Aggresive Sun Conure Behavior

[RayPember]

I call (him?) Pyro, he turned a year old 11-11-11. I got him at 14 1/2 weeks. He was timid and didnt mind steping up, but over time he became cage bound, and aggressive. My Dad loves him to death, but I'm the only person that can touch him. I just need some advice, I feel guilty getting any other parrots because I'd do it right, but he'd be left in the background. One discouraging thing is that he bites, and I really dont know what to do...I bought these bird tricks DVD's, but I never got the right vibes from it, to commercial and nothing heartfelt. I need some help, I'll have had him for a year in March.

 

[Remy]

Is there anything in particular that sets him off?

What happens if he's away from his cage and can't see it?

 

[roxynoodle]

It sounds like he is biting out of fear. It will require a lot of patience but you should work on getting him to come out of his cage and step up. You might try bribing him with a favorite food. That is how I tamed all my budgies to step up and come out of their cages. I'm sure it's not too late since he is young and was a hand fed baby. Be patient and look for baby steps. It can take a long time to trust.

I don't think there is anything wrong with getting another bird as long as you have time for both of them. Sometimes one bird doesn't give us everything we want from our birds. My Nanday for instance does not like cuddling or petting. My Blue Crown did. Together they made the perfect birds.

It may even help Pyro if he sees another birds stepping up and interacting with humans. Birds learn from their flock members.

 

[Tikazoo]

I agree sometimes seeing is believing - many times they see you not hurting the other bird and realize its looking better OVER there at the other cage. I've always had mulitples and well we now just got a new bird who is a fear bitter I believe - young baby who is super aggressive. I wish we could have more but one is gonna be the one we have for now - nasty or not she will come around someday I hope...

 

[lene1949]

So, when you got him at 14.5 weeks old, he was timid, but didn't mind stepping up... Then for some reason he became cagebound and aggressive?

What happened for this to occur? Is he your bird or your dad's?

If he has been neglected attention wise, he will bite, because he's very unsure of what's happening...

You can start from scratch... Pretend he's just come into your care, and take the advise on how to get a new parrot comfortable in your home... It could take a lot of time, but I'm sure it's worth it, since he was already stepping up for you.

I rescued a green cheek conure many years ago, and he was very aggressive.. I only let him out of his cage once to access his biting... ouch...

Then I started target training him... It probably took about 6 months for him to be tame enough to step up... In the mean time he learnt an awful amount of tricks (it was the only way I could interact with him)

There is definitely hope for your sun, if you have the patience and put in the training.

BirdTricks.. what can I say... these guys are great at advertising.... lol

 

[RayPember]

Well he's touchy, he's tame but not completely. Things that set him off is just being touched outside of his cage...my Dad is no help either.

 

[RayPember]

When he is away from his cage he will rarely let you pet him if he is on my finger, but if he's on my shoulder sometimes I can groom him, but he doesnt seem as trusting as some conures i've seen in videos

 

[RayPember]

It sounds like he is biting out of fear. It will require a lot of patience but you should work on getting him to come out of his cage and step up. You might try bribing him with a favorite food. That is how I tamed all my budgies to step up and come out of their cages. I'm sure it's not too late since he is young and was a hand fed baby. Be patient and look for baby steps. It can take a long time to trust.

I don't think there is anything wrong with getting another bird as long as you have time for both of them. Sometimes one bird doesn't give us everything we want from our birds. My Nanday for instance does not like cuddling or petting. My Blue Crown did. Together they made the perfect birds.

It may even help Pyro if he sees another birds stepping up and interacting with humans. Birds learn from their flock members.

Thankyou so much, I want to get another baby bird to encourage Py to trust me, I love him more and more and I made so many mistakes with him out of anger, he hates spray bottles and screams for attention, but all he needs is love and I do need to be patient. Because I am right handed he only likes to be pet on his left side! Haha, I'm working on that though, he loves getting treats so you think I should use that more often?I'm thinking about raising a baby cockatiel, but I dont know how to feed them properly so I'm actually breeding satinette pigeons to learn

 

[RayPember]

He's the family bird, but my Dad once had a hand raised cockatiel so he's convinced he can treat Py this way. I became so frustrated with him I stopped training him since it never gave me the results I wanted, I admit I made aweful mistakes and sprayed him, still though he loves me more than anyone in the house and begs me for attention now. I wish he was more open and I and my parents spent hundreds of dollars on training DVD's which I plan to follow accordingly now, I just need the right encouragement because the DVD's are to commercial. I love the starting over idea. It'll be odd, I have a question though, I dont like the cage bound additude, I'd like it if he actually slept with me(in a safe bird area of course). Any suggestions? Thanks so much, I really love this place, think these techniques will work on my pigeons? lol just kidding haha

 

[roxynoodle]

Well, my Nanday is really territorial about her cage. I just open the door, let her come down to the open door and then she will step up just fine. No point really in getting her riled up by my putting my hand in there, or in my getting bitten. We do that her way and we are both happier.

No, anger just doesn't work well with birds. They are too emotional and sensitive. You need to be calm and patient. Just start over as suggested, and I'm sure he will come around. It may take a long time, but compared to their lifespans it won't be long. They very much like happy people. They like you to smile, laugh, sing, dance and act goofy.

Well, I hope you don't mean sleep in the bed with you. You could roll over and squash him. Plus there will be poop and all that, lol! If you mean move his cage into your bedroom at night, sure he will get used to that. I once fell asleep with my Nanday after taking some medicine and she chewed a huge hole in my sweatshirt and crawled in there. It was a new shirt, lol! Really I'm lucky she didn't get into worse trouble.

