Green Cheek Conure Help!

[emma.h]

Hi there!

In the beginning of April I purchased an 8 week old baby green cheek conure. When I got him he was not hand tamed and it took me about a month to finally get him to step up, but once he did, he was great. Ringo's his name and he is a very bossy little guy. I spend lots of time with him and he loves to play with me. Recently he's going through his first moulting, and I've noticed he tends to be very irritable and aggressive. He'll bit me and not let go for no apparent reason, and throw temper tantrums of sqwaking and biting/attacking anything in his path.
I'm looking into purchasing another bird such as a parrotlet, but I'm worried that if his aggression continues he'll harm the other bird. I'm not planning on housing them together and I understand they'll need time to get used to each other, but even if they're out at the same time after a while, I'm still really worried.
Do you think the aggression is just a part of him maturing, or will he permanently be like this? He is only five months old right now. If it's just a phase, how do I discourage this biting and attacking because deep down he really is a very sweet boy.
If someone could help I'd greatly appreciate it!!

 

[MikeyTN]

They do go through a period where they go through this phase where they become little terrorist.....Proper training is what's gonna help you through this such as clicker training. There's all kinds of training available that you can look into and try one for yourself.

I personally would be more worried about him being attacked by the parrotlet instead. Parrolets and Lovebirds are very much alike, they can be quite evil towards other species of birds. They should never be housed together period!

 

[emma.h]

Ohhh ok, thanks for the reply!

 

[MikeyTN]

Your quite welcome! Anytime!

 

[bettietheripper]

My sun conure just went through that stage, and was utterly insufferable. I always had toys and snacks on hand to divert her biting but nothing seemed to work. She's positively responding to the step up training, though.

 

[OneHorseRanch]

They do go through a period where they go through this phase where they become little terrorist.....Proper training is what's gonna help you through this such as clicker training. There's all kinds of training available that you can look into and try one for yourself.

I personally would be more worried about him being attacked by the parrotlet instead. Parrolets and Lovebirds are very much alike, they can be quite evil towards other species of birds. They should never be housed together period!

is there any one specific training book you would recommend? I would love to learn more on the clicker training. If it works the same as dogs it should be fairly simple I would guess.

 

[Selestine]

Yep, same principle as dogs. I always thought Karen Pryor's clicker book was awesome.

I know a lot of people are keen on target training with birds. That's where you pick an item (a chopstick, an extendable teachers pointer, etc) and click/treat when the bird touches the end of the stick.

Then you can use it to have the bird move and touch the stick, or teach him/her to touch other things by putting the stick on it, etc.

 

[MrsKay]

Hi emma.h
I have a green cheek conure too, born March 15, about the same age as yours.
I have been researching and talking to people with birds about whether I should get another bird while Larry is young. So far I have advice from one extreme to the other.
I have been told he will bond better with another bird while he is young.
I have also been told that I should wait until he is a year or older and has settled down.
So I'm 'up in the air' so to speak about the whole thing and still researching the subject.
Lots of people on this forum have many birds but one thing they nearly all agree on is that each bird is different and there is actually no telling about the behavior until they are together. At which point it may be too late and you have to deal with the situation no matter what.
I worry like you that this 'stage' of nippyness and aggression could affect another bird.
But, I sure would hate missing the opportunity of introducing another bird now if it would be better to do so while my bird is young.
I know this is NO HELP.
Sorry this got kind of long-winded

 

[napsack]

My GCC is 6 months old and he went through a nippy stage because he was a baby but as he got a few months older I think he started to realize the difference between a hard nip and a playful one. I just don't think he knew at first he was hurting me a bit but now he just loves to play. Sometimes he will randomly get aggravated, but just like a person sometimes I think he wants to be left alone too lol. Hope this helps.

 

[emma.h]

Thank you to everyone who replied, I really appreciate your advice!

 

[JackieShadows]

I'm not experienced with baby conures but adopted a 7 year old green cheek. I read that they go through a nippy stage but you best not encourage biting behavior. It's not natural for them to want to constantly bite or attack, somehow people reinforce it. The best thing to do is not react when Ringo bites, it's hard but try hard not to yell or pull away fast. Birds learn biting makes us go away and make a funny sound. If he goes for your fingers make a fist and only back off when he is calm. But also clicker training is amazing! Look up YouTube videos on it. Use Ringo's favorite treat as a reward. I just managed to stop a fight with my green cheek who decided to attack the foster sun conure, by using touch/clicker training. I lured my green cheek out of his cage with a stick and walnut before things got nasty. She started pulling his tail. Poor little sun didn't fight back because he desperately wants a bird friend.