Any help would be great please

[Superlotto]

Abit of a long one so bare with me.

Im completely new to having a bird. Coco is a pineapple conure. We wasnt planning on getting a bird but a woman across the way couldnt cope and said she was just going to let him out the window so i said id take him in cos i couldnt bare the thought of that happening.
He was a really good bird, i gave him proper food and fruit etc (he come with budgie food ) i dont think he is very old maybe 2 years, maybe 18 months. He is pretty tame, talks, sings and dances. Fast forward 8 months and he is now very naughty, im not sure where we have gone wrong or what to do.
All started about 4 weeks ago, he stopped stepping up to me or letting me stroke his head, He screams/shreaks really loud for ages. Ive tried ignoring him, covering him if its late on a night thinking he might just want bed time. He comes out when we are home on a night from work, he always been good out the cage but since this shreaking (about 3 or 4 weeks) he attacks, bites, gets very aggressive. He draws blood and just screams at us.
Im due a baby in march and tbh at my whits end cos i really dont know what to do with him ive seen about getting new toys etc can help so on weekend im going to go out and see what new bits i can see. I suppose this is just abit of a cry for help from people who are more experienced. i just dont know what to do. I feel like ive let him down or something cos he seems all of a sudden unhappy but nothing has really changed in the house or our routine. House was a little busier due to xmas but he has always been abit of a showoff when we have people round. Any advice would be great thankyou

 

[wrench13]

Welcome and be welcomed. Seems like a lot of conures are having this problem lately, which makes me think that either he is going into puberty or is experiencing a very strong mating season. Puberty in parrots can be really hard on them as the first time flush of hormones floods their little bodies. They lose their minds, to put it mildly, going from one emotional state to another in seconds. The behaviors you listed are pretty classic. If it is mating season, these are often present too, in varying degrees. Some parrots have a mild puberty only to have a really bad 1st or 2nd mating season (that is how it was with my Salty).

Some things you can do to lessen the effects of either:
No touching anywhere but head and neck
10-12 hours of good solid sleep
No dark hidey holes or corners
No access to shreddy type nesting materials, papers, wood chips etc.
Reduce or eliminate sugar bearing foods, like fruit and corn
Eliminate soft warm mushy foods
Lots of activities, like foraging opportunities, toys

And please remember: This Too Shall Pass !

Puberty and mating seasons are the time most parrots get rehomed, as new owners have no idea of what is happening.

 

[Laurasea]

Its easy for burds to have a spooky or develop a sudden loss of trust or fear of hands.
I've had this happen myself.
Its best to work on rebuilding trust . Often feeding lots of treats by hand and lots of sweet talk will help regain trust.

 

[Superlotto]

Thankyou for your replies, its reassuring to hear some advice. I love little coco to bits but got to say the shreeching is hard to listen too. What should i do when he is doing it? Or is it a case its just waiting for it to pass? Little picture of him. He is a cutie but very hard work at the min and i just dont want to make it worse.

On the hand feeding ive been trying to do that as he normally very good but he goes to attack me/snatch which sometimes frightens me haha!

Ill always be honest and say im completely new to keeping a bird, couldnt bare the thought of him being let out the window. When he come to us he didnt speak or anything.

The worse part for me is the screeching as its very high pitched and he does it for a long time once he gets into that.

 

[maddox]

I agree with everything Wrench said. My GCC Maddox is finally exiting his terrible twos, so patience is the best advice I can give. What I did that helped a tone with Maddox is giving him plenty of out-of-cage time without necessarily making him step up. Just something to keep him entertained so he has something to do other than scream. With Maddox during that time it was very on his terms but he did eventually move past it.

 

[wrench13]

One word - headphones, the kind they use at shooting ranges, if its that bad. And yeah ignoring it is the answer, if you react to it, he got his way.

 

[Superlotto]

I suppose im a little worried when baby arrives cos its super loud.







