Nervous Blue Crown Conure

[Buttons]

Hello All,
Does anyone have experience with a conure or other parrot who is insecure and nervous? My blue crown only eats when she sits on my knee and I hold the cup with her food for her. She almost never eats inside her cage. This is no good - if I'm out all day, the food isn't touched!
Also, at night she makes a soft, plaintive sound over and over - somehow connected with her knowing it's her bed time. This usually starts around 6:30 to 7:00 PM. Is this some sort of anxiety she is expressing?

 

[Terry57]

Hello and welcome!
How old is your conure?

 

[Buttons]

Not sure of the age. We adopted her in 2007 - there were two previous owners. The vet didn't think she was too old but couldn't estimate the age.

 

[Terry57]

Has she always been like this? Has she never eaten in her cage? Or is this something new?

 

[Buttons]

She's always been like this although the night time nervousness became worse after moving to a new home last year.

 

[Terry57]

Have you tried holding the bowl in your hand in the cage to see if she will eat out of it? Did the previous owners also hold her bowl for her to eat? I am so sorry, I am kind of at a loss as I have no experience with this
As for the night noises when it gets close to her bedtime, it could be anxiety, or it could be she just doesn't want to go to bed. My Pionus makes all kind of whining sounds when it gets close to bed time, almost like he is whining. Do you have a night light for her?

 

[Buttons]

Here she is....

 

[Buttons]

Yes, I keep a dim lamp on for her. The previous owner seems to have left her in the cage quite a bit. I think we spoiled her by holding the cup for her. I don't think she will eat if I hold the cup inside her cage, but I'll give it a try.

 

[Terry57]

She is beautiful I am hoping someone else will chime in that may have a better idea on how to get her to eat in her cage.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

What a pretty girl. Just tossing out some thoughts Could it be that is her way of assuring u will be close by? Does she want more company or snuggly time with you? Maybe u could try a different dish, new location for dish, more shallow dish, bigger or smaller, etc.

What happens if u set the dish down while she is eating? You could try getting her on a flat surface while u do the bowl hold but it is actually sitting on the same surface and then slowly distance your hand from it. You would need a shallow enough dish so she can still comfortably reach her food, or even a food container lid.

 

[Buttons]

I tried leaving the dish on top of her sleeping area (outside her cage). She did eat but would pick up large pieces of NutriBerries and end up dropping most of it on the floor! She just seems to feel more secure when eating with me.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

I can better show you what I was trying to describe. I can't seem to attach photos to posts from my albums while on the iPad, so I will private mssage you in a couple of minutes.

 

[Buttons]

Where did you set up this flat surface to feed her on?

 

[JamesC]

I'm not sure what to say about the feeding issue. Neither of my two blue crowns have problems eating in their cages. Both of them have had multiple homes before they came to me. I would agree with moving the food bowl and maybe a different or clear bowl that she can easily see into. Maybe right next to her favorite perch. And daily place a high value treat in the bowl under the rest of the food so she gets used to having her beak in there searching for it.

I think most birds know when bedtime comes around. I see changes in behavior in all of them at the same time every night. Unfortunately Rosco's change in behavior is to go into pure chaos mode. Squawking and flying all over the place at a high speed. Zips right by me and likes to flick my legs with a wing. He does that on purpose cause he has to fly towards me then turn to go to the playpen which is one of the points he flies to. It does not take too long before I have had enough and get the blue crowns inside and covered. The senegal stays out for a while longer for snuggle time.

 

[Buttons]

That evening behavior is so completely different from Lampshade's. Perhaps your birds are more active because they are a pair?

 

[JamesC]

Well, they do feed back off of each other but I think this is just Rosco's nature. He is a high energy bird. He Always looking for 'trouble'. Tootsie on the other hand has always been a rather calm and sedentary bird though she is VERY vocal. They are quite different in behavior and she never behaved like he does. But also have a large difference in age. Tootsie is getting close to 30 while Rosco is about 10 from the best guess of an avian specialist.

 

[Buttons]

I'd like to find an avian vet who could estimate Lampshade's age. Often wondered about that.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

I have always had pets who tended to be 'piggies' with eating, so i'm not specifically familiar with this issue but I agree with a lot of the other ideas. I sometimes place extremely well loved treats in special places in the cage (I place a nutriberry in his coconut condo and a few pieces of pasta in a tiny bowl on the floor of the cage, sometimes chop up foods for his hanging skewer and make them kind of 'toys'.) This morning I was upstairs getting ready for work but I had filled his foraging toy with treats when I first woke up. I heard him from upstairs clicking around and screaming "good boy" every time a treat fell out, LOL.
My Georgie was nervous about certain colored foods. She would eat things as long as they were not certain colors. Of course pellets were fine because they were neutral looking.
So--maybe changing up the bowls, food/treat locations.....?
Or, do you eat dinner with her? I eat dinner with Gilbert on a table top perch. Maybe if she will stay on the perch and not need to eat from your hand, you can gradually get her used to eating from a bowl on her own??
Just some ideas.

 

[Ashleigh86]

This may not be the same situation, but I'll throw it out there anyways! Indy was weaning and she ate her veggie mix better when we held the cup for her. We did that for a week and then we put the cup on a perch where she would eat her veggies close to us. It took a little bit because she wanted to be on us, but I just sat just far enough away that she couldn't jump-fly to me so she eventually gave up and ate on her perch. Then, we moved her to her cage with her food in it with the cage in the same room as us and eventually she would go into her cage on her own for the food and eat by herself. Hope this helps!

 

[JamesC]

Buttons even the avian vet that I went to in West Palm Beach Florida who is known pretty much world wide (gads I miss being able to go to her) could not accurately guess the age of Rosco. She admitted that it really was an educated estimate at best.

I thought that I was on to something a few months ago with the color of his toenails in telling his age. They started off as being half horn and half black colored. But I noticed that they had turned all black like Tootsie's nails. I asked the question here from other blue crown companions if they saw the same thing in their birds as they grew older but the answers I got back was that their bird's nails were all black even when young. I guess that Rosco was a bit out of the norm. Maybe he was on a very poor diet before I adopted him and that affected his nail color. He certainly was a chunky bird. 236 grams. I still have trouble keeping his weight under control cause he is a food thief. Will steal food wherever he can. Even at bodily risk from the senegal's cage so I have to keep the main door closed and let Sidney out through a side door.