Adopted Little Billy aka Hellspawn

[Jasandbilly]

After researching different birds I finally decided that a conure would be a good choice with personality as well as how the bird would fit into my household, I live in the middle of nowhere and was thrilled when one became available for adoption in my area. He is a 5 year old white eyed, and from what the owners told me I am his 4th house He is having a bit of a rough transition, which I was expecting but I feel so bad for him being so frustrated and am hoping I am going the right direction with helping him adjust. Before I get into it- he’s been home for about a week now, I am not trying to handle him as he is not too sure about me still, trying to give him space but be present around him, he is in my living room/kitchen space so it’s where I spend most of my time, I do give him treats by hand to encourage confidence that I’m not going to try to grab him or anything that I just want to be a source of positive happenings. He loves his treats, loves when I sing to him, eats like a horse, drinks his water and does happy bird things like chilling on one leg, preening and just relaxing about looking super cute. But only in the morning.
He has a bit of jeckle and Hyde thing going on- during the mornings (8-12) he is very sweet, plays with his toys, will watch me as I do my things around the house (I open his door as soon as I get up so he has the option of adventuring out, which he did once for a short while and then went right back in) and displays behaviour that seems like he is trying to engage with me (Same behaviours he does when he wants tasty things I have) he chatters and seems somewhat content for a little guy who just had his life flipped upside-down again. He is cautious if I go near the cage but generally just acts curious, he takes food from my fingers during these times and I will hang out near him but letting him have his own space as to not cause pressure or stress.
Then I go to work for my 5 hours and come home to hell spawn I say that lovingly, but it’s the best descriptor I can muster for the sounds that erupt from him. He is fine and very quiet while I put my things away, open his door and deal with my other critters, then after that if I even look in the direction of his cage he lunges and bites at the bars and SCREAMS with the intensity of a thousand suns, no playing with toys, no flipping upside down antics, no curiosity over the open door, just pointy angry bird aiming in my direction and trying to burst my eardrums. Tonight it was for an almost solid 4 hours. If I left the room he would stop, but start right back up again with the lunging and screeching as soon as I would come back until the sun went down and I put his blanket on. (On a prior night I did try to reward the brief moment of calm, to which he investigated my offering and then grabbed a great big ol hunk of hand and ground down into my finger meats quite forcefully and then scuttled away to continue his screams.
I was expecting some screaming... but not quite that intensive, and not quite sure how to address a bird who seems to have multiple personalities. My ears are still ringing I love my little hell spawn already but just want to see if that’s a normal reaction or if I’m not doing something right, it’s been a while since I’ve had birds and never have I experienced anything like this and I want to make sure I am doing the right things for him

 

[LaManuka]

Welcome aboard to you and ... erm ... Satan’s Little Helper!

I don’t know a great deal about conures, having only ever had a green cheeked one, but if you are his fourth home I sincerely hope he has found his forever home now. The screaming may be one reason he’s been rehomed so frequently, and by now he may have developed some fairly serious trust issues, the poor little guy! It’s encouraging that you say you love him anyway - this behaviour of his may well continue until he understands that (hopefully!) you will always be there for him regardless of what little minion of the underworld he acts like! He may also have suffered from physical or psychological neglect in one of his previous homes too.

Just make sure that he learns to associate you with nice things like treats and scratches (if he allows!), always reward good behaviour and try to ignore the bad if possible. It may take a long time for him to come around so maybe in the meantime buy yourself some earplugs and settle in for the long haul. I wish the two of you every success!

 

[RemiBird]

What kind of conure did you adopt? It does make a difference whether it's a for instance sun conure or a green cheek conure. Sun conures do scream a lot- they don't even need a reason, lol.
I understand your hardship. My Remi came to me from somewhat similar circumstances - returned to a (not the nicest) pet store a few times, was very angry and territorial for a while, and it has taken him forever to trust my hands.
It will get better with time. He just needs consistency and stability. Day by day, just show him that you are someone who brings treats and love. The good thing about your situation is that you only work five hours a day, so you have more time to devote to him. Rehabilitating a bird takes a long time. With Remi, it has taken almost a year to see some improvements. My hands were full of bites and scars when I first got him. Now, he rarely bites and if he does, it's not as hard. He still bites for certain reasons, so the key is to read his mood. Also, he was lunging in his cage in the beginning, but now he can be as sweet as pie, snuggling next to my neck.
So there is hope. It will take time though. The road ahead is long, but it's worth it.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

Not quite sure about your day timeline, but could I just check if he's getting about 12 hours of sleep every day? If he's not getting at least 10 hours of sleep (ideally 12-14hrs), that could be a source of the screaming. I know Cairo starts screaming at the end of an exhausting day or if his sleep got disturbed the night before - he basically lets us know he can't take being awake with so much stimuli around.

In general, it sounds like he is still getting used to you and a new routine, even if he is friendly in the mornings - Cairo is most pliable with treats in the morning and around mealtimes, so it might be out of necessity still.

Parrots are very much like people. Even if you seem to click straight away with someone, it still takes months to open up. And if you don't 'click', then it will still take months to get familiar with new places, new faces (couldn't pass up the rhyme), and new routines. He's probably hesitant to trust you completely after being rehomed so much. Just give him time to learn about you, and give yourself time to learn his triggers.

One thing to consider is the lighting also. Morning light hits a different place than afternoon light. If he's scared of how shadows are cast or perhaps how dark the place gets, that might be a factor?

Another thought might be perhaps he has an expectation of how the evening should go. I know Cairo expects that I let him out of his cage and feed him the moment I come home from work, and he will give his ekkie call if I'm not adhering to that very well. We're slowly training him, but only because we're at that point in our relationship with him. However, considering where your relationship with Billy is, I'd say try to figure out what his routine expectations might be, then stabilize your routine with him first so that he trusts you before training anything crazy like what we're doing.

 

[Flboy]

Hi again! This is a learned behavior! It also sounds like hormonal frustration too!

 

[Jasandbilly]

I don’t know how to tag you guys to respond to the individual comments thank you all for such encouraging words and advice. After milking through your suggestions and ideas I ended up completely rearranging my living room, placed him in the transition area between the kitchen and living room so he is still in the mix of everything but not so close as to be right where the main action is happening (not that there is much action, our house is pretty boring) buuuuuutttt when I came home from work today there was no calls out to raise the dead!!!! Just a short little high pitch squawking to say hi, different than the frantic brain melting shrieks from our prior evenings!!!!! And then he just started his little conversations with himself. I aimed on the cautious side and gave him his space, deposited treats into his bowl as opposed to offering with my fingers and he happily munched on those, no angry pointy bird, no curious upside-down morning billy either but he was sitting nice and relaxed and that is the most beautiful thing I could hope for at this point I had him beside our couches so maybe it was a bit too much stimulation * And I do think I have been keeping him up a bit later than he should, I have insomnia so I do tend to mill about at all hours of the night to keep myself from going squirrelly, he has his night blanket that he loves but I have heard him talking and whispering to himself in there while I am going about my business, so tonight I will try just reading quietly in another room so I don’t disrupt his sleep. Thank you guys soooooooo much!