Jealous Sun Conure

Jammel0901

New member
Oct 17, 2021
3
8
Parrots
Sun Conure
Hi everyone,

I wish to seek any kind advice from fellow conure parrot owners with our dilemma. We have a handfed sun conure, we got our SC when he was just barely 2 weeks old and he's now 5 months old. We let him out of his cage most of the day, together with our 3 lovebirds and trained him for free flight together with other fellow bird owners in our area. He's very playful and clingy. Also, very energetic most of the time. He's not a screamer and would only make noise if he's hungry. We also bond with him, together with our lovebirds, most of the time during the day.

Here comes the dilemma.

Then, we bought another 4 week old cockatiel. The problem was he's screaming at the top of his lungs whenever we he's seeing us picking up the baby cockatiel. We tried placing the new bird bin near his cage so he will eventually get used to the cockatiel, but he's been so aggressive. We tried feeding them together with a safe distance from each other, but we end up having bloody bites from our sun conure. He had never done such bites before. And at times, he will just fly to me and will bite hard to my finger even if I am not holding the baby cockatiel.
How do we get rid of this behavior and what should we do so he will get along with our new bird?
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kme3388

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Sep 17, 2021
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Eclectus Parrot: Nico (male)
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Hi there, I am sorry to hear about the struggles with your conure. I do have a Jenday conure. Conures are very social birds. In the wild they are in larger flocks (we become their flock when in captivity). They do tend to contact call a lot more then other bird species. The way I've always looked at it is that my conure is just overly protective of her flock. She wants to know where her human friends are at all times. I've only been able to dicipate my conures screaming with a forging toy, or training a new trick. Hopefully something in here helps.
 

BirdAddictK

Member
Sep 26, 2021
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61
Hi, I know what to do. Have you tried introducing the 2 birds? There is a special way to introduce 2 birds so that they get along with each other. There are many videos on this topic available on YouTube. And if this does not work, you will need to keep them separated forever, take them out of the cage seperately, have one on one interaction with them separately. This is because, with some birds, the relationship is great right away or it never works out.

Surely try my advice, it will help.
 

saxguy64

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Hi, I know what to do. Have you tried introducing the 2 birds? There is a special way to introduce 2 birds so that they get along with each other. There are many videos on this topic available on YouTube. And if this does not work, you will need to keep them separated forever, take them out of the cage seperately, have one on one interaction with them separately. This is because, with some birds, the relationship is great right away or it never works out.

Surely try my advice, it will help.
There is never a guarantee that two birds will get along, regardless of how they're introduced. That's entirely up to them. Just as two people may dislike each other for any number of reasons, the same is true for them. Probably more so because they see things on a very different level than humans do. That's why parrots are so much better at choosing us than we are of them. To say that a proper introduction will make two birds be compatible is, at best, wishful thinking IMHO.
 
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OP
Jammel0901

Jammel0901

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Oct 17, 2021
3
8
Parrots
Sun Conure
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We tried several ways. Having their cages near to each other. Feeding them together..with safe distance, of course. Our sun conure will always have this kind of stand or appearance that he's ready to attack. Any more suggestions?
 

kme3388

Well-known member
Sep 17, 2021
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Eclectus Parrot: Nico (male)
Jenday Conure: Kiwi (female)
Conures are truly conures as anyone who's owned them will state. When they are babies they are a lot easier then when they start becoming adults. That's when they become little monsters. I love my conure, and she's my baby. I will 100% tell anyone she is a little monster, and because she wants to be. My conure doesn't like anything that she doesn't consider as her flock, and yes she will attack (large dogs, cats, and anything that moves). Conures really can be fearless. All I've been able to do is keep the enviornment controlled, and make sure that I am present the entire time.
 

Emeral

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Sep 16, 2021
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Hanhs Macaw
Before we can solve any behavior problems, we will have to begin with the personality of the bird in question.

Handfed sun conures are small birds with big personality, cheeky, sweet, and cuddly. As pets, their lifespan is 20–30 years. Though they are not loud birds, they can develop screaming behavior if you don’t spend enough time with them. They’re birds that don’t do well on their own, and may scream to command attention. Hence, they will need at least 2 hours in the morning and another 2 hours in the evening with their favorite person.


