caught up in conflicting advice/do's and don't's that I had to stop and realise it is just the bird who can gauge how you're doing!!!

Talk, talk, talk all the time. Think out loud! Read to Mango, use lots of upbeat tones, SING (Cal loves it when I sing, she dances. I don't know why, I'm AWFUL).

It was actually Cal who first touched me with tenderness rather than the other way around. She decided one evening that when she was out of the cage, and I was cleaning inside her cage, she was going to groom my hand before hopping in and going to bed. It was so magical, made me cry and was "the start".

Sunny's are so sociable and nosy that really, it doesn't take long at all.

Another piece of advice I would give you is that if you have a partner, when YOU do something new with the bird and he responds - get your partner to do it also. For example when you move to "step up". Once you can do that without being bitten, allow your partner to.

Otherwise you may end up with a bird bonded to one person (very common) where as sun's and most conure's are great at bonding with multiple people. Cal loves the oddest people too....*tut* lol. My husband was a bit downhearted that it took her longer to voluntarily come to him and I can't imagine how he'd feel if she never did at all. Now she will do anything with either of us.

Best of luck and we can't wait for pictures!

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot to add about the perches! Cal rarely uses hers except to eat or dance. She will only sit on them if it is the best position to see something of interest from and to snooze in the day. The rest of the time she's hanging upside down from the roof, climbing on her toys or requesting her cozy hut. They are so active and nosy that even when they first arrive they are positioning themselves to be able to view everything of interest - even when nervous! In saying that she DOES love her natural branch perch....where did I put that again? Oh YES, that's right! The middle of the livingroom

i think shes doing just fine with getting used to us, which is very uplifting. she lets us get closer to the cage now and doesnt lunge as often, only if our fingers are very close lol. shes been chriping and today she screamed next to us lol which caught us off guard lol but otherwise when im looking at her its not loud to me.

we left to go to the petstore and pick up one of the kids from school and she was screaming out for us to come back lol, very adorable. we got some shredding toys and an edible perch which shes on right now. i was trying to get her to come out of the cage on a perch but she doesnt want to quite yet. she'll get there before i do finger training. i can get mango to eat millet from our hands, and she does it well with me and even the kids, but my husband hadnt done it yet so i made sure to make him come over and do it, cuz i dont want her to be aggressive toward anyone else if she thinks of me as her territory we definately want her to be a funny family friend.

i sit by her cage often and talk to her, or just watch tv or surf my laptop. shes already a little clown, even if she wont let us play yet. she hopped out of her cage today when we had it open to talk to her and i didnt know what do lol i didnt want to towel her to get her back in so i took her ladder from the cage and had her climb on it and she went right back in. i think she was surprised she got out and was like uh oh.

everytime mango squawks, my budgie in the other room does her flock call lol. i hope they can be friends after quarantine time. ive had my budgie peeps for almost a month, and shes not finger trained yet but is perch trained.

It's funny that you mentioned she doesn't really sit on perches because it reminded me of my sunny when I first brought him home. He would sleep in the top corner of the cage and had each foot holding on to a different side. I can't imagine that would be comfortable. I'm glad to hear that you are already making progress! I am relieved that you decided not to use a towel. She should never be punished for being frightened. I would keep the door open when you are in the room doing stuff and she'll come out on her own and try practicing the "step up" command while she is on top of her cage. Using a perch to begin with might make her feel a little more comfortable. What ever you do, never reach in to a birds cage and grab it to take it out. Forcing a bird to do something will only makes things worse. You seem like you are following your instincts and doing the right thing. Good luck with her. She is going to be so much fun!

the 2nd day i did try to take her out with the towel, because my husband thinks just because the breeder said to do it makes it right, and i keep trying to tell him no it doesnt work that way lol. needless to say, that did not work, and i left her alone, and im not gonna try that again. if she wants to come out she can come on her own. i just hope ill be able to get her back in there lol. shes clipped and she cant even jump of the ground more than a couple inches, the breeder clipped her pretty far and a lot of the flights. now since she has the new perch shes been up there most of today because its up taller for her, so she wont have to cling on the cage anymore to sleep. after we gave her a little alone time today to take a nap, she hasnt been very active. once my laptop is charged again i will sit with her.

