Two Rescue Conures Coming My Way

[MeganMango]

Hello! I am somewhat new to parrots, although I did a lot of research before we bought our red belly Mango. Before we bought him I contacted some local rescues, one of which was very rude to me. The other just got back to me a couple of days ago about fostering. I agreed to fill out an application thinking it would be several weeks or months before they would have anything for me. After my experiences with the other rescue I felt certain with our lack of expertise we would be turned away, but they like us! They have a pair of conures that need a home already, and I couldnt resist. They will be arriving sometime next week and Im trying to gather as much info as possible. One is a green cheek and the other is a sun conure, they are a bonded pair. They are living in a ferret cage because they both apparently fall a lot. One has turned feet and the other chewed his toe nails off trying to escape a rope wrapped round its foot . Im excited, but admittedly a little nervous. When searching through the different bird species we decided against conures as they have a reputation for being nippy and screamers. Im sure every bird is unique, but Im wondering how much of this is true and how best to deal with it? We have our own house and as long as I can sleep at night I dont mind noise. Im more concerned with biting and cage aggression. Mango is all trouble, and he is very snotty sometimes, but he is very gentle and actually too quiet. The sun is apparently a little tame and the green cheek not tame. We will probably start with stepping up on a stick and work our way up to hands. Any advice from conure experts on training etc. would be welcome though! Also, if anyone has experience with turned feet (or lack of toe nails ) I would love to know more. Websites can be a little dubious and there is a lot of conflicting information. Is there any way I can work on exercises or training to help stabilize them so they can perch?
Thank you in advance!

Megan

 

[FA22raptero]

Hello there,

Congratulations for fostering a bird! I think the best thing that I can recommend is just patience. It will take time, as it always does with parrots in any situation. I also adopted a bird and we are... pretty good now. I think we understand eachother at least! It's interesting that a Green Cheek and a Sun Conure bonded with each other, just considering the size difference. By "bonded" does it mean just friends? Or are they mating? I know they are of a different Genus so i'm not sure if they are compatible for mating. If they are mating, it might be near impossible to get them to be finger tame, especially if they are older, but ANYTHING is possible I don't know how close they are, but putting them in separate cages could be the best solution, and allow them to be together whenever you are home, along with individual time with just you! Good luck

 

[MeganMango]

They are both DNA male, so just friends. Because they have been together for so long we arent going to separate them to start. Depending on how social they are we may have to slowly work on it, but I just want to get them settled, eating and happy before we think about that.

 

[MonicaMc]

FA22raptero, there are many hybrids of green cheek and sun conures... typically pretty "dull", green birds, although some have some high color to the stomach area.

I'd suggest letting them settle in and see how they interact with you. Once they get comfortable, start with positive reinforcement! Try and make every experience with them a positive one for them. Hand them treats and try and find things that they enjoy doing!

 

[MeganMango]

I have absolutely NO interest in breeding! I dont know the first thing about breeding or caring for baby birds. These guys are both male, as is my red belly. I would prefer to keep any birds that come in my house male to avoid this all together.

 

[MonicaMc]

MeganMango, even if you were to bring in a female, you can still avoid breeding by making sure that the female is of a species that cannot hybridize with any of your birds. Easiest way to achieve that is to make sure that the female comes from a completely different continent than the males that you have. Red bellies are african, conures are South American.


I know you have no intention of breeding, however, I mentioned the hybrids between the two for FA22raptero sake/interest. I know there is one such hybrid on this forum, and I have gathered photos of other such hybrids.