sun conure

[Thatdude596]

im new here been a lurker before i bought sunny and not much of a typer so here goes. We narrowed our choices down to conures as bigger birds starting off (besides parakeets and cockatiels) just dont make the most sense. Everone said no to the sun conure go greencheek as they are loud n crazy. Right away thats me so i knew it would eventually work out. My wife and 12 yr old daughter went along with me and thought the green cheeks were plain and almost ugly looking. Wifes grew up around a gw macaw, cockatoo, and cag. Beautiful birds but big, noisy make your ears bleed, pretty, smart, but not for us starting out with parrots. Im one of those guys who goes against the grain and will make it work. The sun conures are just super pretty, smart, and cuddle bugs. Im all in! We found a 2 yr old on craigslist that came with a couple toys, decent cage, and was in good health. He came from a couple that was very well off but didnt spend time with him. Well we took him home and its been an amazing journey so far. I love this guy and really has made such a transformation in my life in such little time. I wont get into how but i can say its for the better! heres some pics of sunny when we first got him and now. Hope you enjoy



this is after going to the local bird show that happened to be going on the weekend we took sunny to his new home





after 500.00 including a 200.00 hepa air purifier not including the 400.00 we paid we think hes happy now more than ever





http://s568.photobucket.com/user/thatdude1/media/IMG_1212_zps8c34e318.jpg.html

 

[Thatdude596]

 

[Thatdude596]

i copied this from another post i gave my opinion on

i dont think my sun is all that loud personally. Yes he can scream when happy, startled, am pm, or sometimes outta the blue for no apparent reason. Id say out of the entire day he screams/talks for maybe 10 minutes. Its really no big deal to me. I also think a parakeet is much more annoying as they never shut up. The cockatoo and cag are loud enough to make your ears bleed. I literally sometimes cover my ears when they sound off at my wifes parents house. I like the suns as they are not an ugly bird or plain bird like the green cheeks and cockateils, medium size, smart, beautiful looking, and have a great sense of humor. Everyone told me to get a gc as they are smaller and quiter. Im very thankful i didnt listen to them as i wouldnt trade our sun for any other bird. Hes been a great bird so far. If you dont like noise get a fishtank imho. My vote is get the sun and keep in different cages as they are awesome birds
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[faeryphoebe1]

Your sun is absolutely gorgeous! He's got a nice, big cage. He looks like a very happy little guy who loves to cuddle and adores your daughter. They are quite intelligent, aren't they?

Our sun is named Sunny, too. He's 10 months old and we've had him since he was weaned. Sunny loves bells and cuddles. He's such a sweety. He is very loud, but he can't help it. He gets excited when we get home and when he wakes up. If our GCC is calling, then he screeches along, lol. It doesn't bother us unless we happen to be shouldering him.

Our GCC is a cinnamon. While she's not as stunning as Sunny, she is quite beautiful. Her green feathers have almost a neon hue and she has pastel blue flight feathers and a pale, burgandy tail. She's quite a booger, though. Trixie is jealous, bossy, a clown and quite the talker. My two are like apples and oranges, lol.

Congrats on your beautiful Sunny!

 

[Acindo]

I could never imagine thinking my gcc looked plain or ugly.. Wow. He has like 5 different colours.

Lovely photos though he looks very happy.

 

[Thatdude596]

Curious what everyone's opinion were with adding a 2 yr old Hans macaw to the family. I would keep them in separate cages so they don't bond with each other. I was wondering if they would get along and what to expect!

 

[adellelauren]

Your Sun is beautiful. I have a 2 year old that a friend of mine just gave me and Tiki is a sweetheart. He or she gets along great with my 3 month old Dusky Green Cheek mix but they are supervised and they have separate cages.

 

[MonicaMc]

There's no way to tell if two birds will or wont get along... I can only tell you that if they are opposite sex, they could hybridize.

 

[Thatdude596]

So what do you people who have several birds do? Cross your fingers and hope for the best? To me it wouldn't be fair to bring in another bird that our sun conure doesn't like. He was here first and has seniority IMO. I would never keep a dog in my home who didn't get along with my other two dogs we have had for 8-9 yrs

 

[adellelauren]

I have an Umbrella Cockatoo, a triple stacker cage with my Sun Conure on top, my Dusky Green Cheek Conure in the middle and 3 Doves on the bottom. Than I have a flight cage with my 5 Cockatiels and my cage with my Blue Quaker and Pineapple Green Cheek Conure in it. I have a system so everyone gets out time and attention from both my husband and I.

 

[ZoeS]

GCCs aren't ugly Blue wings, red tail, red chest, shiny green body - come on, now!

If you have lots of time to spend with your sun conure, in your shoes, I wouldn't get a second bird. I got a second conure as a friend for my bird, and I do not regret it because I know she has someone to spend time with when I'm work (I have a 40 min commute so I'm away every day from 7:45-5:45) or if I go away for a night, but she is less affectionate with me now that she has a buddy. She is still friendly with everyone, very outgoing and funny, so even if you got a second bird and they bonded, you'd be fine. But if at least one of you is home much of the day (especially your daughter, if she gets home at 3:30 or something, that's perfect... I miss those days) then I think you should pour all your love into this guy and get it all back in return.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

Congrats on your sun. I had my sun conure from 2001-2012 and she had periods of time when she did get squawky, but generally she was nothing out of control or intolerable in any way. I think some people are more "ok" with noises like that than others and she just didn't irritate me too much!