That's general information, in your case, you have already given him a wonderful home for almost 5 months now and therefore, he is special and is already bonded to you. It is also very nice to hear about free flight trainings with another 3 lovebirds. So glad that you are still asking questions and are still willing to listen to things you might already know.


You have mentioned that he is a playful and well behaved bird who make noise only when he is hungry. Well, he obviously loves you from the bottom of his heart. Energetic and playful, looking forward to be with you everyday. This seems to be a wonderful story of a happy home for him.


Until a 4 weeks old cockatiel turned up. Now his green jealous heart and maximum screaming whenever he see you picking up the baby. The problem increases as he bite hard eventhough you are not holding that baby.


I suggest you try a little experiment.
Do not let him see or hear from this new baby bird. Take this new face to another room in another corner of the house, for a day or two. This strategy will prevent him from seeing his favorite person playing with a new bird and hopefully calm him down. We want his best side which was the not having to compete for love side.


If his screaming and bitey reduces, then it means one thing. He was insecure and jealous. Possibly, trying to declare war, announcing that he can not bear to share his favorite person with this baby. And he is asking for your love and attention in the only way that he know how.


As long as he is jealous, such behavior will only increases with the frequency of seeing you interacting with that new baby. It is very sad but the direction of this development will only go one way, towards bloody bites. And who knows where the scar will be. After all, 5 months is still very young, perhaps too young to stay calm under the given circumstances.


Each bird, or the same bird at different age, may react to the Introduction of a new routine or a new member of a different species differently. We can hope that they will eventually come together and if they do, it will be at their own pace. However, if they won't, ""we have heard of too many sad irreversible injuries to take this issue lightly."" Meanwhile, the jealous heart and the new baby must be kept apart, no face to face meeting, no placing their cage next to one another and no shoulder perching. The latter could led to scar on the lip, eye or face. So we want to avoid scar from his bite at all cost.
Don't let him cross over to the dark side.

Clingy and cuddly are just the two sides of the same coin. We can't have a hand tamed bird who isn't clingy. If he bites or scream, it's only because he loves you and you are all that he has.
 

imouse1

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Oct 10, 2021
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Green Cheek Conure: Sir H. H. Gregg Q. T. Birb, III
Conures are truly conures as anyone who's owned them will state. When they are babies they are a lot easier then when they start becoming adults. That's when they become little monsters. I love my conure, and she's my baby. I will 100% tell anyone she is a little monster, and because she wants to be. My conure doesn't like anything that she doesn't consider as her flock, and yes she will attack (large dogs, cats, and anything that moves). Conures really can be fearless. All I've been able to do is keep the enviornment controlled, and make sure that I am present the entire time.
Oh, so they're also secretly geese lol
 
OP
Jammel0901

Jammel0901

New member
Oct 17, 2021
3
8
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Sun Conure
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As of this moment, here are the ff updates: Some improvements but a still a long way to go

We tried placing both of them in a cage and placed a divider in between of them. Initially, our sun conure is attacking the divider and exhibiting aggressive behavior towards the cockatiel. On the other hand, our cockatiel did not seem to mind. Doing his own thing, like preening and exercising his wings. After sometime, the aggressive behavior reduced and our SC went back to eating his food.

In the next few days, our sun conure was no longer screaming whenever we were holding or touching the cockatiel bird. Although, he still backs away from the cockatiel whenever were feeding them both together (when we're using bird formula). So for us, that's a good sign.

Then, yesterday, our cockatiel learned how to jump and started to flying short distances. And this time, our sun conure is flying towards to him as well or meeting him in the middle with an attack like an eagle about to snatch its prey of course with a loud scream. Of course, we are stopping these kinds of attacks whenever it happens. In terms of bonding time, we are working from home and we make sure we interact and bond with them most of the day. So no issues on that part.

So that's our next dilemma - to make our Sun Conure feel more comfortable with our cockatiel especially when we train them for flock free flight. And hopefully, they can live with each other quietly.
 

Tmarshall

Member
Oct 13, 2021
41
78
Parrots
Sun conure and parrotlet
Where did you get the cage with a divider? I am curious because I would like my SC and Nanday to get along as well so far it’s been ok but their has been some screaming and mouth posturing when they are close to each other
 

Bekki

Member
Mar 31, 2021
45
91
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Loki - Sun Conure
Mango - Sun Conure
Ruby - Camelot Macaw
As of this moment, here are the ff updates: Some improvements but a still a long way to go

We tried placing both of them in a cage and placed a divider in between of them. Initially, our sun conure is attacking the divider and exhibiting aggressive behavior towards the cockatiel. On the other hand, our cockatiel did not seem to mind. Doing his own thing, like preening and exercising his wings. After sometime, the aggressive behavior reduced and our SC went back to eating his food.

