My birds love me, but are confused about each other.

[raahil.kulshreshtha]

Hi,
I have a sun conure (Female) and a green cheek conure (Male). They get along just fine on most occasions. They preen each other, sleep together and hump.
The GCC is about 9 months old, and the sun is about 2 years old.
Unfortunately, sometimes, the GCC starts biting the sun. This is mostly when either we give the sun some attention, the sun wants to eat food, or the sun wants to get up to the top of the cage. It doesn't always happen, but i'd say maybe 10% of the time when the sun tries to do any of these things. Its got to a point where the sun is cautious when eating or trying to come on top of the cage.
Also, i have been disciplining the GCC by holding him and whacking his beak, but to no avail. Obviously, i need to change my tactic.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Dinosrawr]

I'm sorry, but "whacking" your bird's beak will never work, and instead it will ruin the trust or bond you create. Parrots do not understand corporal punishment and they will never associate any infliction of pain to a certain behaviour - instead they learn that you cause them pain. Please invest in positive reinforcement instead, because you can never force an animal into behaving perfectly all the time, it has the be something they want to do.

As for their behaviours, it's completely natural. No one gets along 100% of the time! Your parrots are no exception. The fact that they only have issues 10% of the time means they're pretty good! And also, please do not let them hump... you are allowing the possibility of cross breeding species and it really isn't healthy or a good idea.

Parrots do get jealous, as they're very aware. Avery, my green cheek, will bite my boyfriend if he gets too much of my attention when she's with me, or she'll bite me if he gives me too much attention... they're just funny that way

 

[thekarens]

I would recommend keeping them in separate cages and when they are out together make sure they are supervised.

 

[Rickypawsey]

I Agree with everything that dinosrawr has said.. I'm my Case my budgie loves to preen my gcc and Vice versa but sometimes my budgie has enough and starts fighting with the gc to get him off.. And in regards to the attention seeking gc is very jealous when my budgie is with me but they get on most of the time.

 

[raahil.kulshreshtha]

Thanks for the response.
Thing is, the sun (Blaze) has these bite marks on her head with some feathers missing. Now, this is obviously physical bruises caused by the GCC (Yoda). I cant imagine this is safe. When i say 10% of the time, i mean 10% of the day. This means that in the 16-18 hours that they are awake, they are fighting for at least half and hour, spread out through out the day (Yeah, i know there a huge math issue in my calculation). The fight, then sit together, then fight, then hump, then fight, and.... you see where i am going.
The thing is, there seems to be a definite territorial play going on here. The only problem is, Blaze couldn't care less. She's way stronger than Yoda, but doesn't bite him back at all. I'm pretty sure that if Blaze starts biting back, Yoda would stop. It might also be worth mentioning, that Blaze has this phobia of touching sometimes. Probably, from her pet shop days (We got her at 9 months). She has never come onto my finger, but likes my shoulder. Yoda will do just anything to be with us.
They both have no issues with me or my wife otherwise.

Would you say i should separate them? They make a lot of noise when separated (And man, Blaze is loud)

Also, how can we keep them from humping if they are in the same cage? separate them? They seem to have paired up pretty good (Apart from the viciousness).

p.s. Yes, in hindsight, the whacking was quite silly. Blaze has always been our little baby, and any pain to her is pain to us. Yoda is getting there, but he needs to stop biting his older fake wife.

 

[raahil.kulshreshtha]

Ahh.. just read all the other posts... So everyone thinks i should separate them?

 

[Rickypawsey]

Do they have separate cages at night time. Also if you have two cages who's one do they play on the reason I ask is because my budgie (beau) and my gcc (Turk) when there in the bedroom where the cages are beau don't like another birds on her cage most of the time (she will put up with it a bit) and then fight them off. All my birds have separate cages I know sometimes it is not possible but in my opinion is best to let them have their own quite space. I know people will probably disagree with me but for me that works best.

 

[raahil.kulshreshtha]

Nope... 24 hrs, same cage, in fact, same sleeping tent too (its really long). What do you suggest?

Thanks everyone for the very helpful replies.

Is it at all possible, that when Yoda bites Blaze, me putting him into a smaller cage within the main cage for 30 mins or so could help?

 

[MikeyTN]

You need to separate them since it escalated to the point of pulling feathers and such. Set their cage side by side is your best option and have time out of cage to see one another under supervision. A bird should not be afraid to eat because of the other bird or mate. Yoda is the aggressor and it can get worse if you don't separate them. Not long ago someone on here had two rescued macaws and the female most likely died because they weren't separated like I suggested. She was afraid to eat as well and started loosing a lot of weight. Please do consider separating them!

 

[JerseyWendy]

...
Also, i have been disciplining the GCC by holding him and whacking his beak, but to no avail. Obviously, i need to change my tactic.

I 100% agree with Michael, and I also kindly ask you to refrain in the future of "whacking" your bird in the beak.

Our members are quite fond of their birds, and go out of their way trying to help/assist others to the best of their ability, and punishing any bird in that manner is quite frowned upon (<-- I'm putting this as mildly as possible).

 

[Rickypawsey]

Yeah 10000% agree with everyone separate cages are the way forward. Like I said I personally think fids need there own space.

 

[Dinosrawr]

Ah, I thought you meant 10% overall. As others have mentioned, it's time to start separating. Every animal, including us, needs their own space... somewhere they know is theirs and where they can relax. Some birds can stay in a cage together, but personally I feel like our fids need their own "rooms" to escape from things here and there. I would also start supervising play time if you continue to take them out together, and if things escalate it's time to start having individual play time.

 

[Betrisher]

raahil.kulshreshtha, I think you've answered your own question.

If one bird is suffering physical hurt or is being prevented from eating or drinking, even for only 10% of the time, it's under considerable stress through not being able to sustain itself. If your cage is large enough, you could put a barrier in to divide it down the middle. If not, then please consider getting a second cage so both birds can eat and feel safe in their own space.

You don't say where you live (I do wish members would let us know where they live in their profiles!!!), but a good alternative would be what's called a 'flight cage' here in Australia. That's a cage about 75cm deep by a metre or so tall and a metre and a half long. It has a door at each end and is quite long enough for the smaller species to actually fly from one end to the other, thus providing some exercise for them. This would be ideal in your situation. You could divide such a cage lengthwise or acrosswise simply by putting in a wire barrier. In that way, you've still only got one cage to clean and the birds have all the benefits of each other's company without the danger of one being hurt or frightened by the other. If, as I suspect, you live in an area where special cages aren't readily available, then perhaps you could make such a thing or find someone who would make it for you?

When your birds are out of their cage(s), it would be a good idea to have a separate perch for each of them as well and teach them to stay on their own station. They would still need to be supervised as birds will always be naughty, but at least they could exercise at the same time and interact with you while out of their cage(s).

I hope you will let us know what you decide to do and would love to hear a report of how this works (or not?) with your birds. Thank you for taking the trouble to ask about this problem: many folk wouldn't bother and would simply allow the situation to go on until one bird is really hurt or even killed!

 

[mtdoramike]

Birds have no concept of punishment so when you strike your bird whether it be a beak tap or what ever, they think you are trying to hurt them and will instinctively react. They aren't human beings with the capability of punitive action. So all you are doing is making your bird afraid of your hand and fingers, which will ultimately make them want to bite you, which is counter productive.