Conure Issues! Need Help Please!

[Angel85]

Hi!

I have a Dusky Headed Conure who I love very much. He haa only been here 2 weeks. He is about 18 weeks old. He steps up beautifully, even walks up to me sometimes to step up, but as soon as he does, he wants to go back to his cage. I have tried taking him out of sight of his cage a few times, it never works. He constantly flaps his wings every few seconds and sqawks. I tried to have him out with me on several occasions. It never stops, unless he is in his cage....if i leave his cage open, he climbs out on his own. He takes treats from my hand, he is not afraid of me, just afraid to be out of the cage? What can I do to help him stop the constant flapping and squawking and ateast perch on my hand calmly? I have never seen this behavior before.

[Wolf]

Hi;

I would love to help you out with this problem, but to do so I am going to need some more details. Instead of making a long list of questions and having to go back and forth it would probably work out best if you would give us a rundown of your birds day, an average day, beginning with the time he gets up in the morning until he goes to sleep at night. The more detail the better.
Your bird appears to be cage bound and to correct this we need to understand why and what needs to change to change the behavior.

[Angel85]

Well, I got him from a breeder recently. He had been in a very large aaquarium with 2 other siblings. I brought him home at around 15-16 weeks old. He had always done this (flapping, squawking to go back) even at the breeder. I thought he just wanted his siblings and that he would calm down once away from them.

We keep him in the living room, which is where we are the majority of the time. We get up, I uncover his cage, talk sweetly to him. Maybe 30 min - an hour later I will get him out. Put him on his stand that has special treats so he will stay calm and be rewarded for being out...through the day he comes out about 4-5 times for 15- 30min at a time. As soon as he is on my hamd the constant flapping and sqwawking starts and he will not stop. He doesn't sit still or calm.

I also pass by the cage several times and offer treats, which he walks over to and takes. We leave the cage door open some of the time and he sits on the door...

I tried a technique I saw online to hold him gently around his neck and pet.him. he accepts this and seems to like it, til i remove my hand. Then hes back to constant flapping and screaming...

Now he is quiet in the cage with his back turned. He seems resentful of the handling. I dont know if I am correct or not. Its very upsetting that I cant seem to make any progress

Anything I left out please ask and thank you

[Wolf]

OK! Thanks for the information. If he was in an aquarium with sibling then in all likelihood, the breeder was weaning him still and he has not had the opportunity to fledge yet. since he is a bit traumatized by the move to a totally different environment as well as the move from an aquarium to a cage he may have regressed a little bit on his weaning. You can go to the pet store and get some weaning formula and feed him some of that a couple of times a day in addition to his regular food. Spend time just talking to him at his cage and don't worry about the flapping as he is trying to strengthen his muscles and build up to trying to fly. The first few attempts at flying until he figures out how to do this are called fledging and every bird needs to accomplish this. If he has been clipped then you may need to provide some padding on the floor or other hard surfaces so that he doesn't get hurt. If he has not been clipped then he will crash a few times but will be fine. But in any case spend time just talking to him and giving him treats. He needs some time to adjust to his surrounding, to your presence and to learn that he can trust you let him come to you in the cage or on the cage don't force him to let you handle him or pet him as this will come about all by itself if you will just hang out with and talk to him with an occasional treat thrown in.
I think that this is what is happening.

[Pajarita]

Indeed, a couple of different kinds of soft food given fresh twice a day is in order. He is a baby and needs special food. Are you sure he is flapping his wings and not fluttering them instead? Because, if it's fluttering, the poor thing is hungry!

Also, don't force him to stay on you. It's a form of flooding and it will backfire on you - and no holding him by the neck (how do people come up with these weird ideas?!) - just because something is on the internet, it doesn't mean is the right thing to do and birds necks are not only VERY delicate but also a part of their body that would never be encircled by anything at any point in their natural life (this technique is also a form of flooding). Just put a couple of perches outside his cage and a playgym next to it, open the cage door and sit next to the cage for an hour or so. Let him come out on its own and just talk to him (you can read out loud, work on your computer, watch TV, whatever), sing, offer him a treat every now and then and praise praise praise praise (flattery goes a loooooong way with animals). Four sessions of 15 minutes each is fine for training but not for socializing, he needs to be out continuously for, at least, two hours at a time twice a day.

[Harpmaker]

Is his cage in the middle of the room or against a wall? He needs one cage wall blocked so predators can't approach from that side. Draping a towel over it works. This will make him feel more secure.

What are you normally feeding him? And what are his special treats?

[Angel85]

Thanks for the replies! His cage is against a wall and I am positive he is not begging to be handfed. He does it if he is anywhere but in his cage. He is not exercising, it is more like frustration because he is clipped and he wants to go back. It is more of an anxious behavior. I have had young birds and seen them when they beg, this is not it. He flaps his wings while leaning twards his cage, in anticipation to go back. He eats very well. I have not seen other birds exibit this behavior. Even when away from his cage, in another room he does this.

I will try the other ideas of sitting and talking to him, though I already do this. He will step up happily and he will walk over to me and take treats. But as soon as he is on your hand or out of the cage, he flaps and freaks out... I am just worried he will never want to leave his comfort zone...the aquarium he was in was gigantic. It was not a brooder aquarium. The holding of him was something I read by parrot wizard. Who I believe is the creator of this whole site. He did this with a jardine. When I tried this with my bird, gently holding him, he seemed to enjoy it, closing his eyes and calming down. It would be so much easier if I could upload a video but my phone doesnt have the ability

[Angel85]

Also, his diet consists of Roudybush small pellets, fresh veggies and fruit, brown rice and legumes (doesnt eat much of) occassional plain scrambled egg, small amount of seed mix given sparingly in seperate feedings...treats he loves millet and cereal. So I will hand him a piece of either cerial or break of a little millet. He will come walking over and take it from my hand willingly. I do this several times a day, everytime I have HIM approach me. I dont bring it to his face, I let him decide

[Wolf]

It sounds to me that as far as diet goes that you are overdoing the protein a lot. It will depend on how much you are feeding and when, but remember that seeds are high in protein as are pellets the only difference is that with seeds the bird can pick out his favorites but can't with pellets, and eggs are high in protein. That is a lot of protein for an animal that doesn't require much of it.
Yes, your bird is trying to return to where it feels safe and secure, its cage. This accounts for the flapping as it main form of locomotion is flight, but it is clipped and therefor can't get the lift to fly. I think that you need to work with this one in and on its cage, it that is what it needs to feel comfortable, that will in time pay off as the bird begins to trust you more. Then set up its play area next to its cage and work that area into the time you spend with this one. Also a bird with clipped wings is an insecure bird as it knows that it can't save itself when it needs to. This is different then simple fear, this is something that goes deeply into their personality and can affect them for the rest of their life. It is astronomical in the amount that it stresses this bird. Give it its wings back asap and you will begin to see improvement. Until then listen to this one and work with it near its safe place.
Also while it is true that Michael started this forum, he is just like the rest of us and we don't always agree with him and he is good with this. He wants this forum to be a place where we can all express our different opinions without fear of being cast off of the forums. He is not always right, but he cares about his birds and wants to share and learn just like the rest of us. Or at least this is what he explained to me.

[Angel85]

Thank you again for all the advice....what can I do exactly to work with him? What is recommended that I do in and on his cage? Step ups and rewards/treats? I will be changing my whole approach like was recommended and slow it down...I was thinking since he will step up, I can get him to step up, take him out very briefly to praise him, then place him right back in the cage and offer a treat. I dont know if thats a good start or at least one thing I can do.