My First parrot (Blue Crowned Conure

[Pauline01UK]

Hi all I am new here, my parrots name is Jasper and I am confused by what some people say about his gender, he is 4yr old and I got him just before christmas from a friend of mine who didn't have time for him, (due to work commitments) she had him for 2 and a half yrs and has always said he is a male, (and he says jasper good boy lol) sometimes it seems as though he prefers males to females so therefore I was told that he must be a female.

If a male comes into my house he will try and attack me if I go near the cage, (hence the thought about preference). I have been spending lots of time with him and he now tries to regurgitate his food and feed me when I have my head in his cage talking to him, now I have been told that he is definitely a male because he is doing that, but he still tries to attack me if a male comes in which is puzzling.

Has anyone any idea's how I can stop this behaviour?

[cml]

Hi all I am new here, my parrots name is Jasper and I am confused by what some people say about his gender, he is 4yr old and I got him just before christmas from a friend of mine who didn't have time for him, (due to work commitments) she had him for 2 and a half yrs and has always said he is a male, (and he says jasper good boy lol) sometimes it seems as though he prefers males to females so therefore I was told that he must be a female.

If a male comes into my house he will try and attack me if I go near the cage, (hence the thought about preference). I have been spending lots of time with him and he now tries to regurgitate his food and feed me when I have my head in his cage talking to him, now I have been told that he is definitely a male because he is doing that, but he still tries to attack me if a male comes in which is puzzling.

Has anyone any idea's how I can stop this behaviour?

I dont know how to determine blue crowned conures sex, but you can definatly not tell by a preference for males or females. A bird may or may not prefer men or women, but thats because of other reasons, like if a previous owner was female, or they grew up at a male breeder or just takes a fancyfor long hair etc. The reasons can be as varied as species of birds!

To stop behavior which is linked with agression or over bonding to a specific person or in this case males, its important to socialise parrots. There re some excellent articles on trainedparrot.com you should read!

Wlecome to the forum!

[gabbagabbawill]

There's only a few ways to know 100% if you have a male or female. The least invasive way is to have a DNA test done. I don't know about in the UK (assuming that is where you are from by your name), but here in the States you can have a DNA test done for about $25 by mail-order (post). An avian vet can also determine sex surgically, but this is not recommended. Lastly, if you see her lay eggs, well then you know it's a girl.

Any other method of sexing is just a guess.

Regurgitating is hormonal behaviour, and it's best to ignore this behaviour unless your bird is sick or ill. If you suspect it could be ill, take it to a vet.

Attacking you or another person can be attributed to hormonal/ bonding behaviour, but it can also be corrected.

Does he let you handle him? If so, this is a good start.

My guess is that your bird may have been bonded with its previous owner and it now misses that bond and is looking for you to replace that missing person. Adding another person (a male in the room) probably makes your bird worried that you may leave him for another person, abandoning him again.

What you can do is some training. I would use positive reinforcement with target training and treats to start with. When the bird goes is good at target training with you, and learns good behaviour can be rewarded with his favourite treat, then you can work on training him to be ok with someone else (the offending male) in the room while target training OR you can try target training with the other person with you OUT of the room.

Eventually, you'll want to slowly introduce another person in the room and reward good behaviour (not attacking) with treats. Have the person start from across the room, where they are just in sight, and approach the bird and you only one step at a time, then pausing. Reward the bird's good behaviour with treats, and as the person slowly approaches, your bird will gradually learn that when this person comes closer, he will get something he wants- treats. Eventually, your bird will be trained to have another person in the room and stop attacking you or the other person.

I know this isn't a thorough explanation, but I can get more in depth if you're interested in trying this type of training... watch Michael's (the site owner) videos, especially the ones about target training. If you can teach your bird to target train (you can, it just takes a little time and patience), then you should be able to get someone else to target train with them as well. Target training and trick training is very rewarding for you and your bird. You will enjoy a better, different kind of bond that will allow you both to live more happily.

[Pauline01UK]

I know this isn't a thorough explanation, but I can get more in depth if you're interested in trying this type of training... watch Michael's (the site owner) videos, especially the ones about target training. If you can teach your bird to target train (you can, it just takes a little time and patience), then you should be able to get someone else to target train with them as well. Target training and trick training is very rewarding for you and your bird. You will enjoy a better, different kind of bond that will allow you both to live more happily.

He doesn't let me handle him yet and when I have tried to slowly intoduce my hand to him he just screeches and bites, and boy does he hurt. he seems to know it hurts too because he laughs quite loud if he has managed to bite me..

He hadn't really bonded with my friend who I had got him from either, she said he just about tollerated her putting food in his cage and cleaning it out, he was also the same at her house by attacking her whenever her son came into the room. I am with Jasper all the time because I live on my own and my son usually calls round during the week on his way home from picking his daughter up from school, I think that maybe his behaviour is probably not being socialised properly when he was younger also he doesn't seem to like children either.

I have been reading Michael's page about target training and couldn't watch all of the video's on there because it said they had been removed by youtube.. I am going to give it a try with the target training and I have already got a clicker to use that I bought when I was training my dog

Also I would be grateful for you to give me as much advice as possible

Regards

Pauline

[liz]

My Myrtle is very social and will fly to anyone but my daughter. Of all things, my daughter is teaching her tricks. The best one so far is getting shot and playing dead. I don't know how this happened but if that is the only bond they have it is better than nothing.

[gabbagabbawill]

you don't really need to use the clicker... I don't use one because I find it tricky to juggle a clicker, give a hand signal and give a treat all at the same time... it's too distracting for me. I just say "good" as a bridge, and give the treat asap. Works for me.

I would recommend you first target train your bird. Use a stick to get him target trained inside the cage, working for treats. Then slowly work your way to getting to come out of the cage, then come to you, then stepping up. Once you get this far, you can start training things like "turnaround" and "wave". Those were really easy to train to my Conure.

Here is one of Michael's vids on target training: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGb6bn73MJk

And here is the wave trick vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY_gXAADDxs

I'm not sure where you see that they've been removed from youtube, but they are working fine for me... could this be a country thing? Are you in the UK?