AnnieTheConure
New member
Hi! I'm new here.
My wife and I got a young GCC a few months ago. I can't remember exactly when the pet store said she was born, but I believe it was late last year, making her about 5-6 months old. She's my first bird but not my wife's -- my wife has had parakeets in the past.
She's got so much personality and she's very beautiful! We named her Annie after our unborn daughter whom we lost due to pregnancy complications.
I have a few questions for you folks:
1. I read that these birds are typically very quiet. Annie is often loud. I noticed it's usually when she wants attention or if her food is less than 97.5% full, but sometimes she just sits in her cage or on my shoulder and screams while she bobs up and down. Is there something I'm missing? Or do I just have a noisy girl?
2. Her tail feathers look like hell at the tips. I googled it and it doesn't look like stress bands; the most likely cause I read is that she's just whacking them on her cage and stuff and that's why they look like that. All her other feathers are bright and look good. She preens meticulously. Is it maybe something in her diet? I can't find any food that says conure on it and the stuff for parrots looks too big, so I get her the parakeet food from Bonanza. She also gets bits of banana and orange, as well as pumpkin seeds and almonds sometimes. Plus the occasional piece of cracker.
3. She HATES hands. Hates them. Mine, my wife's, anybody's. Whether she's in her cage or on my shoulder or anywhere else, if your hands come near her she will bite you hard. It doesn't seem playful either; she'll crouch down and her eyes go wide and she bites. She'll reach for your fingers or hand if it comes close, too. Then when you take your recently-bitten hand away she squawks and bobs up and down. But she's fine with us generally-speaking. I open her cage and she comes right out, and I give her my arm and she climbs straight up to my shoulder and preens my hair or my sweater. Hands are still evil, though. The only time she doesn't hate hands is if I do get her onto my finger (like if she goes there herself). She won't bite the hand she's on, and then I can give her a finger and try to get her to step up or something. She's definitely trying to get back on my shoulder, but at least I'm not being bitten. Any suggestions on how to get her out of this habit?
I attached a picture of the girl in question (it's sideways and I don't know why or how to fix it)
My wife and I got a young GCC a few months ago. I can't remember exactly when the pet store said she was born, but I believe it was late last year, making her about 5-6 months old. She's my first bird but not my wife's -- my wife has had parakeets in the past.
She's got so much personality and she's very beautiful! We named her Annie after our unborn daughter whom we lost due to pregnancy complications.
I have a few questions for you folks:
1. I read that these birds are typically very quiet. Annie is often loud. I noticed it's usually when she wants attention or if her food is less than 97.5% full, but sometimes she just sits in her cage or on my shoulder and screams while she bobs up and down. Is there something I'm missing? Or do I just have a noisy girl?
2. Her tail feathers look like hell at the tips. I googled it and it doesn't look like stress bands; the most likely cause I read is that she's just whacking them on her cage and stuff and that's why they look like that. All her other feathers are bright and look good. She preens meticulously. Is it maybe something in her diet? I can't find any food that says conure on it and the stuff for parrots looks too big, so I get her the parakeet food from Bonanza. She also gets bits of banana and orange, as well as pumpkin seeds and almonds sometimes. Plus the occasional piece of cracker.
3. She HATES hands. Hates them. Mine, my wife's, anybody's. Whether she's in her cage or on my shoulder or anywhere else, if your hands come near her she will bite you hard. It doesn't seem playful either; she'll crouch down and her eyes go wide and she bites. She'll reach for your fingers or hand if it comes close, too. Then when you take your recently-bitten hand away she squawks and bobs up and down. But she's fine with us generally-speaking. I open her cage and she comes right out, and I give her my arm and she climbs straight up to my shoulder and preens my hair or my sweater. Hands are still evil, though. The only time she doesn't hate hands is if I do get her onto my finger (like if she goes there herself). She won't bite the hand she's on, and then I can give her a finger and try to get her to step up or something. She's definitely trying to get back on my shoulder, but at least I'm not being bitten. Any suggestions on how to get her out of this habit?
I attached a picture of the girl in question (it's sideways and I don't know why or how to fix it)
