new home for an attached jenday

[skyhighatrist]

Hello! Firstly I just wanted to mention that I'm new to this forum and as a family we're new to birds in general! We recently had an encounter with n incredibly friendly young green cheek conure at a pet store and we all fell in love! Our 16 yo daughter in particular! After doing a lot of research and thinking we decided to look for a conure to add to the family! It's mostly for my daughters birthday gift and I know they will grow to be great buddies. I'd like to add that we fully realize the attention they need and as I'm a stay at home father, I'm home all the time to offer that attention! We also fully understand the long-term responsibility and are looking forward to many happy years as bird parents! Haha

Now to the point. We found a family looking to rehome their 3yo jenday as they simply didn't have the time to devote to it any more. It came with a huge, beautiful cage and all kinds of other toys and had clearly been incredibly loved by his previous owners. It was incredibly emotional when it came time for us to take him. He was a bit nippy with us while in the presence of his previous owners, however not at all nippy with them and once he was perched on our finger he was fine. He was clearly very attached to them as they were to him!

Apon setting up his cage back home and trying to move him from his carry case into his cage he was very bitey and a lot harder than we had experienced when in his previous home! I've looked all over the net about how best to get him adjusted and warmed up to us, and I fully realized it'll take time and effort, but all of the advice I was finding was for new baby birds who I can only assume were not as strongly bonded with previous owners.

My question is, what are your suggestions for this adjustment period and how can we best serve this gorgeous little bird and help him through this tough time? Do we leave him in the cage to get adjusted for a while? If so when should we attempt to handle him again? We just want to do right by this little guy and get him acclimated to us as smoothly and efficiently as possible to save any added stress in what has to be a very stressful time for him!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Allee]

Welcome to the forums! Congratulations and best of luck with your new addition!

It's perfectly normal for a bird in a strange new place to be nippy and a little nervous. Some birds adapt readily and quickly but most need time to adjust. It's best to be patient and move at the bird's pace. Talk to him, reassure him, get to know him. Sitting close to his cage and reading aloud will give him a chance to study you while he gets comfortable with the sound of your voice. Opening the cage and allowing the bird to decide when to come out and interact when he chooses is a good way to start the bonding process.

Training methods vary but what works for a baby bird is often just as effective for an older bird or a re-home. Contrary to popular belief, buying a young bird direct from a breeder, even a hand fed bird, doesn't guarantee the bird will be a perfect student. Sometimes the older re-homes amaze with how willing they are to learn new things.

Here's a link you may find helpful.

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

 

[itchyfeet]

We went through a similar scenario with our galah. Ve known him nearly his whole life before bringing him home from my mothers. My 7yr old opened his cage door and sat next to him, reading to him in the afternoons. My husband worked at the table beside him when he was home too.
The other thing we did was move his from our office which was a similar environment to his old place, down to our living/dining which was far more full on. It went against all of my instincts, but hubby was finding the 'too dust too much in the end room. Marley loved it! I think just being able to be with us and see us for most of the day without the pressure of us being right in his face helped heaps. It's only been a couple of weeks and he's doing far better

 

[djdancer]

Jenday Conures are such awesome birds. I had one, he was 22 years old and just passed away last year. I agree with the other posts above. I have 3 birds, two I adopted. One (Sunday Conure) I got last May and he's fully adjusted to our house now. Be careful because Jendays tend to like one person in your house. Most birds are like that but some get along with other member while others don't want anything to do with the other members of your family. If you're home all the time and spend time with your Jenday he/she may lean towards you for a mate rather than the rest of the family.

Anyway my Sunday was seed fed (seeds aren't good for birds) and like just the woman from his last family of 23 years. He is now trained to target, wave, turn around, and a few other things. He eats raw chop and pellets. His last owner said he would never eat them things for her and didn't do any kind of training. No matter how old your bird is he/she is capable of learning.

I agree with Allee that you should leave the bird in the cage and the door open while you're with your bird. Just talk to him and every once in a while give him a piece of an almond or some other treat. Mine love pistachios with no salt and almonds, millet is saved for training. He or she will probably warm up to you in no time.

Best wishes!!

 

[skyhighatrist]

That's great advice and very reassuring! Thanks so much!

Another question, are there any ways to discourage biting when we ask him to step up? We don't want to train him to bite by pulling away or flinching, but it's really difficult not to as sometimes he can really chomp down! We opened the cage earlier as he was squawking and looking for attention and he climbed up on top of his cage to the perch up there. He was calling me over and fluttering his wings, leaning in a little and really looked like he wanted to come over and hang out. I put my finger out to try step up and he leaned down and bit me. Luckily it was a light nibble which is better than it was yesterday!

