anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" crazy

blueridgeocean

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anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" crazy

so i am so very sad about this parrot i recently received from my father a few months back. Winston the parrot has been with my family for 10-12 years now and i would fly the birds every other weekend when i was at my dads house. we had 3 cockatiels, 2 finches and 2 conures. i would let all of the birds fly around the house and let the 2 conures free fly outside every weekend and let them climb and tunnel all over the place. they loved me and my siblings. i still remember the first time the conures flew and the cockatiels joining in on the "chase" for fun. then 5 years ago i left leaving the birds with my father. apparently the conures kept on getting out so he clipped all of the birds wings and he told me that he never let the birds out to play when i left. Winston is the only survivor and he has become VERY aggressive. 5 years being in a cage is unhealthy. and i fear he has gone insane.(thankfully i didn't gilt trip my father or get upset with him because they were his birds) im just kind of ranting now because yeah...

he bites everyone and wont let me change his water or feed him. he attacks like a dog on rabies. he even tries to get at me when im just standing near his cage. when i received him i first started by setting him up in my office/tv room where i spend most of my time atleast 10 hrs a day. when im home i leave his cage door open and talk to him constantly he even talks back sometimes. he has not shown much interest about leaving his cage though he does step out onto the door and starts dancing he has done this a handful of times. ive then started sitting closer to Winston and i would put a glove on a low perch to get him accustomed to seeing a hand when im around. i think it might be working somewhat... anyways has he gone crazy? does it sound like he was abused by being grabbed and put in the cage long ago? should i try and change his environment up and disorientate his territory by replacing his toys and cage with new ones? will changing his daily life like this cause him to stress out and die?
 
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chris-md

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

Hello and welcome!

Stress not! This is absolutely reversible, it just takes time. Poor Winston has been cagebound for 5 years. He’s become acostomed to being inside and could be afraid to come out. It won’t be 5 years recovery, but a few months, maybe a year at absolute most.

Time and patience.

You’re doing exactly what you need to be doing. Spending time, opening the cage door and letting him come out on his own time. You’re key is to move at the birds pace. If you’re constantly getting bit, you’re moving too quick. Biting is the bird clearly communicating to you that you’ve cross their boundary of comfortable interactions.

You can help accelerate everything by doing some training, TREATS ARE YOUR FRIEND. Your best tool will be targeting, teaching him to touch a stick on command (often a chopstick but can be anything). You can do this while he is still in the cage very easily. Once he starts touching the stick, you can begin moving the stick closer to the cage door. This is how you be in the teaching that coming to the door and coming out getting rewards, that coming out as a positive experience.

The use of the glove is a fair temporary bridge but it’s not a long term solution and prolonged use may prove detrimental. Only using positive reinforcement training, such as the target training, will give you the most sustainable results.

Thank god wisnton wound up with you, thank you for taking him in. Again rest assured THIS CAN BE COMPLETELY TURNED AROUND. Just keep doing what you’re doing and incorporate training into your interactions. Training isn’t just about doing a trick, it builds a common language between you both. when you speak the same language, trust naturally follows. WATCH AND UNNDERSTAND HIS BODY LANGUAGE.

You got this!
 
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chris-md

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

Here’s where all of this is going:

Cagebound or not, The thing with conures is they are often or person birds, loving to their chosen person and aggressive to everyone else. your dad was that person.

You WILL become that person, it just takes time for the bird to rebuild trust. Once the trust comes, the aggression almost automatically subsides.
 

Scott

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

Welcome to the forums! It may surprise you to know you are already one step ahead. Many members acquire "difficult" birds and have no idea why, little or no knowledge of the past life.

Winston has been essentially cage-bound for years. As Chris-md posted, it takes time for a bird to acclimate to a new environment and leaving a metal box of security.

A few threads to help your progress: http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/63988-bite-pressure-training.html

Time, patience, and love are the keys to success with a frightened and reclusive parrot.
 