Crazy4Birds said:

when I first brought him home. He would sleep in the top corner of the cage and had each foot holding on to a different side.

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My Iago did the same thing! He still doesn't like swings or less than perfectly stable perches though, haha

jonsbabykake said:

the breeder and wife told me i should towel her, wrap her up with her head out, just hold her and talk to her while she looks at me from 15mins up to an hour a day, if she flies away or jumps onto the floor im supposed to cover her in the towel for 2 minutes for punishment. i think this sounds like its just going to make her more angry so i have not done this. ive just been talking to her by her cage and opening the door to give her some treats which she takes. she does show some aggression but fluffing feathers on her head and lunging at us, biting the bars. but shes getting better.

Click to expand...

Hi there, congrats on your new bird. Honestly I don't have much faith in your breeder. It sounds like your natural instincts are far, far better than your breeder's 'experience'.

Besides, any bird that was bred in captivity by a breeder should be more than tame enough to handle already.

Toweling should only ever be used if you need to handle the bird in an emergency, usually for veterinary procedures. It is traumatic for the bird and in no way helps to 'bond' the bird to you.

Just sitting close to the cage and talking to her as you are is an excellent first step. Conures are incredibly social and need large amounts of attention and company.

Never 'punish' the bird for stuff it does, including biting. Birds don't work that way. Gentle positive re-enforcement is the way to go.

Consider feeding the bird by hand as much as possible. Hopefully you're offering a balanced diet of fresh fruit, veggies some seeds and some form of pellet. Sit and feed the veggies to the bird bit by bit. Nothing bonds birds to you faster than food. Once recognized as the purveyor of all things tasty you will soon be adored.

Recognize that the bird's cage is its territory and its only real safe space. Don't invade it with your hands if the bird puffs up and strikes at you. Dragging it out of the cage with a towel is even worse and should only ever be done in an emergency.

When the bird gets more used to you, you can sit with the door open and your hand in the doorway of the cage. As the bird relaxes and gets curious it will come over and investigate your hand, possibly even allowing you to touch it.

Lastly, Conures nest in holes in trees. They're used to dark little hidey holes to cuddle up in. They need something like a birdie hut, small cardboard or wooden box or something in their cage they can hide in when they're feeling insecure. Making sure your bird has something like this will go a long way to making it feel secure and thus be able to approach you when it wants.

If your bird hides in its box/hut/hidey hole that's fine. Just leave it be and it will come out to investigate.

Lastly a note on toweling: (Catching the bird by wrapping it in a towel)
As mentioned before, only ever do this in an emergency, for example if a vet needs to examine or medicate the bird. Some experts have mentioned that in order to stop the bird from blaming YOU for toweling it (and it WILL blame you if you do it wrong) you should never let the bird see your hands holding the towel. If the bird only ever sees the towel and not your hands, the towel remains the enemy and you are still the glorious purveyor of tasty treats.

Absolute best wishes to you. You sound like great folks who really care about your bird.

she only lunges at us when were outside of the cage, she never does it if i have to put my hand inside to hang up a toy or something, unless im touching her favorite toy lol thats the exception. its generally at evening time when she does this, she doesnt want to be talked to or messed with cuz shes ready to go to bed by 6pm. in the morning shes hyper and ready to play around, squawking loudly as our alarm at 730am. we leave the cage open during this time incase she wants to come out. yesterday she would jump out and get stuck in the corner the 2 couches make infront of her cage, but to get her out we took her ladder out and she climbed back up that to get up. shes a very fun bird. my husband isnt too fond of her squawkings but since im partially deaf from years of blaring music from my earbuds, it doesnt bother me too much the kids are annoyed by it too lol but their hearing is of course at its peak.

