Aggressive, feral Conure?

[Brenna]

I'm sorry if I use wrong terms, but I'm just looking for as much information as possible.

Background: Almost two years ago, a woman gave my father a Conure at a Flea Market. It bites at women, and is terrified of men. Unfortunately, my family has been so busy that nobody has ever been able to sit down and spend time with it (despite it's small size, my mother is scared to death that it's going to bite her).

We've tried rehoming, or giving away, but people just don't want it.

I'm visiting my parents for a month or so, and I can't help but feel bad for the little conure. Is there anything I can do to improve it's behavior, or is it far too late? If I can work with it's behavior, what are some suggestions?

 

[suebee]

welcome and thank you for trying to help this poor bird, though i only have a suggestion and have no experiance other then with my own bird (who was very aggressive at one stage, but mainly because she was hormonal, rather then not so******ed properly)

if the birds staying with your parents, its really them that need to try with the bird, but if they have not got the time, if the birds terrified of men, that rules your dad out, and as your mothers afriad of it, it rules her out?? i would seriously look into any shelters etc that will take the bird

if however you can take the bird to your home and you have the time and patience that would be easier to get it to be less afraid, and in time happy in its surroundings and possibly step up etc, but i think that will be a long task, as its had over 2yrs of no physical contact, and do you know how old the bird is or any of its back ground before your parents took it in?? also what are they feeding it, where is the cage situated, who cleans the cage out and the birds reactions

i think a little more info and ppl can give better sugestions

 

[Brenna]

I have no background information on this Conure before we took it in.

My mom can barely feed it without getting nipped to ****. My father's the only one who can reach in the cage if need be.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to take it home with me as I live in Canada with my husband. My parents are in South Carolina.

As far as a shelter or something that could take it in, we've looked and asked, nobody wants it.

 

[suebee]

ok 1st thing 1st, your mother should stop reaching into the cage!
also how big is the cage??

if they can afford another cage, my nuts cage, i just open a small panel to refill her food dishes, was a god send when she saw me as a chew toy!
invest in some chew toys, best 1s are corn cobs even just the cobs! as they canbe very fattening

maybe try to tempt it with treats through the cage bars? other then feeding it and cleaing cage do your parents give it treats?? and what feed are they using

 

[Spiritbird]

I have a few suggestins. The first thing you should do is to take this bird to an avain vet. It is especiallly important as you do not know any history and getting a bird at a flea market has many unknowns. He may have several medical issues going on at the same time. Get him groomed at that time also. When the wings are clipped you will have more control. The second thing is if you want to help this bird do your homework and learn about how they are in the wild. Learn personality, nutritional needs, environmental safety, bonding, play and other conure needs. I know these birds like to cuddle so get a little snuggle sack and hang it in the top of the cage. Someone needs to spend lots of time with this bird so it will grow to trust a person.
Get it lots of shredding toys as they enjoy that activity. As said before do not put your hands inside the cage as this is very threatening to the bird. Put a perch on the inside of the door so that the bird can come out of the cage better and then you can arrange the toys and clean. Get a good quality pellet and feed the nuts, grains, legums, fresh fruits and vegies.

If no one is willing to do these things then find a bird sanctuary that will take him. There he will have the freedom of flying and interacting with a flock of birds and not people.

 

[Mike]

If you don't mind receiving a parrot oriented email every couple of days, I suggest subscribing to Chet Womach's free new letter. In the first three newsletters he'll send you links to videos on how to target train. Here's the link: Parrot Biting | Biting Parrots | How To Stop Parrot Biting

Basically you do the following, without opening the cage:
1. Get the bird comfortable with you approaching his/her cage by periodically dropping a favored piece of fruit or nut in his/her food dish. Say a couple of words each time you do this.
2. Train the bird to touch the end of a dowel. This is called target training and you can find a number of videos on YouTube to help you do this. The process is one of bahavior shaping. You reward the bird as it progressively gets closer, then eventually touches the dowel.

When trained the bird can be moved to the opposite end of the cage with the dowel and your mother can safely open the feeding doors.

Target training is the first step towards additional training, including stepping up, stepping down, behavior extinguishing, and behavior substitution. Extinguishing and substitution are how your Mother will eventually be able to reduce the bird's bouts of screaming.

I'm no expert at this stuff, but Chet's videos and free articles made the process clear to me. Another source for videos and articles is Barbara Heidenriech Training Parrots | Parrot Training DVDS & Books. Barbara also has a free newsletter with very useful videos and articles. I've subscribed to both.

With their methods I was able to train my daughter's conure to turn around on cue and to blow kisses on cue. I'm now working on getting the beast to let me raise his wing. The first trick took about 20 minutes a day for 3 days. The second trick about a week with the same durations. The bird actually seems to enjoy the training sessions. I think it gives him a feeling of accomplishment. The important thing, though, is that he has become much easier to handle and to be around.

 

[Kokihi]

If there isn't someone near the bird much, you could simply sit near the cage and read a book, and occasionally talk to the bird. Doing this combined with the training mentioned earlier could help your bird get used to people's presence.