Advice on Green Cheek Conure, please!

[Kiwimommy]

Long story, but here's his background.. About 8 or so years ago I saw a lovely conure in a pet store. They hand feed their babies and he was soooo sweet. My grandmother bought him, but at the time I was still a teenager and my mom informed me I had to clean my room before taking him home. So my aunt took him in "temporarily"
When I went to get him, she said no I couldn't have him and kept him for herself. Fast forward to a few years ago, she lost interest in him and he began to bite everyone. He was very nasty.
Since then, he has been in a cage without much interaction.
Yesterday my grandmother asked if I would like to take him in, as my aunt and her husband separated and she no longer wants the bird. I said, of course, absolutely! I have ALWAYS wanted a conure and was heartbroken when my aunt would not let me have him back.
My question is, how can I get him back to being sweet and loving without too much damage to my skin? He is very bitey and fresh. He will bite any skin he can get to, and is a one-person bird according to my aunt, but he used to love everyone he knew well. Is there a way to change that? We have 2 children. Otherwise I can just bond with him once they are in bed, which is not a problem.
I want him to be friendly again, and not be so stressed and neglected. This is not the first bird I have taken in from that side of my family. My other aunt, this aunt's sister, gave me a cockatiel about 8 years ago that arrived at my house with a bare, featherless back and a lot of stress. Now, still featherless on her back (permanent damage. She no longer plucks) she is very happy with 2 parakeet friends in a spacious cage. I spoil all my animals rotten
But I definitely need tips on this one. I have never experienced an outright "mean" bird before. My cockatiel was scared, but she never bit me. I've been bitten by parakeets (ouch!) and I KNOW conures have a much stronger, more painful bite. I would hate to have him cage bound for the rest of his life! How long do they live, also? I cannot remember.

 

[faeryphoebe1]

Hi, kiwi. I don't know if my advice will help you much, since my GCC is only 1 1/2yrs of age and has only been with us for 8 months. But I want to help, if I can. She was barely tame when she came home. I took her out everyday for 1-2 hours daily and worked with her. The first 4 weeks were rough because she drew blood. So at that point, my children didn't handle her. I learned that it was all fear based. She didn't know me and had to learn to trust me. I'm gentle and quiet, so it helped that I didn't make any large gestures with my arms and that my voice was soft and quiet as well. I learned to read her body language. When Trixie fluffed up and began approaching with an open beak, I backed off and distracted her with toys and simply allowed her to stay next to me. This was our daily routine for months.
Eventually, Trixie learned to trust me, but it took lots of patience and taking her out daily for hours (unless I was ill). Now my kids can handle her and have learned to distract her with noise or a toy if she loses her temper and charges. The great news is that she is very cuddly at night and talks quite well. Trixie lets us give her head rubs and kisses on her wings.
I would start with a stick for him to learn to step up on, whilst using another stick to very gently ward off the bites without hurting his beak. Just hang in there. Don't give up on him, no matter how tricky things get. There are also some videos on youtube to help people with parrot training. Oh, and I forgot. Treats are a great instant reward for good behavior and some people even clicker train their birds. Best of luck!

 

[JasmineGCC]

I am a firm believer that any bird can come around with lots of patience and time. My advice is to build up trust before you handle your bird. Hours of talking and treat bribing lay ahead of you. Try not to put yourself in the position where your bird can bite you. Jasmine my conure can be a brat and on days like that she will play on her cage and not want to sit on me - so I respect that and back off. Next day she is cuddly and happy to be handled again. Don't rush your bird - I know one amazon who took two years before allowing his owner to touch him - although he would step up onto a stick but now he likes head scritches and will step onto a covered arm.

Hope this helps

 

[MollyGreenCheeks]

For the time being simply sit buy the cage while the bird is still in it and talk, sing, read, and just simply spend quality time with him while building trust. Provide treats and just speak softly and sweetly to him. After a week or so of doing this and seeing how he responds you can open the cage door and continue doing the same routine. If he comes out then let him. Let him make the moves. You will sense how thing are going. Just give it time.

 

[Kiwimommy]

I'm still waiting on finding out when they are bringing him here. I am so excited! and dreading the bites! Hopefully he adjusts well to our house and I can get him sweet. Birds are such lovely companions.

 

[Remy]

With a lot of patience, I'm sure you can get him to be sweet again. It sounds like those people may not be the greatest bird owners.

I would start off with being verbally affectionate while he is still in the cage, and bribing with treats. See where it goes from there.