New member - also seeking advice.

[zeldatheaccordionbirb]

I'm Kirstan. I have 3 lovely Conures. Beau is a male crimson bellied conure. Zelda is a female crimson bellied conure and Thomas is a male turquoise green cheek conure. They are all 5 years or younger and all rehomes.

I'm also seeking advice on Beau - he is a sweet bird of about 1 year and 8 months old. I got him in October 2019 and once him and Zelda started getting along (she was very jealous at first & would try to attack him but now they get along perfectly) - our issue is that Beau likes birds a little too much. He gets very possessive over them. Doesn't matter if it's Thomas or Zelda - he will come down and try to bite me if I'm playing with one of them. Especially Zelda. If I so much as touch Zelda while he's close, he will latch on HARD. I've been doing all I can by no dramatic reactions, walking away (usually with Zelda or the bird he is being possessive over) - I just want to know if there is anyway I can fix this aggressive possessiveness over other birds. It's okay if it's not something that can be helped but I want tto know if there is absolutely anything I can do because it is very frustrating especially since Zelda loves me so much and I can't interact with her while he's nearby or on me at the same time. I will NEVER re-home him for something like this (as frustrating as it is) but I want to fix this if it's possible at all.

 

[Jen5200]

Welcome to you and your beautiful flock!

I have 5 conures (also all rehomes), and have a couple of thoughts (completely random and I’m sure others will chime in with theirs). My first thought is that Beau is at the age when he could be hitting puberty, so it might be contributing to the situation (Tango was about 18 months when she moved in and wow, she could be fierce sometimes). I worked really hard on bite pressure training with Tango, and also with Stanley when he moved in. I also worked on trick training side by side with Tango and Baby. Tango seemed to get agitated when I handled Baby, but had a hard time going after me when brain was engaged in other activities and treats were being earned. I also tried distractions - offering new toys or foraging toys to Tango when I was interacting with Baby. It wasn’t always successful, but helped sometimes. I also try to swing a little bit of one-on-one time with each of the birds, even just a cuddle or short play time while the others are in their cages - it’s just part of our routine and everyone seems fine with it. They have group play time and individual time and it seems to work okay for us. We did get past the biting phase with both Tango and Stanley with patience and trying to figure out how to work around their triggers. Hopefully others have ideas!!

 

[GaleriaGila]

Welcome!

Yeah, I like Jen's thoughts.

Good for you for reaching out. I'm glad you found us.

 

[Flboy]

Welcome to you!

 

[SailBoat]

Now, before you, you have the foundation of the Term: Pecking Order!
Its sure sounds like Beau has established the Chain of Command and is doing his duty to maintain it.

We have long been a single Amazon home, so I have never had to untangle a Pecking Order that contained other Birds. That is not to say that each of our Amazons have not worked to create such in our home. Distraction is our primary tool in keeping some level of balance in our home. As you are finding, when His Lordship is busy, keeping everyone else in line is a lower priority. But, Birds are smart and Beau will quickly determine what you are doing. So, with different foods, toys, etc... and moving the distraction location it will add to the time you have before he figures it out. The more complex you make the distraction and the greater the variation, the more time you will have.

Normally, this is of greater issue during the natural Hormonal season for your Parrots. So, it will likely not be a year around occurrence. NOTE: Such activity can occur at different times of the year, so be ready to insert the distractions.

FYI: There are no assurances that this will work and for how long... Its a, darn they are smart, thing.

 

[Scott]

Welcome to you and your three conures! Superb advice above!!

 

[Laurasea]

Keep up the good work, with time I think you will find balance
My Neptune Quaker is bonded to my GCC Ta-dah.
All my other birds can't touch without fighting. But with time training, they can all sit on me and inch apart and behave. When bickering happens I out a hand between and make them back up, if it keeps up the problem child gets moved to a play area. They all want to be with me at the same time...wish I had more hands! But they all hs e one in one time to.
If one bird seems to be having attention issues, I set up more one on one time for that bird. Things are dynamic, and their individual needs change.

Take time for flock observations, because sometimes the issue is different than you think...
My GCC was attacking and maiming a budgie. I thought it was an issues with these two birds. But I did some flock observations, and discovered it was Neptune my Quaker harassing his mate the GCC like crazy, causing her intern to kadh out at the budgie. The GCC need time away from his attention. You may have it figured out as you think, or the observations might show something else going on.
Can't wait for pictures thou!