Yeah, sun conures are known for being a tad loud. Usually though they're only noisy when they want attention and they're feeling lonely. It's a flock thing. From what I understand when they feel like they're separated from their flock they start yelling so the others can answer and they can find them. When she starts to view you and your family as her flock she'll likely only yell when she's alone and wondering where you are.

And yeah, I know bedtime crankiness. I used to have a love bird that was awesome, but man, after 6pm any finger going in his cage is going to get lost. It was more like he got disoriented as it got dark and wasn't sure who it was coming into his domain. He slept in a tissue box inside his cage and even though he was the most gentle, cute bird ever, the quickest way to lose blood was to put your finger in his box when he was sleeping.

My sun conure tends to crawl into my shirt and go to sleep (usually on his back in the palm of my hand) at bedtime. I then gently put him into his blanket in the cage and he falls asleep till the next day like that. If I don't let him fall asleep in my hand or under my shirt he just sits in his cage and complains, won't go to sleep, even if the room is dark.

ahhahahahaha...."the sunny scream!" yeeeesss....

I will be upfront and say to you that you need to sort this out now because even though you can't hear it as sharply as the rest of your family, there will come a time where someone in your household or street (I wish this was an exaggeration - it is not!) gets fed up of listening to it.

I posted on a similar query here http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/7085-iago.html which may be helpful to you.

It's not terribly in depth but it will give you a jist. I'm not saying my "shouty method" is set in stone or the only way to do it, but I can't stress to you how important it is to find a routine with nipping this in the bud and ensuring ALL the family abide to it.

We are only human, and sooner or later someone will yell SHUT UP at the top of their lungs and perhaps even worse, throw something like a cushion at the birds cage. I'm not suggesting any of your family are evil or mean or ANYTHING like that, but can you vouch for visitors or even know how loved ones would predict after hearing it day in day out for months on end?

Additionally, teaching such a method IE: I will return, don't panic/here I am, strenghens the bond between you and your bird. They are reassured and know you will return and that you've made the big effort to come inside their world by recognising how fiercely important it is that they know where all of their flock is.

This will help in years to come where there are hormonal changes and the screaming can hit fever pitch. Cal screamed for 2 days almost solid when she started her first moult last month(that's right, that thing that EVERY bird does once a year at least) and nothing but a spray of a water bottle would placate her. I firmly believe that if we had not taught her no shout that it could still be going on now as she's still moulting.

So many suns are rehomed within the first 2-3yrs because people cannot cope with the noise. I think it's our responsibility as sunny owners to ensure this does not happen with our babies.

Good luck!

thank you for the advice. she was screaming the most today, just a couple beeps in the morning but she was mostly having a fit when we were just sitting next to her. i couldnt tell if she was happy or mad lol but i think she was probably just hyper and letting us know. when she does it a little too much i make a "pshh" sound and it catches her off gaurd and she stops, atleast until something else excites her lol.

shes been adjusting greatly. only the grumpy lunging at evening..when she starts this i turn off all the lights and we leave her be. shes been drinking normally and on her own now, no more dropper. she hasnt yet tried to take a bath in it but i bet it wont be too much longer for that.

shes also only been eating a only couple nibbles for the passed few days, and doesnt use her feet to eat the bigger items. today we left the door open all day except when we leave, and sit by her and talk to her while we watch tv or play games, and she came down from her safe perch and actually sat and ate for quite a while, and took some bigger pieces to her safe perch and used her feet to help hold those. i was so proud and took pictures ive been trying to get her to use her feet for a while but shes still weary of me giving treats to her by hand still.

she likes her rainbow popcicle stick hanging toy and is shredding it nicely. her string of shredding wood she hasnt touched yet though. she came out of her cage on her own the other day but hasnt in about 2 days. still trying to perch train her to get her to come out that way. she steps on for a bit but doesnt like to be moved yet so were making progress.

