Jenday conure in cage for 7 years!! :(

[Mich389]

My boyfriends parents just recently took in (what i think is) a jenday conure. They got in way over their heads and already want to get rid of him after only a week. Ive been researching myself for over a year on getting an umbrella cockatoo and understand the love and attention that a bird needs, so I've been thinking about taking the bird off they're hands before they give it to another family that wont be able to handle him either.

When his parents first got the bird, my boyfriend and i tried taking him out of the cage, but he was very scared and actually bit me twice. (I don't mind that he bit me though, it happens) but later that night, we found out that the previous owners had him for 7 years and very rarely let him out of the cage!!! This makes me want to take in the bird even more because i want to give him the great happy life that he deserves, but im unsure of how to tame him. Ive been taking him out of the cage everyday and hold him for a little bit so that he will learn to trust me. They only way he will come out is if i open the top of the cage, then he will hop on my shoulder and only stay on either my shoulder or my boyfriends shoulder. He is horrified of hands and runs away or tries biting them. He also screeches alot. He also does this thing where he hangs onto his cage and shakes his body, kind of like he is having a seizure or something.
Any advice at all on how to tame this poor bird would be GREATLY appreciated.

Also, i think he may have a respiratory infection or something. He sneezes alot and makes this sound like he is burping or something. (Its like a release of air) and he also scratches his nose on his cage alot. I plan on bringing him to the vet about this with my next paycheck, but maybe this has to do with some of his behavior?

[Eric&Rebecca]

OK, firstly Yes this is a Jenday conure and its great that you're not bothered about bites.

Good on you for rescuing him. With regards to your vet check that's great you've spotted some signs of possible sickness. You need to make sure the vet you go to is an avian vet, a normal vet won't know how to treat birds.

What's his diet been like?- if he's been on seed only you're going to need to change that as soon as possible to a pelleted diet with fresh fruits and veg (they won't eat them right away, its a gradual process so you have to give them some seeds for while) There are many methods that you can use for this which can be found on other threads in the forum.

The screeching is normal for this type of conure, its characteristic sound they make. The holding onto the cage and shaking is just him fluffing his feathers and rearranging them. Most seizures would cause the bird to fall to the floor but get your avian vet to explain this. With the breathing the frequent sneezing could be feather dust... offer him the opportunity to bath by placing a shallow dish of water in the cage. If he doesn't spray him with a mister bottle of warm water from a height just lightly.

Do his 'nostrils' (ceres in birds) look red or have any discharge? Does his breathing sound loud or is there a clicking noise? Does is tail move up and down with his breathing a lot? (very slight movement is normal) When he is scratching his nose on the cage- is it just scratching or does he rest as if he's trying to breathe more air.

He's probably petrified of hands from the previous owners cage bound beahviour. This is why he is quite bitey in the cage. He's cage agressive. There are ways to combat this, see Michael's training guides for after the bird has settled. Don't start with this right away you need to get him healthy and settled first.

Its a great start though that he sits on his shoulder sometimes, he's willing to build trust with you. Just leave it at that for now, there's plenty of times to work on hands

If you go to an avian vet you can probably go now and pay later via a payment plan.

[Pajarita]

The sneezing is most likely because he hasn't been breathing humid air (they need a humidifier as well as an air purifier in the room where they are kept) because they don't actually sneeze when they have a respiratory infection (the symptoms are labored breathing, tail bob, enlarged nares, discharge from nares and/or eyes, crackling sound in the chest -you need to put your ear on their chest for this). It could also be caused by lack of vitamin A as they need it to produce enough phlegm to clean up their air passages.

A better diet is always recommended but please do not get hanged up on pellets, there are other alternatives that are, in my personal opinion, much healthier so, please, do some thorough research about this (and by this I don't mean asking an AV or somebody on a bird forum, it means reading scientific studies or notes from field biologists about what the wild birds eat in their natural habitat).

Yes, Jendays are one of the screechiest parrots ever -LOL-

I second Eric&Rebecca, don't try to hold the bird in your hands, you will just stress him out and will not 'cure' him of his distrust of humans, allow him to make the first step (which he is already doing by perching on your and your boyfriend's shoulder) and wait for the second and third one. Patience is the key.

[Eric&Rebecca]

What Parajita says is true a raw or fresh diet is best but for an owner who's just starting out it might be easier for you to start with pellets. Although if you can apply the fresh diet that's great. The bottom line is entirely seed diets are bad!

And well Parajita I never knew that about respiratory infections! One tip, you can hear a birds lungs better through its back which you're probably not going to be able to do because of the hand thing. Best go to an avian vet preferably one with some sort of background in nutrition.