new conure affecting my first conure.

[ashley.janel]

Hi..I've had my gold capped conure (woody) for about 3 years now. about a week ago I got a green cheek conure (vivi). Woody has always been a sweet bird and never bites. Ever since I got vivi, woody has been trying to attack her every chance he gets. We have their cages side by side hoping they will soon be able to be out of their cages at the same time..but so far we haven't had any luck.

We rotate the days on who gets out of their cage first once we get home from work to try and be fair. I don't know if that helps or if we should follow a routine? Today was vivis turn to get out first so I played with her for an hour. Then got woody out and he is doing the cocky conure head move at me that he used to do before attacking my moms cat. in the past hour he has bit me on the nose twice. I keep calling his name in a sweet voice trying to calm him down..which he has a little. But I'm kind of scared of him biting harder. Is he doing this cause he's mad at me for getting vivi?

I'm also kind of confused. The whole time I wrote this he has been on my shoulder. He's rotating between kissing me and doing that cocky gesture.

 

[ashley.janel]

Also. Vivi will be a yr old in march. Her wings are clipped and shes not very good at flying and lands in odd places. She has landed on woodys cage a few times and I think it was purely by accident, not know where else to land. Woody then tried to bite her feet and tail through the cage. Woody has pretty much mastered flying and purposely lands on the perch atop vivis cage. We are in love with vivi already and would hate to return her to the pet shop but we're also concerned about her getting hurt seeing as woody os twice her size. What should we do? Advice very much needed =[

 

[gccgirl]

Well if Woody acts aggressive towards Vivi it is
probably cuz he is not used to her yet. Keep trying
and eventually they will come out together.
Give them the same amount of attention a day.
Is this why? Hope u found this helpful!

 

[weco]

Sounds like Woody doesn't like having to share his humans with the interloper.....

Allowing either bird to land on the other's cage is dangerous and is likely to end in damaged toes/feet.....

 

[MonicaMc]

I would recommend separating their cages and putting the cages on opposite ends of the room. Make it so they are still within view of each other, but they aren't within close proximity.


You might be able to get them to tolerate each other by taking them to a neutral place and providing each with their own food. Allow them to eat together while being separated by a foot or more. Watch them closely. Social interactions without physical contact may be the way to go, along with training them to perform various behaviors on cue. You may need to train both to station and ignore each other before they can better tolerate each other.

 

[ashley.janel]

Monica, the cages are about 3 feet apart. Theyre not touching each other or anything. I'm not sure how to get them in a neutral place without woody attacking vivi, any advice? When we first got vivi we kept her in our bedroom for a couple days and woody would be out of his cage in the living room. Everytime we opened the bedroom door, he would make a beeline flight to go in there. How can I train them to ignore each other?

My mom advised that I favor woody since vivi doesnt really know any better. I don't want to do that to vivi. What do you guys think? I mean..should I be taking woody out first every day instead of rotating? I guess I also should mention that woody stayed out of his cage until it was bedtime so he's kinda spoiled to not being caged..

 

[MonicaMc]

It would take quite a bit of training, patience and persistence, but it's doable. Here's an article that talks about it.

Stationing | Lara Joseph


The idea to give Woody attention first is to "tell" him that he's still number one in your life and no other bird will take that place. This may help, but then again, it may not. Have you noticed a difference in their behaviors when you take them out at separate times?

Is it possible to have them both out of their cages but not anywhere near each other? And with different humans?

 

[Grinder]

You're telling Woody he is not the flock leader when it comes to Vivi. Always let Woody out first. Give him the first treat, first meal, etc... And he should be the last to go into his cage at night.

Everyone hopes that their feathered friends can at least get along or tolerate each other and that is not always the case. You need to really put effort into letting Woody know that he is and always be the flock leader between the two. Weco is correct in that something disasterous could happen if either were to fly to the other's cage.