Sun Conures Gone Wild (need help asap)

[PickleMeDickles]

Hello Everyone,
I hope you and your feathered friends are well. I am on this forum a lot but have not posted very much. So to the point. I have 2 Suns and a GC. We have all lived happy little lives, no trouble from the birds and all of the other critters are doing well.

So, to the point. I have a M and a F Sun. The male (Winston) reminds me of evel knieve. He zooms from station to station pretty much non stop when he is out. The girls (Sun and GC) are pretty happy to just hang around.

The problem is for the last 3 days Winston WILL NOT let me put him back in his cage. He soars through the house making laughing noises and asking me what I am doing. He will not go back to his (huge) cage until he is good and ready.

Yesterday the carpet cleaner came and Winston dive bombed him the entire time. My husband and I ran around like we are nuts trying to get him up on our finger so we can put him back (like we use to).

My birds are out for hours every day and are all angels (except Winston). Winston reminds me of a very bright out of control toddler. Which brings me to the point, what do I do?

If a horse acted like this (unwilling to get caught up) you just make them move faster and longer than they had planned. Pretty soon they figure out it is just easier to cooperate. Is this an option for Winston? I hand fed him and he has NO fear of anything, so trying to catch him up is just a HUGE game (that I am tired of playing). Do you handle this as you would a horse?

I am at the point now that I am terrified to let him out. What if something comes up and we HAVE to leave? I feel housebound and terrorized by this little yellow demon bird. It is really against my personal principals to clip him, I just feel like birds were meant to fly, and it helps their muscles, heart health and mental health. And I know Winston would most likely develop self destructive habits if I curbed his flying.

All my birds are suggle bug, I have no issues with biting, they step up and down on command, have a ton of toys, yada yada yada. Help!

-Jen

 

[plumsmum2005]

I use the dirty word beginning with 'T' when it is absolutely necessary. It could have saved the carpet cleaner some agro!

It means that you can catch them safely and return to their cage. If you do it right and definitely make up before putting him in his cage all should be good. It isn't a punishment!

Remember that parrots are not naturally afraid of towels it is the way they are toweled that makes them so threatened by them. You never know he may pick up on it and just go back on his own at the sight of it eventually.

 

[snowflake311]

Conures have a lot of energy thats for sure. How old is he?

I am no expert with birds. I have just lived with them but never did much training. Dogs on the other hand I know well and can train no problem.

Could you work on training a recall? Work on getting him to come when called? BUT the thing with Recall is you can not use it JUST to put the bird away. Like with dogs when you call them to you don't always put them on a leash. Just reward and let them run around some more. This is how you get the strongest recall.

Find his Favorite treat. My black capped conure loves Safflower seeds and cheddar popcorn. I am sure you can look up videos on how to teach a bird to come when called. It should not be too hard. the time you do use the recall to put him in the cage Make sure you give him lots of treats in the cage. I always give my birds treats for going in the cage. Also set up foraging toys for your bird in the cage could help too.

I hope others can help you out with this one. It sounds very annoying. You could always just cut the wings so the bird can not fly so high. But can flutter around. That would just be the easy quick fix and will not teach your bird the behavior you want. So I don't think it is a good idea. In the long run it does nothing for you because as soon has they grow back you will have that problem again.

Recall training / flight training.

 

[Printer bird]

Definitely work on clicker training. You can start with target training (get him to touch a stick, then "click", then a treat). Positive reinforcement training works very well with parrots and it helped get my unruly GCC to a manageable state. He needs to learn that coming when you ask gets him a treat! You can google a lot on clicker training, I'll be he takes to it well.

 

[plumsmum2005]

we have info on here and linked below for you, good luck

http://www.parrotforums.com/training/60435-clicker-target-training.html