ChristaNL

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

I am so going to echo this :)

(Same here: cagebound bird who was somewhat bananaas and it starting to 'be a bird' again. Sunny took "forever" to get ready to leave her cage, stop lunging at/attacking me-- now we are only a year past meeting each other and she is getting there!)


That old "time heals all wounds"-thingy.

You are here NOW - forget about the past...

(Great you know he was a sweet bird before the not-so-good-period, that will help in keeping you motivated to work with him.)
 

JamesC

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

This is Rosco. A pretty good example of an abused blue crown that was aggressive when I adopted him from a rescue. He still has some mental scars from then, like over preening his feathers but he has turned into a great bird to have in my home. Though he sometimes irritates me as he tries to get my very bird unfriendly senegal parrot even more irritated at the presence of other birds in the house by giving Sidney constant and unwanted attention. In this photo, Rosco is behaving and helping me read your post. Just follow the advice of those who posted above and your guy will come around just as Rosco has.

22034d1549470944-anytips-my-fathers-old-bluecrowned-conure-aggressive-gone-cage-sour-crazy-readingrosco.jpg


Just thought of something you could try and had to edit my post. Blue crowns are quite responsive to vocalization and body posturing. One thing I like to do with my pair is slowly bow my head to them while saying "birrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd" in a low tone. They will always respond in kind. I've tried the same thing with birds I don't know and have gotten a response every time. I think it is some kind of bonding ritual in the species. You might feel silly doing it, though if it helps your guy come around sooner and helps build a relationship it will be worth it. I did a quick video of this.

[ame="https://youtu.be/yMI4-ki47Lk"]Rosco - YouTube[/ame]
 

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EllenD

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

Yeah, this is going to be a marathon, not a sprint... Neglect is a form of abuse, and "grabbing" a bird all the time is abusive... Winston has had no physical contact with humans for 5 years, no time out of his cage for 5 years, has not flown around the house for 5 years, and he's basically regressed into a bird who is no- longer hand-tame...So you need to slow down, hit the "Reset Button", and treat this like you just brought home a non-tame bird. He'll come around eventually, but it will be very gradually and at HIS PACE, not your pace...He is not at all "crazy", he's simply no longer tame. So you're doing the right things, but you need to realize that it will likely take months to even over a year or longer until he's back to the way he was...Just about giving him time and letting him do things when he's comfortable doing them. If you Force him or even try to force him to do anything, you'll not ever earn his trust again...

And by the way, please don't EVER allow him to "fly freely" outside, or any pet bird to fly freely outside, if he's outside he needs to be wearing a harness and leash...even clipped birds can fly for miles with the wind, and you'll surely lose them...
 
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blueridgeocean

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

thanks for all of the responses. when I first trained him he would gladly take some fresh and dried fruit for when I taught him how to fly back on command with one of those plastic whistles. ill reintroduce some dried apricot in his dish when he wakes up in the morning that was actually his favorite. im just hoping everything will just "click" in his brain but that's just wishful thinking. when would be a good time for a vet appointment? I think right now is not a good time because we are working on this bonding thing. but still what do you all think?
 

chris-md

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

i Stated this in my posts, especially the second one, but yes, I believe it will ultimately click into place once he’s built his trust and taken you for his main person. How fast it clicks depends on how you approach this situation. Training will move it along faster, but what you are doing is moving it all forward.

Now is actually a good time for a vet visit, full blood panel and everything. There’s no bond to worry about Hurting right now. In the larger scheme of things, health before companionship. We have an amazon keeper here, salilboat, who for the longest time took in older and unwanted amazons. Much of the first year was often lost to any hope of bonding/relationship while they work to get their health stabilized (older birds have health problems).
 

