New Sun Conure Mom

[Cadynce]

I recently got a new Sun Conure, Mango is his name. I think he/she is about 6 months old or so. We purchased him from Petco. I am feeding him/her InTune Natural along with various fruits and veggies.
I'm not very familiar with Conures and I noticed lately he's looking a little rougher than he did when we brought him home. By rough, I mean he has some needle like feathers all around the neck area and his chest isn't as clean as normal. I don't think he's plucking but he's definatly not looking like he did. I spoke with someone at Petco, and she said he's probably growing.... that sounded weird to me but with me knowing little to nothing about Conures, who am I do determine whats correct or not.
He has a pretty decent sized cage, and he seems to try and fly a lot(his wings are clipped) and I feel like he's in essence beating himself up =/ or at least thats how it looks. He also SCREECHES like someone is killing him. This is also new in the last 2 weeks.. We've had him since early January. When I get up in the morning, I cannot flush the toilet if I'm not getting up, cause as soon as he hears it... its all over, he's scream til you show your face, and then continue on for at least another hour or more. I know Suns are the most vocal of the conure family but man. Is this normal? is there something I can do to calm him down? I handle him ALL the time, and sometimes the only way to get him to stop screaming is to take him out, which I feel is only making the issue worse because he's going to associate that with getting out. HELP!

MangosMom

 

[riddick07]

The needle like feathers sound like he is molting. You can increase baths to help and if there is dry air you can get a humidifier to help too. If he is doing the crazy flapping that is pretty normal for a young bird. Every bird I've had that is young does this and yeah it does look like they are beating themselves over the head with their wings.

Does he have foraging toys to keep him occupied? I put baskets in my suns cage with foot toys I make and food in them. He spends hours tearing up the toys, the baskets, and the food. They need to be able to spend time by themselves. If you spend too much time with them they start getting demanding and expect that much attention all the time. My sun spends about 6 to 8 hours in his cage depending on the day (not including night). When I am home I don't always take him out because I like him to know just because I'm home doesn't mean he is going to be out of his cage. He does spend 5 hours out on average each day. Sometimes a lot more and some days I don't take him out at all. He never has a problem with this since he has so much to do in his cage and its a decent size so its not like he can't move.

Answering the screaming with your face or more screaming isn't a great idea. He will just keep up the behavior since it gets your attention. You can try making your own contact call with him that is quieter. For my one green cheek she makes the psst, psst that you make to cats when she wants to know where I am or wants attention. She knows I ignore screaming and won't answer. My sun makes this croaking kind of sound that I answer to but not him being loud. The only time he is loud is when he wants to go back to his cage and I haven't noticed (he will usually sit on the back of the couch at the corner making noises and gets progressively louder if I don't take him back to the cage).

 

[Cadynce]

currently he has a spiral cut paper towel roll, a coconut basket swing, which I had to remove the frill off of, he was ripping it out and It was very stringy like hair and I was afraid he'd choke on it, that and it was all over the floor and I have 2 dogs that are nosey as hell. He also has 2 knotted rope toys, one that we got from Petco when we bought him, it was one of his original toys. He's got a little swing thing a perch a ladder and a soft tunnel nesting bed. The cage is pretty big, he has plenty of room to to play. If I leave the room, he screeches. I've been watching videos on dos and donts. My fiancé is a little less patient than me when it comes to the bird. He yells at him to be quiet lol. I can see the frustration in him when Mango goes on a screaming fit. I suppose its all a learning process. When he does that screeching thing tho its always from the same spot in his cage lol, its almost funny.
I'm assuming molting is normal? if so how long before they return to their normal beauty. Also typically how large do Suns get

 

[ZoeS]

The "needles" are indeed new feathers coming up, so he is probably molting. You'll know it's plucking if his head looks great but other parts of his are tattered; if he's molting, he'll look awful all around. You can very gently squeeze the sheaths around the new feathers (ONLY the white parts - anything darker is sensitive), he will probably enjoy that!

Re the screaming - you need to give a little more and expect a little more. He will start screaming if he spends too much time alone (think of him as a little kid - he should be able to occupy himself in his room for some time, but you can't expect him to stay calm and occupied forever), but he should learn how to play and keep himself occupied as well. Foraging toys are great for this, and keep the toys on rotation. Try not to reward screaming with attention - instead, ask for a quieter sound or silence, and THEN go get him.

When I need some peace and quiet for an hour or two and the birds are not cooperating, I'll give them a spray (which helps with moulting too) and put them in their cage with treats (a piece of apple, or millet, or seeds [they normally eat pellets so seeds are treat]) and turn off the lights so they still get daylight but it's not as bright. They will preen, eat, maybe have a little rest, and I'm usually good for a little bit.

