New green cheek conure sweet and aggressive

[Vladie2021]

Hi All!

Since 6 days I have a new Green Cheek Conure called Jippie! He is a male, 2,5 years old and has been staying with a family before me. I have been trying to get him used to my place, and his cage. His behavior is kind of double, he can be super attached to me and sitting on my shoulder grinding and putting one leg up but a few seconds later growling and trying to attack me. In his cage he will scream for long periods of time, even when i'm in the room with him. I'm not sure if his screams are just warning signals for me ("look out, something dangerous!") or just attention which I shoud ignore/not stimulate since he will be screaming all the time.

The problem is that the last owner told me he hadn't been in a cage for a whole year.. I want to let him out a lot but no cage at all seems not the best option for both of us.

Im not sure what to do now, keep him in the cage for a while? Should I give him snacks when he is silent?

I just want to hang out with him, but also not encourage bad behaviour..

Any tips?

Thanks in advance

 

[Kitekeeper]

Hi Vladie welcome,

I have not experience with conures, but I think I can answer some of your questions.

A bird two and half old, that was never in a cage, will definitely not like to be closed in one. His screams are most likely a protest to attract your attention. Of course you don´t want to reward his screams with attention, but I admit it can be difficult to ignore him at this moment.

I recommend you to try contact with Laurasea (a member here in the forum) that has successfully calmed screaming quakers.

On the good side, he is with you barely six days and is already comfortable to rest in your shoulder! This is a promising relationship. Patience is key now, be gentle and try to let him out most of the day and each day increases a little bit the time he spends in the cage.

 

[Laurasea]

Lol
Yes GCC are amazing, and like a cat pet me pet, no you're trying to kill me I will bite, and back to pet me pet me now! Read body language, pause when they threaten to bite, sometimes in a few seconds they are chill again. That's what works fir me and mine and we have been together 8 years. I don't get bitten, but every single day there is a point she would! I pay attention, to her random ( to me) mood swings, so we do great.

No bird wants to be in jail, the goal is to have them out as much as possible and incorporated into your life. Caged at night, when gone, and when needed for safety. Turn the outside, top and sides into a ply gym by attaching perches, bird cargo nets, chew stuff, use that space above tge cage to hang a swing or big spiral hoop . I use ceiling hook and fishing line to hang stuff just over head hight. If you have a flat top cage out a piece of acrylic over it, helps keep stuff clean and great fur setting out bowls of veggies. Mine spend a majority of their time out of cage, messing around with all of that and foraging. Burds enjoy climbing, leaps, and hanging upside down. They are half monkey!

To teach cage is good. Take lots of short trips to the cage, let them step on top for a treat, then back to you, repeat many many times.. lots of hopping in cage for a treat and praise and right back out to you. You can repeat every five minutes. Multiple short , few reps at time work best with birds. And they love praise and sing song dance about how fabulous smart they are. Then yiu live them in cage with a slice of apple or popcorn, or millet spray, for 5 min, try and get them back out before screaming. Repeat a bunch if times. Then make longer. Praisse praise!

Whew I thought I lost this reply!

I have my birds out all the time. But due to medical conditions, sometimes fir safety i needed to cage them. And I discovered that least to screaming mad parrots!! So I did tge above. And now as part of our routine at random times I lock them up for an hour. So now they know special treat and quiet nap time or chew time.

You can try and plan for first few extended cage time to be when your bird normally naps. Create routine and rituals . Iwill link a great article. But remember burds are highly active unlike dogs and cats who nap a lot, super smart, and hardwired to be with flock mates , that you. So the cage is safe retreat when needed but try and adjust to have them out as much as possible. Besides their cage area I have a few hanging perches by windows and around so they don't always have to be on me, but are part of things

 

[Laurasea]

Sorry , my posts will have tons if typos..
Do have a flock call phrase or whistle, do answer flock calls, and do iniate some on your own. Birds contact call fir safety when out of sight. I have 3 , a wolf whistle, kisses/clicking sound, and its ok good birdie, if any say a word I always repeat that back to reinforce words over screaming...

The goal in eliminating screaming, is to prevent screaming as much as possible. Sort of heading it off and redirect. And remembering to praise a quiet bird, and give treats. Answer flock calls. Investigate alarm calls, I just look around, if o don't see a problem I tell them it's ok. And ignore all other unwanted noise. Its a process, and it takes time, even a month or two. But reconditioning, patterning, and prevent should see some big improvement quickly.

New burds are going through a lot , they miss the people, tgey feel vulnerable , and don't understand. They are so smart, and a prey species. Give time to adjust. And definitely teach in very short sessions that the cage is a safe good place

This is such a great article in understanding birds I think. I font use clickers tho, but I do shape behavior I just use good birdie as my bridge.

Stress Reduction for Companion Parrots – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.

To put it bluntly, keeping companion parrots is similar to trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. The fact that they do as well as they do is testimony more to their adaptability than it is to our husbandry efforts.

lafeber.com

 

[ZoeyBear]

Make sure to praise him whenever he is not screaming or he is playing with his toys or just chilling in his cage or maybe his reward for being quiet is some time out of the cage but the most important thing is some kind of reward when he is showing good behavior because it is really easy to look past the quiet bird because they are not screaming and demanding you're attention. another thing is you may not let him be on your shoulder until you have established more trust because being on your shoulder will probably make him feel very dominant. which can make him agressive towards you. I understand your situation because I rescued a male green cheek conure and struggled a lot in the beginning but the relationship I had with him was worth all of the struggles in the end.

 

[MsKista]

Hi All!

Since 6 days I have a new Green Cheek Conure called Jippie! He is a male, 2,5 years old and has been staying with a family before me. I have been trying to get him used to my place, and his cage. His behavior is kind of double, he can be super attached to me and sitting on my shoulder grinding and putting one leg up but a few seconds later growling and trying to attack me. In his cage he will scream for long periods of time, even when i'm in the room with him. I'm not sure if his screams are just warning signals for me ("look out, something dangerous!") or just attention which I shoud ignore/not stimulate since he will be screaming all the time.

The problem is that the last owner told me he hadn't been in a cage for a whole year.. I want to let him out a lot but no cage at all seems not the best option for both of us.

Im not sure what to do now, keep him in the cage for a while? Should I give him snacks when he is silent?

I just want to hang out with him, but also not encourage bad behaviour..

Any tips?

Thanks in advance

Maybe he is trying to call the previous owner and get a response.
Do you know if it was a nippy bird before you got it?
Did it have the tendency to scream or is it new behavior?
Was the owner male or female and are you the same?
It would be worthwhile to find out the answers.
They do tend to be nippy and bipolar. And they are creatures of habit and all the habits just changed. Hang in there.