Need help with conure

[Midnight]

Hello
I recently got a 7 month old gold capped conure around 2 weeks ago. When I first brought her home, she got out of her carrier by herself and flew right to the cage door. For the first two days whenever I open the cage door she flies right out and goes on my shoulder but she would never step up on my finger no matter how much I try. I stopped taking her out after those two days since I heard that even though she wants to come out, I should let her get used to my me first and get her to understand that if she wants to come out, she has to step up first. Now she doesnt seem to want to come out anymore won't step up either. I've been trying to put my finger near the door and hold a sunflower seed in the other hand and try to get her to come but she usually gets close and tries to reach with her beak. I know not to rush birds and so I haven't been doing too much but sitting beside her and talking. The thing that got me a little confused is that she loves it when people are near her, whevener she sees me she will come as close and she can and wherever I go she follows in her cage. She eats and drinks perfectly fine as well. She can even take food from my fingers with little to no problem but whenever I try to get her on my finger she starts twitching her wings and bobbing her head so I'm not sure what I should do next? She was handfed as a baby and she loved it when the breeder scratched her head and tummy. Is there something I am doing wrong? Or should I just keep talking to her and wait without trying to get her to come to me?

Thanks

[Chantilly]

Hello
I recently got a 7 month old gold capped conure around 2 weeks ago. When I first brought her home, she got out of her carrier by herself and flew right to the cage door. For the first two days whenever I open the cage door she flies right out and goes on my shoulder but she would never step up on my finger no matter how much I try. I stopped taking her out after those two days since I heard that even though she wants to come out, I should let her get used to my me first and get her to understand that if she wants to come out, she has to step up first. Now she doesnt seem to want to come out anymore won't step up either. I've been trying to put my finger near the door and hold a sunflower seed in the other hand and try to get her to come but she usually gets close and tries to reach with her beak. I know not to rush birds and so I haven't been doing too much but sitting beside her and talking. The thing that got me a little confused is that she loves it when people are near her, whevener she sees me she will come as close and she can and wherever I go she follows in her cage. She eats and drinks perfectly fine as well. She can even take food from my fingers with little to no problem but whenever I try to get her on my finger she starts twitching her wings and bobbing her head so I'm not sure what I should do next? She was handfed as a baby and she loved it when the breeder scratched her head and tummy. Is there something I am doing wrong? Or should I just keep talking to her and wait without trying to get her to come to me?

Thanks

To me it sounds like she likes you and wants to be with you.
If I were you I would let her be on you as long as she wants, you can work on stepping up a little later on, but for now, just let her spend some quality time on you.
When she trusts you more and is more used to you, you can work on teaching her to step up, but for now just let her chill wherever she wants.
When she is ready for some training (I would give her a month or so to settle in and get to know you and her surroundings) you can begin to train stepping up.. which I would do like this

'Step up please'

image.jpg (23.54 KiB) Viewed 5485 times

When you do this, if she just leans over your finger and grabs the seed, reward her, she is still getting closer to stepping up. Keep on going, if she can just lean foward and get the treat you can put a bit more distance between finger and treat. Eventually she will put one foot on your finger, give her a big reward. Sooner or later she will learn to put two feet up.
Remember: Let her settle in before you start training, dont push her (let her learn at her own rate), keep training sessions small 5-10 minutes 1 time a day MAX is all you should do at first, end training sessions possitively (this also means to not make sessions to long so as she isnt fed up at the end of it),
Always be positive.. (use positive reinforcement, reward the good and any attemps she makes to do what you want), never go mad at her or get frustrated if she dosnt do it right.
Good luck with training your new birdie, I do think you should wait a while to begin training

[Midnight]

Ok I'll try that Thank you!

[Wolf]

Would you please tell me what you are feeding this bird as well as when you feed this food. Also when you are trying to get the bird to step up and it does this behavior how soon before or after feeding time is this?

I am asking for this information because the behavior that you describe sounds a lot like the bird is begging.

[Pajarita]

Yes, the wing fluttering and up and down bobbing is begging. But, sometimes, birds that were not weaned properly keep on begging their entire lives (they develop an eating disorder)... In any case, knowing the diet and schedule would help a lot to make a more accurate determination.

[Chantilly]

Ok I'll try that Thank you!

Your welcome!

[Midnight]

Would you please tell me what you are feeding this bird as well as when you feed this food. Also when you are trying to get the bird to step up and it does this behavior how soon before or after feeding time is this?

I am asking for this information because the behavior that you describe sounds a lot like the bird is begging.

I feed her pellets, seed, and fresh fruits and veggies everyday. She is a pretty good eater so I don't think she is begging but I am not totally sure.

[Pajarita]

Well, for one thing, begging for food doesn't necessarily mean the bird is actually hungry. The begging might also mean that she wants attention because, to a baby bird (or a grown one for that matter), food in the beak is the same as getting love from its parents. And then, there are the birds that were not weaned properly and beg for food for the rest of their lives (they also tend to overeat).

The seed in the hand as treat is not going to work if you free-feed her protein food (pellets and seeds). The 'reward' needs to be a high value item and, to a bird, that means protein food so you might want to reconsider the diet you are giving her to make it both healthier for her (fresh produce and something like gloop or mash or chop for breakfast with protein food -seeds, nuts, pellets, etc- for dinner) and easier for you to train. The trick is to make the protein food, in general, something very desirable and to figure out what nut, exactly, is the one the bird likes the best and use it only as reward for training (you put a selection of nuts like half an almond, a quarter of a walnut, a pistachio, etc in a row and observe which one the bird always picks first -you need to do it a few times to make sure and also do it when the bird is not super hungry because, if it is, it will just grab the nut closest to him/her).