Looking for insight on new conure's behaviour

[GCChris]

Hello all, I just made my introduction post in the introduction forum!
I'll get right to it. For one week as of today, we have had Pete the green cheeked conure. We wanted an interactive bird, and I searched through various species profiles and came to the conclusion a conure would be best for us. I had a Senegal when I was younger, my partner Joseph has only had untamed budgies before. So we began searching for a conure and soon found, much to our surprise, an all-bird store about 15 minutes from where we live! It has only been there for about a year and I had no idea! So I walk in, and first thing I see is a parrot play tree full of gcc's, yay. Great store and very friendly owner. She had a couple of babies, but also a trio of adults who had been traded in by the owner for canaries, and which she was now trying to rehome. Two males, one of which is Pete, and a female. I took a liking to Pete, he stepped up and came to my shoulder and was very friendly. Apparantly, the original owner started out with Pete, and added the other two, only to become overwhelmed with the resulting problems of two males wanting the same female. I guess the noises they made were too much for him. Pete seemed to have no love lost for his two companions while the three were at the bird store, they had only been there for a week but Pete reportedly avoided the other two, and stayed on someone's shoulder. He is 2 years old and came from a good breeder, they had his hatch and dna certificates with him. I liked Pete a lot, so the next day brought my partner Joseph, who also liked him. We got everything we needed (already found a great used cage on kijij) and brought Pete home the following day. Oh I should also note, Pete's original owner clipped his wings much too short. Poor guy hardly has any blue feathers.
He has been doing really well, eats pretty much everything offered, and with enthusiasm. However, some of his behaviour we aren't sure how to deal with and need help. For one, he seems to have quite an attraction to my partner Joseph and wants to be on him, grooms his face, and gets all puffed up. But he will not step up for him and bites him, hard. Joseph is now scared of Pete and hesistant to go near him, but Pete just bobs up and down and calls for him non-stop. If he can, he will run/climb/flutter over to Joseph. He will step up for me without complaint most of the time, and enjoys having his head scratched. He will bite me sometimes but I've been reading the articles and watching viddeos frm parrot wizard on youtube, and the techniques have been helping a lot. I just don't react to bites. Joseph does, however, and is having a really hard time stopping himself. So for now his relationship with Pete is hands-off only. Just giving treats and talking to. But Pete still bobs (like who body bobbing up down not just head) and screeches for Joseph when he is in sight. Again, he will come to me but is always looking at Joseph. So, what to do about this? I'm fine with him being more in love with Joseph than me, but he can't be biting him. It seems like Pete is attracted to Joseph but is making it clear he is in control. It's up to Joseph to train Pete and be more confident but that might be a tall order. I am the one who really wanted the bird, after all, and am the primary caretaker. It's not a problem for Joseph being hands-off, but it apparently is for Pete. What can we do? I should also mention we have a dog. So Pete's ventures to the floor to look for Joseph are NOT safe at all. His cage has a play stand on top, and is quite high up but he will climb all the way down then flutter the rest of the way. I spied on him from the top of the stairs to see how he was doing it . Did I mention Pete hasn't played with toys yet or shown any interest. He does however love showers in the sink in you hand, and gets excited when the tap is on. Oh my this is long. I'm sure there's more right now our most serious issue is Pete's obsession with being on Joseph but refusing to get off and being generally abusive towards him yet also obviously in love. (yeah I'm kinda jealous but at least I don't get chomped!)
oh dear, that was so long. so sorry

[Wolf]

First of all, I like longer posts as they usually provide more information as to what is happening and often suggest the solution to the problem. Now, you have only had Pete for a week and so it is still a possibility that this behavior will change. In regards to that, I would continue to do what you are doing with maybe you occupying Pete's attention more than you are. This might help convince Pete that you are the one to bond with instead of your partner. MAYBE !
As to what Pete is doing, it appears that at present he has chosen Joseph as his favored human. This means that the biting is likely to be caused by one of two things or possibly both, the first is that Pete wants more time on Joseph and the second is that Pete is viewing you as competition for his chosen's attention and is trying to make Joseph to move away from you.
There is a lot of information saying to ignore the birds bites, and just as much saying to not ignore the bites. I do not ignore it when my birds bite me, I honestly cry out in pain and sit the bird down telling it that it is being bad to hurt me and then let it go. A bird is smart enough to know when it is biting too hard and should be taught that this is not a desirable behavior, that it will not get the bird what it wants.

[GCChris]

Thank you Wolf. After re-reading my post, I should clarify- Pete will step-up for Joseph initially, but once on him, won't come off. Joe's pain tolerance is exceedingly low (this is the guy who yells ouch when a mosquito bites him) so ignoring the bite is not gonna work, hopefully Pete will realize eventually if he wants to be with Joseph, he has to stop biting him.
I will work on being more appealing to Pete. I'm trying, I sing to him and act all goofy but he just kinda watches me out of the side of his eye with consternation. I don't want to push it though, and still trying to figure out what Pete likes. He loves showers, that's been great bonding for us, and he also loves to "sing along" to anyone playing the pseudo-drums on pots and pans, lol. Good thing we are noise-tolerant. I am attempting to train Pete with treats, he loves little bits of sunflowers, to come when I call him, but he has the rude habit of quickly snatching the treat then scurrying as far as possible away to eat it. While inspecting him today, I noticed an old scar on his toe. Looks like he took a bad bite from another bird at some point. I have a feeling he was low in the pecking-order before, perhas the other birds prevented him from eating all he wanted, cause he is a real pig now but also seems afraid someone will steal his favourite foods from him, so carries them into a corner or hides behind a toy to eat. But I know, these things take time. gotta go, he is on his way to the floor again! time to do some re-arranging!

