Understanding the behaviour of my new green-cheek

[skitty]

Hi all.

First of all, I'm a first time parrot dad. I made the comitment to take on a beautiful little green-cheek conure named Skittles (~11-12 weeks old I think). I initially planned to purchase a ring-neck parakeet, but the breeder suggested I go for this particular conure for a first-time bird owner. It had been hand reared, and was overall very freindly and easy to handle.

The first day he settled in well. A bit of nipping/biteing, but I put that down to over-stimulation and an unsusal environment. My home is a lot quieter than where he'd spent the last 11-12 weeks, so it must have been a big adjustment.

Lately, my wife and I have been interacting with him, and he's had the chance to explore the house. His favorite spot is a perch we've put in for him in the conservatory.

One little behavioural thing that we're trying to figure out. It's hard to describe, but lets say he's sitting on your shoulder, or on something nearby. He does this half-skree type noise, and slightly flaps his wings (think of the equivalent of us shrugging our shoulders). The volume is not as loud as his "settled and content" squeek he makes. It's about mid-volume, and always acompanied with the movement of his wings.

I will try to capture a video whenever possible, as it'll be better at describing it.

EDIT: Further to my initial comments, here is a video I captured of him doing the thing I tried to describe.

Sometimes it's more frequent, other times it's less.

 

[LeaKP]

Beautiful gcc! Still a young baby, these are I think a youngster’s vocalisations. Very normal. Give Skittles a few more days, weeks and you’ll become accustomed to his little personal quirks. Welcome!

 

[skitty]

Thank you for the reply. Yes, I was hoping it was something like that, as it was getting us both a little worried that it felt threatened, upset, or struggling to settle in the home.

He's pretty consistent with his vocalisations. Every 3-4 seconds its that little mini squark. If you ignore him, it starts to get less frequent and less loud. When you give him the attention, then he pipes up.

When we're around - he's vocal. When we put him in his cage, it'll take him about 5-10 mins to settle down and go quiet. Then if either myself or my wife walk in the room, he'll start his routine again.

It's funny watching him fall asleep though. He's squeek, then get a little sleepy, squeek again, then eyes get heavier. His eyes will then close, but then he'll squeek-jump himself awake again.

 

[skitty]

I've just figured it out. He was very hungry. When we saw him at the breeders, he was happily eating seeds etc with the other birds. However, after reading other posts on the matter, it seems he had "regressed" back to a pre-weening state. It makes sense, as I hadn't really seen him eat all that much other than when I'd hand him the odd sunflower seed etc.

Then i remembered, the breeder gave me a bag of formulae. He said it might be worth having some of the fomulae just in case, but it didn't click until I read the other forum post.

I had a bunch of syringes etc from when we rescused a 12 day old Wood Pigeon and had to feed it crop milk.

I mixed up a small batch of the formulae and started to feed it him. He immediately knew what it was and gobbled it all up. Now he's happy and quiet, and just gives the occasional cute little peep sound.

 

[onamom]

Congrats on the new baby! He is very cute! Glad you figured out he wanted formula. I was going to say just baby noises/behavior as well.

 

[skitty]

This'll be the first week we've had Skittles at home and it's been an absoloute pleasure and wonderful learning experience.

His personality has really come out - it's a mix of cheeky, playful, and also loving - at least interpreted from a human perspective. There are times where he dances to music, or rolls onto his back to get you to play tickle/wrestle with him. Then he'll switch to "wanting to cuddle and nuzzle" and falls asleep against your neck.

We've been trying to wean him back to solids - seeds, fruit, veg, etc. Whilst he will nibble at an apple or seed, he seems quite insistent on baby formula - to the point where he will reject an apple slice (his favourite) and instead fly to the draw that we keep the feeding syringe.

I'm just worried that we're not supplying him the volume of calories and nutrients he needs as a growing conure.

Will he naturally wean himself into a diet primarily of solids? This might just be one of those "he'll figure it out in his own time" situations. I have to remind myself, he is still a baby - and let baby be a baby whilst he's a baby.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hi all.

