confused about conure behavior

[Caldwell]

ok so I have a conure who's awesome 95 percent of the time. the past 5 days we have made alot of improvements as far as him trusting me. I could pet his head and beak and he really enjoyed it.
but now he I try or even just try to get him to step up, he puts his beak on my, closes it on my skin ( usually my knuckle ) and pulls his beak back ripping my skin open. he also makes his beak click during this, so I dont know if that means he's mad or what? and it started all of the sudden. he was so trusting but now he doesnt know what to think about my hands.

my hand is so chewed up it looks like a have a skin disease from all the little scabs on my hand.

how should I teach him this is not okay, should I immediately put him back in the cage and ignore him for a few minutes?

someone tell me what im doing wrong for him to change all the sudden

 

[roxynoodle]

How long have you had him? If it's been a short while he might be testing his boundaries, which seems to very common with conures.

What I did with mine was put her on her play gym when she bit me. I told her, "Don't!", put her on it and ignored her for a couple of minutes. I did have to clip her wings so she couldn't just fly back to me, although that is the only time I ever clipped her was in the begining of our relationship. Then I would pick her back up and if she bit me again, I'd put her back on the play gym and ignore her once again. I only let her be with me if she was nice.

I don't know if you want to put him in the cage as you don't want him to see his cage as "prison". If you don't have a stand or play gym, I would maybe put him on top of the cage.

 

[Caldwell]

ok ill try placing him on top of the cage because I dont have a play gym yet. he is 2 years old and I have him since January. ill try what you mentioned and see if that gets me anywhere.
thanks Roxy

 

[roxynoodle]

You're welcome, and I hope it helps. Some conures are very bossy, dominant little birds, lol! Mine wants to boss around the big birds. She really thinks she is the size of a condor.

Actually I think she wants to rule the world.

 

[Spiritbird]

Conures are not easy birds to manage even though they are small. That big attitude sometimes gets in the way. A bird instructor once told me a Conure's bite hurts more than a Macaw because the conure bites and holds on but the Macaw just bites and makes a bloody mess. One thing I have learned to do is to watch for the head feathers to raise up. That means a bite is coming. Generally I put him back in the cage for a while if he is biting.

 

[Caldwell]

update: ok roxy I did your technique and had a massive success!
he did his little bite thing, I placed him on the cage for a minute or two with my back to him far away, then I held him again. he bit me once more and after that he was fine, didnt try to bite or anything so thank you very much for the advice I really appreciate that!

 

[roxynoodle]

It worked for Rowdy! And nothing I was reading in my parrot behavior books was! We have been happy companions for almost 12 years now.

Just make sure you do it every time. They want to be with their owners so badly they will learn to behave.

 

[Wulfgeist]

I was recently having the same deal with Tico and he was doing alot of biting, my finger looked like hamburger. What Roxy said I actually read in my For the Love of Grey book I had just gotten. I realized that he was being nasty and I wasn't helping by letting my frustration get the best of me. He did get cage time though because at that time he wasn't clipped and would just fly back. Just being calm is the absolutely best thing followed by the time-out. It worked wonders in just a day or two.

 

[roxynoodle]

I want very much to read For the Love of Greys. Interesting that it's in there. I felt very much on my own with Rowdy at first and wasn't sure how to handle her. My books kept saying to wobble my hand to throw her off balance. Well, she liked that, and then bit to get her "amusement park ride"! I couldn't wobble any harder or I would have literally thrown her onto the floor.

Over the years I've come to realize conures can be harder to manage than many larger birds. They are every bit as intelligent, but come wrapped in a very bossy little feathered body. I guess they are like Jack Russells.