my new parent raised green cheek conure

[lee ireland]

Hi all,

I have a new green cheek conure that was parent raised, he isnt too afraid of people as he was taking food from hand at day 2, however iv seemed to have lost a lot of trust as when i have managed to let him out of the cage he wont go back in even after 11 hours of being free, so when i was time to go to bed i had to grab him... this was done gently however both times this has happened he seems to be going more off with me, i know its my fault for letting him out as we only had him for 2 weeks today however i hate seeing a bird locked up

the latest happened today, i had to corner him as he flew away and hid, i cornered him to catch him but he bit me and seems really pissed with me, he still takes food ( good sign ) however im fearful iv really scared him to not ever want to come out in the future

can i ask will this trust be ok to rebuild with him within say 2 days time? let him cool off kind of thing

will my bird always be fearful of me for having to handle him in such a fashion?

as he is parent raised will he be just as tamed as a hand raised conure?

should i refrain from letting him out until iv built enough trust for him to step up on command or should i leave it for a few days and try to rebuild out of the cage?

any help is much appreciated

thanks

lee

[Wolf]

All good questions, I do not think that this is irrepairable, however with all things parrot patience is the key. I can't say that you can fix this in 2 days as that is up to your bird.
The first thing that needs to happen is that you need to earn the birds trust, while it is in the cage. This is done by talking and singing to the bird with lots of praise and a few treats. Let the bird set the pace and let it come to you. When it is taking treats from you through the cage bars open the door with you in front of it and continue talking to it and offering treats at the cage door. Do not put your hand in the cage, wait for the bird to come to you and take the treat. Also set a schedule where you feed at the same times every day then when the bird is coming to you, let the bird out about two hours before dinner time then at dinner time let the bird see you put its dinner in the cage and give it space to go to the cage as well as time to do so. Many birds will go in on their own for their dinner and or to go to sleep at dark. So this should be done with the artificial lights turned off for the first few times.

[liz]

Opening the cage door shows him respect. Follow Wolf's instructions. If you absolutely have to pick him up, scoop don't grab. Predators strike from above. Scoop under him. If he flies from you hand let him then just do it again. Be calm. They know when they get the best of you.

[jane19]

Well, first off my conure lives on my bookshelf from day one, so I do not see a need for a bird to stay in the cage to be tame. As long as you have time and the room is bird proof, I would let him stay out as much as he likes. Of course the water is in the cage and food is from you, he is going to compromise for that at some point. It can be annoying to clean after him for the first few weeks, but once he is nice and tame you can teach him which pooping spots are allowed, what not to chew etc. if you are not crazy like me, Wolfs advice is quite good.

If you really need to grab him, use a towel, never your hands.

[Wolf]

Jane 19, you are quite correct that a bird does not need a cage to be tame and in some cases the cage can cause as many issues as it solves, some birds will respond much better living cage free. It is unfortunate that so many of our birds need to have a cage to be safe when their human is not there to keep an eye on them.

[jane19]

New birds need indoor supervision for a few weeks. Once they are settled and know their way around the house they will be fine, your books, toys, decors, household items might not. Depends on how much space you would like to share with the bird really. The bird's answer is always "all of it" so no point asking him

[Wolf]

Add to these things that many people also have other more predatory animals as pets such as cats and dogs. In a setting such as a house there are not that many places that a bird can go that a cat can't. For this reason a cage may be needed to keep the bird safe especially if you are not there keeping them separated. It only takes one mistake and no more Tweety bird.
This why designated bird rooms are gaining in popularity.

[lee ireland]

Hi everyone,

thank you for all the advice, as for having rocco out of the cage for now is not really the best idea as i have children and if he gets spooked by me he will most certainly get spooked by my children whilst being out, its sad as the last thing i want is to keep him in the cage all the time, i will be having a few hours every other day allowing him to come out without me trying to get close ( for the first few weeks anyway, i think most training for now will be inside of the cage as rocco seems to be quite trusting whilst in the cage, still taking food from my hand although a few more bites are commencing lol, maybe just trying to punish me for grabbing him the other day.

to be honest he/she doesnt seem too spooked by humans considering he/she was parent raised, was taking food from my hand at day 2, first day of interaction.. seems to be very needy shouting around for attention so in myself i know this bird can be very tame as he/she is craving for more and more attention daily, i work from home so that attention can and does get provided

however i will start from fresh, i had a few days cooling off and still taking food from my hand so will keep at this stage for a while, read wolfs instructions ( can someone please link this as i cant find it ) and allow my conure to come out every other day or so to get used to my home..

can i ask does training come under taming? is it ok to train whilst becoming he/shes friend?

thank you everyone

[Wolf]

Any suggestions or instructions that I have given you are contained in this topic which you started, unless you have asked other questions in other topics. All of my suggestions are given individually and in response to your questions, although you will find that I answer a lot of questions, so if you read topics similar to your questions you will probably find my suggestions to that individual helpful when applied to your situation. For my suggestions to you ask a question and I will answer as best I can.
With reading this your most recent post, I see that you keep mentioning letting the bird out every other day for a few hours. As a general rule of thumb your bird needs at least four hours per day out of cage time with at least one of those hours spent one on one, which usually means one hour of bird on you.
Training? While looked at properly almost every interaction that you can have with your bird is in fact training, I usually shy away from trick training during the first 30 days or so depending on the bird. To me trick training is defined as training a bird to do a thing that is simply for my amusement and not a thing that the bird would need to know to live comfortably with me. An example of a so called trick that is needed for good co habitation and therefore not a trick is step up. This is something that if you are patient enough the bird will do of its own accord as it is advantageous to it to do so. Mostly all you need to do to encourage this is to offer the bird a treat in such a manner that it can only reach it by stepping onto your hand or finger. Every now and then you will have a bird that actually require you to train it to do this, but normally it is a thing they will pick up for themselves and you just add the verbal request.
The first 30 days or so are best used in learning about your bird, his likes and dislikes, his body language, favorite foods and so on. It is a stressful time for the bird as it grieves for what it lost by coming to live with you and must acclimate to a new and potentially dangerous environment without the support of any flock mates and for this reason all that I do during this time with the bird is directed in earning its trust and in reassuring the bird that it is safe and that I will care for and protect it from harm. As well as that I am the giver of good things to eat and to destroy.

[lee ireland]

thank you wolf

well from now i shall let the bird out every day for as long as it wants and wait until it goes back in to enclose it, unless of course this is only a few minutes or couple hours after being out, the reason i had not been letting it out was simply because it is not wanting to step onto my hand but rather hard nip me, no blood drawn but still its a pretty hard nip to say the least... saying that looking back on things it seems to be something it does when it cant reach the treat so what i think its doing is testing me by trying to demand that i bring the food to it rather than it having to step onto me,

so from now i will let it out everyday and focus purely on trust

oh we have nearly placed it on a full pellets, fruit and veg diet so things looking good on that department, i use seeds as the treats as he goes crazy over sunflower

thank you again