Conures

nursouth

New member
Mar 31, 2019
13
0
Alabama
Parrots
Cherryhead Conure and a Cockatiel.
Hi, my first post here. Thank you for having me.:) My cherryhead conure, Joey, she's about 27 yrs. old, I've had her since she was 6 mo. old. The past 6 months her personality has changed greatly. She doesn't want me near her, she prefers to be covered with her bedtime blanket all the time. I uncover her cage every afternoon, open her door to come out and play but she doesn't play anymore. I feed her warm food at this time everyday, she eats well, and then she begins screaming at me, and I do mean screaming, until I get her back inside her cage, close her door and cover her again with her blanket then she is perfectly happy, peaceful. She has never behaved like this before. Last August we brought in a cockatiel, my mother in law died and we took her bird. So Petey is here now, is this the cause?? He doesn't want out of his cage, he will sing for us a little. Can anyone help me with Joey?? ANY SUGGESTIONS.
 

Sunnyclover

New member
Jan 11, 2017
1,646
43
New Jersey
Parrots
Sun Conure - Ollie- Hatched 08/18/16*

Nanday Conure -Finley- Hatched 10/07/17*

Turquoise Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure -Paris- Hatched 03/03/18*

Black Capped Conure -North- Hatched 10/10/18
Hello...glad you came for help with your bird. You should NEVER cover your birds cage for such long periods of time. You might think she likes it but it's actually torturous to her. Also, feeding her warm soft foods can cause encouragement of breeding behaviors and being in a dark place all the time is probably making her go crazy with hormones. I'm going to let others weigh in but that's what I think is a possibility.
 

noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
warm food can trigger a hormonal response (which is associated with increased aggression, screaming, self mutilation etc). Thank you for taking in this bird! Give it time and pet only on the head---also, make sure your bird has no access to shadowy places (tents, coconuts, paper piles, low ledges, underneath furniture etc). Shadows increase problematic behavior....including egg-binding in females.
 

GaleriaGila

Well-known member
Parrot of the Month 🏆
May 14, 2016
15,045
8,742
Cleveland area
Parrots
The Rickeybird, 38-year-old Patagonian Conure
Oh, wow... lots of possibilities...

My first step would be to contact my avian vet... I'm a big believer in making sure the bird is medically okay, especially at advanced ages, like your and mine.

Most of us swear by our avian vets in the event of health concerns.
Certified Avian Vets
https://abvp.com/animal-owners/find-an-abvp-specialist/
If none are near you...
Avian Veterinarians
http://www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803
In my opinion, any of the vets listed here should be better than a regular vet.
International contacts, too.

I'm glad you're here with us.


9lhIlM0.jpg
 

Sunnyclover

New member
Jan 11, 2017
1,646
43
New Jersey
Parrots
Sun Conure - Ollie- Hatched 08/18/16*

Nanday Conure -Finley- Hatched 10/07/17*

Turquoise Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure -Paris- Hatched 03/03/18*

Black Capped Conure -North- Hatched 10/10/18
I don't get why you guys are acting like this is a recent rescued bird...the OP says he's had her since she was 6 months old and she's now 27 and the OP is covering it's cage nearly ALL DAY. Why am I the only one one freaking out here?
 

Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
32,673
9,789
San Diego, California USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Parrots
Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Welcome to you, Joey, and Petey!

The timeline of personality change (6 months) seems to coincide with the arrival of Petey. Even though you've had Joey the majority of her life, she appears to view her cage as refuge. Do Joey and Petey live within sight of each other? Where is Joey while eating?

You'll probably receive a variety of opinions to help Joey. Covering the cage for most of the day may be part of the problem. Is this to hide her view of Petey? Joey may be jealous or feel threatened by Petey. One possibility is to place them in different rooms for some period of time and observe whether Joey returns to her previous state.
 

noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
I don't get why you guys are acting like this is a recent rescued bird...the OP says he's had her since she was 6 months old and she's now 27 and the OP is covering it's cage nearly ALL DAY. Why am I the only one one freaking out here?


Okay, yeah... I TOTALLY missed that. OP- you cannot allow your bird to stay covered outside of sleeping hours (whether or not she "prefers" it). Messing with a bird's light cycles like this and allowing her to dwell in a shadowy space while awake is going to totally mess with her hormones and create terrible behavioral issues...The bird needs 10-14 hours of sleep each night. During this time, the cage can be covered, but then the bird needs to be out of the cage for a few hours a day and in a place where she gets exposed to natural light.
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
I don't get why you guys are acting like this is a recent rescued bird...the OP says he's had her since she was 6 months old and she's now 27 and the OP is covering it's cage nearly ALL DAY. Why am I the only one one freaking out here?