First of all, I'm a first time parrot dad. I made the comitment to take on a beautiful little green-cheek conure named Skittles (~11-12 weeks old I think). I initially planned to purchase a ring-neck parakeet, but the breeder suggested I go for this particular conure for a first-time bird owner. It had been hand reared, and was overall very freindly and easy to handle.

The first day he settled in well. A bit of nipping/biteing, but I put that down to over-stimulation and an unsusal environment. My home is a lot quieter than where he'd spent the last 11-12 weeks, so it must have been a big adjustment.

Lately, my wife and I have been interacting with him, and he's had the chance to explore the house. His favorite spot is a perch we've put in for him in the conservatory.

One little behavioural thing that we're trying to figure out. It's hard to describe, but lets say he's sitting on your shoulder, or on something nearby. He does this half-skree type noise, and slightly flaps his wings (think of the equivalent of us shrugging our shoulders). The volume is not as loud as his "settled and content" squeek he makes. It's about mid-volume, and always acompanied with the movement of his wings.

I will try to capture a video whenever possible, as it'll be better at describing it.

EDIT: Further to my initial comments, here is a video I captured of him doing the thing I tried to describe.

Sometimes it's more frequent, other times it's less.

What a cutie you have! I'm growing to just LOVE GCCs even though I've never had one or handled one myself because so many PF members have them and they're simply adorable.
Regarding the twitchy behavior, I have no idea. But the OI HAS 11 1ew another idea

 

[DonnaBudgie]

What a cutie you have! I'm growing to just LOVE GCCs even though I've never had one or handled one myself because so many PF members have them and they're simply adorable.
Regarding the twitchy behavior, I have no idea. But the OI HAS 11 1ew another idea

I'm sure the PF members with GCCs will be happy tobadhrre

 

[ravvlet]

This'll be the first week we've had Skittles at home and it's been an absoloute pleasure and wonderful learning experience.

His personality has really come out - it's a mix of cheeky, playful, and also loving - at least interpreted from a human perspective. There are times where he dances to music, or rolls onto his back to get you to play tickle/wrestle with him. Then he'll switch to "wanting to cuddle and nuzzle" and falls asleep against your neck.

We've been trying to wean him back to solids - seeds, fruit, veg, etc. Whilst he will nibble at an apple or seed, he seems quite insistent on baby formula - to the point where he will reject an apple slice (his favourite) and instead fly to the draw that we keep the feeding syringe.

I'm just worried that we're not supplying him the volume of calories and nutrients he needs as a growing conure.

Will he naturally wean himself into a diet primarily of solids? This might just be one of those "he'll figure it out in his own time" situations. I have to remind myself, he is still a baby - and let baby be a baby whilst he's a baby.

Sometimes these little guys regress a bit with handfeeding, and it is always best to abundance feed - which means you need to keep up with the hand feeding for as long as he will take it. As he's older, it may be safer to offer him formula on a spoon instead of a syringe so he doesn't accidentally aspirate.

Those are definitely baby noises as others have said! The wings down, head bobbing and coming up to your face like that however all made me think hungry baby!

Our dusky conure stayed at the store for a few weeks after he was weaned so we didn't have this issue, but our cockatiel did, and he did eventually go back to solid food. You can also try mixing the formula into solid food and offer that to him on a plate. That worked for us.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

This'll be the first week we've had Skittles at home and it's been an absoloute pleasure and wonderful learning experience.

His personality has really come out - it's a mix of cheeky, playful, and also loving - at least interpreted from a human perspective. There are times where he dances to music, or rolls onto his back to get you to play tickle/wrestle with him. Then he'll switch to "wanting to cuddle and nuzzle" and falls asleep against your neck.

We've been trying to wean him back to solids - seeds, fruit, veg, etc. Whilst he will nibble at an apple or seed, he seems quite insistent on baby formula - to the point where he will reject an apple slice (his favourite) and instead fly to the draw that we keep the feeding syringe.

I'm just worried that we're not supplying him the volume of calories and nutrients he needs as a growing conure.

Will he naturally wean himself into a diet primarily of solids? This might just be one of those "he'll figure it out in his own time" situations. I have to remind myself, he is still a baby - and let baby be a baby whilst he's a baby.

