Aggressive Conure

Probably not new. My parrot lives with me for about a year. It's been traumatised many, many times, I suspect he had few owners before me. what's more, his partner, my beloved Midori, died few months ago, in an accident. He was very cheap when we bought him in a shop, and they wouldn't tell us why. We didn't think much- Midori was lonely then and who doesn't love green cheeked red bellied bird when they see one? We wanted to give it a good home. First few days were easy- parrot was tamed and used to humans. But then biting began. He just bit- sitting happily on a finger and calmly bowing down and then you're bleeding. He didn't seem as if it was something that bothered him, he wasn't scared, he wasn't angry, he just bit. After he made friends with Midori he stopped caring for us at all. Now he's lonely, but his behaviour hasn't changed much- he just attacks random things. He sees a plastic bottle on a table? Angry noises and trying to bite it. Likes to land on head and try to tear out hair. I'm concerned about his behaviour at night as well. I don't know if he's sleeping in this situations but at night, he makes long, high-pitched noises, sounding a bit like crying.
We have to quackers as well but they don't really like Akai (the parrot i'm talking about). They ignore him more than anything and he doesn't care for them as well. He makes clicking noises a lot, probably imitating our oven a bit. None of my birds live in a cage- they sleep wherever they want and treat kitchen like their home.
I need help with my parrot. We care for him and we want to make friends with him. His head itches because there's no one to groom him and he just seems so lonely. But he's so aggressive. He attacks from air as well. Hates hands and feet, when you try to give him a treat he prefers to bite your finger and then happily eat whatever you just dropped.
I don't know what to do. He needs a friend, but i can't afford another parrot and i don'treally want to. He is aggressive to birds he likes as well and i want to build some friendly relationship with him (not like with Midori, who loved me so much she liked to sleep on my shoulder and on my bed with me, when she first had an egg she prefered to spend her hard time with me over Akai, bc i know that's pretty much imposible for him). I want him to feel at home when he's with me. I'm pretty sure he's been through a lot and i don't know how to approach him anymore. A visit to the vet? Or do you have some advice for me? Thanks for any help you can give.

First off, you are wonderful for caring so sincerely, and for reaching out, and for wanting to give this darling a chance at happiness.
A year may seem like a long time, but for a traumatized parrot with a long memory... not so very, very long.
Yes, please, a trip to a certigied avian vet, just to rule out medical issues, which could easily be causing/contributing to problems... the vet may advise clipping (at least until dangerous aggression can be addressed.
And then...
He may be rehabilitatible to a fully interactive bird, or maybe not... just my opinion. If he can find some semblance of peace, after all he's been through, then you're my hero.
Stay tuned. You'll get good advice here.



Difficult Birds

May I add some thoughts about expectations? I hope I don't sound preach-y. I also want to make it clear that I completely support all the great advice on training!
My bird is "difficult", and so I have expressed these thoughts so often that I made a cut-and-paste (below). Apologies to those of you who've heard it a zillion times!

My bird is pretty awful. He's a fun mimic and a real character, but...
Even after all these years, I sometimes find myself putting myself or my bird down... stuff like...
I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THIS OR THAT.
WHY CAN'T HE BE SWEET AND NICE, LIKE THOSE OTHER BIRDS?
PEOPLE NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY I PUT UP WITH THIS.
Stuff like that.
I have reduced biting to almost zero over the decades... not because I've changed the bird, but I have changed me. And a lot of that has involved giving up on a lot of my desires/expectations. After years of battle, I surrendered. I don't do stuff that gets me bitten. I NEVER do stuff that makes him mad... I don't touch others when he's out; I rarely try to get him to step up onto my hand first. Hand-held perch first, then hand. In some ways, I swallow my disappointment at having such a little monster for a pet, but he is what he is. I ALWAYS wear my hair down when he's on my shoulder, so all he can bite is hair. Really, I don't involve hands much... he doesn't like them. He seems to think the real ME is my head, perched on a weird moveable tree with questionable appendages.
Since he's fully flighted, the ONLY way I get him into the cage is to toss a chile pepper in and he flaps in after it. So food reward is a necessity for me. Time-out doesn't exist in the Rb's kingdom.
But the Rb is a parrot... in his particular case, one generation out of the wild.
I do all the right things, as much/well as I can, but in the end, I just LOVE my bird,
Some parrots are SO SWEET, some are NOT. I'm a bit JEALOUS of those successes.
I have lessened my psychological and physical wounds over the decades... not because I've changed the bird, but I have changed me. And a lot of that has involved giving up on a lot of my desires/expectations. After years of battle, I surrendered.
Consequently, I have a Tazmanian Devil on my hands. I love him. I have no complaints, really. He's HIMSELF. And I'm MYSELF. And the result... check my Signature for videos. etc., if you like.
BUT THERE'S LOTS OF GOOD TRAINING ADVICE HERE... DO READ AND LEARN AND DO YOUR BEST!
Over the years, I have sometimes been very embarassed/downhearted/sad about having a pet that was so... out of my control. But it is my choice to indulge and adore him.
Finally, I accepted that I have an amazing half-wild being who shares my life! It's magic enough for me!