Did I misread him? I've been hand feeding him little treats and he was very comfortable on top of his cage with me being close. He doesn't seem to be aggressive as he doesn't lunge or bite any time other than when we try step up! I was trying to get him accustomed to my hand and again, he didn't seem bothered by it being near at all, except for step up time! It's tricky as I have really sensitive skin on my hands and like I said, I don't want to pull away or flinch as I know that reinforces the biting behavior! I know gloves probably aren't the best thing, however do you think thin, tan leather gloves may be ok as they're similar to skin, only until he's used to us and gets out of the bitey stage! Is there another way we can get him used to our hands and used to stepping up with us that might make it hands safer? Haha! As I mentioned before he stepped up fine for his previous owners with no biting at all. I fully understand that's years of earned trust though.

I know it'll take time and patience and probably a fair few nips but any advice in the mean time would be much appreciated!

 

[Birdman666]

First, I had one.

Jendays are pair bond birds. Overbonding is one of the things that can happen with them.

I did parrot rescue for quite a number of years. Quite often, there are little things left out. We love this bird but we haven't had time for him is quite often code for (cage bound and cage territorial. i.e. HE BITES!) We love him, and we're sorry to see him go (but he bites, HARD, and draws blood consistently, and we're tired of getting bit. ALWAYS TAKE WHAT THE FORMER OWNER HAS TOLD YOU WITH A GRAIN OF SAND, AND ASSUME THAT THERE HAVE BEEN DETAILS LEFT OUT...

I always started over from scratch when a new bird came in. Gain the birds trust. Then step up practice. No biting. THEN HANDLE THEM A LOT. SOCIALIZE THEM WITH EVERYONE... DO THAT THEY GO TO EVERYONE. DON'T DO IT, THEY TEND TO BITE EVERYONE BUT THEIR FAVORITE PERSON. (Pair bond behaviors.)

Conures are very happy go lucky birds, they generally like people, and they're essentially shrunken macaws. They love to learn. They make great trick birds, and they like puzzles...

 

[djdancer]

Skyhighatrist you might be overthinking but not sure without seeing it. Birds reach down with their beaks to latch onto you so they can step up. If he's fluttering his wings to get to you then he probably does want to go to you. Try offering him a treat when he steps up. Let the treat be about 6 inches behind the hand that he steps up onto so he doesn't get it before he steps up. I have pretty thick skin so it doesn't bother me when they latch on to step up. Some only use closed beaks to feel for to make sure it's a safe stable spot that they are stepping up on.

Now about the gloves... you can try but from my experience most older birds are afraid of gloves. My daughter used to try to pick them up with garden gloves on but they wouldn't have it. She also has thin skin.

 

[skyhighatrist]

Great advice again! It certainly seemed to be over bonded with its previous 'mother', it was good with its old 'father' too, but was a little more wary of their son it seemed. It's good to know that we can start a fresh though as we were really worried he might be set in his ways and constantly longing for his old mumma! We'd love to get him used to all members of the family and strangers too as we sometimes have family visit from another country.

I wish it was simply the case that he was trying to climb up with his beak, however he clamps down hard, chews and has drawn blood on most of us multiple times! He certainly didn't use his beak when stepping up on his previous owners. It's ok though, we will earn his trust first.

We have had some progress today, after we decided to leave step up for a bit. We let him out onto his top perch again and I was getting him used to my hand being close. I was offering him a little coconut wood chew thing and while he was nibbling I was petting his back and belly. He's still wary of the belly rubs, lashing out on occasion, but did offer me his neck and allowed both me and my daughter to give him some neck rubbings! He was leaning right in and twisting his head around to allow us to get the sweet spot! Haha!

We'll keep up with that for a few days and see how it goes from there!

Thanks again everyone! Really great and reassuring to read all of your posts! I'll try to add pictures some time soon!

 

[skyhighatrist]

So wow! Just had our little buddy hop up onto my shoulder and chill with me for a while! He was snuggling my neck, and even preening my hair and beard! Haha. My family and I were all able to pet him after he climbed down onto my chest and nearly fell asleep! Soo cute, and it just blew my mind that he could be so affectionate so quickly!

Weird thing is, I was able to pet it's belly, feet, even beak with no reaction other than snuggling into it, however as soon as I put my finger down and said step up, the bite came! Softer this time, but still there! Also after we put him back onto his perch he went right back to lunging at our fingers if we put them close to pet him. I was able to pet him a few times but he did gently nip a couple. Could it be that he's territorial of his cage and if so how do we remedy this?

