New Green Cheek. Advice please?!

[Grabers]

Evening all (well if your in the uk)

A week ago I purchased a 10 month old green cheek conure who I must say is absolutely beautiful and a real character. He is not hand reared and clearly has not had any training before.

When we first got him he would freak if you walked up to the cage and when I changed his food and water he would fly around the cage in panic. So far I have got him to take food from my hand through the cage doors and even from my fingers if I put my hand in the cage which is progress I am so pleased with.

He is not clipped and I would like to let him out the cage for some exercise but he doesn't step up and clearly wouldn't let me get near hi with his hands so I am worried how I would get him back in the cage if I let him out. Can anyone offer advice on the best way to train him from here. My previous conure was hand reared so step up was something he just did and I really don't know where to start.

Thanks all

Sam

 

[MonicaMc]

This article may help.

Working with Fearful Parrots: A Study in Videos | Learning Parrots


For now, it may be best to leave him in his cage and keep working on gaining his trust by offering him food and treats by hand. Once he gets more comfortable with you, you can then work on getting him to come out of the cage. It's only been a week.



When I took in Jayde, it took her months to get comfortable with me, with my arms, then my hands. I knew when I took her in that she would require work, but I didn't realize how nervous and uncomfortable she was. She came to me with clipped wings, but two weeks after getting here she went into a molt. She's now lost all but one clipped feather. I do think that allowing her to have flight has helped her to gain confidence in herself. At first she wouldn't leave her cage. Eventually, she'd leave her cage but only if she could climb onto my shoulder. I then got her comfortable getting onto my arms, although it was extremely clear that she *DID NOT* want to touch any part of my arms and would try to stretch as far as she could so as to not touch my arms to get to my shoulder (or chest). Once she got ok with climbing onto my arms, I then worked on her getting onto my hands - and she displayed the same avoidance behavior with my hands as she previously did with my arms. She's now ok with stepping up onto my hands as long as we do a 'ritual' before she steps up. If we don't, she's more likely to bite than to step up! It's been nine months now that she arrived and she has a much calmer behavior and is now flying around the house after me.

 

[Grabers]

Really great link and sound advice. Thank you

 

[Nakiska]

I have 2 cockatiels that I rescued a while back, both fully flighted and terrified of hands. I let them out every day and use a long perch/stick to get them back in their cages.

At first, when I tried the perch/stick, they'd fly off and loop around, usually several times before finally stepping up on it. Now...they have the drill down, and usually step right up.

Also, Initially I'd have to try several times before they'd stay on the perch long enough to get them back in their cage, but every day is less and less time.

This is great because they get to be out and I don't have to force myself on them to get them put back and slowly.....very slowly, they are building trust toward me.

Good luck and congratulations on your GCC! I LOVE conures and have 2 of them.

Toni

 

[veimar]

I got a very scared conure about 6 weeks ago, but it wasn't that bad and his wings were clipped. I had exactly same question - how can I get him back to the cage if he gets out?? I didn't let him out of the cage until he stepped up on a long stick. He was afraid to step up on the finger first. I also figured he obsessively loved sunflower seeds, so if I needed to get him back to the cage I used a seed to get him on the stick and put back to the cage. Hope this helps. It took about 10-14 days before he started to step up on a stick. So I would just take some time before letting him out and train him to step up on a stick. Otherwise it could traumatize him to be caught with towels (I NEVER did that to Parry).
BTW, my conure is the sweetest thing ever - very tame and loving. He climbs up on me right away when I open the cage and sits on my shoulder for hours. So I hope your 'baby' is gonna be fine - you just need some patience. And later I would definitely clip his wings - it's very dangerous to have them unclipped.

 

[MonicaMc]

And later I would definitely clip his wings - it's very dangerous to have them unclipped.

Veimer, there are pros and cons to both sides of the clipping debate. Did you know that a clipped bird can have less control in the air than a flighted bird? Clipped birds may be in more danger of breaking toes, legs, beaks and keel bones if they can't land properly. Clipped birds may also be in more danger of being stepped on if they frequently try to fly around the house and end up on the floor.... or perhaps in more danger of coming into predators such as cats, dogs and ferrets. Clipped parrots are also in more danger of falling into trash cans, toilets and pots and pans and not being able to get out of them. (not to mention fish tanks) And the biggest one of all???? Clipping a parrot does not stop them from escaping to the outside. If a clipped parrot gets outside, they are then in more danger from predators (both in the air and on the ground) because they may not have the stamina to keep themselves safe.


Clipping vs keeping flights is a *huge* debate, and as such, you cannot safely say that a clipped parrot is safer than one that has his/her wings.



I'm not saying you should allow your bird to be flighted, but I do believe that you need to do more research on the subject of clipping vs flight. Here's a couple of links if you haven't seen them!


Should you clip your parrot

Thinking on the Wing | The Parrot University, llc