Laurasea

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

I have been recommending Sailboats thread at the top of the Amazing forum in blue I love Amazon's. This wonderful thread is helpful to more than Amazon Parrots. Because most of the info applies to all shut down, cage bound, rehomed, second hand parrots. You might find it as wonderful as I did. My abused quaker Penny went through a lot changes, and has bloomed into a very loving girl. I hope in time you are able to help yours.
 

EllenD

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

I agree with Chris, right now is exactly when you need to take him to an Avian Vet, because #1 If he's very sick you can't wait any longer to find out, which is why you need the blood-work and fecal, and then #2 because you have n bond with him at all right now, no one does, and it's going to take a long time to earn his trust again, so get him to a Certified Avian Vet now, ASAP, and once you rule-out illnesses, infections, etc.,then you'll be good to start working with him every day without worry. But birds hide all outward signs and symptoms of illness and pain from us for months to years, so a full wellness checkup with blood-work and Fecal Testing is priority#1, especially after 5 years of neglect and probably a bad diet too. He could be seriously ill and you'll not know until it's possibly too late...
 
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blueridgeocean

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

alright so I found out what he likes as a treat its bread. he hates fresh fruit and veggies . he doesn't like apples or bananas. strange. so yea I learned this when I was sitting next to him eating my lunch he came out instantly so I offered some clean bread to him andhe instantly reached over nicely and calm and grabbed the treat. I then waited and he seemed to be demanding more bread from me so I put a glove on and reached over with both hands one hand to step up on the other holding the food behind the working hand. he seemed unthreatened by my hand but did not choose to step up I proceeded to give him the treat and backed away. anyways he seems more calm after lunch and hasn't >[tried]< attacked me today.
 
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blueridgeocean

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

so now I have to find a healthy treat he'll take... he ate the apricot but not out of the hand...
 

chris-md

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

Keep offering the fresh stuff, and offer it in different shapes. My Ekkie won’t touch cubed apples, but will eat it whol. Youll have to play with how you serve it (cut different ways, cooked, raw, cold, learn, room temperature). You’ll get it. Try making a chop.
 
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blueridgeocean

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

I agree with Chris, right now is exactly when you need to take him to an Avian Vet, because #1 If he's very sick you can't wait any longer to find out, which is why you need the blood-work and fecal, and then #2 because you have n bond with him at all right now, no one does, and it's going to take a long time to earn his trust again, so get him to a Certified Avian Vet now, ASAP, and once you rule-out illnesses, infections, etc.,then you'll be good to start working with him every day without worry. But birds hide all outward signs and symptoms of illness and pain from us for months to years, so a full wellness checkup with blood-work and Fecal Testing is priority#1, especially after 5 years of neglect and probably a bad diet too. He could be seriously ill and you'll not know until it's possibly too late...

thanks I must have missed this when I was reading the replies I already spoke to a vet recently and was told to call back next week when the DR. who has more experience with birds gets back. there are no avian vet specialists in my local area. the nearest one is over 8 hrs and I think its closer to 12 hrs to be realistic.:confused:
 

Betrisher

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

I inherited my Dad's galah and found myself in a similar position to yours. Dom had been kept in a tiny cage with nothing but sunflower seed to eat and fresh water every now and again. This was vastly different to the excellent daily care my Dad had given him, but poor Mum was developing dementia by then and no one knew what was going on with the bird.

He was *vicious*! Cage-aggressive, lunging, screeching - horrible! I took him home, gave him a better cage and a better diet and began wooing him with fruit. Gradually, he began to accept treats and calmed down. Eventually, I opened his cage but he wouldn't come out. One day, I was flying my Beaks in the kitchen when a great fluttering announced that Dom had emerged and had clambered onto the top of his cage! Success!

The sad part was that Dom never really liked me much. It took a LOT of work to get him to accept that I would feed and water him, but he always bit me no matter how many treats I held. He much preferred the men in the house. That was fine, though. We all recognised that the years in solitary confinement had damaged him permanently, so all we did was try to keep him happy. I think he had a nice life for the last few years. He was free-range in the daytime and only went into his cage when he wanted to sleep. He lost heaps of weight, learned to fly, learned to call out like a proper galah and even learned to enjoy having his pin feathers squashed.

