I can't find anyone to buy this conure, can you help?

[AnniePurcell]

We've been trying to sell our conure. She is gorgeous and sweet and love able, but SO FRIGGIN LOUD! And we have a baby and it seems like she waits until I get the baby down for a nap to shriek over and over as loud as she can. We give her so much attention but its never enough. She does not want to be put down for a second. I've read so many articles that say there is nothing you can do about the noise level. We've been trying to teach her to talk, hoping that she would talk instead of scream. We have made no progress. We've tried to sell her to no avail. We are keeping the asking price high (400-500) because we don't want someone to get her for cheap and not take care of her. It seems like if people make an investment of it they must be serious. Someone offered me $50. I politely declined. Anyway, since we can't seem to sell the bird, could anyone offer any advice to make life with her more tolerable?

 

[Birdlover11]

Wait, are you selling the bird because it's too loud ? No offense but a bird is a bird. Noise is part of their life. I understand that you have a child in the house but I would NEVER sell my fids just because they make too much noise. I understand that their calls are very loud but I would try to the full extent before selling . Again , I know how hard and frustrating it can be to take care of a newborn, have you tried exercising it every day like a fly around the room ? Fetch ? ( it works ) maybe even free flight training ?

 

[AnniePurcell]

She is 1. We have had her for 9 months. I'm not sure what kind she is, but she must be rare because I have scoured pictures on here and have not seen a picture that looks anything like her. We did a lot of research before we bought her and everything said that conures are noisy. We'd had parakeets for years and considered them noisy, but it's a pleasant noise. So you can't really say "a bird is a bird" because not all birds scream like this. And I'm not one of those people who thinks that my pets are just as important as my kids. Anyway, she was hand trained from the time she hatched and is very friendly. She is only IN her cage at night. She has a perch and toys, food and water on the top of her cage where we keep her during the day when no one can hold her or play with her. I'm home during the day with my 2 youngest. I can't hold her as much because I've got the baby. But the big kids play with her before school and then once they get home they play with her until bedtime. She is fine then. It's just when we put her down she freaks out. But we can't handle her constantly! She needs to be able to stay on her cage and play by herself sometimes without screaming. That is what I need help with.

 

[FineFeatheredFriend]

The price seems to high for a rehome, maybe that might the reason why your bird is not sold yet. I would lower the price to 1/2 of what you paid. I would target people that already own parrots or have prior bird experience.

When it was time for me to rehome my cockatiels (dander) I sold a low price because my goal was to find a good home. Peace be to you.

 

[josiesmom]

I don't have any experience with conures but when I had an IRN who always wants us to play with her, I did some research. One of the most consistent answers was to make her cage/play area more fun and/or challenging then being handled by you. She needs to realise that she can have fun on her own. Sounds silly but it did work for us. Good luck.

 

[Echo]

Now I am curious to know what kind of Conure it is! Do you have a picture? As far as trying to teach her to play on her own, you can try this: get a treat she loves (mine is Cashews) and put it in something she has to work at to get it. It has to be easy at first like put it in a piece of paper and crumble it, making sure she sees the treat and where you put it. Put it on top of cage and let her "work" to get it. Once she gets that, try more difficult things, like put it in a paper again and then stuff the treat and paper in say a toilet paper roll (making sure there's not glue on it). There all kind of things you can do to have them work for food. That should keep her busy. At first, praise her while she's busy, go over and talk to her etc....You have to find things for her to do instead of her relying on you all the time.

 

[amysaviary]

Ehco is right, make her forage for her food. Give her something to work for and do. U have made the bird this way by not teaching her to play by herself from the start. Now u have to do the work to teach her the correct way to behave. I breed conures and they r the best little birds do the work to teach her and keep her.

 

[khaiqha]

Can you post a photo of your conure so we can identify it?

Also, what training have you done? Does your bird target/station/step up/off, etc.

Can you tell us about its diet? If it's flighted? Does it play with its toys?