In the next few days, our sun conure was no longer screaming whenever we were holding or touching the cockatiel bird. Although, he still backs away from the cockatiel whenever were feeding them both together (when we're using bird formula). So for us, that's a good sign.

Then, yesterday, our cockatiel learned how to jump and started to flying short distances. And this time, our sun conure is flying towards to him as well or meeting him in the middle with an attack like an eagle about to snatch its prey of course with a loud scream. Of course, we are stopping these kinds of attacks whenever it happens. In terms of bonding time, we are working from home and we make sure we interact and bond with them most of the day. So no issues on that part.

So that's our next dilemma - to make our Sun Conure feel more comfortable with our cockatiel especially when we train them for flock free flight. And hopefully, they can live with each other quietly.
I have two sun conures, and recently took in a Camelot Macaw. One of my conures was just fine with the addition, the only change in her behavior was to be a bit intimated by the Macaw. My other conure, well, he's a jerk. If the Macaw flys, he will fly at her and smack into her mid air. If she comes near me, and he is on me, he goes into fight mode and will bite me (which is is normal "protection" behavior) or he will attempt to bite the macaw.

Because there is such a size difference, they are never out together unsupervised. However, the longer I have the macaw, and the more Loki (my little jerk) realizes that nothing he does is going to make her go away, the less frequent his attacks are.

The screaming? He only does that if I leave him in his cage while I get the macaw out. Once he is out, he eases up on the screaming. If he starts getting too crazy with his protective biting, I calmly place him on his play stand and then ignore him. It can be annoying, but I can already see some small behaviors where both conures are starting to see her as part of the flock. When she first came home with us, they were very content to be in a different room with me if she choose to stay in the bird room. Now, if she stays in the bird room instead of coming into the living room with us my conures do A LOT of back and forth, almost like they are checking on her. They have also started calling to her, and she responds back. It's not consistent or frequent, but I have definitely see a difference.

I know Bird Tricks does free flight with their Sun Conures and the rest of their flock. You can find videos of it Youtube.
 

Tmarshall

Member
Oct 13, 2021
41
78
Parrots
Sun conure and parrotlet
Update : no need for cage dividers I placed both boys next to each other and noticed at first both were on their cages on same side but were back to back mouthing each other then today on me they started to preen each other although I had to stop the regurgitation urge to feed each other lol
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BirdAddictK

Member
Sep 26, 2021
72
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A
Update : no need for cage dividers I placed both boys next to each other and noticed at first both were on their cages on same side but were back to back mouthing each other then today on me they started to preen each other although I had to stop the regurgitation urge to feed each other lolView attachment 32192View attachment 32193
Aww! I love your Nanday and Jenday, they are cuuuuuute! Do tell us their names, will you?
 

Skarila

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Never thought I would have a similar issue with the jealousy!! Our little budgie "woke up" again and is friendly and active once more, but lord, our conure just starts shouting and crying if we even whistle to the budgie! Chaos if the budgie decides to fly to our shoulder, the absolute jealousy!!! But the budgie isn't any better, if she's playing with us, she will nip Pascal (the conure) if he comes too close to her or us while we are interacting, but will never go after him if we interact directly with Pascal.

I swear they are like children....
 

imouse1

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Oct 10, 2021
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Green Cheek Conure: Sir H. H. Gregg Q. T. Birb, III
Update : no need for cage dividers I placed both boys next to each other and noticed at first both were on their cages on same side but were back to back mouthing each other then today on me they started to preen each other although I had to stop the regurgitation urge to feed each other lolView attachment 32192View attachment 32193
Don't stop the love lol
 

Tmarshall

Member
Oct 13, 2021
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Sun conure and parrotlet
Please--. Please tell me it's because his name is Marty McFLY and you're gonna buy him a skateboard.
View attachment 32205
Lol actually his previous owners named him that exactly lmao at this time Marty is terrified of any toys I caught him playing with JJ’s toys so maybe that will change
 
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