I was told at different times to get a green cheek as well, and i think they are adorable birds but i tend to be more comfortable with the size and personality of the aratingas. Suns really have spectacular coloring.

When i got my blue crown i almost got a hahns macaw but then realized that i really am attracted to the conure personality and i already know it and am so comfortable with it, and the rest is history. I always want so many birds but for now, i'm going to basically devote my attention to Gilbert as an 'only bird'.

 

[Thatdude596]

Ladies and gents by no means take offense to my opinions. For me a green cheek is not a pretty bird. Then again to some neither is a screaming sun conure or African grey. It was my opinion and sorry if i ruffled feathers. I do apologize I meant no personal insults

 

[ZoeS]

My GCC took it very personally!!!

I'm just razzin' ya. Truthfully, when I first looked for a bird I did not consider GCCs. I wanted something flashier and prettier. But eventually I did get a GCC because of their personalities and I love that bird so much. My heart melts when I see her.

Now, I think all birds are pretty... even wild turkeys... from the neck down, anyway.

 

[Thatdude596]

I appreciate all the responses! My work is mon-fri 530-400 pm. My wife is gone from 8-12 and daughter is home at 2:30-300 from school. The time no one is home is from really 730-8 am to 12-1:00. Sunny typically gets up when my wife checks on him before leaving for work around 8:00. I'd say he's on one of us or out of his cage for 1/2-3/4 of the day.

The reason why we are entertaining the thought of adding a Hahns is we founds a great deal on a very smart well behaved bird like sunny and she could use a better home and would actually get attention here. Her owners now are hardly home and feed her cheap seed. I'd provide a better environment, better food, better interaction. Plus we have a hard time playing nice and equally with each other when there's only one bird!

 

[ZoeS]

I appreciate all the responses! My work is mon-fri 530-400 pm. My wife is gone from 8-12 and daughter is home at 2:30-300 from school. The time no one is home is from really 730-8 am to 12-1:00. Sunny typically gets up when my wife checks on him before leaving for work around 8:00. I'd say he's on one of us or out of his cage for 1/2-3/4 of the day.

The reason why we are entertaining the thought of adding a Hahns is we founds a great deal on a very smart well behaved bird like sunny and she could use a better home and would actually get attention here. Her owners now are hardly home and feed her cheap seed. I'd provide a better environment, better food, better interaction. Plus we have a hard time playing nice and equally with each other when there's only one bird!

By all means, you could definitely get a second bird and would likely all be happy together, however some things may change and you can never predict how. The birds may bond and shun your presence, or may not be able to be out of their cages together (I briefly fostered a Nanday conure who cracked my Rose-crowned conure's beak in a very quick fight - serves him right as he kept flying to her to bug her, but thankfully he didn't need any medical intervention and it grew out just fine... but could have been a lot worse).

You will likely not encounter either of those extremes but if you did, would you be OK with it?

 

[Thatdude596]

Very good questions and I'm going to answer my best. I'm ok with the birds being out at separate times but would obviously prefer them to be buddies. I wouldn't however like it at all if one was out and they other screamed the entire time. I would equally divide the time up as long as both birds are behaving.

I see most people on here have several birds and I'm positive they all didn't buy them at the same time as babies. So in reality if they didn't get along id ask the seller to put a so called clause in the purchase. Basically if they can't get along is return the bird to original seller or find it a good home on Craigslist or even here. I highly doubt anyone is going to give me their bird to try it out with no money upfront! Lol

I just want to be fair to both and would hope both can get along. I'm guessing it would take a few weeks and maybe let them slowly see each other by allowing one to go on other cage and vise versa for a bit. Then my wife and I could shoulder/hold each one while being in same room. Then progress to a couple of supervised minutes of interaction. I'm not 100 percent sure what's playing an what's not as well

 

[adellelauren]

They could bond right away but you never know.

 

[ZoeS]

I see most people on here have several birds and I'm positive they all didn't buy them at the same time as babies.

For sure! More than likely it will work out just fine and you'll easily adapt to any particularities you come across. The Nanday conure I had for a short time - I am sure that if I had had her for longer and worked on them tolerating each other, it would have gotten better with time.

So in reality if they didn't get along id ask the seller to put a so called clause in the purchase.

Truthfully, my concern isn't so much the money but the well-being of the bird. It's hard on them to move around so someone can "test drive them". To be clear, I am not trying to dissuade you or convince you that it's going to go horribly because it probably won't. Ideally, you *should* be committed to keeping both birds even if it goes tits up. That being said, I am aware that this is real life and not everything goes according to plan or perfection. So it's just something for you be aware of, as opposed to it being a deterrent, if that makes sense.

I'm not 100 percent sure what's playing an what's not as well

You'll know! There's lots of wing flapping and yelling. Often it is just vocalizations, but separate them as quickly as possible if they start up. Have something handy to separate them or you'll lose a chunk of your finger. I say this from experience - I still go for the ipad to break up my birds when they fight and they love each other. They don't bite they just squabble, but it's kind of annoying. My husband scolds them and they usually stop fighting for him, but not for me.

 

[ZoeS]

Oh, and don't let them walk on the other's cage (with one bird still in the cage)... Could lose a toe that way!