I'm totally with Sunny on this one, something is VERY WRONG here with your Conure...You've had her for 27 years straight, since she was only 6 months-old, and only just recently her personality/behavior has just suddenly, drastically changed to the point that you are actually keeping her cage covered pretty much all day long, every day...This is not good at all, and covering her cage like you've been doing is not helping the problem, whatever it is, in-fact it's probably just making it worse in the long-run, because by constantly keeping her cage covered-up (forgetting all of the many physical/psychological/behavioral health issues that this can and most-likely is causing in addition to what the actual issue is), you're doing nothing but constantly and continually reinforcing her screaming and her aggressive behaviors!!! So you need to stop covering her during the day at all immediately, with the ONLY TIME she should be covered being at bedtime and then over-night, with the cover coming off first thing in the morning!!!

***As Noodles mentioned already, you have created a secondary-issue by covering her
AND by feeding her "warm food" like you have been, which is that it's caused her to be constantly extremely hormonal! The aggression and the screaming, not wanting to come near you anymore, etc. IS ALL HORMONAL BEHAVIOR BEING CAUSED BY THE COVER ON HER CAGE AND THE WARM FOOD!


What has happened here is that she probably did have an issue when you moved the Cockatiel into her house and into her Flock, and when she first started acting-out and behaving oddly due to the addition of a new bird, which was totally normal behavior and would have resolved itself once she had a little time to adjust to the new bird and settle-in to the idea of there being a second bird in her Flock. But instead of just giving her a good few months to adjust to the new bird being in the house, or instead of trying to do some of the MANY things you can do to help a bird adjust to a new bird in their home, you unfortunately started covering her up in her cage during the day...And this started a vicious-cycle that just kept going downhill, basically putting her into a constant, 24-hour a day, 7-day a week hormonal rage that she has now become accustom to being in, and all she wants to do is to stay inside of her cage and under that cover all the time because she's just totally hormonal all the time. That's what is going on here.

***Luckily there is a very simple solution to your problem, but the bad news is that it's going to require you to just have to put-up with some constant screaming for a while, but that's just what you're going to have to do, Because you cannot keep her living the kind of life she has been living like this, it's unhealthy for her in every way, and the longer you keep her like this the worse the long-term effects will be, specifically the toll living in a constant state of hormonal-rage is doing on her physical body! So this has to stop now!

***Just so you understand what has been going on here, we need to explain what specific things/actions commonly cause a bird's hormones to go crazy, and then you also need to understand what a "Natural-Light Schedule" is and why keeping her covered all day long every day is doing this to her...

Pet/captive Parrots and Birds should not EVER be allowed to have anything inside of their cages or access to anything outside of their cages that create a small, dark place that they can get inside of or underneath, because small, dark places cause their hormones to rage, just like warm and/or mushy foods do the same, as well as them having access to anything in the bottom of their cages that could be seen as being "Nesting-Material"...All of these things I just mentioned put birds into a hormonal-period, or "Breeding-Season" until they are removed. So for this reason your bird's cage should have NO Boxes of any kind, Tents, "Cuddle/Happy/Snuggle Huts, Hammocks, Beds of any kind such as the "Triangle" Beds they sell for birds, etc. Nothing at all that creates a small, dark place they can get inside of or underneath...And then there can be NOTHING IN THE BOTTOM OF THEIR CAGE that resembles or can be used as Nesting-Material, such as any type of Bedding, Wood-Chips, Shredded Paper Bedding, Corn Cob Bedding, Crushed Walnut-Shells, etc., and not any Sheets of Paper/Newspaper that they can shred or get underneath either...So the Cage-Liners or Newspapers or whatever you use to line the bottom of her cage need to be UNDERNEATH THE GRATE so she can't get hold of them.

The same goes for any warm and/or mushy food, this also will just keep the hormones flowing and make everything worse.

***So you can see why keeping her cage covered all the time, along with feeding her warm food every day at the same time, has basically kept your bird in a constant, continual Breeding-Season, and this is what is causing her screaming, aggression, wanting to be alone all the time, etc. Right now she would be happy to simply live inside a closet under a towel/blanket 24/7 for the rest of her life due to how high her level of sex-hormones is, and how long they have been in this constant state of saturation. This is why she doesn't want to come out of the cage or from under the cover, she doesn't want to play or have anything to do with you or anyone else, she simply wants to be left alone 24/7 in the darkness of her covered cage. And she is going to stay this way unless you KNOCK HER OUT OF BREEDING SEASON! AND YOU NEED TO DO IT IMMEDIATELY, BECAUSE NOT ONLY IS THIS NO QUALITY OF LIFE FOR HER TO BE LIVING, BUT THIS CAN ALSO CAUSE HER MANY VERY SERIOUS HEALTH PROBLEMS, AND IT CAN EVEN CAUSE HER DEATH!

