Yellow Sided Conure

[shiraartain]

Hello everyone! I've previously owned 2 Indian ringnecks, a cockatiel, and several parakeets.

Due to my sister's allergies I had to give away my cockatiel and parakeet which I had last, and after feeling their absence for about a year, did my research and decided on a green cheek conure.

My Dad went out to pick him up yesterday, but as I had previous commitments, I was not around to lay down the law and my younger sisters constantly handled the bird until I came home.

Because it became so tense (I tried to feed it seed from my hand and it backed away), I'm just sitting here playing some soft music and studying until it can get used to me. Seems to be trusting me a bit more, as it's slightly poofed up and napping right now and isn't startled when I get up and move around.

I look forward to bonding with this bird and am excited to learn as much as I can from the forums!

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum. I am a bit confused by your narrative. For one thing, you don't say what happened to the ringnecks. For another, parakeets are not considered 'dusty' birds so they couldn't have caused your sister her allergies. Lastly, and I am not trying to make you feel bad but that was a terrible beginning for the poor bird and I hope there are no lasting consequences to it. Where were your parents while this was going on? Don't they know that all this handling by young children would be too stressful to a baby bird?

[shiraartain]

The ringnecks were my pets over a decade ago, when we lived overseas and I was young myself. They were considered to be "my" pets, but were actually taken care of by everyone but me. One passed away from old age, while the other was attacked by a stray cat which was wandering through the house when nobody was home. (The house structure is different there).

The parakeet was given away along with my cockatiel as the two had bonded (they lived outside of their cages whenever I was home, which was often), but my mom panicked when my sister became allergic and insisted on no birds at all. They're both in a good home now, and I visit them at least once a year.

My cockatiel could speak his name and various phrases, flew on command,and would call for my mom if he needed anything. He was extremely tame. I know my younger sisters know how to handle birds properly, but I think they somehow expected this new bird to be at the same level of tameness. Once I talk to them, I know they'll respect the boundaries.

My dad made sure the bird was settled in its cage and went to sleep , and my mom was not home. I have another sister who drew the line when she noticed how the twins were making the bird nervous, so I think it should be fine. I'm sorry if I'm vague about what happened, I only got the bare details after getting home last night.

The situation behind me not being home was that the breeder lives on the other end of Michigan and only came to my part of it briefly with no guarantee of coming again over summer. If there had been, I would have scheduled to get the bird later. I really wanted to buy from him since a friend strongly recommended him to me. We do have a local bird store, but considering they sold us my cockatiel without telling us he still had to be hand-fed, I don't trust them. Their main goal seems to be profit, and some of the larger birds they have are in tiny cages I wouldn't put a parakeet in.

I'll be home studying a lot for finals which are next week, so what I'm planning to do at the moment is to spend a lot of time just outside of the cage while I study. Sitting next to it as I type right now.
He just chirped for the first time since he got here, and ate a bit from my hand. I called it quits once he started exploring my thumb and trying to gnaw on it while ignoring the food in my hand. He's eating from his feeding dish now.

Though I've done a ton of research, I'm still nervous. My cockatiel's body language seemed easier to read to me, since his crest and eyes were easy-to-read indicators of how he felt. I also took a week to work with him by bonding and then playing with him all day.

I can't afford to take a week off right now, so hopefully just being nearby for a week will be fine. I can work on training and getting out of the cage once my exams are over.

[revika]

There are some generic GCC behaviors that the majority use: the book "The Conure Handbook by Anne Watkins" goes over these briefly. Otherwise it's really just a point of observing their own personality, their likes and dislikes. How old is it?

[shiraartain]

The breeder said 9 weeks old and weaned. I actually have that book-the friend who recommended the breeder to me lent me books as well. They've been a huge help so far.

My Dad was feeling more energetic today, so he's been taking a look at it and said I should feed it a pellet mash since it seems to be having a bit of trouble eating it as is (the breeder provided the pellets).

Just messaged the breeder asking what fruits/vegetables/nuts it's been exposed to so far so we can pick up those things during our grocery run tomorrow.