It's awesome to hang out like that however we still have limited control as we're unable to move him back and forth because of the step up reaction! He let me know when he wanted to go back and I just sidled up next to the cage and he hopped off my shoulder.. Not ideal, but a start! Haha.

 

[Maple128]

Hey there! IF he is cage territorial, (and that's a reasonable deduction) a good way to start is stepping up onto a stick or a arm with a towel on it, we all get bit, half the fun of bird ownership, but it's a good hack to reduce pain, and I like my blood where it is (I wear long sleeves). Then, when you want to interact with him, take out of sight from his cage, and then he has nothing to be territorial about, and they usually(i think) calm down, if its the cage territorial thing. Another thing could be he just doesn't like hands, who knows, these little dinosaurs have an odd brain. When ever you do get a really good step up out of him, whether on arm or stick, praise the daylights out of him and give him a treat, he did the right thing and didn't bite you or make a big fuss out of it, yeah! Shower him with rewards, make it awesome
(Now, still a big newbie on the whole parrot thing myself! but this is just a few things I've found works when my families zon' feels like being a jerk)

He sounds like an awesome little guy and I wish you the best of luck with him!

 

[Birdman666]

so wow! Just had our little buddy hop up onto my shoulder and chill with me for a while! He was snuggling my neck, and even preening my hair and beard! Haha. My family and i were all able to pet him after he climbed down onto my chest and nearly fell asleep! Soo cute, and it just blew my mind that he could be so affectionate so quickly!

Weird thing is, i was able to pet it's belly, feet, even beak with no reaction other than snuggling into it, however as soon as i put my finger down and said step up, the bite came! Softer this time, but still there! Also after we put him back onto his perch he went right back to lunging at our fingers if we put them close to pet him. I was able to pet him a few times but he did gently nip a couple. Could it be that he's territorial of his cage and if so how do we remedy this?

It's awesome to hang out like that however we still have limited control as we're unable to move him back and forth because of the step up reaction! He let me know when he wanted to go back and i just sidled up next to the cage and he hopped off my shoulder.. Not ideal, but a start! Haha.

sounds like this will resolve itself in time. He just has to get used to his new people... And make sure everyone handles him in the house this time. Let him get used to everyone...

Once he gets to the point where he steps up nice, play a game of "pass the birdie, where everyone sits down in a circle, and you take turns passing him back and forth, feeding him treats, and giving him head scratches, etc.

 

[skyhighatrist]

Haha! Pass the birdie sounds like a great idea! He's definitely already warming up to us. He's allowing us to pet him and is coming out to spend more time with us. He just hops onto our shoulder, still no step up, but we'll work on that.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Birdman666]

At the rescue, we got cage bound birds in every day of the week. This was one of the socialization protocols: A game of pass the birdie.

In fact, there were times we would have multiple birds at once and the game became: I'll trade you!

Trust me, it works!

Once they play that game, you can start throwing different people into the mix, and before you know it, they'll go to anyone.

 

[rosembers]

Instead of using gloves, you might want to try stick perching, where you hold up a stick for them to perch onto instead of a hand (they are very familiar and comfortable with sticks because they are used to sticks being on THEIR terms, vs hands move on HUMAN terms which he may not be ready for while he's adjusting to his new home). You're a wonderful person for taking him into your family!!

We take in rescues, and I have found that I use my hand when I don't necessarily realize I am. For example, I might want to pet, soothe, hold, etc. a bird because that's what *I* know to be love and comfort. But many birds - especially those that aren't raised with you - don't understand that what I know to be love is what they know to be scary (scary can be due to a new home or scary can be due to bad experiences they've had with hands).

I have a "hands off" approach with scared, nervous, bitey birds especially when we have newcomers. I don't touch them unless they approach me and then I touch very softly like head scritches or wriggling my finger slowly to see if they want to rub against it. I don't usually say much, if anything, when I get into their cage space to give them fresh food and water for the first several days and just let them absorb their environment and my routine. When I start letting them out, I often use a stick perch to offer them to "step up." Or just open the door and say nothing to them and let them decide what they want to do without my influence. And, as hard as it is sometimes, I hold back from petting with my hands until I know they are definitely totally comfortable with me. It's a natural reaction to want to soothe and comfort an upset bird, and it's hard to remember that what we understand as comfort is not necessarily what they understand as comfort...

Good luck to you and your birds!