***Has she been laying any Eggs throughout this whole mess? Has she EVER laid an Egg before in the 27 years that you've had her? Have you ever had her DNA-Tested to confirm she is actually a female bird? (blood or feather DNA-test) If she's never laid an Egg in her life, and this hasn't caused her to start, and you've never had her DNA-tested or her breeder didn't pay to have it done and didn't give you a DNA-Certificate stating that she's a female, then chances are that she might not be a female but rather a male. And honestly in this situation that would be a very good thing, because most female birds put into a constant, continual Breeding-Season like this for around a year, all day long and every single day, would be laying clutches of Eggs, which is extremely harmful to their health because it leeches all the Calcium, Phosphorous, etc. from their bodies, and it can also result in Egg-Binding, which is 100% fatal without medical intervention. So in this case it would actually be better if your bird turns out to be a male. Regardless, You MUST start the process of knocking her out of Breeding-Season RIGHT NOW! And you're just going to have to deal with the screaming for a while until she calms down and the sex-hormones dissipate from her body.
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
So here is what you need to do starting RIGHT NOW!

First of all, no more covering her cage AT ALL until it's time for her to go to bed. That's it. You just simply CANNOT put that cover back on her cage during the daytime! Period!

****What you need to do starting right now, TODAY, is to put her on a "Natural-Light Schedule", you can start it right now by taking the cover off of her cage immediately, and making sure that wherever her cage is located allows her to be able to see the natural light-changes with the Sunrise and the Sunset (meaning the light-changes of the Sun are visible in the room she's in, so she will visually know when the Sun is setting in the evening and when the Sun is rising in the morning)...So regardless of what time of the year it is, she needs to be able to see the natural-light changes of the Sun in the evening, and right as the Sun completely sets, that's when she must go to bed, so put the cover over her cage ONLY after she sees the Sunset...And then she must have the cover removed from her cage right as the Sun BEGINS TO RISE, so that she is able to see the light changes of the Sun as it comes-up in the morning. And then you just have to keep the cover off of her cage ALL DAY LONG, EVERY DAY! And again, it doesn't go back on her cage until right when the Sun sets, and it must come off right as the Sun starts to rise.

This is called a "Natural Light Schedule",and it mimics exactly when birds/parrots naturally wake-up in the morning, with the Sunrise, and when they go to sleep in the evening, with the Sunset. That's why you start hearing the birds outside chirping/talking/singing so early in the morning every day, right when the Sun starts to come-up, and also why you stop seeing or hearing birds after the Sun has set (except for nocturnal birds like Owls). This not only puts them on a completely natural waking-and-rising cycle with the Sun, which keeps their sex-hormones at-bay, but it also ensures that they get at least 10-12 hours of sleep every single night, which also keeps their sex-hormones at-bay.

And obviously you cannot EVER cover her cage up during the daytime when she's supposed to be awake, because what happens is exactly what has happened with your bird, their sex-hormones are triggered and released, and if you continually put her on a waking-and-rising schedule that is THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what their natural daily cycle should be, it puts them into a constant state of Breeding-Season...It also totally confuses and messes-up their Circadian-Rhythms, and pretty much every other natural process that is supposed to be going on inside of their body and their brain.

****Also, keeping a bird covered like you have pretty much 24-hours a day for months and months has for sure caused her a Vitamin D Deficiency, among other Nutritional-Deficiencies and physical health problems, because you've basically deprived her of any natural sunlight at all for an extended period of time...And these physical health issues and nutritional deficiencies and the syndromes/side-effects that they cause has no-doubt also added to her aggressive and strange behaviors.