Parrot-owners usually wind up determining their own personal comfort level with various behaviors, and it's okay to be okay with that.

I don’t have any personal experience with this, but here are a few threads that might be helpful.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...orums.com/showthread.php?t=57935&share_type=t


https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...orums.com/showthread.php?t=63988&share_type=t


https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...orums.com/showthread.php?t=49144&share_type=t

Good luck, don’t give up, keep us posted on progress!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oooooo, good job, Inger... I meant to post some links...


http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html

General Parrot Information - Parrot Forum - Parrot Owner's Community

Thank you for your help so far. I'm afraid a visit to the vet might be impossible since I live in Poland, where not many people ale qualified with birds. Here, people have dogs, cats. When you need a vet for oother kinds of animals (like lizards or birds) you have to search the whole country. I will try to find a proper vet.
I will read all the linked stuff you sent me.
Thanks, everyone

Update: Seems I found a Vet on the Avian website I asked my mom (since I'm underage :/) and she told me we'll talk about it tomorrow (since it's 1:10 in Poland... I should go to sleep x.x) but i'm sure my mom wants our parrots happiness as much as i. I read the threads you send me and I'll do as much as i can to make my behaviour better. Thanks again, for your help

Which part of Poland do you live in? I know finding an avian vet is not easy here, but if you need some behavioural support it's even harder.
I could give you the contact to a lady in Warsaw who is the "trainer" that have some experience in socializing birds, maybe she could give you some hints (of course many good advices from experienced parronts can be found here in the forums).

Great advise about the Avian Vet, as often there is something very wrong and causing pain when they act like this, especially when you speak of the long, high-pitched crying at night..

Are you 100% sure of your bird's sex? And how about your bird's age?

The fact that he/she was a part of a closely-bonded pair does, as you already mentioned, take away their closeness or bond to any humans, and then when one of the pair dies this makes it very difficult. I'm asking about age/sex because it sounds like a lot of his/her behavior is very hormonal, and if they were a part of pair of birds that were of the opposite sex but never mated, that indicates that they were possibly still too young and he/she might also be going through puberty, or at the very least is hormonal and frustrated.

Your choices in this situation are pretty much as Gail wisely mentioned, either your expectations change, OR you commit to working with the bird ever single day and try to "tame" him/her as much as you can. It's akin to trying to tame a bird that has long been a breeder-bird, it's very frustrating and takes a daily commitment from the owner, but it can and is done all the time. It may take months or even years, but it can happen.

As far as getting "another bird" as a companion for him/her to bond with, that's an awful idea, first because you said that you don't want to, and that's reason enough to not get one, but also you must keep in-mind that any bird that you bring home has no guarantee at all of bonding with him/her. It's always a 50-50 chance of whether 2 birds will both like each other. So if you were to bring home another conure, chances are that they would not bond with each other anyway, and you'd only have another pet for yourself, which you said you don't want...

About sex- Icm pretty sure Akai's male, cause when Midori was still around they did it... Daily? Every 4 hours? I'm don't remember the age since I haven't checked his ring (which i wonder if i should remove? Or is it too much trouble? It's not bothering him so I wonder if i should) I'll ask mom to find his papers and make sure. My bet for now would be 3 years. It's not that I don't want another bird, I would love to have one more bird. But Akai's problems might not really be solved by this and, you know, money... About the trainer, I live in Warsaw. I'll be grateful if you tell me about this trainer. Thank you all

BezKa said:

About the trainer, I live in Warsaw. I'll be grateful if you tell me about this trainer.

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Check your PM, details sent.

Aratingettar said:

BezKa said:

About the trainer, I live in Warsaw. I'll be grateful if you tell me about this trainer.

Click to expand...

Check your PM, details sent.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I checked my PM but they won't let me respond.

If you can't reply in PM and need the contact back I've sent you my email via PM

2 Quaker Parrots
1 Green Cheek Conure

Are the species you have?


I would recommend giving him bathes frequently for his pin feathers (prickly things on his head!) and making sure he eats a healthy diet.


As far as working with him... easier said than done, but avoid getting bitten! And if you do get bit, get the bird off of you! I would highly recommend clicker training and positive reinforcement training with him.

You can learn more about training here.

http://www.parrotforums.com/training/72250-free-training-resources.html


Target training and station training would greatly help get you started in the right direction!

UPDATE

Finally managed to go to the vet. Akai is very healthy and there is nothing wrong with him. He's just a rude aggressive bird. I got advice on toys, snacks, etc. He started acting more friendly even before the visit, even if he still bites us and attacks oven miffs... Seems we just got to get used to the little beast. Thank you all for help!