 

[lene1949]

I'm sorry your parents spent so much money on training DVD's that obviously doesn't work...

Clicker training is a proven method of teaching animals tricks, as well as trusting you... They use it in Zoo's and a lot of other places, where animals need to comply... You can't force a (however many tons) elephant to do as you wish by being aggressive/angry...

Of course it takes work... your bird won't 'get it' by watching the video... I know.... it's a shame... lol

 

[Nakiska]

I'm not sure what type of cage set up you have, but we have a conure who's now 9 months old and we've had him 7 months. We had his cage up on a shelf that made a better part of his cage above eye level and we really had to stretch to reach the top of his cage.

He lives in our bedroom which is also our computer room/office and so has a ton of daily contact with us. After a few months he started to become quite a bitey but t when we'd try to get him out. We never stick our hands in his cage, because he's always at the door waiting to come out when we open it.

When we'd open his door, he'd step out and we'd offer our finger for him to step up on and wham! He'd land baste our finger so hard. Once he was out, he was great, but getting him out was becomming a problem. Then he started to rush up to the top of his cage when we'd open the door for him to come out. And no matter how long we left him, when we went to get him off the top of his cage where he was happily playing to put him to bed...he'd attempt to bite us.

Well we decided that perhaps because his cage was on the shelf making it so high up that perhaps Franklin was thinking he's one tough bird, king of the room type of attitude, because he was always above eye level with us.

We'd tried everything else and nothing seemed to work, so we lowered his cage to a shorter stand and now his highest point is about our neck level. It's been about a month now I think, and what a difference!

Franklin hasn't bitten us at all when coming out of his cage. We open the door, he steps to the edge, we offer our finger and he just steps up with no issue at all!

Sounds funny, I know...but if your cage is higher up, perhaps your bird is feeling like he's the "King"

Good luck and don't give up. Our birds challenge us and keep us on our toes, but isn't that part of the beauty of owning them???

Toni

 

[roxynoodle]

I'm not sure what type of cage set up you have, but we have a conure who's now 9 months old and we've had him 7 months. We had his cage up on a shelf that made a better part of his cage above eye level and we really had to stretch to reach the top of his cage.

He lives in our bedroom which is also our computer room/office and so has a ton of daily contact with us. After a few months he started to become quite a bitey but t when we'd try to get him out. We never stick our hands in his cage, because he's always at the door waiting to come out when we open it.

When we'd open his door, he'd step out and we'd offer our finger for him to step up on and wham! He'd land baste our finger so hard. Once he was out, he was great, but getting him out was becomming a problem. Then he started to rush up to the top of his cage when we'd open the door for him to come out. And no matter how long we left him, when we went to get him off the top of his cage where he was happily playing to put him to bed...he'd attempt to bite us.

Well we decided that perhaps because his cage was on the shelf making it so high up that perhaps Franklin was thinking he's one tough bird, king of the room type of attitude, because he was always above eye level with us.

We'd tried everything else and nothing seemed to work, so we lowered his cage to a shorter stand and now his highest point is about our neck level. It's been about a month now I think, and what a difference!

Franklin hasn't bitten us at all when coming out of his cage. We open the door, he steps to the edge, we offer our finger and he just steps up with no issue at all!

Sounds funny, I know...but if your cage is higher up, perhaps your bird is feeling like he's the "King"

Good luck and don't give up. Our birds challenge us and keep us on our toes, but isn't that part of the beauty of owning them???

Toni

Yes, very good information. My Nanday is that way as well. If she is up higher than I am she thinks she rules the world. I can't even let her be on my shoulder or she feels this way.

 

[Pedro]

You won't get anywhere with Pyro if there isn't any trust. You need to build a trust account up with him. That means going back to the beginning & starting all over again.

http://www.phoenixlanding.org/BehaviorandTrainingConcepts.pdf

This link may help you understand the concept of trust.

 

[chrystallrox]

You said...."I made so many mistakes with him out of anger, he hates spray bottles and screams for attention, but all he needs is love and I do need to be patient. Because I am right handed he only likes to be pet on his left side! Haha, I'm working on that though, he loves getting treats so you think I should use that more often?I'm thinking about raising a baby cockatiel, but I dont know how to feed them properly so I'm actually breeding satinette pigeons to learn."


My personal opinion from reading the your posts is that you and your Dad shouldn't have even gotten this poor bird in the first place. I don't think you need to be bringing in any more birds that will get sprayed with a spray bottle, which is absurd by the way...why would you do that, was it being a bird and squawking? Yes, you certainly don't have patience and you don't need any birds because birds need A LOT of patience, time and understanding...which obviously you don't have. Do this bird a favor and give it another home. It is probably already emotionally damaged as it is, but maybe it can be helped if someone has the patience and love to give it. Not some kid that doesn't even know what that is. Sorry to be harsh...I know it's your dad's fault.

 

[chippy]

IMO, if you really want to work on improving things with this bird, go back to the very beginning and take it SLOW. Work with the bird for just a short while each time and end on a positive, every time. Clicker/ touch training is a good thing to do, but remember that ANY training needs to be done slowly, calmly, and with PATIENCE. It wouldn't make a difference to this bird if you brought in 10 more birds who were all beautifully trained and socialized... you need to go back to square one with THIS bird.
A good video that I like is:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkI9PvOsjS0]Building Trust With Your Bird - YouTube[/ame]

but, again the most important factor in all of this is how YOU behave/ respond/react... be gentle, calm and respectful, do NOT punish your bird for behaving like a bird, and remember that it will take time...not just days, but, potentially months or even years for this bird to trust you now.