All it takes is the resolve to do better for your bird; to improve his situation. I think you have that already and with a little daily work you can help your Winston find his inner conure again. There'll be days when you wonder why you bother, but then there'll be other days when you swell with pride at yours and Winton's achievements. Evntually, you'll have a devoted companion who enjoys his life with you AND you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you did right by this lovely boy.

Do stay in touch and give us updates on your progress! We all like to hear other birds' tales. :)
 

EllenD

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Re: anytips? my fathers old bluecrowned conure is aggressive and gone cage "sour" cra

I inherited my Dad's galah and found myself in a similar position to yours. Dom had been kept in a tiny cage with nothing but sunflower seed to eat and fresh water every now and again. This was vastly different to the excellent daily care my Dad had given him, but poor Mum was developing dementia by then and no one knew what was going on with the bird.

He was *vicious*! Cage-aggressive, lunging, screeching - horrible! I took him home, gave him a better cage and a better diet and began wooing him with fruit. Gradually, he began to accept treats and calmed down. Eventually, I opened his cage but he wouldn't come out. One day, I was flying my Beaks in the kitchen when a great fluttering announced that Dom had emerged and had clambered onto the top of his cage! Success!

The sad part was that Dom never really liked me much. It took a LOT of work to get him to accept that I would feed and water him, but he always bit me no matter how many treats I held. He much preferred the men in the house. That was fine, though. We all recognised that the years in solitary confinement had damaged him permanently, so all we did was try to keep him happy. I think he had a nice life for the last few years. He was free-range in the daytime and only went into his cage when he wanted to sleep. He lost heaps of weight, learned to fly, learned to call out like a proper galah and even learned to enjoy having his pin feathers squashed.

All it takes is the resolve to do better for your bird; to improve his situation. I think you have that already and with a little daily work you can help your Winston find his inner conure again. There'll be days when you wonder why you bother, but then there'll be other days when you swell with pride at yours and Winton's achievements. Evntually, you'll have a devoted companion who enjoys his life with you AND you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you did right by this lovely boy.

Do stay in touch and give us updates on your progress! We all like to hear other birds' tales. :)

Very well said by Betrisher..."All it takes is the resolve to do better for your bird, to improve his situation"...That's an awesome, powerful statement. And it's also 100% the truth...So often people who are either new to birds and don't understand their level of intelligence, or people who do have experience and understand them, but are so desperate to have a fully-tame, cuddly, loving bird that can be handled and who will bond closely with them, they get extremely anxious and try to force this process to move quickly...And all that does is push their birds further and further away from them...

It will happen if you are committed to him and work with him, spend time with him (passive-interaction does wonders), and most-importantly you are patient and you don't ever try to push him further than he wants to go...You absolutely must let the bird guide the relationship and your actions while interacting with him. If you go at your pace, the pace that YOU WANT it to go at, you'll only push him further and further away. It does sound like you're doing a good job, but I just want to reiterate to you that this might take longer than a year to happen, and as long as you know that it taking that long a period of time is completely normal and you don't give-up on him or get frustrated and do something you'll regret, like re-homing him or surrendering him to a Rescue, you'll be fine.

I have worked at an Avian Rescue for many years now (I'm the Medical Liaison, so I don't have much to do with the adoption process), and I cannot tell you how many awesome, loving, amazing parrots I've seen surrendered by owners, hesitantly, simply because they got it in their heads that they want a cuddly, lovey-dovey bird that can be handled right out of the box, and they got themselves so worked-up and frustrated after only having the bird for an extremely short period of time that they decided that "There is something wrong with the bird"...So they surrender them, like they're a pair of shoes they are returning, after only a month or two of owning the bird.

