My Conure specific questions

[King]

Okay, going to list the questions i've had that have been unable to answer based on my own searching or lack of knowledge in regards to my "new-to-me"' conure.. Here we go:
Backround: (you can find more detail in my new guy post titled "Greenhorn" anyways, Got a 2 year old GCC or Cinn.Cheek posssibly. Not 100% sure on sex. Came from a farm and i don't know her whole past. Does not bite or anything at all. Had Lulu for approx 3-4 mo now.

I) Lulu will lean forward, as if to get ready to fly. Which, presumably is her wanting to come out because its only when she see's me that she does this. However, right afteri she jumps to my hand and i take her out she wants to go right back in..only to do the same thuing all over again. 9 out of 10 times this is the case.. Q: Why is that?

II) Very quiet bird. I am not neccisarily complaing bout that but the ting is, whever i make any sort of noise (sing, radio, vaccuum, dishes, microwave, etc etc) she will let out a ear piercing screech. Even if im within eye sight and say im singing a song or taling on the phione she does this. How come?

III) Doesn't play. Have tons of toys but rarely will she play with them. Occassionally she will grab this bell nd shake her head very very rappidly. Cute, yet weird. Also will almost start to box with it too. Like just lunge her beak at it fast while chirping unti; she grabs it. I don't know if thats an aggressive thing or her playing..

IV) When i cover her cage for her to go to bed, thats when she tends to become the most vocal. Will try to find any opening to be within eye sight of me. She will also chirp or even speak when its covered. Q: is this behavior normal?

V) Not sure how to explain this one with out the use of audio or visual demonstration but im going to try. When i give Lulu little kiss and make ankiss/click like noise, she repeats it back and will gently kiss my face, ear or whatever. Will sometimes get beak into my nose but as i said, never once has bitten. Sometimes if im not paying attention to her she will start to make the noise too. Question is, would this be good behavior or should i discourage the use of her beak? I think its cute. But then again im not a expert in this area.

VI) Ok, I live alone in my apartment. There are times where i could be gone up to 7 days, Should i feed her or wait til i get back?

Joking. What im really actualy wondering is, should i leave the radio, tv, etc on for noise? I thought about maybe even recording my voice, playing it on a loop and maybe get her vocabulary a lil bigger. Is that ok or not a good idea?

VII) I have to get her nails clipped but don't think its wise to do it myself due to the fact i have never done it. Lulu can be skiddish at times, usually of any unfamiliar noise(which seems to be ANYTHING) or skiddish being handled to much. She would rather just sit under my neck or against me but cutting her nails like that woulid not be feasible. Im nervous to take her to a store or vet because I don't want her to freak out, plus its 12F here in NY. How should I do this?

VIII) Last one for now, Stress bars. Neever even heard of them until getting her. I cant tell wheter or not if she does have them, they've been there since ive taken her in so i cant tell if its just the way the feathers are or what. I also don't know how to get rid of them if they are in fact stress bars because as mentioned earlier, she is skiddish at every noise thats basically louder then a sneeze, Any ideas? Ill post a picture as well for the stress bars question.

-Thanks in advance for any assistance and also for reading this novel. I will be doing a book signing tour, dates to be posted soon lol.

Semper Fi,
-B:42:

 

[Dinosrawr]

I) Lulu will lean forward, as if to get ready to fly. Which, presumably is her wanting to come out because its only when she see's me that she does this. However, right afteri she jumps to my hand and i take her out she wants to go right back in..only to do the same thuing all over again. 9 out of 10 times this is the case.. Q: Why is that?

She probably wants to be with you, but in a place that she feels safe. Her cage is likely a safe zone, and unfortunately you can't fit in there with her. That would be my guess.


II) Very quiet bird. I am not neccisarily complaing bout that but the ting is, whever i make any sort of noise (sing, radio, vaccuum, dishes, microwave, etc etc) she will let out a ear piercing screech. Even if im within eye sight and say im singing a song or taling on the phione she does this. How come?

Sounds like a warning flock call that there's danger. Lulu likely perceives the things your doing as dangerous and wants to warn you of it. It also depends on the type of screech. There's the, "where are you?", "LOOK OUT!", "I'm hungry", "give me attention!" shrieks, just to name a few. The more you learn her, the more you'll understand what each shriek means.

III) Doesn't play. Have tons of toys but rarely will she play with them. Occassionally she will grab this bell nd shake her head very very rappidly. Cute, yet weird. Also will almost start to box with it too. Like just lunge her beak at it fast while chirping unti; she grabs it. I don't know if thats an aggressive thing or her playing..

Do you have a variety of toys in there? Avery likes paper toys that she can shred, and the only wood she tries to destroy is balsa, which you can get at any craft store. Avery plays, but rarely when I'm home. She generally just likes to watch me or be with if she sees me. And she also isn't much of a destructive bird... most of her toys last months. And she totally lunges and goes all Amazon-woman on them.