[Wolf]

After Pete steps up onto Joseph, try leaving the room for a while and see if the bites stop.

[Pajarita]

I think the problem is that poor Pete is feeling extremely confused and insecure and bites Joseph because, having chosen him as his human, does not want to leave his shoulder (he feels safe there). Now, you need to understand that even if Pete did not appear to have any love lost for his two flock mates, it does not mean he does not miss them! Parrots evolved to be surrounded all their lives by other birds of the same species so even when they don't mate-bond, they do feel happier and much, much safer when in numbers and he did not only lose his flock mates, he lost his human and his home so who can blame him for his insecurity?

The other (and VERY likely) possibility is that he is overly-hormonal and taking into consideration his inadequate clip (only people who don't know much about birds physiology clip them), I would say there is a very high probability of this been an added factor to the biting problem. Parrots need to be kept at a strict solar schedule and cannot be free-fed high protein so, please, start him off right.

I don't believe in the 'don't show pain and don't react' advice so commonly given in the internet. I think it's bunk, plain and simple. I mean, for one thing, is completely unnatural as no bird will just sit there and allow another bird to bite it without reacting! And, for another, the idea that parrots would learn to 'like' the reaction and continue biting just to get it (the 'drama' explanation often given) can only mean that people believe that parrots enjoy causing pain or that they are so stupid that they would confuse an exclamation of pain with one of joy. Neither argument holds any water, in my experience. Parrots are not only super smart, they are also master of the human body language and tone of voice AND they are also extremely empathetic so, in my personal opinion, whoever put out these ridiculous notions out there did not take the time to observe or study parrots at all. So, tell Joseph not to worry and to go ahead and make a loud exclamation of pain when he gets bit. But, if he only gets bit when he is trying to get him down from his shoulder, he should not ask him to step up from it. Tell him to just bend over and put his shoulder next to a place where Pete can go (like the top of his cage or a stand, for example). If he puts a high value food item on the cage or stand and bends over (so Pete can easily step onto it from the shoulder) giving the command "Step down" Pete will go for the treat and Joseph will be achieving two things: 1) he will get him off his shoulder without getting bit and 2) he will be, in fact, teaching Pete to step down on command without any stress.

Mind you, for this to work, you need to stop free-feeding protein because this is the only way a food item gets to be 'high value' and he needs to spend a good time with him on his shoulder and then continue interacting verbally with him after he steps onto the cage or stand because if Pete realizes that every time this command is given, it will be the end of the interaction with his beloved, he will stop obeying.

Please hold the training until poor Pete feels comfortable in his new home and has begun to give you both his trust and love. Training does not really create a bond, it deepens it when it's done correctly (and that's another long story) but the bond needs to be there first and it takes a couple of months for this to begin to happen.

[GCChris]

Wow lot's of great information here! We are going to get Pete a cage for sleeping only, and keep in our spare bedroom, so we can get him on a proper schedule. I do come home late from work for two weeks per month, and he does wake up despite being covered. I don't take him out or talk to him though but can hear moving around and 'whispering'. So how should I go about getting him used to this? For now I would guess, just get the cage, and leave it near his main cage for awhile til he gets used to it. What size should a sleeping cage be and what should it contain? He likes to sleep in a hut, so that, and a perch obviously, and water, but food? Probably should have food too just in case.

What about feeding? Pete eats pretty much non-stop. He is on roudybush. How much/often to feed him? The owner of the bird store told us to have food available all the time, as have other sources, so I'm a bit confused. He does seem to eat too much if you ask me, he spends hours taking pellets to his water, dunking, and nibbling away. Also fresh fruits and veggies, wish he would eat carrots for the vit a, but no, he does like mango though, and for treats bits of avi-cake, sunflower seed, or walnut. When the sunflowers are gone we will get safflower, I read sunflower seeds aren't that good.

[Pajarita]

OK, you are feeding him a huge amount of protein (pellets, avicakes, seeds, nuts) and that's not good for him. GCCs are mainly fruit eaters so they do very well on a nice portion of a lower protein seed mix. I do not feed pellets. I've been doing research on parrots natural diets for 20 years and reached the conclusion, a long time ago, that pellets are, most definitely, NOT the best dietary option for them. I can elaborate on my reasons if you want but, for now, I will just list them: waaaay too dry (thankfully, Pete is a smart cookie and he dunks his), too processed, inferior ingredients, soy, man-made vitamins and unknown levels of protein.

My GCC eats gloop and raw produce for breakfast (with portions of fruit larger than one would think are enough for such a small bird) and gets a measured portion of a budgie mix during the winter and a cockatiel mix during the warm weather months. Period. And she is doing VERY well! So well, in fact, that she is finally molting without any stress marks on her plumage - YAAAAYYYY!

The sleeping cage, as long as he doesn't have to spend any time just sitting there waiting for somebody to let him out, doesn't need to be big. If you are going to put him in an empty room, you can leave the cage uncovered as long as there is no artificial light shining in through a window because the trick is for him to be fully exposed to twilight (or his endocrine system will not be attuned to the seasons and will go out of whack). As to food in it or not, I don't take out the leftover seed dinner out at night BUT I get up when the sky is beginning to get the merest sliver of light (way before dawn, actually) and the first thing I do right after I let the dogs out is take it out so there isn't enough light for them to start eating it. If you are going to get up after dawn, then you need to take it out at night.