[Wolf]

At 9 wks. of age the bird may be weaned as far as the breeder is concerned but, this bird is not weaned and still need soft food at least twice a day. Pajarita is the best bet to get a recipe for your bird from. Pellets are most definitely not the right answer. The reason that the bird is having trouble eating is that it is too young to be eating much adult food. If you PM'd her I am sure that she would help you.

[shiraartain]

Just PM'd her, thank you, and thank you to everyone else who has responded thus far! I'm feeling less nervous now that I know I can ask and receive answers.

Update on the bird (Name is Fajr, gender is unknown): Ate a small piece of millet which I had put in the food dish, pellets, and drank some water. Was planning to put him to bed at 8 instead of 7, but he fell asleep at 7 PM and we all wake up around 7 AM so I went ahead and covered the cage.

The twins came home and now understand that they are not to touch the bird until the bird is ready. They are allowed into the same room under the condition that they do their homework quietly without bothering the bird (and also only under supervision).

The breeder responded to my message, and told me that he has eaten carrots, beans, corn, and peas. Is it okay to offer the bird these things along with its soft food and some pellets, or should I hold off on it?

[Wolf]

I see no problem as long as you make sure that all beans are cooked beans. Pajarita is dead set against pellets, others are not, I haven't made up my mind about them.

[Pajarita]

I already replied to your pm and gave you quite a few ideas on what to use as soft foods. Now, the thing to remember about a GCC's diet is that, in nature, they are mostly fruit eaters so they require much larger portions of fruit that we would think it's the right size. They are not much on raw veggies but they will eagerly eat the ones that are cooked, especially the sweeter ones like corn on the cob, baked sweet potatoes, butternut squash, diced carrots, cherry or grape tomatoes, etc. Same with leafy greens, if you get them used to eating them from the very beginning, they will eat them on a daily basis. If the leafy greens give you trouble (or, at the very beginning, when the baby is still not used to them), you can always use cooked and chopped broccoli and or kale (just make sure the kale is organic because it's one of the 'dirty dozen'). As to fruits, mine ate everything you put in their cage: apples (*), oranges, bananas, grapes (only grown in the States, otherwise, they need to be organic), mango, papaya, cantaloupe, watermelon, blackberries, strawberries (*), pears (*), pomegranate, star fruit, kiwi, etc.

The other thing to remember about them is that they live to ride your shoulder and cuddle against your neck. All parrots like riding shoulders but GCCs seem to absolutely live for it. The babies always go through a 'beaking' stage (when they seem to 'taste' or 'gnaw' on your fingers) but it's just their way of exploring (same as a baby would put everything in its mouth). As they get older, they start testing the strength they can put in the beaking so it's always good to gently take away your finger from their beak and always use the same word to indicate he/she needs to 'ease off'. I use "Gently, gently, gently" but any word, as long as it's always said in exactly the same circumstances and always accompanied by your taking away your finger will work as long as you also praise when he/she does it right.

I suggest that, until the baby is older, the handling is restricted to you alone. Parrots raise their babies in cavities and completely separated from the rest of the flock so, although lots of people will tell you it's better to 'socialize' them from the beginning, this is nothing but one of those 'dog' things that people have extrapolated to birds (like the dominance myth). I believe that it's always better for the bird to follow nature schedules and ways as much as possible because, in the long run, you will end up with a better adjusted bird (there are studies that show that birds that are stressed out as babies end up been high strung for the rest of their lives).

[shiraartain]

Thank you very much! I think the most important thing I'm learning is how each individual bird can be so different. I was nervous but chose to take on a conure because I felt that was what was best for my sister's allergies and that I was capable of it since I had successfully raised a cockatiel and spent weeks prior researching both forums and information pages.

He kept flying to the cage door so I finally gave in and let him onto my shoulder (something which I was only doing during vacuuming around the cage previously). I put him back in when I noticed he'd turned his back to me, but now he's flying to the door again .

He ate some of the (steamed and mashed) carrot I had on my shoulder with him when he saw me eating it (from a bowl, I was hoping he'd try his own piece if he saw me eating it), but didn't especially take to it. I guess this will take some time. I know forums generally have a rule of staying on-topic and I think this has been a pretty thorough introduction, so I will be putting other questions I have in the conure section of the forum or ask through PM's.

Once again, thank you all very much for all your advice!