IV) When i cover her cage for her to go to bed, thats when she tends to become the most vocal. Will try to find any opening to be within eye sight of me. She will also chirp or even speak when its covered. Q: is this behavior normal?

Yep. Totally normal. Do you let her know it's bed time when you cover her? She may take it as a surprise otherwise. Avery talks the most when she's covered and about to go to bed.

V) Not sure how to explain this one with out the use of audio or visual demonstration but im going to try. When i give Lulu little kiss and make ankiss/click like noise, she repeats it back and will gently kiss my face, ear or whatever. Will sometimes get beak into my nose but as i said, never once has bitten. Sometimes if im not paying attention to her she will start to make the noise too. Question is, would this be good behavior or should i discourage the use of her beak? I think its cute. But then again im not a expert in this area.

I think that's perfectly fine as long as she knows not to bite. If she hasn't thus far, then it's fine. They do know how to be gentle and what kind of beak pressure means what. Avery will nip me on different levels to communicate to me about how she's feeling. She very rarely breaks the skin.

VI) Ok, I live alone in my apartment. There are times where i could be gone up to 7 days, Should i feed her or wait til i get back?


Joking. What im really actualy wondering is, should i leave the radio, tv, etc on for noise? I thought about maybe even recording my voice, playing it on a loop and maybe get her vocabulary a lil bigger. Is that ok or not a good idea?

All of the above! Change it up for her. Sometimes my birds have only each other for noise, sometimes it's rainforest sounds, sometimes it's my favourite techno and dubstep. Sometimes it's listening to birds on youtube.

VII) I have to get her nails clipped but don't think its wise to do it myself due to the fact i have never done it. Lulu can be skiddish at times, usually of any unfamiliar noise(which seems to be ANYTHING) or skiddish being handled to much. She would rather just sit under my neck or against me but cutting her nails like that woulid not be feasible. Im nervous to take her to a store or vet because I don't want her to freak out, plus its 12F here in NY. How should I do this?

It's -30 degrees Celsius (-22 F) here in Canada, and my birds still go to the vet. I warm up the car and check the temperature before I bring them into it. I wrap their carriers in towels while we walk out to the car, and then I just talk to them while we drive over.

If you're really worried about stress, start towel training Lulu and teaching her that being in a towel doesn't have to be a bad thing. Work on socializing her as well, and ask your vet to give her treats and try to create a positive association. But, really, a lot of birds simply stress either way because they're being held by "dangerous" strangers that are doing odd things to them. To keep her completely stress free, you would have to train her to willingly do all procedures that the vets do.

VIII) Last one for now, Stress bars. Neever even heard of them until getting her. I cant tell wheter or not if she does have them, they've been there since ive taken her in so i cant tell if its just the way the feathers are or what. I also don't know how to get rid of them if they are in fact stress bars because as mentioned earlier, she is skiddish at every noise thats basically louder then a sneeze, Any ideas? Ill post a picture as well for the stress bars question.

We would need images for this. Stress bars do happen, and as long as it's a rather isolated event and not many of her feathers have stress bars, then I wouldn't worry. When I first got Avery she had several stress bars from being in the pet store. Now, after almost two years, she's a beautiful shimmering green with virtually zero stress bars. They only occur during the time of feather development and don't just magically appear. So it can be difficult to isolate the cause of them depending on how she molts. If her next molts with you produce beautiful, green, and healthy feathers, then you're doing it right!

Hope I answered these well enough for you!

 

[King]

First thjbngs first here, your name is hilaropous. Well done lol. Now more importanlty, thank you for actually taking the time to reply and not just reply but give answers that make sense and thurough. Thank you. Stand by for pictures of what im percieving to be stress bars but when you say they don't just grow it made me feel a little bit better because i thought they were spreading or something rapidly so,thank you for that. As far as towel training goes, i will most definitely look into it/start it. Cant thank you enough for replying to my post/novel.

-B

 

[King]

hope this works and shows up for you guys. Its a picture of the infamous LuLu. I don't know 100% if these are stress bars or not. They've been there since ive had her so i don't the the cause is from me. The last 'care' taker had just gotten her wings clipped so idk if thats a factor. I'm letting her wings grow back for now I think. Anyways, are those the stress bars? Hope not. She's really a good bird, is actually tucked under my neck as im typing, giving the occasional "hey, im down here, scratch my head more" tap with her beak.Thanks again guys for all the help. Especially you Dinosrawr!