 

[MonicaMc]

She sounds like a gold cap or hybrid.

http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhugus/images/ewan_side.jpg


Annie, if you can figure out how to get a picture of her onto the computer, you can go to the Advanced reply and click on the Paperclip

, browse your computer for the image and upload.

It may help to save the image onto the Desktop or in My Pictures.

 

[AnniePurcell]

Okay, lots of questions. I can't figure out how to post a picture. I am pretty sure she is a Jenday. Of all the pictures I've seen, that is what she looks the most like. She has a lot of blue in wings and tail. She is gorgeous. As for the high price- we would lower the price if we just wanted to get rid of her. We would rather keep her than have someone just buy her who thinks she cool and then not really take care of her. We had a high asking price because we wanted serious people only. If a person wanted to buy her who already has experience with conures and we know she would be in a good home, we would definitely lower the price. I am in the Dallas area. She has tons of toys on and in her cage. We spend more on toys than on food. We feed her nutri-berries parrot food as well as fresh fruits and vegetables recommended by her vet (She goes to the vet who is the vet for the famous bird show at the Texas State Fair, so we trust him). She is not flighted. She steps up and off. She is partially potty trained. We are still working on that. As for as other training, we have been very unsuccessful because it is so inconsistent. We have 4 kids. They love to play with her. We would tell them what to do to train her for specific things. My husband and I would do it, too. Weeks later we'd find out that the kids were doing something completely different. So that has been hard. They really want her to talk. The vet told us to start with her name and told us how to train her. Months after we started working on it, we found out that our son was trying to teach her to say "Hi", one daughter was trying to teach her "pretty bird", the other was trying to teach her "hello," and my husband and I were still trying to teach her "Mango." Chaos.

 

[AnniePurcell]

**I really appreciate all the advice yall are giving me. Some of it our vet has already told us to try, but the food foraging is new. We will give that a try as soon as I can get to the store to get sunflower seeds (her favorite). We ran out yesterday.

 

[MonicaMc]

From a previous description, sounded like a gold cap with high yellow! Glad you were able to figure it out!


As far as the training, can you describe to us how you train and reward her?

 

[Lunar]

Well, where are you located? A lot of people have given great advice, mainly, you paid a lot for the novelty of having a baby. I hate to use the analogy, but a bird is almost like a car or computer, once it is no longer a baby ( new ), nobody but a breeder is willing to spend the price you paid on him or her. The other problem can be the species of conure, suns and pineapples are most popular (the bright color) and people are more willing to pay a lot for them. But I'd shoot for the $100-$200 price range for selling her if she is a female, lower if it is a male bird. Odds are, male conures may not be tame towards other people.

Very Friendly Nanday Conure
Nanday Conure
Nanday Conure 12wks

Is this the nanday I've seen on hoobly for several years? The high price is why nobody is willing to buy your bird. People can go and buy a chick that will bond to them much more easily for $450-$600. What makes your adult special enough that they'd want it over a chick? That's what you got to think about.

Parrots also get easily bored, you should try to build up an arsenal of toys and switch them out every few days. Give him lots of out of cage time. Probably why he's been screaming, he feels left out. Try moving the cage somewhere more high traffic with people so he feels less left out?

 

[patch]

Agreeing with everyone who says foraging toys and making the cage more engaging. Pepper wants to be with me at all times when he's destroyed a foraging box. When I replace it, the looks he gives me amount to, "You are no longer necessary, peasant." Birds LOVE working for their food. I put a mix of different things and not just seed in my foraging toy so it keeps Pepper curious. There are a bunch of foraging toys out there so look at as many as you can and decide which you'd think your bird would like.

 

[Lunar]

But also try to remember, what makes him or her undesirable to you makes him or her undesirable to most people. If I were to offer on him with all of his things, I'd go to around $150, noting he has behavioral issues I have to work with him on. I enjoy getting problem birds and rehoming them when I've worked through their problems with them. It's not something I make money off of, honestly...but I feel it's much better than the poor things being trapped in cages and never getting much, if any, interaction. Pretty much a bird I pay $150 for with everything, when he or she no longer bites and screams for attention, will be rehomed with everything for $200-$250. If you factor in my time and efforts, it's really not a profit at all.