Both myself and several of the other employees/volunteers at the Rescue have been able to talk a lot of people out of re-homing/surrendering their birds, but often we can't. In most cases these people knew that they were buying or adopting a non-tame bird that was either not hand-raised in the first place or was hand-raised and tame at one time but was neglected and is no longer tame or able to be handled...I would guess that the average amount of time that most people in this position try to work with their birds and keep them before surrendering them or re-homing them is around 2-3 months....Not even close to long enough to #1) Earn the trust of the bird, as this is ALWAYS the first step that must happen, and then #2) Continue to work with them every single day and give the bird a good year to be completely comfortable with them and bonded with them.

****By the way, I didn't see you mention this, if you did then I apologize, but is his cage located in the "main room" of you home, meaning the room where you and the rest of the people who live with you spend most of their time when they are home? This is extremely important when you're trying to earn the trust of a bird, bond with a bird, socialize a bird with people, etc...I mentioned "Passive Interaction" above, and that's exactly what this means, having your bird's "Territory" or his "Safe Space", his cage, located in the room of your home where you and the rest of his "Flock" spend most of their time when they are home (your bird's "Flock" includes you and anyone else who lives in the home with the bird)...Usually the "main room" of the home is the living room, family room, den, TV room, etc. It's also the room where most visitors to the home spend time when they are there.

"Passive Interaction" with your bird will help tremendously with the taming and bonding process. You don't have to be directly interacting with him all the time to still be working with him; simply having his cage located in whatever room it is where you and the rest of the Flock talk, watch TV, listen to music, read, play video games, take naps, eat meals (this is a big one when it comes to bonding), etc. will make all the difference in the world...By doing this you are placing HIS TERRITORY right in the middle of the Flock, and just having you in the same room as him whenever you are home will not only help to earn his trust and bond with him, but it typically also brings a lot of comfort and security to them, as they are "Flock Animals"! A lot of people don't understand the concept of a "Floc" Animal at all, and they put their new bird's cage in a spare bedroom or a room away from where they spend most of their time when they are home..And I'm also speaking about new birds they have just brought home who are completely tame and crave attention! So the bird is in it's cage all the time in this back room, and the bird can hear that their "Flock" members are home, but they can't see them and they aren't among them...So this causes them to feel anxious, lonely, insecure, and unsafe...And typically they start screaming continually...And their owners can't understand why the bird isn't just entertaining itself with all the toys they put in it's cage...Amazingly, lol, when they finally give-in and agree to try moving their bird's cage to the living room or wherever they spend their time at home, they almost immediately find that not only has the bird stopped screaming, but the bird is also contently playing with it's toys and happily entertaining itself, all because it's among it's flock...

****I wish you all the best, and you'll do fine with Winston...It sounds like you're already well on your way to forming an extremely close bone with him...Just stick to it, try to remind yourself that it's completely normal for this process to take quite a long time, even over a year, and try to not become frustrated. And NEVER hesitate to come here to the forum and ask ANY questions you might have at any time. There is no such thing as a stupid question when it comes to your bird's health and happiness..

AND BY THE WAY, I AM COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY JEALOUS OF YOU, BECAUSE I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED BLUE-CROWN CONURES! Seriously, I originally was looking for a hand-raised, baby Blue Crown Conure when I brought home my baby Senegal Parrot, but I just couldn't find one anywhere near me (I live in Pennsylvania, and I actually drove 9 hours one-way to Raleigh, NC for my hand-raised, baby Senegal Parrot, so that should tell you how far I was willing to drive to find one!)...I have been thinking about finding a Blue Crown again lately, and someday I will bring one home and make them a part of my family...If we would ever get one at the Rescue I work at I would adopt him immediately, he wouldn't even spend a single night at the Rescue! But in the over 8 years that I've been with the Rescue, and it's a pretty large Rescue, we've not had a single Blue Crown Conure surrendered or brought in...

**So if you ever do want to re-home him, just let me know!!! LOL, just kidding...
 

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