B:42:

 

[Dinosrawr]

No problem! That's what we're here for

They do look quite a bit like stress bars, and bronzing as well. What's her diet look like right now? And do you know what it was previously? The only reason I ask is that sometimes feather bronzing can be related to liver problems that come from a poor diet (ie. seed diets). Do you think it's possible to take her to a vet and have them do a blood panel just to make sure her mineral and vitamin levels are where they should be? I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just an overly cautious individual myself. Stress bars are normally very black in colour rather than brown, though it may be attributed to her colour mutation. I myself have just a normal GCC, so the stress bars she had in the past were pure black. And definitely if she was in a stressful scenario during feather development, like being held to have wings clipped, she would develop stress bars.

She sounds like such a sweetheart, I'm glad she found her way into your home and your heart. Conures are the best

 

[King]

I was afraid that may be the case. I was hoping i would be wrong. Thanks for answering though. Her diet consists of seeds. I have done some searching recently, should i switch to pellets? if thats the case I will get some first thing tomorrow. I don't know what her diet was proir to her living with. However, what her last care taker gave me was: A bag of bird food. Seeds not pellets. Then another mix that has seends, peanuts, sun flower seeds, what looks like little dog food pieces, and these dry green leaves, kind of minty smelling. Also a bag of beans, and frozen ones she had previously cooked into like a soup type thing. I just defrost and put some in her cage but she doesn't eat alot of them. Also these roiund little white things called quakerbush. Thats it. I've gone to the store and got things like apples, celery(which is one thing she is terrified of, no idea why. Little piee will make her terrified like its on fire ormsomething), Kiwi, bananas, orange, grapes, broccoli, wich she hates like me, and from time to time she has helped me eat my yogurt, but in little pin size dabs from the tip of my finger. So thats bsically it. I can see about the vet, not sure where one is but google will tell me. Maybe it was also from the wings being cut because she has had them since ive had her. She is awesome llittle bird. Right now is on my shoulder. She will lean up against my neck and sleep. Also has been playing more and more and now she will come out of her cage instead of sitting in it when i open the door. Which is progress if you ask me. I also give her 10+ hours to sleep. Its -6F here and my apartment is 71. I cover her cage with this electric blanket that doesn't get hot or anything to the touch but will retain heat well. Also follows me into the shower, I don't bring her in but the other day after i rinsed and made sure there was nothing to get in her eyes, i picked her up while the shower was going and she immediately jumped up to my shoulder to get into the path of the water. She loves baths too. I love this little bird. I wish ive had her since day one but, i have her now and i love her. I will make sure she gets above and beyond what she needs fora healthy life because she enriches mine.


PS: one other little qestion. Simetimes when i get home, she will chirp excitedly but then once im in eye sight she will stick her head up and start to pace slowly back and forth on her perch. Which to me, seems to be territorial. However as soon as I say "hey baby girl I surrender" in just a calm voice she will stop and then she wants nothing other then my attention and to come see me. So is it a behavior i should attempt to diffuse?

-B
Thank you so much for all the help. Cant thank you enough. Truly.

 

[laurawaterman]

V) Not sure how to explain this one with out the use of audio or visual demonstration but im going to try. When i give Lulu little kiss and make ankiss/click like noise, she repeats it back and will gently kiss my face, ear or whatever. Will sometimes get beak into my nose but as i said, never once has bitten. Sometimes if im not paying attention to her she will start to make the noise too. Question is, would this be good behavior or should i discourage the use of her beak? I think its cute. But then again im not a expert in this area.

I think this is fine. Birds use their beaks, and if she’s not hurting you, then there’s no problem with it.

VI) Ok, I live alone in my apartment. There are times where i could be gone up to 7 days, Should i feed her or wait til i get back?

Joking. What im really actualy wondering is, should i leave the radio, tv, etc on for noise? I thought about maybe even recording my voice, playing it on a loop and maybe get her vocabulary a lil bigger. Is that ok or not a good idea?

I went away for 3 days this last weekend, but we had someone stop in two of those days to feed our animals and give them a little attention. I felt so much better knowing they weren’t totally on their own for that time. We also left a lamp on and a radio playing to keep them company.

VII) I have to get her nails clipped but don't think its wise to do it myself due to the fact i have never done it. Lulu can be skiddish at times, usually of any unfamiliar noise(which seems to be ANYTHING) or skiddish being handled to much. She would rather just sit under my neck or against me but cutting her nails like that woulid not be feasible. Im nervous to take her to a store or vet because I don't want her to freak out, plus its 12F here in NY. How should I do this?

My partner and I work together to clip my Sun’s nails, but he HATES it. I feel so bad every time, and would much rather someone else do it so he didn’t hate me for it, but I just don’t have the time or money to take him to the vet all the time. If you have a car, just warm it up first, then put her in a travel cage (like a hampster cage) and drive her to the vet. Not sure how you’d get her there still warm without a car though.