Unruly GCC

[CheekyJuno]

Hi. I need some advice. It's somewhat urgent and very important. Here is a little background:
Juno an 18 month old Green Cheek Conure. Her young life has been a bit unstable I'll admit. I purchased her from UrbanPerch in Texas and had he shipped. She's really well bred and very healthy. But when she was 5 months old I went through a rough break up and had to move in with my grandmother, which separated her from her best friend, my Linnie, Georgie. While at my grandmother's she didn't get very much time out of the cage because my grandmother was not very tolerant of birds. I lived there for about a year. While I was there I met my current boyfriend with whom I live with now. For two months after I moved in with my SO I had to keep Juno at my sisters while I waited on an answer from the landlord about pets. She didn't get very much attention while she was there either. So of course now that I have her she has all sorts of bad habits such as screaming, biting and generally not listening.

Now to the major problem:
Juno has gotten very good with me. She only does warning bites with me and stops when I tell her "no biting". But she has decided that she does NOT like my boyfriend at all. She used to be fine with him until she ended up here. He's not at all used to birds and has zero experience with them so I'm in a tough situation. She refuses to step up for him and bites him very hard when he tries. She has also taken to not stepping up for me unless she feels there's something in it for her. When she's in her cage she screams. When she starts a screaming fit I cover her cage with a blanket for a few minutes and then uncover her. If she screams again, I cover her again. This has been consistent but doesn't seem to help.

I'm sure I'm forgetting stupid little problems too, but the point is I need to be able to regain her trust in me and my boyfriend and get her to behave and be a nice polite little bird (within the limits of a GCC personality that is!). I'm looking for ANY advice. Blunt and un-sugar coated. I made a compromise with my boyfriend that if no progress is made by the time we move (this fall) I will consider rehoming her. NOT something I even want to think about doing so I'm willing to do whatever it takes to work with her. It should also be noted that she is fully flighted.

Thank you so much in advance for any advice given

 

[wenz2712]

First and foremost, welcome to the forum

It sounds like your Conure is doing all these things for your attention... He has gone through alot of different Homes in the last 18 Months and he is probably a bit frightened at the moment!

I have a feeling, you need to start again with him from day 1... You need to try and re-build his trust in you, maybe sitting talking to him and offering him treats , then slowly, when you feel he is ready, then gradually get him to step up! When he screams, just ignore him totally.. he will soon learn that screaming gets him no attention at all... You need to be patient, as this could take a while! when he dosen't scream then give him a treat! It will not do any good by covering him up when he does this, as he is just seeing this as a punishment!

I hope this has helped you a bit and Good Luck Keep us posted on your progress

I am sure others will come along shortly and also give you some great advice.

 

[CheekyJuno]

First and foremost, welcome to the forum

It sounds like your Conure is doing all these things for your attention... He has gone through alot of different Homes in the last 18 Months and he is probably a bit frightened at the moment!

I have a feeling, you need to start again with him from day 1... You need to try and re-build his trust in you, maybe sitting talking to him and offering him treats , then slowly, when you feel he is ready, then gradually get him to step up! When he screams, just ignore him totally.. he will soon learn that screaming gets him no attention at all... You need to be patient, as this could take a while! when he dosen't scream then give him a treat! It will not do any good by covering him up when he does this, as he is just seeing this as a punishment!

I hope this has helped you a bit and Good Luck Keep us posted on your progress

I am sure others will come along shortly and also give you some great advice.

Thank you for the welcome and the reply. Firstly Juno is a she . I have started to work with her on trust. She has her moments where she is perfect for me, she likes to snuggle up in my cupped hand. Sometimes she'll even hold my thumb with her feet and fall back into my hand. I'm not sure if it's much of a trust thing where I am concerned, more of a respect thing. She steps up great for me if it's in her best interest. If she's knows she's going back in her cage or if it's to get her away from something she shouldn't be doing then she will very pointedly say "step-up" and proceed to turn around and walk the other way . She definitely has a sense of humor.

It's my boyfriend she doesn't trust at all. I think I will get him to start feeding her treats and talking nicely to her. He needs to learn to understand birds a bit better so he's better at working with her. Now, with regards to getting her to not be so stubborn with me, how to I get her to respect me more? I know it needs to be a mutual respect, but I'm somewhat at a loss. Should I clip her wings? I don't really have a problem with her flying away from me or getting into anything. She only really flies to get to me. So I haven't decided if clipping her is going to be at all helpful.