Ill definitely try harder at ignoring him too. I do just leave the door of his cage open now, but when he in full attack mode i have to shut it cos he can really hurt.

Thanks guys i really do appreciate all/any advice. Im going to see if i can get him some new toys at weekend esp like a forage one where he has to work for his treat/keep him busy abit haha

 

[Cottonoid]

I'm still pretty new to parrot companionship myself so haven't had to deal with what you describe (yet! I can tell it's probably coming, ha!) BUT I played very loud (band) shows when my son was a baby and I had noise blocking headphones for him while I was still nursing and he'd visit or be backstage. He got used to them really quickly as a teensy babe.

Hopefully it won't come to that timing wise with your birdie and baby

 

[Terry57]

Great advice above! All I can add is that when my son was born, my dog howled non-stop. Josh quickly started sleeping through it, and the bonus was we could take him anywhere and he could sleep no matter how loud things were.
Hopefully, Coco will stop screaming soon, though.

Birds are smart and he knows something is changing. Once the new baby comes home, he may go back to how he was before once he realizes that this new life change doesn't mean a bad change

 

[Laurasea]

If you can't give by hand right now use a special treat only dish. Or set them down when he comes to take say good bird.

To start and reset everything, before you let him.out put a slice of apple on top of cage or something else he enjoys and takes a little longer to eat.

For established screeching, I find setting them up for success . If you know triggers or times of days he starts try and prevent the screeching from starting. Usually food, or sometimes encouraging a bath or foraging.

Next interruption and re directions as soon as screeching starts. For me I would move them to a different perch area have tgrm step to that. Wait a minute or two then move them to another perch area and hand them something. A kindle paper a wood beads ir food. Then I told them area you a good quiet bird. And I would come back every few minutes come to tell them whst good quiet burd. Anytime they were quiet I made sure to go and praise. Creating new habits of quiet

But first all there needs must be met, several hours out of cage, my vet recommends 6 hours minimum when behavior issues are present, a routine, same bed time snd wake up time, a set one on one time , excellent diet, free choice bath ( I have a large sturdy serving dish that always has about 2 inches of fresh water ready for them) a lot of perches sbd spirals and things to climb explore, easy to destroy stuff, foraging, excellent diet.
Always tell them goodbye when leaving with a treat and hello when yiu return.

Enrichment ideas, share yours

I'm often posting how I use ceiling hooks abd heavy weight fishing line to create what I call an aerial gym. I attach foraging stuff, stuff to chew, and treats to find to keep my flock busy. So now I will share examples to inspire you. Hopefully you all will share yours to inspire me too! this...

www.parrotforums.com

 

[Superlotto]

Thankyou its gave me plenty of things to try, i started and told others in the house last night going forward we ignore the bad and reward the normal tones/talking etc.







Im also making a big effort to shower the attention when i go in the room Been looking online and can see lots of forraging toys so going to get some of them. Ill try the treat dish think he will like that
Its also to hear about the baby been ok think thats the only reason why i panicked abit about the noise. Well apart from how awful it is haha! Honestly cant thank you guys enough

 

[wrench13]

Smacking my head for missing somethings, thanks Laurasea you reminded me.

Salty usually sings or talks when he makes any noise EXCEPT when anyone goes and spends time in the kitchen area (open floor plan). Then he makes this God awful BRRRAAAAKKKKK call, loudly! And will repeat it if we dont interupt him. THe 2 things that helped are 1. whispering - parrot have no idea what that is (parrots not whispering in the wild), so we start to talk to him in whispers and 2) Whistling - which works sometimes. We offer him different tunes to hear, so he does not know what is coming.

And distraction with a toy or something he has not seen a lot of can also break the chain of screaming.

 

[HeatherG]

Like wrench said, I have also found whispering to the loud excited bird to be very helpful. If you are lucky it may become a special distraction or way for your bird to get YOUR attention: he whispers back to you.