Unfortunately your baby is not weaned. Why didn't you wait until he was weaned to take him home? Have you ever handfed a baby parrot before? How old is he? How many handfeedings was he getting daily when you got him? How much at each feeding? How many feedings per day now?

I'm going to assume you have never hand fed a baby parrot before. I hope the breeder trained you on how to hand feed him SAFELY because all it takes is one mistake and your baby can die.
Are you using a syringe to feed or a spoon? It's much safer to use a spoon unless you are very experienced. If you push the plunger a bit too hard or fast a large amount of formula can enter his mouth faster than he can swallow it and he can inhale (aspirate) the formula into his lungs, killing him within hours or days (aspiration pneumonia is deadly). If you use a spoon he can eat and swallow at his own pace avoiding the risk of aspiration. The formula must be freshly prepared at each feeding. Leftovers must be discarded.
The temperature of the formula must be between 100
and 107 degrees Fahrenheit. If it is too cold the formula can chill his crop, slowing down the passage of food into his stomach and fermenting in the crop causing sour crop which can be deadly.
Too hot and the crop can burn causing it to perforate and kill the baby.
Wash all formula off baby's face and beak after each feeding. Dried on formula is very difficult to remove.
The baby must be provided with a wide range of healthy solid foods (pellets, vegetables, fruits and small amounts of seeds) during the weaning process that he can graze on between feedings. When the baby is eating well on his own he will start rejecting the hand feedings though the first feeding in the morning is likely the last one he completely rejects. Only then is he comsidered weaned. Do not force him to wean. Let him wean at his own pace surrounded by lots of healthy solid food options (called abundance weaning).
If the weaning process is done correctly the baby will not become "seed junkie", which sets him up for a lifetime of problems caused by poor nutrition.
I hand raised a budgie from hatching last year and today she eats everything I offer her (and wants everything I'm eating). I mixed tiny pellets in with her formula during the last two weeks of hand feeding and today these pellets are still an important part of her daily diet.

Are you monitoring his weight? It's very important to weigh him at least a few times a week before his morning feeding. If he begins to lose weight you should take him to an avian vet. It is normal for a weaning baby parrot to lose a few grams while weaning because his crop is shrinking as part of the weaning process and flight requires a streamlined physique. Well fed baby birds are often a bit chubby in addition to having enlarged crops.

Is he flying yet? I hope his wings are not clipped. Clipping a baby parrot's wings can result in a bird that never flies well because he missed the window of time during which parrots naturally fledge. Some never learn how to fly well even after their clipped feathers are replaced at the first full molt (around six months). A parrot that can't fly well is prone to accidents like crash landings or being stepped on.

Now is when you should be developing a relationship with a certified avian vet who can advise you when you have questions and treat him for any health issues that may arise. Now is a great time for his first well bird check up.

Hand feeding a baby parrot is serious business. It can be rewarding but if done wrong your baby may die. The risks are seldom worth the perceived reward of having a parrot that is very bonded to you. You don't need to hand feed a baby parrot to have a wonderful, tame companion parrot that is bonded to you, and hand feeding one doesn't guarantee he won't mature into a young adult bird that never bites you. All parrots sometimes bite. It's always better to buy a fully weaned baby that the breeder has taken the time to socialize with humans rather than a baby that the breeder handled only during feedings, as some very busy parrot breeders often do. Responsible parrot breeders (at least in the US) do NOT sell unweaned babies unless the buyer is experienced at hand feeding. Many less responsible breeders convince the buyer that they must finish the hand feeding process themselves in order to "guarantee" the tame bird desired, but it's not true. Usually they just want the sale and one less hungry mouth to feed.
I wish you the best of luck with your new baby. He's absolutely adorable!

 

[skitty]

Unfortunately your baby is not weaned. Why didn't you wait until he was weaned to take him home? Have you ever handfed a baby parrot before? How old is he? How many handfeedings was he getting daily when you got him? How much at each feeding? How many feedings per day now?

