Sun conure biting. Helppp!!!!

[Mohtad allawala]

Well I recently bought a 3 month old weaned sun conure . He is now about 4 months old and he doesn't like getting on my hand or letting me touch him. I left him like that for a while thinking he would need time to fit in. Now he's well fit in to our family. He goes to bed in a dark but airy room at exact 18:00 hours and is taken out to the lounge at exact 06:00 hours. I give him apple or seasonal fruit in the morning and as soon as he's finished( it's about one meal) I give him an assorted nut and grain mix. He is being fed properly and I got him checked by a vet and he said all of his vitamin, mineral, sugar, etc intake is fine. The thing is when I was sold this bird I had been offered a sun conure by three or four people in the shops. All said they love coming on your hand and can travel In the car, etc. according to everyone on the internet he is very happy. He dances everyday. He loves chewing his toy( no artificial dyes). He loves whistling and likes gliding to the table ( he is clipped) and eating bread. But the thing is that if he is on the perch ( which is attached to his cage on the top with a lid separating it ) or the cage, he bites me and doesn't come on my hand. I understand when he tries to bite me to grab a hold or when he's trying to clean my face. He often likes and bites my cheeks to clean them. But this is a different type of biting. When I offer him my hand he never steps up. I have to take the stick off the perch to get him on my hand. He doesn't even like my hand. He quickly climbs up to my shoulder and doesn't come down. He bites anyone who goes near him or tries to touch him if he is on a perch, shoulder or cage. He rarely ever steps up and that is when he is scared of some cloth or paper next to his perch. He will come to my hand if he is on the ground or the table but never if he is on a shoulder, cage or perch. He bites me if I offer him my hand to get him off my shoulder. He only lets me stroke him if he is in my palm which is only for a few seconds. Help please.

[Dave & Karen]

Sounds like you got a good bird... We have a 10 month old sun conure and he's done the same thing where he won't step up when he's perched somewhere he likes to be. Basically, the bird wants to stay on that perch or shoulder and he bites because he don't want to be moved.
If he's not biting super hard you can try ignoring the bite and convincing him to step up where he should submit and step up after realizing that biting won't keep you from stepping him up. If he's biting down hard tho, try offering him a treat he really likes, but make him step up in order to get it.
Sun conures can be very sweet birds, but they also go thru a stage where they get really beaky, it does pass ( kind of like a rebelious teenager trying to see what they can get away with) but it also needs to be adressed when he does this unacceptable behavior. Work with him using positive reenforcement.Show him the treat then ask him to step up. If he tries to bite, tell him "no no" or whatever word you use to tell him he did something wrong and turn your back to him for a few seconds... ours can't stand it when I turn my back to him. Then resume the taining by asking him again to step up for the reward. This works best when the whole family works these drills, especially when trying to get him to step off someone's shoulder, but you can also work him from his favorite perch and you can work with him alone.
The other thing that could be happening is that he might be developing a fear of hands, this can happen if he was ever grabbed by someone or chased around in his cage, or held him down to trim his nails etc... Basically just about any bad experience he may have had that involved someone's hand... this also takes a lot of work with positive reenforcement to convince him that hands are a good thing and only for petting, giving treats, etc... Getting a bird to overcome a fear of hands can be difficult, but not impossible, and it definitely requires lots of positive reenforcement.

One thing I teach all of our birds when we get a new bird is "gentle beak" training and you can teach this to a 4 month old bird as easily as you can teach a baby you just brought home. See my replies in this post for how to teach this to your bird, it works really well and can stop a bite on command... viewtopic.php?f=11&t=11062 ,it doesn't work overnight and some birds take longer than other birds to learn it, but in most cases the bird can learn it in a week or less.

[JKFnotJFK]

Hang in there. It sounds like you've already made great progress bonding if he'll ride on your shoulders and is generally comfortable being around you. You've only owned him for a month, which seems like a long time, but is not much when you consider this bird will live 25 years or more. I always try to keep young birds in perspective this way: How much will a human baby learn between 3 months and 4 months of age? Not much.

My greencheek conure is young, too. She's 9 months old and been apart of our family for two months after several months in a hands-off pet shop. Just like I'm sure you have or will experience, there will be ups and downs. Week one with Freya she let both my husband and I scratch her neck. A week later, her foot got caught in a thread from her cuddle box and became scared of hands because we had to help her get untangled. A few weeks and a lot of patience later, she lets us scratch her again. I know it sounds scary and against your nature, but let her bite you (a little). Particularly young birds try to communicate this way until you teach them it gets them nowhere. Similarly, young birds feel and explore with their beak, similar to how babies put everything in their mouth. Dave & Karen handled those points well, so I won't dwell on them.

You might also take a step back in your training. Do not reach into the cage, but rather leave the cage door open. Particularly at first, this helps them feel secure in their cage and that it is a safe place. If your bird wants out, he'll have to climb out. If he wants to play with you, he'll have to step onto your hand or arm. If he's already comfortable with your arm, give him no choice but to step onto your hand. With Freya, I knelt near the main opening to her cage and held out my hand for her to step on. At first she was bitey, but I did not flinch. She pinched me a couple of times, but never drew blood. If you move suddenly it only scares them. Soon she wasn't biting, but was still nervous, so I offered a reward if she climbed on, holding her favorite snack just out of reach unless she walked on the back of my hand. At first, I kept my hand closed in a fist so the fingers wouldn't scare her and she couldn't bite at my nails as young, chew-happy birds will at first do. Now, anytime I hold my hand near her door she knows what it means, comes to me and hops right on. She's still more comfortable with my fist than an open hand, but she's learning to step on a single finger now. I also acclimate her by laying my hand near her when she's out of the cage. If she's playing on my lap or knees, I just lay my hand nearby. At first, she'd walk over nervously, get curious and start beaking or biting. She'd get bored and go back to whatever she was doing. Now, she doesn't even blink if I set my hand next to her and sometimes thinks I'm telling her to step up.

The short version: Be patient. Stepping onto your hand seems like a simple thing, but it's really a big step for birds, so break it down into smaller pieces. Remember birds only understand positive reinforcement, so if you jerk in a scary way when she moves to bite that's the action she'll associate with your hands. If you hold still and reward her with treats or a ride to her favorite play spot, that's what she'll learn.