Need help with my Sun Conure.. PLEASE!!

[mrenville]

Hello,
I am new here and actually found this site by searching for Parrot behavior issues. I have 3 Parrots (Sun Conure, Congo African Grey, and Umbrella Cockatoo). I love my Parrots more than anything, they ARE my children. I am a Disabled United States Army Veteran and I am unable to work due to severe neck and back injuries although I am not bound in a wheel chair. I don't really go many places and if I do, it is not for long so, they are with me all the time and rarely left alone. I do not close their cages either, if I am home then they are not closed up. I only close their cages if I leave or when I go to sleep. I am Married with no children and my wife loves the Parrots just as much as I do and she also never closes their cages unless we are both gone or we are both sleeping. They do have a bed time though and I keep them on a very regular schedule and their cages do get covered when it's bed time, they are all healthy, they all eat very well, drink water normally, have normal bowel movements. I check them constantly knowing that Birds are known to hide their illnesses, I like to be careful and prepared for anything. none of this really has anything to do with the current problems I am having, I just wanted to add a little background in case someone needed to know.
I am currently having serious issues with my Female Sun Conure (Her name is Summer) and I have had her for about 9 years, she is about 11-12 years old. She is my baby!! We bonded the day I rescued her 9 years ago and we have always had the best of relationship. Yesterday, I went into the computer room which she can still see me from her cage. When I went into the computer room, she flew to my shoulder (She always flies to me when ever I leave the room.. no matter where I am). This is very normal for her to fly to me like that but, after she was on my shoulder for a couple of minutes.. she bit the back of my neck really hard and flew back to her cage. I closed her cage doors and gave her a little time out. I never yell at them or freak out if I get bit, they're birds and birds bite once in awhile. Later last night, she flew to me again and instantly acted like she was going to bite my neck again, she didn't actually bite me this time and it's possible I misjudged her actions but, I made her go back to her cage but, I didn't close her up this time. She was fine the rest of the night. This morning, I opened her cage as I always do, same time, same manner. I always say "Good morning baby!! She says morning back to me, comes out, has her morning poop and steps up on my hand (Very routine). While she was on my hand, she always says "Kisses" and I kiss her wing or back and she kisses my nose (Again, very routine). Today though when she went to kiss my nose, she bit my nose extremely hard and didn't let go right away. I was very calm and got her to re step up and I put her in her cage, I said "No bite" and closed her cage doors and walked away. My wife saw it and said I was bleeding and I went into the bathroom to assess the bite and I was in fact bleeding very heavily. It took about 20 minutes to get the bleeding to stop totally and you can totally see both bite marks on the tip of my nose. Honestly, I don't care about the bite or my nose. All I care about is Summer and I don't know what to do. She has never done this to me before. She has flown off of her cage and bit my wife and she has attacked a very good friend of mine. In summers defense, it was spring time and she was getting ready to lay eggs so I know she was hormonal at those times but, she has NEVER done this to me ever. I have always been the only person that can reach into her cage to pet her, get her to step up from inside her cage, remove the eggs (After I leave them in there about a week per an avian vets recommendation). So, this is the first time she has ever attacked me like this and I am totally worried about it. My wife tells me if she keeps doing this, that we'll need to find her a new home and to me.. That is not an option. I love her, I have had her the longest of all three, nothing is different, nothing has been moved, removed, I am not wearing anything different, no different smells or odors, everything is normal and everything is exactly like it has been day after day for years. Please, does anyone have any advice? I really don't want her to turn into a biting Parrot, at least not with me and I love her too much to find her a new home as my wife threatens if she keeps doing this and it would kill me to keep her locked up in her cage all day. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!!

[Grey_Moon]

I have a hen timneh grey so I've found a few things to be helpful:

1. Make sure she doesn't spend all her time in one place----my grey sleeps in her sleep cage in the bedroom, has her main cage and then has her playgym. The purpose of this is to replicate her non-breeding state, instinctually for her the only time she'd be eating, living and sleeping in one place is in a nesting hole. Otherwise, she'd be flying from her roosting site, to a foraging site, to another, and then back again. So, in order to tone down her hormones, change it up. Let her eat with you on the dining room table, take her different places in the house, get her a sleep cage...

2. Cuddles---does she regurgitate for you or try to masturbate? If so, discourage the behaviours...don't scold her, just ignore her/put her down when she does it. Send a clear but gentle message of 'sorry, not interested, im a person after all '. That will tone down her hormones as well.

3. Take away the sense of sameness. Having a environment that never changes gives a sense of stability and security---good time for breeding and a stable secure nest is one worth using and expending the energy to lay eggs. So, in effect 'destroy' her nest---move the cage, change up the perches, rotate in some new toys, dishes...

4. Energy---I'm assuming she eats well and is healthy. So she probably has a lot of energy, and if not expended...well...it has to come out somehow. Give her lots of showers and toys, and keep her mind working with training sessions.

5. Daylight and nesting sites---don't let her spend a lot of time inside boxes or checking out dark spaces, and increase the amount of sleep she gets if you can---breeding season starts when the days get longer, so if you cut down the amount of hours she gets light you may stop the hormone production.

Hope this helps!

[liz]

They know the word "no".

Myrtle is my flighted bird so she gets treated different than Rambo my pedestrian.

When Myrtle flies to me it is because she wants to be with me. She preans me and plays with my hair. She does clamp down on me at times just to check things out. Her tounge is tasting at the same time. If she gets too rough I use an open hand with spread fingers to swatt her off and say "no". Now all she has to see is the open hand with spread fingers coming at her to make her fly.
(I never do this to Rambo since he cannot fly away.)

I am a non combat disabled Vietnam War Veteran.