Something that you need to know and always keep in-mind for not only your Amazon but also for your Cockatiel and any other Parrot/Bird you might add to your family in the future, is that they are not at all similar to keeping any other type of pet, not in any way! All Parrots have the intelligence-level of a 2-3 year-old Human Child. They use logic and reasoning skills, and they have better long-term and short-term memories than we do! And this includes your Cockatiel and all other species of Parrots, from the Parrotlet and the Budgie all the way up to the Macaw and the Cockatoos. So this makes them extremely sensitive to ANY KIND OF CHANGES in their environment (your home), and also within their Flocks (them, you, and anyone else who lives in your home is their Flock). They are natural Flock-Animals, and so their Flockmates are extremely important to them, and as such, ANY CHANGES TO THEIR ENVIRONMENT OR THEIR FLOCK are going to cause them to feel stress, anxiety, and will cause them to act-out and display changes in their behaviors and their personalities UNTIL THEY HAVE TIME TO SETTLE-IN TO THE NEW ENVIRONMENT AND GET USED TO THE CHANGES, BUT THESE CHANGES IN THEIR BEHAVIOR, THEIR PERSONALITIES, ETC. ARE ALL TEMPORARY AND WILL RESOLVE THEMSELVES! So when you brought home the Cockatiel, this certainly would have caused her some stress, anxiety, and since every bird is an individual, just like people, they may show this stress and anxiety and displeasure with the changes in any number of ways. So yes, she probably did originally start screaming a lot and acting-out due to the new Cockatiel in her home/Flock, but this would have gradually gotten better over-time as she adjusted to the change, just like we as people need time to adjust to changes. With Parrots it's all about giving them enough time to work through things and get used to changes.

And from now on, if there are any large changes to your home, to the people in the home, to the pets in the home (whether they are birds or other animals that come into your home), or changes to anything else that effect her OR THE COCKATIEL AS WELL, you need to approach each time this happens as a different issue, and then try to figure out what you can do to make things better for them regarding that particular change. That's when you come here and ask questions about how to stop your bird from constantly screaming like she has been since you brought home a new bird, or whatever the problem is.

I understand that you figured out that covering her cage and keeping it covered all the time it stopped her from screaming, but obviously that wasn't the right thing to do. Sometimes as a parrot owner you have to simply put-up with a screaming bird for a few days or even a few weeks, as once again, they are not dogs or cats or any other type of pet due to their intelligence levels (only pet Primates like Monkeys and Lemurs are as intelligent as Parrots are), and Parrots just simply do not respond to any type of punishment/Negative-Reinforcement, this only makes their behavior and attitude worse and worse and makes them more and more aggressive. Instead of punishment/Negative-Reinforcement when your birds do something wrong or display a behavior you don't want them to, you need to TOTALLY IGNORE the bad behavior they are displaying and pay absolutely no attention at all to them every single time they display the bad or unwanted behavior until they stop doing it....And that could take a few minutes of ignoring them completely and pretending like they don't exist, a few hours, a few days, a week, etc. It's very much a "Battle of Wills", and it comes down to will she stop screaming first, or will you stop ignoring the screaming first and start paying attention to her first. And once you win the battle, the behavior generally changes very quickly because the thing they hate more than anything is being totally ignored by their person and having their person act like they don't even exist.

And then in order to get them to replace the bad or unwanted behavior with the behavior you want them to display, you need to Positively-Reinforce the bird displaying those good/wanted behaviors by giving them a "Training-Treat" every single time they display them (a "Training-Treat" is whatever treat is your bird's absolute favorite treat, and it's very important that they NEVER, EVER get that very special, favorite treat at any time other than when they are being rewarded for displaying a wanted/good behavior...It should be something that they not only love more than anything else, but something small that they can eat quickly and that you can always keep in your pocket whenever you're at home with the bird)...

***The reason that your bird stopped screaming when you covered her cage up is because it instantly created a small, dark place and triggered the release of sex-hormones. And while it did stop her from screaming, not only was it a completely horrible thing to start doing due to the risk to her health and it putting her right into Breeding-Season and kept her there the longer you did it, but SHE ACTUALLY TRAINED YOU!!! She learned right away that if she started to scream it would cause you to cover her cage up.

I know you didn't realize what you were doing/causing to happen, nor were you aware of the risk to her health and well-being...But now you know, and you need to immediately take the cover off of her cage and keep it off. And you need to remember that it is probably going to take at least a good couple of weeks to knock her out of Breeding-Season, stop the aggression, and stop the screaming (or whatever else is going to happen once you keep her uncovered. So you and the others in your home are just going to have to put up with any screaming, and make sure that you and everyone else knows that as long as she is screaming you all need to TOTALLY IGNORE HER, DO NOT TALK TO HER, DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH HER, DO NOT GET FRUSTRATED AND START YELLING AT HER, AND MOST OF ALL DO NOT PUT THE COVER BACK OVER HER CAGE! And if she does start continually screaming and you are totally ignoring her, and then she suddenly stops screaming for at least a minute or two, THEN you need to go right to her cage and verbally praise her and give her a Training-Treat. And continue to do this every day, all the time, and gradually the sex-hormones will leave her body and things will go back to normal.
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
Quick question for other members, as I'm not sure what the right thing to do here is...

