Need help with a problem I'm having with my conures

[Rogerf159]

Hi everyone. I'm new here and to bird ownership. I have 2 conures that are flighted and untrained. They have been flighted for almost a year now. Long story short, they were not to be mine but they were a gift for someone I was with. We are no longer together. Anyway, they ended up with me and I have made so many mistakes with them. Here's my problem: They have been chewing on some things in the house and destroying them. I let them out of their cage for 12 hours to play. I have a variety of toys for them to chew on and play with but they seem to want to chew on my mini blinds which really gets me angry. I was thinking about having their wings clipped but since they have been flighted for so long, Im worried they might try to fly and hurt themselves. The reason I was thinking about clipping their wings was to start from scratch and train them properly. As flighted birds they are very difficult to train, at least it is for me never ever having birds. If any of you can give me suggestions or comments please feel free to. I really need to know the right thing to do. Thank you.

 

[Rozalka]

Clip or not to clip is one of the most controversal things. If this was a Polish forum without any fear definietly I could say to not clip because "this is like somebody cut your legs and told you to be happy" (my favorite words created by my mate). In this way bird can't fly and in some moments has to let human to be so near because can't escape. Best ways are harder - the bird should try to start trust without compulsory touching, taking on arms etc but eg giving their favorite food.
But it is American forum (I know here are many people from other continents but was createn by Americans and the biggest number of members are Americans) and here most people don't see anything wrong in wing clipping and see both - pros and cons. I see only cons but I don't want to be attacked by others - because of it I don't write to not doing but what are pros of not clipping. Everybody has own decisions, if you will clip or not, it is only your decision

Somewhere on this forum is a thread about how to tame parrots. In general GCC's are easy to tame but in your case it's harder because they aren't young and you have 2 of them. Few other members will write great tips for taming and probably give the mentioned link

 

[Rogerf159]

Thank you. I really don't want to clip their wings. When I first got them we had the males wings clipped and he seemed to be in a state of depression for some time. I actually love that their flighted but I am so unskilled in how to train them right. I made so many mistakes with them. I also forgot to add that they are a bonded pair. I was told by a pet owner that this makes it even more difficult to train them. Thank you again for the information and the time you took to reply to me.

 

[Rozalka]

The link: http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html

 

[Jen5200]

Clipping or not is definitely a personal choice - like Rozalka said. I have a pair (Baby & Tango) that came to me as adults, bonded, flighted - and troublemaking was the name of their game. I choose not to clip any of mine. It is more challenging, but I was able to do it over time. Baby and Tango were my first parrots - Sun & GCC. I had an advantage in that they did have interest in interacting with me - Baby more so than Tango. Are yours interesting in interacting with you?

 

[Laurasea]

Parrots love to chew blinds! I just replaced my blinds from parrot destruction!

Don't leave them out, unsupervised. Move anythi g near the blinds farther back so it's harder for the parrots to get to the blinds. Use cheap sheers infront of the blinds. If you don't want a behavior to occure, make it much harder for that behavior to happen.

Provide places for them to hang out. Kinda like their own furniture. I put tiny ceiling hooks in, and use fishing line to hang hoops and bungie ropes at different places around the house. Then I attached easy to chew and destroy stuff , and treat stick, I put a dollar store plastic tray underneath to catch stuff. Parrots like to be able to easily destroy stuff. You can cut cardboard into shapes punch a hole in the middle and attach with zip ties, or use paper or cards, but the stuff that's easy to chew up quickly. Once they have a few places to hang out that they know has treats and chewables, they really stay out of trouble. It has made my life much easier, keeps them off my furniture, and away from my stuff. Praise them when they are at the PlayStation areas, and give treats by hand at those places.

Work on in house recall training, teach them to fly to you, to fly through hoops. Fun for all.

Work on some easy foraging ideas.

 

[itzjbean]

It sounds like they are being left alone unsupervised as I'm assuming you don't just let them chew the blinds up as you watch.

It's very important to only let them out if you can supervise them. Otherwise, they get into EVERYTHING. Even if it means they are inside the cage more often because you can't watch them, at least your walls will stay intact. Imagine if they got ahold of wires or cords and electrocuted themselves while you weren't watching and had to come home to them injured or worse. Just asking for trouble if you don't want them as they are just like toddlers and WILL get into everything and anything!

