Baby Sun Conure how to's

[lisap]

Hello All!

I am excited to be part of this forum and I thank you in advance for any advice you can offer me I recently brought home a baby sun conure and after the quarantine period I have now introduced him to my green cheek conure and budgie. My gcc and budgie got along right away once introduced and they are great pals...this time hasn't been so easy. My gcc has repeatedly gone after my sun to attack him. After a few days of this my sun now retaliates and also goes after the budgie if he gets too close. It has only been about a week that they have had "supervised visits" together and I know it takes time, if it happens at all. I moved their cages close together a few days ago so they can become more familiar with each other. I am so nervous that the sun will hurt one of the other two so I am very quick to intervene once they get to close. My sun has begun biting me (hard) when I am holding one of the others out of jealousy I assume. He is a sweet boy (they are all males) and I want to make sure I am not reacting incorrectly or doing anything that will make the matter worse. I put the aggressor back in his cage or take them away and try to say no sternly but not to loud while doing so. Any advice would be very much appreciated as to best practices or bad habits to avoid from all of your experiences!

 

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums! Your dilemma is an age-old vexation that poses difficult challenges.

You have a great understanding of the issues and likely causes. Male aggression is formidable, yet there are some techniques to mitigate. Removing the aggressor with a time-out is helpful, but stronger measures may be necessary. Partial or full wing clipping of the Sun temporarily may reduce some friction and foment permanent behavior change. Note that the subject of clipping is fraught with controversy, but in this instance is worthy of consideration. It is possible there may be no ideal solution short of separation and rigidly supervised visits. However, it is worth seeking peace as the sequestration of companion birds is difficult and impacts your and their quality of life.

Some threads you may find helpful:
http://www.parrotforums.com/behavioral/50028-jealousy-biting.html
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/63988-bite-pressure-training.html

 

[lisap]

Thank you Scott! Both the sun and gcc are both fully clipped, budgie is flighted (so the little guy can get away from the two bullies lol)

 

[clark_conure]

My only input would be don't take the aggressor to the cage take him to the floor away from the "flock". It's a punishment make him walk back thinking about why he was separated. It may not work but experimentation is how I figured out my birds quirks. Also iff the GCC is the aggressor do the same thing...if he started it he should be punished maybe even more so with a time out.