There's good and bad breeders and while I know birds revert to being feral when they take a mate, I know some will still allow their owners to handle them, but on their terms only. Some breeders I've known have huge aviaries where they just stick the birds in, they get barely any interaction with humans. They aren't loved pets, but things that make money. This is what I really hate to see and is where a lot of problem birds go. Who cares if you can't touch your bird when all you can do is see dollar signs?

 

[khaiqha]

I live in Denton. Have you seeked advice from any of the local bird stores? Kookaburra, Dallas treetop, fish n chirps in denton

 

[Abigal7]

I am sure your conure is pretty but I will have to sadly tell you even if it isn't fair a bird loses it's value pretty quickly when it is no longer a baby bird. Though your bird is not old and has years left it is considered by most people used. As someone sadly pointed out the best example would be comparing it to a used car or used computer. If you want the highest amount for your bird you will have to sell it as a breeder birder. Someone would pay more for the bird if it can be a breeder. Of course a clean bill of health and will need to have it's gender be know for certain (like through DNA test). Kittens and puppies are cute but it is easier to rehome an adult dog then it is an adult bird.

 

[chippy]

Our Indian Ringneck, Tiki, was purchased from someone who wanted to re-home him to a good home where he might finally bond with someone (which he has)...the previous owners did NOT charge a high price for him because, in their words, "We want a GOOD home for him more than we want to make back the money we spent." Asking a high price won't guarantee a good home...price him reasonably, interview potential buyers and you are more likely to find him a good home.

 

[mtdoramike]

Why don't you try listing the bird for FREE with the stipulation that the prospective owners pass an oral interview and then home inspection to insure that they can afford to take care of your bird and where they intend to keep her. Also, to keep bird flippers away, you can asked them to sign a written agreement that if for any reason within the first year or two that they decide the bird doesn't fit into their family that they are required to contact you and offer the bird back to you without compensation.

You will be surprised at how many responses you will get and I wouldn't be surprised that you find the bird a new home within the first or second day. But offering the bird for $400.00-$500.00, no wonder you haven't found the bird a new home. Where I'm located, you can find Conures for $100.00-$250.00 all day long and twice on Sunday. This is the best way to insure you find your family member the right home without looking at the bottom dollar. It will just require a little work and time to do it.

 

[baron1282]

The bird is only 9 months old as you say, that is a baby bird still. It's learning and wants to be handled more than normal. Like your New Born Baby it wants attention.

I would move the bird to your living room, away from the baby as much as possible. In a high traffic area where your bird will feel like it's part of the family. Our bird is in our living room and watches TV with us. He is apart of our family and pets, and we have him out as much as we can. We let him on top of the cage if we can see him. Leave him out on top of his cage where he can be seen. This helps calm our bird down.

Another thing to try is having your own call. When you enter the house call to your bird. Let him know his flock mates are back. You are the birds flock and the more you call to your bird the more it helps with the noise. Let it know where your at. If you call out to your bird first at the noise level you want it will learn to call at that level. If you call if first, before it tries to call for you that will help out a lot.

Another thing, talk to the bird in it's cage. Make the cage a fun place and never put the bird into his cage for discipline. Forging for food can greatly peek the birds curiosity and help with the screaming.

Most of all Remember your bird is young, it's still considered a baby!! I hope you don't end up selling it because I do think you will regret it. To me your asking price almost makes it sound as if you really don't want to sale.

If you really are wanting to sale, your asking price to re-home a bird is steep, no serous bird person will pay that much for your bird. You must come up with a realistic asking price. We bought out Pineapple Green Cheeks for $500 dollars at a pet store, I would not pay that much for a pineapple again. I know that outside of a pet store I can get one for around $250. See if anyone on this forum wants to buy it off you, a lot of people on here would be great people to care for your bird. If they are close too you. Remember just because a person is willing to pay you cheap for the bird, does not make him/her a bad bird person. It just means they will not pay an unrealistic price.