She looks so happy!

She sounds like she's settling in really well which is lovely!

Is the eating little been going on for a while....? How is the drinking?

Have you taken her for an avian vet check yet?

Eating just a little since i got her on sunday. No avain check yet need to call around. also gonna see if I can get pet insurance for a bird lol. And drinking on her own regularly now. She probably was before but maybe I never saw. Now she eats and drinks front of us with the door open.

I'm no expert but I would advise an AV trip for sure.

I only have hands on experience with my sun, but she ate like a trooper from go. What is she being fed on? Changed anything?

shes eating whatever the breeder was giving her. i took some food from him with me because thats wut she has been fed on since she was weaned. its just a baggie with food i have no idea what brand it is or anything, but it has seeds and pellets in it, and she eats both well. today my husband said shes been eating pretty much all day long today and shes eating right now as i type this. been at it for a good 10 minutes. i got her a brand of pellets (?) called laferber's nutriberries that i might convert her to. shes munching on one right now for the first time. usually i give one to her and she drops them lol so i thinkin she likes it. its supposed to be complete diet, 80% of it is the pellets and 20% fresh food. its not too expensive either. same price as kaytee or any others. i only put 2 pellets in her bowl today (theyre big nuggets), other then that ive givin her fresh veggies once to see how she liked them, so no major changes to diet.

She's gorgeous <3

SO glad she's troughing (I think it's a bit of a sun trait hence the worry I felt!)!

Hi I'm new and I've been looking threw old posts and I'm fairly certain that we both got a sun conure from the same breeder. I know where we got him but I did not get to meet the breeder, but my parents were given the same advice to towel the bird and ect. I'm not sure if we're allowed to say negative things about breeders or mention their names?

i got mine in tucson from a homebased business called arizona parrots. i got to meet the breeder directly, and his wife was also there. she is ukrainian. she was very nice, but i am not fond of him as he doesnt seem to really know his stuff. his method is more of breaking the birds like u would a dog, and none of his birds were hand tame, despite all being hand fed. the only reason i didnt just walk out on the guy was because how poorly he was treating the bird i was going to get and even my husband felt bad for her. there were 3 suns out in the open infront of the house that were in a tiny dirty cage, but the birds themselves looked ok, but 2 of them pulled out their tail feathers. in his exact words he told me "oh dont worry bout their tails, if u want them to grow back in u just pluck their wing feathers" i was like mmm i dont think so lol. but anyway, he didnt want me to have one of those birds cuz they were older and he wanted to get me a baby to make it easier to tame. he went into the house and didnt come back out for about 20 mins. he went and got a "younger" bird from out back where i couldnt observe the living conditions..and the first thing he does is "give me a lesson in wing clipping" and cuts off her flight feathers veryyyy short, even the secondaries. it wasnt even nicely done too, pretty uneven and careless. then he proceeded to "teach me" how to towel the bird. if she bites put the towel over her head for 2 minutes..or if she jumped down to throw the towel ontop of her for 2 minutes for "punishment"...anyway, ill prob never go to this breeder ever again. sure the website looks nice but its really not when u get there. a mother and her daughter were there also getting a cockatiel, and he did the same thing with me which was go off and pick a random bird, come back and cut off all the feathers, but the mother was like um excuse me but wut if i wanted to pick out my own bird? and that made him a bit ticked off. he even told me that my sun would fit well in a cage that was for a cockatiel but i made sure i got her a nice big cage and he said it was going to be the taj majal for her. they also told me my sun was 4 months old, but she lacked ANY green body feathers u associate with baby suns. she has the coloration more of a 1 yr old sun. so unless hes bred out that gene successfully, they lied to me about her age. my sun has some people issues, and im sure its because of the way she was treated by this guy, but im hoping in a few more months we will be ok