 

[wenz2712]

Yes, maybe have her wings lightly clipped, it may help and could also ease the training

 

[CheekyJuno]

I think clipping is a good idea. I've only ever clipped her once (when she was a baby). When I clipped her then I tried one or two feathers on each side at a time so I didn't over clip her. But she's always been a strong flyer so it seems like I had to clip a ton of her flight feathers to get her to a point where she couldn't gain altitude. I am aware of proper clipping (clipping flight feathers one at a time at the covert feathers). How many flight feathers on each side do you recommend I clip? I don't want to over do it.

 

[wenz2712]

Here is a good method!! The second one is the best one!

Proper Wing Clipping

 

[KatherineI]

Okay... I have to say something. Compromising with your boyfriend is bad. You cannot tell him that if she doesn't settle down and get better in a few months (fall is only a few months away), you'll rehome her. SHE IS NOT DISPOSABLE and it takes a year for a bird to get fully comfortable in their environment. It takes a full year to know whether or not a situation is workable or not. She hasn't been in her home with you consistently enough for her to settle in. You've had her 18 months and she's lived in 4 places already. She's still not comfortable. She doesn't trust you yet and she's not going to trust you in the time frame you've given her because of all the instability.

I say your boyfriend shouldn't handle the bird right now. Is there any reason he needs to handle her other than in an actual emergency? If not, he shouldn't. She's obviously not comfortable with him for whatever reason (birds are comfortable with those who are comfortable with them, the saying goes) and he's not reading her body language. This then means she's going to bite because she doesn't trust or like him, and he's going to get bit because he doesn't read her body language before attempting. This then turns into a cycle. Birds are very sensitive, some more than others with some species tending to be even more so than others.

My Loki is roughly the same age as your GCC. I'm also his second home. I've had a number of issues with him, but we haven't had him a full year. For a few months this winter, I too thought it was never going to work, he hated my husband so much that the only way my husband could handle him was to wrap Loki in a towel. Now, he loves us both in his own way. He still nips, we still have behavior issues, but he hasn't even been with us a year and we introduced a second bird. We're also moving soon, so I know that it'll be another year before the two of them settle down and get comfortable. It's not ideal, but if you make the commitment, it takes a lot of work. Work that can be handsomely rewarded.

 

[CheekyJuno]

Okay... I have to say something. Compromising with your boyfriend is bad. You cannot tell him that if she doesn't settle down and get better in a few months (fall is only a few months away), you'll rehome her. SHE IS NOT DISPOSABLE and it takes a year for a bird to get fully comfortable in their environment. It takes a full year to know whether or not a situation is workable or not. She hasn't been in her home with you consistently enough for her to settle in. You've had her 18 months and she's lived in 4 places already. She's still not comfortable. She doesn't trust you yet and she's not going to trust you in the time frame you've given her because of all the instability.

I say your boyfriend shouldn't handle the bird right now. Is there any reason he needs to handle her other than in an actual emergency? If not, he shouldn't. She's obviously not comfortable with him for whatever reason (birds are comfortable with those who are comfortable with them, the saying goes) and he's not reading her body language. This then means she's going to bite because she doesn't trust or like him, and he's going to get bit because he doesn't read her body language before attempting. This then turns into a cycle. Birds are very sensitive, some more than others with some species tending to be even more so than others.

My Loki is roughly the same age as your GCC. I'm also his second home. I've had a number of issues with him, but we haven't had him a full year. For a few months this winter, I too thought it was never going to work, he hated my husband so much that the only way my husband could handle him was to wrap Loki in a towel. Now, he loves us both in his own way. He still nips, we still have behavior issues, but he hasn't even been with us a year and we introduced a second bird. We're also moving soon, so I know that it'll be another year before the two of them settle down and get comfortable. It's not ideal, but if you make the commitment, it takes a lot of work. Work that can be handsomely rewarded.

Thank you so much for this reply. This is exactly what I needed to read . I would never consider rehoming her for selfish reasons. I would want to do it for her happiness. But I also understand she would be happier to keep with the one constant in her life: me.

I would love to hear how you got your GCC trusting your husband. More than anything I want us to be one big, happy family. My boyfriend has really grown to dislike her because of her behavior. She bites, screams and demands a lot of attention, all things that must be difficult to deal with if you're not used to birds. I understand most of her behavior but he doesn't. I am 100% open to ANY advice you're willing to give.

 

[KatherineI]

Well, honestly, most people here are going to disagree with our method. For starters, my husband only picked Loki up using a towel. This was after many many biting and drawing blood incidents, moments where my husband threw up his hands and said "I'm not touching him ever again!" and even practically gave me an ultimatum. And my husband is a bird guy!!! So imagine how difficult it must have been for us.