I've owned birds who are clipped and non-clipped. Clipping is nothing like breaking their legs, really more like clipping their fingernails to be honest, it all grows back (I had my female's feathers growing back 2 2weeks after I had her clipped) and it's nothing but a mild inconvenience for my birds. They can still fly when clipped, just nto far or with much lift.

 

[LaManuka]

Clipping is a hotly contested debate as you’ve probably already noticed. It is sometimes advocated if a larger parrot has become extremely aggressive, either through territoriality or hormonal factors that have made the bird dangerous to other household members. Done properly by a professional (not at a pet shop!) the bird is still able to glide gently to the floor for a soft landing. Done badly, the bird will plummet to the ground like a brick and can sustain serious injury.

The fact that you have a bonded pair means your job will be that much trickier but not impossible. Is one bird maybe a little friendlier to you than the other? If so, try working with the friendly one and the other one should (eventually) be more inclined to want to join in. You can make up a plate of healthy veggies to share with them, making lots of “mmmmm yummy” noises while you eat to entice them.

I have French doors with wooden frames that bear the scars of a cockatiel beak. I covered them with a net curtain which worked well but she would find a gap every now and then and go in for a good old chew! Eventually you’ll become accustomed to your stuff having beak marks all over them and you won’t even notice. That’s when you’ll know you’re truly one of us

 

[MrLaurieKeats]

When cleaning up bird poop feels to you like a tiptoe thru the tulips, youre one of us!

 

[noodles123]

I cannot advise on clip/non- clip (it's very controversial---whatever side you take), but because you are new to bird ownership, I will offer a link to a thread (in which I post a bunch of other helpful links for new bird owners). I hope you will look at it.

http://www.parrotforums.com/new-members-welcome/83999-new-member-new-birds.html

 

[clark_conure]

I clipped both of mine, zod is currently unclipped but in the spring I probably.....yeah will reclip. Nothing is permanent.

Right now I'm letting her go unclipped to build her muscles more, since she weighs less than clark, and its interesting seeing her always fly back to me; not that i'd do outdoor flight.

In my honest opinion if they are un-trained, clipping might offer a non-perminant way to get your birds to depend on you more....and listen to you more.....I know that sounds crass, maybe even nefarious...but it is a pet; and a pet needs to be trained. It has to become a member of the family. Just make sure it's done right so the bird can glide down, not crash land and get hurt; it's a balance.

Someone may try to blast me on it but, I CANNOT GET MY BIRDS OFF OF ME! So I think I'm doing something ok.

 

[1oldparroter]

NEVER EVER raise your voice or get sharp tongued. Get a routine started, training for 15 minutes at a time each hour or two. Limit them to one room if you need too (with no blinds). Teach tricks or speech and train one on one with one bird in the room. This never stops, only changes. jh

 

[Siobhan]

I let my birds train me. Rocky is quite pleased with my progress.

 

[cfr70]

I have a flighted Sun Conure that is out literally 24/7 and loves chewing. In fact, I will not buy a new sofa specifically because of him. He has chewed the cushions on one part of the sofa where he sits while I watch TV in the evenings that it looks like Freddy Kreuger sat there LOL. But thankfully, he somehow knows he's not to chew any other parts of it.

Anyway...to a potential solving of your dilemma. Let me first say every bird is different, and what works for my bird, may not work for yours. But what I do for Bruce (that's my Sun's name) is buy these small cardboard boxes at Walmart. They're 11" x 5" and only cost 62 cents each and you buy them flat in the shipping supplies aisle.

When I get them home, I take one box at a time, open it up and tape it with Duck Tape to make the box, and then I cut a 5" opening across one side for him to go in and out of.

Bruce loves these boxes because he scurries inside and begins to tear the thing literally to shreds and it keeps him occupied all day long. He absolutely loves destroying the whole box until it's just a big pile of shredded cardboard, and when that's gone, I make a new one for him.

At 62 cents each it's cheap, and it takes him a few days to go through it. It's a great diversion and something that satisfies his chewing craving. So perhaps try one of those boxes and see if your bird takes to it.

I've tried so many chew toys from pet stores and all of them he snubs his beak to and won't touch any of them. Anyway, the boxes seem to do the trick with my bird. Sorry this is so long....try it and see if your bird takes to it like mine did. Just make sure to place it in an area that you won't mind having a pile of shredded cardboard laying around. It's easy clean up when he's done...just scoop or vacuum the cardboard bits up.