GCC, and how they were raised.

[Grenage]

Hi there,

My previous birds when younger were budgerigars, but now that my wife and I have a new house, I can get a bird (cheer). I've decided on a GCC, and am looking at a couple of them tomorrow; the single bird we were originally looking at is a 12-week hand-reared bird.

My wife ran into a breeder at a pet shop, who was quick to inform her to be wary of hand-reared GCCs. Apparently unless they are parent-reared for the first few weeks, they become very (more so than usual) dependent on a their owner - screaming and biting, and never growing out of it. She has an 8-week old for sale (yellow-sided mutation), but she didn't hard sell it, just mentioned it.

While quick to be suspicious, but I am fully aware that she is a breeder and I am not. I've tried reading up on Conure raising good/bad practices, but I can't find anything one way or the other. If I might be so cheeky, could any GCC fanatics shed some light?

 

[dishgal1]

I am no expert just speaking from my own experience. I have a hand fed GCC yellow sided. He is a joy. IMO that is the only way to go. You can't always trust what breeders tell you either. If you want a tame bird from the start, you should go with a hand fed. Again, just my experience and others on here are much more experienced than I.
I truly believe each bird has its own personality and some will be nippier than others regardless of how they were raised. I would suspect a NON hand fed one would bite much more because it isn't as quick to trust humans, then you would have to do the taming and sometimes that can be overwhelming in itself. I'm sure others will correct me if I am wrong.
Also a rescue just might happen to have one that has been spoiled by previous owner .....worth checking into.

 

[dishgal1]

One other thing I might add......like the breeder said, they will be dependent on you if hand fed but that is the joy of owning one. If you are looking for one to not interact as much and stay in their cage a lot, then a handfed might not be the best option. You sound like you want one that will interact and be part of your family. Then your best option would be a hand fed baby.

 

[lexx510]

One other thing I might add......like the breeder said, they will be dependent on you if hand fed but that is the joy of owning one. If you are looking for one to not interact as much and stay in their cage a lot, then a handfed might not be the best option. You sound like you want one that will interact and be part of your family. Then your best option would be a hand fed baby.

Then a green cheek conure would not be the best option.

To the thread starter, how much out of cage quality time will you be able to spend with your bird?

PS: Good advice, dishgal!

 

[Grenage]

Thanks for the replies, good information!

I'm want to spend a lot of time with him/her outside the cage; probably as much as they are willing to be around me. I have a strong desire for a companion pet, not something that looks pretty in the corner. I imagine that will have to be in small chunks with a young bird, increasing over time.

 

[dishgal1]

My little handfed GCC was 10 weeks old when he came home with me. He wanted to be with me constantly. He would sit up under my hair on my neck. Every morning as soon as he heard me he would start climbing the wall of the cage desperate to be with me. If you get them 10 - 12 weeks he should want to be with you constantly and that will create a great bond. Don't think you will have to wait for his attention, just try to let him pick you when you go visit. If it doesn't feel like the right one, wait until you find the right one.

 

[Grenage]

Thank you; I guess I'll see what they are like when I visit!

 

[Bobioden]

I got Maxx at 11 weeks, also hand fed. I had 7 birds to pick from. 4 from his hatch, and 3 other older GCC's. Maxx picked me from the first time I held him. He did not want to go back to his cage. He has never failed to step-up when asked, loves to spend as much time with me as possible. BUT has learned to be independent, plays with all his toys, and enjoys being in his inside and outside cages.

 

[dishgal1]

Wow Maxx looks like my Forrest. So cute.

 

[Bobioden]

Wow Maxx looks like my Forrest. So cute.

And we have the exact same cages for our GCC's, only mine is in Black.

 

[artemis]

Don't worry much about hand fed versus parent raised. Pick the green cheek who's friendly AND who picks you. When it comes to people, parrots can have definite preferences! If your bird really wants to be with you, you've already won half the battle.

 

[Largofan]

I can only repeat what the breeder I got Hiccup from told me and that's that handfed are tamer then parent raised. I also agree with the letting the bird pick you. I was at the breeder/rescue place with Helitorian, who was looking for another bird, not even thinking about getting a bird. The breeder plopped her down in my hand and the rest was history. She picked me and then I had to get her

 

[Grenage]

Well I decided to go with a hand-reared gcc; the breeder had the original three in a cage, which seemed happy with each others company, and a fourth which a buyer had pulled out on. He'd been kept alone and handled a lot more - so the seller asked for more, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't much more. We went with the fourth, and we couldn't be happier with him.

He screeches a little if he can hear you talking in the house, but can't see you - other than that, he's quite quiet, and just wants to get out and play with you. Thankfully for both of us, we prefer him to be out!

 

[Echo]

If parent raised babies are properly socialized since they are 3 weeks old, they will be as tame as the hand reared babies.

 

[JonnyG]

My Persie is hand raised and i'm glad I did. I had to spoon feed him for a few weeks as well which helped him settle in more, he is extremely tame, will socalize with anyone, ok he can be nippy with others but never with me. I have experience of parent raised as well, they don't see human interaction in the same way IMHO, I know that plenty are very good pets and hand raised can still be very unsociable but in general I believe that they make better pets...

 

[friedsoup]

Ok I'm no expert but the ones I have talked to explained the parent raising like this; The first few weeks are important for inmuinity to pass from the parents to the baby. after that you hand feed them so the associate humans with love food and protection. Flying and preening and acrobatics will come naturally

 

[JonnyG]

Ok I'm no expert but the ones I have talked to explained the parent raising like this; The first few weeks are important for inmuinity to pass from the parents to the baby. after that you hand feed them so the associate humans with love food and protection. Flying and preening and acrobatics will come naturally

That is my understanding of it, the breeder i used removed from the nest after about 10 days, he was hand fed after that...