Conue newbie :)

[xxx_phoenix_xxx]

hi everyone I'm a new conure owner to our baby boy Rudi we picked up on Saturday.

he is settling in well. I'm working on his diet as at the moment he is currently only eating seed and dried fruit he has tried a few new fresh fruits and vedge and so far he only seems to like peas. I'm sure in time he will like a few other things but we still experimenting on that. also going to introduce some pellets soon so fingers crossed

he was hand raised and is now about 10 weeks. he is lovely boy when he wants to be and so far has mastered the step up and down commands and also comes when he is called.
my only issue with him is his biting I ignore it completely in the hope that without a reaction he will realise my fingers aren't edible and this wont gain him anything. I was wondering if you any of you have experience with baby conures who bite and how you can eventually stop this. he starts off with preening my hands and then it turns into a tight grip and a twist he has made me bleed a few times now. any advice would be greatfully received

 

[Phlox]

Conures are known for this sort of thing, especially as young birds. Phlox is "beaky" too. There are lots of ways to go about it, but I don't like the ignoring it method. How can the bird learn he's hurting you if you don't react? And I tried it back in the day with my rescue Sun Conure...and I really taught her to be an excellent biter. :/

So I gently touch her beak and tell Phlox 'gentle' until she lets up on the pressure. I actually encourage her to beak me, but just tell her how to touch me. We're still working on it, but Phlox hasn't ever progressed to drawing blood, so it's working for us.

 

[Ducatimom]

I don't know exactly how, but Ducati kind of just stopped the hard biting once he trusted us more. We got him a couple months ago and he's 6 yrs. He still bites don't get me wrong, but it barely hurts now and we didn't specifically teach him that. He'd actually rather just push you away with his beak than bite. When we first had him he drew blood on my husband's finger once. We started using a glove and slowly moved up to bare fingers. Now he hates the glove. It only gets pulled out if he's starting to get beaky. Doesn't even have to be put on. I just show it to him and he settles down. He'd rather do what I want him to do and get a treat than face that dreaded glove. Hopefully soon I won't have to show him the glove at all lol. Maybe he learned it from trying to bite the glove is the only thing I can think of, or he's just not really a huge biter and that was just part of the get-to-know-you phase.

 

[xxx_phoenix_xxx]

Re: Conure newbie

thanks for the reply's I've found that the more fuss I make about his bites it seems to make it worse its kind of as if he gets exited about me telling him no and so he goes for gold with his beak then lol. I've been trying to act like a bird if you get what I mean when he does something I don't like I I give him a dirty look and stand taller so he knows I'm not happy without making a sound this was working really well for a day or to but he seems very beaky again. will just keep reading and trying other methods and see what works best I think lol.
apart from the biting he a beaut he lets me touch him anywhere loves scratches all over his head neck and under his wings, which is fab because I'm going to harness train him once he's completely happy with the areas being touched that the harness will need to also touch. he doesn't even mind me stroking over his eyes he closes them and flops as if he's going to fall asleep lol.

 

[Phlox]

Oh making a fuss is bad news. Birds like drama. I always talk very soft when I do the beak direction. But to me? Birds use their beaks like a hand. I want them to feel comfortable with their most sensitive part on me...I just need them to know I don't have feathers to protect my skin.

 

[xxx_phoenix_xxx]

lol will give it a try open to anything to give a go something will work thanks for the advise it all helps