So whenever my husband needed to handle Loki, he would use a small hand towel. You know, larger than a washcloth, smaller than a standard towel (or even smaller than what I refer to as "hair towels"). He would often wrap Loki up like a burrito with only his head sticking out and then just sit and talk with him. Or even just use the towel to move Loki from point A to point B. We also moved his food to outside his cage because he exhibits both food and cage aggression and by not feeding him inside his cage, this assists to curb it but does not take it away completely. If Loki would still attempt to bite (and especially if he succeeded), he would end up back in his cage, with the door shut and often a towel draped over the front of his cage (but not covering the entire thing). Little by little, especially the more my husband would sit and burrito Loki and talk to him and eventually pet his head while he did so, Loki actually began to enjoy those times. He sought them out! We graduated from Burrito to Taco, which is basically when the towel is in your hand, you hold the bird by the belly and wings with his back exposed, sort of like a taco shell where you see the fillings on the sides and top. Taco time to Loki meant attention, it meant something good. He got head rubs and kisses and talked to. Eventually, he started jumping from me and over to my husband to get his attention. Now my husband can touch him, pet him, handle him with his bare hands. It also helped that my husband would be the one to feed Loki is favorite treat - green grapes. Loki will do just about anything for a grape! So sharing grapes became a positive interaction between them, which helped Loki associate good things with my Husband.

Also, when Loki does bite, he often ends up on the floor. This doesn't stress him out, but he doesn't like the floor. If he is on our hand or arm, sometimes if he's managed to get on our back (I do not recommend shouldering Juno!!!!!), and he gets nippy (and when I say nippy I'm not talking exploring with his beak, I mean he HURTS!), we "flick" or "shake" him to the floor. He's clipped, so he glides to the floor, it's not like he's thrown down or thrown against anything. But we move our wrist in such a way that he loses balance and often end up on the floor. After a few minutes, we will pick him up and he's ready to make nice again. If for some reason he continues, then he goes back into his cage and gets no further attention for the time being.

Loki isn't a screamer, so I don't have much advice in that regard except to ignore him. You are supposed to ignore the behaviors you don't want and encourage the ones you do. Screaming for attention is a behavior you do not want to encourage, so even covering her is giving her attention. Just like with children, even negative attention is still attention! It is best to literally ignore them when they scream. It's difficult, I know, but it is necessary. Eventually she will figure out that screaming isn't getting her what she wants and she'll cut back on it, if not stop it after a few months altogether.

Others may have conflicting advice, I'm not asking you to do exactly what I did, nor am I looking for anyone's approval. What we did has most definitely worked for us, but I don't know how well it will work for others. All I can do is share my story.

 

[wenz2712]

Most of the advice you have been given is good, but please do not consider, shaking or flicking your Bird to the floor.. this could do her harm! Maybe just calmly take her and put her back in her Cage for 10 minutes or so, until she calms down.

 

[CheekyJuno]

I don't think Juno is quite at toweling level (thankfully!). But I think once I clip her I can use her play stand in a similar way. I'm thinking it might be best to leave the room when my BF works with her just so she doesn't get possessive. The ultimatums are never fun. My BF didn't quite give me an ultimatum, but he was ready to just not have anything to do with the bird as well and that just wont work for me. He needs to be able to enjoy my pets as much as I do (or at least try).

And it's funny you mention shouldering Juno. When she was a hyper adolescent she realized that biting my neck was a good way to manipulate. She used to leave welts. So for a long time I stopped shouldering her. Now she gets shoulder privileges with me only when she is in a "good" mood. I can always read her body language and tell when the shoulder is a bad idea. And if she gets bitey she goes back in the cage.

I guess what I need to do is stop expecting her to exhibit the same behavior towards my boyfriend as she does with me. Also, teach him to recognize her body language, gradually build their trust for each other and also work on improving her respect for me (through training). Am I forgetting anything?

 

[dishgal1]

This poor little girl has been thru a lot of upsets in her short life. It is going to take time to regain her trust and understandably so. IMO you should concentrate on you alone gaining her trust. Just leave your boyfriend out of it. That will come in time. She is starved for attention and is like a child trying to get attention even if it is negative attention. Try to feel her pain and her emotions, she has had so many homes and no attention. Just imagine the abandonment she must feel. Try to give her plenty of out time on her playstands etc. That way she will come to you for attention instead of screaming for you to come to her. Just love her and cater to her and she will come around. These little guys just love to be with us all the time. I think being out of the cage as much as possible is best for her so she doesn't feel trapped and alone. She is trying to make up for lost time with the attention bless her heart. Just try to imagine how she must feel and do what you think it takes to make her feel part of your family.