Once you start getting him used to time in the cage, you can start calling him (before he calls you, or after he does his first round of yelling and has quieted temporarily) with your contact call. When he does it back to you (or some volume-appropriate approximation), you go get him.

 

[ZoeS]

currently he has a spiral cut paper towel roll, a coconut basket swing, which I had to remove the frill off of, he was ripping it out and It was very stringy like hair and I was afraid he'd choke on it, that and it was all over the floor and I have 2 dogs that are nosey as hell. He also has 2 knotted rope toys, one that we got from Petco when we bought him, it was one of his original toys. He's got a little swing thing a perch a ladder and a soft tunnel nesting bed. The cage is pretty big, he has plenty of room to to play. If I leave the room, he screeches. I've been watching videos on dos and donts. My fiancé is a little less patient than me when it comes to the bird. He yells at him to be quiet lol. I can see the frustration in him when Mango goes on a screaming fit. I suppose its all a learning process. When he does that screeching thing tho its always from the same spot in his cage lol, its almost funny.

Yelling is just going to get him to be louder, so tell your boyfriend that that's counterproductive. The bird doesn't understand that he's being scolded, just that everyone else is being noisy which is queue for him to be noisy too (imagine a whole flock of them yelling their heads off).

You definitely want toys that he can chew up. Crepe paper, wood, leather - those are all great. My birds love those Chinese finger traps. You can get little cardboard boxes too that you can stuff things in like shredded paper and nuts and seeds - once he figures out how to look for treats, he will spend some time doing that. Playing alone is a learned behaviour for conures.

You can also get patches of foraging grass which I think is just astroturf-type stuff, and you sprinkle seeds on it. There are lots of options out there.

 

[riddick07]

Some of Lokis toys... sorry for the people who keep seeing these same pics

 

[ZoeS]

Q-tips!!! Smart!

 

[Cadynce]

wow, thats a ton of toys! Can I use baby toys? like the little keys and rattle type toys?

 

[riddick07]

Yeah my mother came up with the qtip idea...well Ivory did she stole one while in the bathroom one day and they've been used ever since as toys

Yes the smaller baby toys can be used. Loki has one of the baby rings that the kid shakes in their hand in his cage. We have the plastic key ring but so far all the birds aren't interested in them. They all seem more interested in toys they can tear apart and destroy. Mass destruction

 

[Cadynce]

So Qtips and straws are safe for them? I always worry that he'll eat these things and choke.. I suppose Im used to dogs.

 

[riddick07]

Some birds will ingest rope and fleece but I don't have any of those types. You will have to observe yours and see what he does with those types of things.

I use foam letters and sheets (no sticky or magnet of course), beads, buttons (careful of wood you buy that isn't specifically made for birds), birdie bagels, plastic lacing/gimp, hemp string, puzzle pieces, qtips, straws, raffia (natural no dyes), shredded paper (like you put in gift bags), and the baskets are made of bamboo or willow (untreated). There is other stuff we use but I don't remember them all. Pretty much anything bird safe can be used to make toys!

 

[ruffledfeathers]

Congrats on your new sun conure. Part of "being noisy" is just being a sun conure. Their voice/call is a higher pitched, more loud/harsh/shrill than some other birds. My sun used to squawk like nobody's business if it was what she thought was time for me to wake up in the morning. But in time, she learned what the appropriate routine was and would only occasionally squawk whole-heartedly first thing in the morning. She also had an issue with over-bonding with me (my fault and in retrospect i needed to work harder to let her learn independent play with her toys) so she would really 'raise hell' when i was getting ready to go to work.
They are very intelligent birds, even when they don't speak (Mine never said a single word but i know she understood me when i taught her things.) They are also very sensitive and perceptive. Just being consistent with the routine, giving plenty of toys and things to do in your absence and of course making sure the bird is well fed nutritionally and socialized, it will fall into place nicely.
There are a lot of conure lovers here with a lot of experiences to share with you so you are in a good place......

OH, i forgot to mention, i struggled with that 'show my face and she stops squawking---do i let her out? do i not give in?' thing for a long time. I started using a distraction. Approach the cage and ask her to perform a specific task (after she learned some tricks, have her do a trick , or simply 'step up' and put her back on her perch a few times) I used anything to give me an excuse to say "GOOD GIRL' and then take her out for a few minutes.

 

[ZoeS]

Well, choking is always risk with anything anyone puts in their mouth, but birds are pretty good at chewing things and not swallowing them if they don't want to. Common sense can usually tell you if it's a good idea but you can always post the toy here if you're unsure.

 

[Cadynce]

Thanks so much for all the info, this is all coming in so handy. I made my fiancé watch a video by expertvillage on youtube, Ive linked it below. We'll see how things go from this point.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPlDljTG2Bo]How to Train a Parrot : How to Stop Parrots from Screaming - YouTube[/ame]