Sun Conure prefers my son

[Laura Grant]

I apprecaite all the positive feedback I have gotten. Olympia flys to me periodicall. She lets me give her head scratches and let me put her in the sink to enjoy a quickie bath. In the morning when i get home from work I open her cage and sit next to her. My son is her person. She wants to be with him. I am still unable to take her out of the cage but she allows my son to hand her off to me. She will take treats from me and accepted a piece of kale as well but dropped it immediately. It has only been a week....

[Wolf]

I went back and reread this entire topic as I normally do on occasion as I answer so many questions that it is easy to get them confused in my mind if I don't do this regularly.
It strikes me as somewhat humorous that the majority of this topic has been about how to strengthen your relationship with this bird whom you originally stated was bought for your son. Yet you are not happy that it worked perfectly and the bird chose to favor your son right away. This is a prime example of how we sometimes try to deceive ourselves and what we go through until we realize the truth of what we have done and come to terms with it honestly. To me this is only of importance because you need to understand that this bird is not so easily deceived. It is very important that we are honest in all of our interactions with these wonderfully intelligent, sentient creatures. Why ? It is because they know the difference, their survival in their natural setting requires them to know these things and they are so good at reading our body language that they appear to be empathic as they know and respond to our emotional states almost before we are aware of them ourselves.
One of the ways that this could be affecting the relationships that exist between you, your son and this bird is that if you are feeling even a little jealous of your son and his relationship with this bird, the bird knows and responds to this in a defensive manner. You should always take stock of yourself before attempting any interaction with this bird so that you can bring your emotions into check if need be.
Now have patience and always do your very best to care for this bird and to respect him as an individual and continue to work with him when your son is not present and know that soon after your son leaves that the bird will promote you to its number one human and you will then reap the rewards of all of your hard work. Also, when your son returns home and the bird sees him you may become its number two again, but you will still have a better relationship than what it is presently.

[liz]

What Wolf says is very true.
I am the human that Rambo and Myrtle belongs to. Day one Rambo claimed me as #1. When my mom started to interact with him I became #2. When my daughter move in I was pushed to #3. Rambo only tormented my aunt so entertaining himself by scaring her makes her #4.
My Mom died and my daughter took a job where she was out of town a week at a time. He was devastated that Gran'ma and Rachel were both gone at the same time. She came home on the weekend and he was happy beyond belief. When she left for work again this smart kid knew she was gone and would come back. While she is gone I am #1 and he now interacts with my aunt to make her #2. I have been blessed that Rambo really knows what bye bye means as he was a traveler with his previous human.
I am #1 with Myrtle unless my son comes over. In that case no one else exists. My aunt is #2 because she eats all day and Myrtle has taught her to share. My daughter is no where in the list unless I am gone then she moves to the end of the line and my aunt is #1. Myrtle will accept that her food, water and safety are being met by Rachel but she will not go near her. If Rachel pushes it then Myrtle will give her a no blood chomp.
Be content to be in the list no matter what your number. You will move around and may even be #1 when your son is at school.

[Laura Grant]

I still cannot reach into her cage and take her out but she willingly flies to me OTHERWISE.

Thank you Wolf for reviewing the previous messages. You are correct, she is for my son. He spends many hours with her. She follows his lead. She naps on him. She does not like when he leaves the room. Today when I opened a pack of blue corn chips she flew to my shoulder. When i cooked mashed potatoes, she flew to my shoulder. She seems to associate me with food. NO MORE STARCHY SUGARY SNACKS FOR HER until next week. Tomorrow I will introduce her to broccoli. LOL. She does not like when I stick my hands in her cage to take her out but seems to prefer to climb out herself and allow me to take her from the top of the cage.

[Wolf]

Human snacks are not good for her. Now I will be honest with you in that an occasional human snack is not going to hurt her, do keep them very long between them. Except for the ones that have health issues all of mine get an occasional no no as far as food goes, but there is one human snack that is ok and is easy to make and that is unsalted, plain air popped pop corn.
Sun Conures are almost all territorial about their cage so it is easier to let them come out on their own and let them climb up to the top of the cage before asking for them to step up. It is also easier to clean their cage and change food and water while they are busy elsewhere. And safer too.

[Pajarita]

Yes, be very careful of what human foods you give her. People forget all the crap put into the food we normally eat...

[Kakariki]

Laura, it sounds like you have come a long way in a short time with an adult, re-homed bird.
Lots of wonderful advice on this forum.

Sometimes my spouse ''tries too hard'' with one bird or another and that can put them on edge. I think I have finally got through to him that his emotions when he approaches them is received by the bird. In the past he was nipped by Jasper ALOT (no blood, but a few welts). I told him it was his own fault. He finally knows when, where and how to approach or not.

Your SC sounds wonderful.

[Laura Grant]

Thank you all for the great advice. I have been sitting next to her cage and talking to her. Before I go to work I tell her "g'bye" and when i come home in the morning I greet her with "g'morning". This morning she flew on to my chest while I was laying in bed. I scratched the back of her neck and talked to her. After 20 minutes I thought it was time to end the visit.

[Wolf]

Other than you being tired and needing sleep, why so short of a time ? Twenty minutes is not much time as far as a parrot is concerned when just hanging out with you.

[Pajarita]

Well, I couldn't stay laying down awake and not really doing anything for 20 minutes (I'm a bit hyper) so maybe she just wanted to get up and start her day.