I'd even hesitate to cover her at nighttime, because that in and of itself might just keep the hormonal episodes going and going and going, even though you are putting her on a Natural-Light Schedule, only covering her right as the Sun sets, and then removing the cover right as the Sun starts to rise in the mornings. Hopefully some other members can chime-in on what they think about even covering her cage at bedtime right now, at least until she is knocked out of Breeding-Season...I'm not sure what the right thing to do at bedtime is as far as covering her, I'm afraid that might just cause the hormones to sky-rocket every time that cover is put over her, whether it's bedtime or not.
 

Scott

Supporting Member
Aug 21, 2010
32,673
9,789
San Diego, California USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy
Parrots
Goffins: Gabby, Abby, Squeaky, Peanut, Popcorn / Citron: Alice / Eclectus: Angel /Timneh Grey: ET / Blue Fronted Amazon: Gonzo /

RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
I never cover my birds. They typically sleep and rise with the sun with a few exceptions.

Frankly, we need more input from the OP to render best advice. I don't have an impression Joey has been covered for years, rather as an attempt to moderate her angst - apparently timed with arrival of Petey.
 

Sunnyclover

New member
Jan 11, 2017
1,646
43
New Jersey
Parrots
Sun Conure - Ollie- Hatched 08/18/16*

Nanday Conure -Finley- Hatched 10/07/17*

Turquoise Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure -Paris- Hatched 03/03/18*

Black Capped Conure -North- Hatched 10/10/18
Thank Goodness I'm not the only one incredibly worried about the OP and his Fid. I hope the OP responds with more information and truly tries to follow a path to help this bird.
 
OP
nursouth

nursouth

New member
Mar 31, 2019
13
0
Alabama
Parrots
Cherryhead Conure and a Cockatiel.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #14
Hi. I did move the cockatiel. Joey has never laid an egg. She was DNA tested and yes, she's a girl. She's never been given any form of nesting material. I have NEVER screamed at Joey. Joey and I began working this morning to make and keep her happy, again.
 
OP
nursouth

nursouth

New member
Mar 31, 2019
13
0
Alabama
Parrots
Cherryhead Conure and a Cockatiel.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #15
Hi. Thank you for your reply. I welcome all comments.
 
OP
nursouth

nursouth

New member
Mar 31, 2019
13
0
Alabama
Parrots
Cherryhead Conure and a Cockatiel.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #16
Hi. Joey and I did start working together today, she was out on her cage all day. She screamed at us and I only said "Joey", and I did not scream it.
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
I'm sorry, I didn't say that "you screamed at Joey", I was under the impression that the reason that you started covering her all day long in the first place was because SHE was screaming at you all the time and being aggressive...

Anyway, all you need to do here is to stop covering her cage during the day. Period. She needs to wake-up with the Sunrise and go to bed with the Sunset, and be able to see the light changes. And once the Sun is up she just simply cannot be covered...Yes, it's going to take a good month or so to get her to snap-out of the Breeding-Season the covering her every day has caused, but it will happen...And yes, she's going to scream at you and probably be very aggressive towards you for a while during the day when she's uncovered, but that's just what you have to deal with...

And honestly I wouldn't cover her cage AT ALL, NOT EVER...Including at bedtime, because it's probably just going to start her hormones up again as soon as you put the cover back on. So you need to just stop covering her cage from now, period. And then just give her a good month or so for the sex-hormones to leave her body and for her to start getting used to being up and about and living again, and that should do it...

And it's good she's never had any Nesting-Material, that would do the same thing that keeping her covered-up all the time did....No Nesting-Material of any kind or anything she could use as it, and no more small, dark places or covering her cage up...And I'm just being honest with you and don't mean you and disrespect at all, but if you can't have her in your home any longer without putting a cover over her cage while the Sun is up, then it's better for her overall quality of life, well-being, and general health if you possibly think about re-homing her to a Rescue or an experience Parrot owner/breeder, because it's just no way of living for a Parrot to spend it's live in a cage covered-up 24/7...Not your fault, I understand that you didn't know what covering her up all the time was doing to her...
 
OP
nursouth

nursouth

New member
Mar 31, 2019
13
0
Alabama
Parrots
Cherryhead Conure and a Cockatiel.
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #18
Hey, all is good. Joey has been up and out of her cage since the next morning after my first post. She has come to me many times. She has screamed off and on, my husband and I are making it thru. I love Joey, she's my girl.
 

Most Reactions

Latest posts

Top