Rehomed-helping acclimate

[mulatte27]

I will be bringing home my little man who is a male sun conure. He is three years old and the story as was told to the breeder/store where he was originally bred was that the family had two small children and ended up moving out of state and couldn't take him with. The store owner thinks they didn't really take him out and socialize him much. He is amazingly loving and affectionate, however getting him out of the cage is a challenge. He will try to avoid a hand at all cost, however once he is out of the cage he wants nothing more than to be on your shoulder and giving kisses. He goes back into the cage fairly well. This will be my first avian pet. I talked with the owner of the store for over an hour about if a bird would work for me as a pet and what species would be best. I have worked with rescues for cats and am familiar with the patience needed to acclimate and tame animals so I would love some tips on helping my little man get used to the new environment. He will step up when not actually inside the cage... I would like to train him as much as possible for safety and to continue to build a positive rapport with him... ok now that I have rambled any tips are welcome!

also trying to figure out a name for him... his current name is Apple... not a fan but at least he can say it... can you rename him at the age of 3 or is he going to be set in his ways as far as the name and responding?

[shiraartain]

Question: if you leave the cage door open, will he come out on his own? Just trying to figure out if it's necessary for you to put your hand inside the cage in the first place. I think anybody would be frightened if a giant hand was chasing them inside an enclosed room

[Wolf]

OK, you may think you are aware of the amount of patience that is required, but the difference between a cat and a parrot is like the difference between a small lake and the Pacific Ocean. That being said , it appears that this bird is afraid of hands and the worst thing that you can do is to chase it around in the cage. Open the cage and let the bird come out on its own, then see if it will step up, but do not chase it about trying to catch it or to make it step up, there are better ways to deal with this without causing the negative effects that trying to force it will cause.
Yea, you can change its name, but it already identifies itself with the name that it has, so expect it to take some time. It will be easier the closer the new name sounds to the current one. Tell the people at the pet store to not clip the birds wings as this is not good for the bird. They will probably spout some drivel about it being safer for the bird to be clipped, but do not fall for this as it simply is not true. Flying is the birds main means of locomotion and it can not move fast enough to avoid a predator or to avoid being stepped on by a human nor can it prevent injury to itself from a fall if it is clipped.

[Harpmaker]

Some of our other members have had good luck with allowing hand-shy birds to come out open cage doors on their own, climb to the top of the cage, and step up to a shoulder. No hands involved. You can start with this while you work with getting past the hand-shyness.

[mulatte27]

OK, you may think you are aware of the amount of patience that is required, but the difference between a cat and a parrot is like the difference between a small lake and the Pacific Ocean .

I understand that cats and birds are not the same... I am not silly enough to think that... however what I am saying is that I have worked with traumatized animals; ones who have been abandoned into areas where they are fighting off raccoons and coyotes to survive... let alone the humans that were shooting at them...

that being said, he will eventually come out of the cage on his own... however even when he is on top of a cage he is hand shy yet constantly seeking attention... because he is such a loving bird and really wants that interaction (and of course I want to build a great rapport and make him a part of the family) I would like to be able to get him to step up from inside the cage, however if it doesn't happen so be it.

thank you for the replies...

[shiraartain]

I think you are seeing stepping up from inside of the cage as a form of absolute obedience to you, maybe? I really cannot figure out the advantages of stepping up from inside the cage. What I can tell you, as someone who owns a conure, is that the only time I have to ask my bird to step up is when I need him to go back into his cage for bedtime. Normally, if I open the door he comes out himself, and I think your bird will too with time and your building your bond together.

My friend's mother has a sun conure as well, and I've noticed the same thing with him. Whenever her mother enters the room, he will come out of his cage and sit on top of it, but as soon as she leaves he goes back in.

Your bird will seek to be with you himself in time, and part of building that bond for him to want to be with you is to not invade what is his safe place right now. If you follow the advice everyone has given, I think you will see improvements in time

[mulatte27]

I think you are seeing stepping up from inside of the cage as a form of absolute obedience to you, maybe? I really cannot figure out the advantages of stepping up from inside the cage. What I can tell you, as someone who owns a conure, is that the only time I have to ask my bird to step up is when I need him to go back into his cage for bedtime. Normally, if I open the door he comes out himself, and I think your bird will too with time and your building your bond together.

My friend's mother has a sun conure as well, and I've noticed the same thing with him. Whenever her mother enters the room, he will come out of his cage and sit on top of it, but as soon as she leaves he goes back in.

Your bird will seek to be with you himself in time, and part of building that bond for him to want to be with you is to not invade what is his safe place right now. If you follow the advice everyone has given, I think you will see improvements in time

Thank you... I think I was more seeing step up as a tool and safety measure... I don't want total obedience from any of my animals... I want them to maintain their unique personality but I was more thinking step up was a tool and an easy way to get access to the bird... maybe I misunderstood the nature of that cue. As stated this is my first time having a bird so I'm just learning the ropes and want to provide the best environment possible

[mulatte27]

I have a few concerns about not clipping the wings... one being I have ceiling fans, then there's the two story foyer that I have, and the cats... wold why do you think allowing flight is best and how would you be proactive about the mentioned issues. The ceiling fan one would be an easy fix of not having it on when the bird is out but what about the others?

[Wolf]

The fan you have worked out, the foyer is also simple close it off to the bird when he is out of his cage. I have my dining room/ kitchen blocked off with a hanging screen that is held closed in the center by magnets. It is not much as my cats and doge go through it all the time, but it blocks the area off from the birds. If that won't work just close the door to the outside. The cat is a whole other ballgame and really there is no living bird that is clipped that is capable of escaping from a cat, a thing that they can easily do if they are not clipped. A clipped bird and a cat means a full belly for the cat and no bird, it is that simple. I know as I have 6 cats and my birds are out with the cats in the house.
The thing with patience, I figured would throw you a bit and it is ok. A bird is a whole new thing and as they are prey animals and live in a social structure where they are all equal, they do not respond in the same manner as would a cat or a dog, who lives in a dominance based social structure much the same as humans do. It takes a different point of view to understand a bird and its motivations, this requires even more patience as you will begin to understand. My remark on patience is not meant to detract from what you have learned thus far and it sounds very good, but was only meant to prepare you for the differences that you will encounter.

[Pajarita]

I have birds that will step up from inside a cage with no problem but I've never trained them to do it, it's something that came in its due time when they felt complete trust in me. It's also something that is absolutely unnecessary in terms of safety and that some birds simply do not like so I never ask for it.

Even if clipping did not have negative health consequences (atrophied air sacs and muscles and shrunk tendons), you simply cannot have a clipped bird and cats and it doesn't even matter if the cats show no interest whatsoever in the bird. It's an issue of stress. You can't take away the one and only predator-avoidance strategy a prey animal has and make him cohabit with its species predator without the animal suffering chronic stress (which has been proven over and over to affect their health and shorten their lifespan).