Aggressive Rose Crowned Conure! HELP!

[Cheekychimp1]

Hi All, I'm posting as our Rose Crowned Conure, Coco has turned aggressive towards my husband, in as much that he's drawn blood three time over the weekend. If my husband tries to get him out of his cage, Coco tires to bite him.

Coco is 16 months old, we've had him since he was 15 weeks old, he can be such a silly thing, but this aggression is going to lead to us rehoming him, which i really don't want to do. He gets left in his cage if be's trying to bite, which i understand can exasperate the problem, but my husband won't let him out if he's biting as he might attack our daughter.

I just open his cage and let him make his own way out, then he just goes to who he wants to. He has bitten me in the past, and drawn blood.

He's fed a fruit and veg and seed diet, we've not changed anything, there's nothing new in his cage, he's got loads of toys in his cage and also for when he comes out.

Any help/advice would be gratefully recieved.

 

[foxgloveparrot]

Target training is a a big help with aggressive birds. I recommend at least trying to target train him. Get plenty of shredding toys and swap them out every so often for extra variety. And, important: don't react to the bites. This means don't yell, scream, pull away, shake your hand, or put him down if he's on your hand or arm. You can give him time-outs for very hard bites as well. Also, get him on a mainly pellet and vegetable diet, with some seeds and fruit as treats.

 

[Newfie-N-Tx]

What foxglove said is true. It doesn’t take long to do either. I did the target training with our double yellow Amazon when he started getting a little nippy when getting his first molt a few weeks ago. It only took a few days and he now goes where I point and says the commands to me which is funny. I was worried with him being kind of large when he began to show some aggressive signs. I even ordered leather falconer gloves the night he flew from his cage upstairs, landed on my knee while sitting on the sofa downstairs and bit my elbow, jealous because I had one my cockatiels on me watching tv. He didn’t bite me hard enough to draw blood but it still left a bruise and I wanted to be prepared for it if it continued.

Is your conure molting right now? Some of them get moodier than others during that being itchy and everything. I did find that a few times a day target training with him really helped and he hasn’t been nippy at all. Even more cuddly than he was before lowering his head for me to scratch his head and flying over to me for cuddles.
It may be hormones causing it with yours. Our cockatiel that is tame handfed by us(our other is not) gets really really aggressive with her hormones. She hasn’t bitten anyone but does scream and lunge without much warning then.
Our Amazon does lunge at my husband if he goes over and puts his hands up by him and is the only person he does it to. I think it’s because my husband has used his “military voice” in front of him with our kids when they misbehave so I think it’s a protective thing he does. Though my husband gives him space and talks and sings with him but doesn’t touch him.

Try the target training. It’s very easy to do and helps a lot. If they fails try to find out what may be going on to cause this. Anything can cause it. Even clothing in colors may freak some birds out. Mine hate when I wear my glasses!

 

[Laurasea]

Hi,
Sorry to hear you have issues. I'm not a big fan of giving "hormones " as an excuse. Because its usually problems already present made worse by hormones. But its possible this is the puberty surge, plus issues.

Its easy for parrots to loose trust, from something you are aware of, or unaware of. Ive had it happen with mine,, sometimes i can figure it out,, sometimes i just work on getting that trust back. Parrot relationships are continuing work to maintaining. They are intelligent individuals, and are seeing themselves as equal.

I'd have your husband start over on bonding and building trust. Start with the tried and true, stopping by a bazillion times a day to say hi give a treat, walk away no other demands. Make sure to always greet and say good morning when getting up. Mornings are important to birds. Always go over and say hi and give a treat as soon as you get home, always tell them goodbye when leaving and give a treat. Easy enough, and thst advice came from a parrot behavior consultant my friend with a troubled African Grey hired. It had a huge positive impact. Rather quickly.

Parrots left in cages start developing more frustration, pent up energy, and it never fixes anything.

Discuss and brain storm as a family. A bird that bites hasn't been left any other options, cues have been missed. Think about when/why. Is there a different way to ask to come out of cage? Many are cage protective, mine are. I have them come out to a perch before I enteract with them. Its not personal its a hardwired behavior to protect home-base / nest/ territory. If you are seen as the mate/bond then you are exempt, but everyone else needs to be polite.

Create ritual, routine. And have every one use the same words or phrase. Always announce yourself and come to the cage from the front. Birds like to know what to expect.

Use yourself as the Bridge to a better relationship with husband. When you have your parrot in a good calm happy mood. Get some treats or birds safe snack. Go sit in the couch together with husband, play pass tge birdie. Have him step to husband get a treat and right back to you and a treat. Tell him all about how fabulous he is.

When my parrot was jealous of my boyfriend we did this. We called it a group date. We had a calm movie on, we git a big plate if strawberries, my parrots favorite. When I had her calm abd cuddling, I hold her out abd he would give her a strawberry, or a kiss, I hand her over keeping my hand there so she wouldn't bite, then I'd take her back. We included her in our conversation, as time went on she would go back and forth between us. We give her a kiss, we would kiss, we ate strawberries. She knew it was something special, she just glowed.

Here is a great article, I share it all the time , filled with great stuff, fir all parrots not just stressed ones.

Stress Reduction for Companion Parrots – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.

To put it bluntly, keeping companion parrots is similar to trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. The fact that they do as well as they do is testimony more to their adaptability than it is to our husbandry efforts.

lafeber.com

 

[Laurasea]

Or you could do this as a family, on tge kitchen table

 

[Laurasea]

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