He was weaned when we bought him. I have no reason to distrust the place we got him from and they have a strong reputation. Both my wife and I had observed him eating seeds, fruit etc. However, when we got him back home, he didn't seem to want any seeds or fruit/veg, and had regressed back to a pre-weaned state. However, since my post yesterday, this seems to just have been a temporary thing as he has been sat at my desk for the last hour destroying a bowl of mixed seeds.

I'm going to assume you have never hand fed a baby parrot before. I hope the breeder trained you on how to hand feed him SAFELY because all it takes is one mistake and your baby can die.
Are you using a syringe to feed or a spoon? It's much safer to use a spoon unless you are very experienced. If you push the plunger a bit too hard or fast a large amount of formula can enter his mouth faster than he can swallow it and he can inhale (aspirate) the formula into his lungs, killing him within hours or days (aspiration pneumonia is deadly). If you use a spoon he can eat and swallow at his own pace avoiding the risk of aspiration. The formula must be freshly prepared at each feeding. Leftovers must be discarded.
The temperature of the formula must be between 100
and 107 degrees Fahrenheit. If it is too cold the formula can chill his crop, slowing down the passage of food into his stomach and fermenting in the crop causing sour crop which can be deadly.
Too hot and the crop can burn causing it to perforate and kill the baby.

Whilst i've not hand fed a parrot before, i'm fairly familiar with the hand feeding process with other bird species. This is why we already had the relevant items to hand.

Our process was more of a "push a bit out of the syringe enough for him to lick it off". In this particular instance, we hadn't needed to do the whole "direct in his mouth" approach. We'd also offer the mix on a spoon or small jar lid, to which he'd help himself to.

Wash all formula off baby's face and beak after each feeding. Dried on formula is very difficult to remove.
The baby must be provided with a wide range of healthy solid foods (pellets, vegetables, fruits and small amounts of seeds) during the weaning process that he can graze on between feedings. When the baby is eating well on his own he will start rejecting the hand feedings though the first feeding in the morning is likely the last one he completely rejects. Only then is he comsidered weaned. Do not force him to wean. Let him wean at his own pace surrounded by lots of healthy solid food options (called abundance weaning).
If the weaning process is done correctly the baby will not become "seed junkie", which sets him up for a lifetime of problems caused by poor nutrition.
I hand raised a budgie from hatching last year and today she eats everything I offer her (and wants everything I'm eating). I mixed tiny pellets in with her formula during the last two weeks of hand feeding and today these pellets are still an important part of her daily diet.

Are you monitoring his weight? It's very important to weigh him at least a few times a week before his morning feeding. If he begins to lose weight you should take him to an avian vet. It is normal for a weaning baby parrot to lose a few grams while weaning because his crop is shrinking as part of the weaning process and flight requires a streamlined physique. Well fed baby birds are often a bit chubby in addition to having enlarged crops.

He is currently measuring at 70g

Is he flying yet? I hope his wings are not clipped. Clipping a baby parrot's wings can result in a bird that never flies well because he missed the window of time during which parrots naturally fledge. Some never learn how to fly well even after their clipped feathers are replaced at the first full molt (around six months). A parrot that can't fly well is prone to accidents like crash landings or being stepped on.

Yes he is flying. He's gotten pretty confident in his flying - he is able to fly from one room to another, and navigate around obstacles (eg, doorways). In fact, about 10 mins ago he did what I imagine is a parrot equivalent of "zoomies" after enjoying a slice of apple.

Now is when you should be developing a relationship with a certified avian vet who can advise you when you have questions and treat him for any health issues that may arise. Now is a great time for his first well bird check up.

Hand feeding a baby parrot is serious business. It can be rewarding but if done wrong your baby may die. The risks are seldom worth the perceived reward of having a parrot that is very bonded to you. You don't need to hand feed a baby parrot to have a wonderful, tame companion parrot that is bonded to you, and hand feeding one doesn't guarantee he won't mature into a young adult bird that never bites you. All parrots sometimes bite. It's always better to buy a fully weaned baby that the breeder has taken the time to socialize with humans rather than a baby that the breeder handled only during feedings, as some very busy parrot breeders often do. Responsible parrot breeders (at least in the US) do NOT sell unweaned babies unless the buyer is experienced at hand feeding. Many less responsible breeders convince the buyer that they must finish the hand feeding process themselves in order to "guarantee" the tame bird desired, but it's not true. Usually they just want the sale and one less hungry mouth to feed.
I wish you the best of luck with your new baby. He's absolutely adorable!