 

[ZoeS]

I also wouldn't shake her off your hand, although I agree with everything else. My GCC is too clipped and she can get a wee bit of a glide but she's hit the ground pretty hard a few times. Luckily she has not been injured and her flights are finally growing in. Juno would probably get a glide in before landing, but especially if she's newly clipped, she could get injured. I've found like a light jiggle or shake is enough to get them to let go without causing them to fall off.

I particularly agree with the notion that your boyfriend should stop interacting with the bird physically (except in an emergency). Have him make a show of eating in front of Juno, talking to her, and so on. But he doesn't need to handle her now.

 

[CheekyJuno]

I get what you're saying. She needs more attention for sure. And the only way to do that is to clip her wings so I can make sure she stays where she needs to be while she's out. Right now I can't even walk across the room without her needing to follow me. I think she has some level of trust for me definitely, but it didn't occur to me that she might have abandonment issues. Birds are more complex than people give them credit for. Problem is, I need a second person to help me clip her wings... and I don't think my boyfriend can do that. Guess I can figure out ways to make due until my sister comes up this way to help me out!

 

[CheekyJuno]

I also wouldn't shake her off your hand, although I agree with everything else. My GCC is too clipped and she can get a wee bit of a glide but she's hit the ground pretty hard a few times. Luckily she has not been injured and her flights are finally growing in. Juno would probably get a glide in before landing, but especially if she's newly clipped, she could get injured. I've found like a light jiggle or shake is enough to get them to let go without causing them to fall off.

I particularly agree with the notion that your boyfriend should stop interacting with the bird physically (except in an emergency). Have him make a show of eating in front of Juno, talking to her, and so on. But he doesn't need to handle her now.

Shaking her has never helped with her biting. It has always made her bite worse. So I just roll my finger or hand or whatever out of it and tell her "no biting" and then bring my hand right back there to let her know she didn't intimidate me. And I think he would be agreeable to not handling her at the moment LOL.

 

[dishgal1]

That is what I do, roll my arm so he loses balance and bring it back into position....works every time. You know there is no law that says a bird has to like everyone in the household. Your boyfriend should just not try to interact or force himself into the situation. Eventually, she may get used to him and want to be near him. Then again maybe not. The boyfriend is a non issue at this point. I certainly wouldn't rehome her for your boyfriends sake, you know from past experience that can be temporary as well. Juno will be your loyal companion for the rest of her life.

 

[ZoeS]

Shaking her has never helped with her biting. It has always made her bite worse. So I just roll my finger or hand or whatever out of it and tell her "no biting" and then bring my hand right back there to let her know she didn't intimidate me. And I think he would be agreeable to not handling her at the moment LOL.

Yeah, it's not the same for every bird. Ultimately, as long as you are doing it with care and patience, go with what works. Others have suggested pushing into their face when they bite you - that has not worked for me, but it's something you could do.

 

[KatherineI]

Most of the advice you have been given is good, but please do not consider, shaking or flicking your Bird to the floor.. this could do her harm! Maybe just calmly take her and put her back in her Cage for 10 minutes or so, until she calms down.

I think you mistake what I call "flicking" for literally shaking the bird to the floor. MANY bird behavioral books actually say that a slight "flick" (a very very small jerk) can help prevent bites because the bird is more focused on maintaining their balance.

Just for clarification, since you seem to think I'm harming my bird.

 

[KatherineI]

That is what I do, roll my arm so he loses balance and bring it back into position....works every time. You know there is no law that says a bird has to like everyone in the household. Your boyfriend should just not try to interact or force himself into the situation. Eventually, she may get used to him and want to be near him. Then again maybe not. The boyfriend is a non issue at this point. I certainly wouldn't rehome her for your boyfriends sake, you know from past experience that can be temporary as well. Juno will be your loyal companion for the rest of her life.

That is exactly what I said. Excuse me, I used the term "flick" instead of roll, but it's the exact same thing. I'm not flinging him across the room! I'm rolling or "flicking" my wrist/arm.

 

[wenz2712]

Most of the advice you have been given is good, but please do not consider, shaking or flicking your Bird to the floor.. this could do her harm! Maybe just calmly take her and put her back in her Cage for 10 minutes or so, until she calms down.

I think you mistake what I call "flicking" for literally shaking the bird to the floor. MANY bird behavioral books actually say that a slight "flick" (a very very small jerk) can help prevent bites because the bird is more focused on maintaining their balance.

Just for clarification, since you seem to think I'm harming my bird.

At no time did I ever mention you were harming your Bird!!

I just do not agree with flicking of any type! there are many other ways to overcome this problem, ie, put them down and walk away for a few minutes or put them back in the Cage until they calm down!