Turned Nasty

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie so please bare with me if I make any mistakes.

During the course of my job I visited an elderly lady who had a cat, dog and a green cheeked conure. I admired the bird which was on the top of it's cage. She told me that a friend had given it to her, it was very nervous and she hadn't been able to do anything with it I said my son would love that and asked how much it cost her friend, she said it was £100 for the bird and the cage (which was quite large). she offered to sell me the lot for the same money, the room was small so I thought she was a bit overwhelmed with a dog, cat and now the bird, I bought it, she insisted on coming to my home to make sure the bird would be in a good environment, that was 15 years ago.

The bird was fantastic, it looked quite young when we examined it closely. We soo gained its trust and it would step up quite happily, nuzzle your neck and nibble your hair, he soon started to talk and was an all round lovely bird.

then....after about two years he turned nasty ( I assume he is a male, because he used to try and have sex with my hand LOL) all of a sudden he would draw blood on your arm, hand or finger, and I mean draw blood. Now we cannot put our hand in the cage without being attacked, I let him out of his cage and he explores all the outside quite happily, but put your finger near him at your peril.

I have started to let him on my shoulder and talk to him gently, he talks back with a few phrases we taught him earlier in his life, but he will try and bite you through your clothing, he does not bite when I walk him around the garden on my shoulder but I still do not trust him enough to put my hand or finger near him.

Does anyone please have any ideas to turn off this nasty streak he has acquired. WE are at our wits end.

Hello there and welcome to you and your green cheek! You are a good person for taking him in all those years ago.

The behavior you're describing is not an uncommon one. Sounds like he hit puberty and when that happens hormones rage and parrots of all species (varies with each individual bird) will become aggressive, male and female included, and so what you have to do is learn how to work with it and try to limit the hormones by doing certain things.

First thing you are going to want to do is basically start from square one, pretend like he is a new bird and start working with him daily on earning trust and getting over his fear of hands. Do you use treats? My birds LOVE treats, and my non-hand tame female cockatiel will happily take treats from my hands, she's learning to trust me more. I don't invade her space or make her come out of the cage if she doesn't want to.

I would highly recommend you read this: Tips for Bonding and Building Trust

It has all kinds of great info and tips for getting a closer bond with your bird. For the hormones, you want to make sure if you're petting him it is not below the neck or they get sexually stimulated. No allowing humping on you or toys. Make sure he gets less than 10-12 hours of sunlight a day. Limit bites by watching body language and generally during hormone time just leave him alone sometimes. PLaystands are safe places they can hang out safely on their own (supervised).

I see you mention bringing him out to the garden, I hope you know bringing any bird outside without in a cage or harness is very dangerous and risky. We've seen many many birds get lost with owners who think their birds will not fly away and suddenly we see lost ads for their bird.

Basically, you want to make sure only good things happen when you are around your bird! Treats are a sure way to their heart!

Make that many, many, many, many parrots that flew away from owners who did not realize that birds FLY. Even parrots that have been wing clipped can fly away in a moderate breeze. Harness training is the ticket if you want to take your GCC outside.

cheers

Add into that mix that green cheeks are notorious for cage territoriality! Make sure you’ve removed anything in the cage which may even have a passing resemblance to a nesting site, like those snuggle huts/ tents etc.

If he bites you, try not to make too much of a fuss but just pop him gently down in a neutral spot, like the floor or the back of a chair for about 5 mins to cool off a bit. During this time you should give him no attention, not even eye contact. Parrots love attention so he won’t like feeling excluded. It’s important that anyone who interacts with the bird is consistent in dealing with him each and every time he bites so he gets the message that the fun stops when he bites.


Good luck!

I'm very glad you're here. You can see that you've found a great site. Thank you for giving this darling a home.

Thank you everyone for your in-depth replies. I can assure everyone that he is here to stay, couldn't possibly even think of him leaving. The question of him flying away on our trips around the garden, when he was hounger he could fly with a little effort, but it seemed to exhaust him, he would fly between me and my son but only a distance of a few yards, since he turned into Mr Nasty that interaction has not been there and I've noticed his ability to fly has diminished. now it's only a couple of feet and always in a downward direction

I read somewhere that caged birds lose the ability to fly because the are not constantly flying and therefore their flight muscles weaken and without constant exercise they will only go a short distance, in Jacko's case....downward. I would be interested in everyones thoughts on this' because I don't want to lose him

Still can lose him. A light gust of wind will help him overcome those weak flight muscles and you would be shocked at how often they DO fly away. Even birds where the owner believed they could not fly have ended up flying far far away. I agree with the above, harness train or take outside in a travel cage to be safe. Otherwise, the risk is too great.