I appreciate the concern expressed. I think overall, this was just a short-term temporary matter. It seemed he just regressed short-term due to the change of environment/circumstance.

Today, i've had zero issues with him eating. In fact, he has been on my desk for the last few hours, making an absoloute mess with the bowl of seeds, and the plate of broccoli and mixed fruit. He's certainly consuming more solid food now. Before, he'd maybe half eat a seed, and then insist on giving him some formula mix.

 

[ravvlet]

Yay! That’s a relief I’m sure! We went through the same thing with our cockatiel.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Happy to hear all this. I have heard of so many baby parrots that were still handfeeding when adopted that died when the new owner tried to finish the handfeeding using a syringe. So heartbreaking.
It sounds like your baby was weaned but regressed a bit, which is fine as long as you are extremely careful using a syringe, or preferably, use a small spoon. You should try to get him to eat more pellets while he's still young because it's harder as he gets older and has gotten accustomed to seeds. If you want to train him to do tricks you should reserve his favorote seeds as training rewards only. If he loves sunflower seeds they make great training aids.
Enjoy your new baby!

He was weaned when we bought him. I have no reason to distrust the place we got him from and they have a strong reputation. Both my wife and I had observed him eating seeds, fruit etc. However, when we got him back home, he didn't seem to want any seeds or fruit/veg, and had regressed back to a pre-weaned state. However, since my post yesterday, this seems to just have been a temporary thing as he has been sat at my desk for the last hour destroying a bowl of mixed seeds.


Whilst i've not hand fed a parrot before, i'm fairly familiar with the hand feeding process with other bird species. This is why we already had the relevant items to hand.

Our process was more of a "push a bit out of the syringe enough for him to lick it off". In this particular instance, we hadn't needed to do the whole "direct in his mouth" approach. We'd also offer the mix on a spoon or small jar lid, to which he'd help himself to.



He is currently measuring at 70g



Yes he is flying. He's gotten pretty confident in his flying - he is able to fly from one room to another, and navigate around obstacles (eg, doorways). In fact, about 10 mins ago he did what I imagine is a parrot equivalent of "zoomies" after enjoying a slice of apple.



I appreciate the concern expressed. I think overall, this was just a short-term temporary matter. It seemed he just regressed short-term due to the change of environment/circumstance.

Today, i've had zero issues with him eating. In fact, he has been on my desk for the last few hours, making an absoloute mess with the bowl of seeds, and the plate of broccoli and mixed fruit. He's certainly consuming more solid food now. Before, he'd maybe half eat a seed, and then insist on giving him some formula mix.

 

[skitty]

The last few months have been a wonderful time bonding with Skittles and getting to know his personality better. He's a very loved member of the family and it seems he also has a name for me and my wife.

There's a few little behavioural things i'd like to get an opinion on. He seems very bitey at times. One moment he could be playing with you (rolling around, hopping about) and then he'll start play biting, but then bite pretty hard.
We're guessing this is somewhat normal behaviour for a relatively young conture (estimated to be around 20-21 weeks now). He loves to be handled, and spends countless hours sitting on our shoulder, or in our hair. He loves to nuzzle up, but if given the opportunity, he'll slowly move from a nuzzle to taking a big bite of your earlobe. He has a lot of out-of-cage time (typically 6-8 hours) and there is always someone at home to interact with him.
Another little worry, which is probably normal is that he's starting to loose a lot of feathers. I think it might be malting but i just want to check with the community. It's almost exclusively small fluffy grey feathers - the ones that you normally see under the main external feathers. He's started to develop a small bald patch on his head - not huge, but also noticable if you look. Is this a normal thing to happen at this age?
I feel his diet is varried and well balanced. He always has access to good quality food (both seed and vegetable), and water.