Thinking of getting a Conure…..this is my first post

[bkbirdlady]

Hello all:

I posted this on Reddit and now posting here. I didn’t get many responses. I’m a newbie to Conures but I’ve had birds (parakeets) in the past. Years ago.


My questions are pretty East what made you decide to take the plunge? I've been researching and watching all the videos I can find. How did you prepare? I am most concerned about chemicals etc in my home. Did you have to dump everything and start with new all natural brands? Is it a real hassle to clean up poop everywhere all the time? Are Conures anti-social, since I've seen a few videos where mention is made of the fact that they usually bond closely only with one family member?
The last time I had a bird the only for food was bulk birdseed. I know that is far from the case now. Do you have any recommendations/faves? I've seen a variety of cage sizes recommended for Conures. What is your experience as far as cage sizes if you have one Conure?

The bottom line: Please tell me everything you know!

 

[zERo]

Welcome to the Forums!

My questions are pretty East what made you decide to take the plunge?

I think this is going to vary greatly from person to person but you’re headed the right way
Do all of the research you can, and if you have a parrot rescue/sanctuary near you, volunteer there to help clean cages/feed birds/etc.
It’s also a great way to find out if you can handle the noise.

How did you prepare?

I threw out any candles or commonly available cleaners out as they shouldn’t be used in a home with a bird.
However, I think some things can still be safely used.
For instance, if your bathroom has a fan and is far away from your bird, and maybe the bathroom had a window, you could clean the toilet with toilet cleaner.
For cleaning bird cages I use 50/50 mix of water and white vinegar.
Other important cleaning tips: Use safe pans that don’t have Teflon, PFOA, PFE or any nonstick coating. You can use stainless steel, copper, cast iron, or glass ware.
Don’t run self clean on your oven or run vining at through your coffee pot! Those are two very dangerous mistakes.

If you want your house to smell good you could boil orange slices/cloves/cinnamon etc.

Also make sure the space you will be letting your bird out in is safe. No places they can get stuck, no other pets in the room when they’re out etc.

Is it a real hassle to clean up poop everywhere all the time?

I would say it’s fairly easy to manage, especially if you have just one bird. Putting down newspaper on the floor where ever they perch often solves the problem mostly.

Are Conures anti-social, since I've seen a few videos where mention is made of the fact that they usually bond closely only with one family member?

Many conures are family birds while many are one person birds. The best way to avoid this is to have all family members feed them treats and to split the care of the bird up, so that good things come from everyone.

Do you have any recommendations/faves?

A large portion of diet should be vegetables, for instance my Green cheeks diet is 50% chopped veg. A large variety is key.
For pellets, I recommend either TOPs, Caitec oven fresh bites (also called All Living Things, Hagen, and also an okay brand is Lafebers.
For seed I use Dr.Harvey’s Fabulous finch food. I find they’re larger blends contain far too much fruit.

What is your experience as far as cage sizes if you have one Conure?

My conure lives in a cage that’s 32’ L x 21’ D x 63’ H including the stand.

Here’s some YouTube channels I recommend too:

https://m.youtube.com/@BirdNerdSophie

https://m.youtube.com/@TheParrotTeacher

https://m.youtube.com/@Loveofpets

 

[kme3388]

Conures can make for very great pets. Both of mine (sun & Jenday) were easy to train, and work with. Both have extremely loud contact calls. I wouldn’t recommend them for the apartment life unless you know your neighbors don’t care about loud screams. I believe some of the other types of conure are known to be more quiet. Both of my conures can be snuggly, but when they are done they are done. Both of my conures also have a tendency to chew holes through my shirts when I have them out. I just buy a bunch of $1 shirts from goodwill, or my family members give me their old shirts that already have holes/stains. Conures also are avid chewers at least mine are. They go through toys really fast. Both love their baths/showers sometimes they do this in their water bowls that they drink out of which makes a huge mess. Spring time once both of my conures matured can be challenging. They can be a little sassy during this time, and when molting is going on. I always try to inform people looking into getting a parrot that a baby parrot, and a fully matured parrot are a little different. My Jenday is a one person parrot for the most part. She will fly, and dive at people that are strangers. My sun conure loves everyone! Neither of them talk, or say words.

 

[Happyandzaza]

Hello all:

I posted this on Reddit and now posting here. I didn’t get many responses. I’m a newbie to Conures but I’ve had birds (parakeets) in the past. Years ago.


My questions are pretty East what made you decide to take the plunge? I've been researching and watching all the videos I can find. How did you prepare? I am most concerned about chemicals etc in my home. Did you have to dump everything and start with new all natural brands? Is it a real hassle to clean up poop everywhere all the time? Are Conures anti-social, since I've seen a few videos where mention is made of the fact that they usually bond closely only with one family member?
The last time I had a bird the only for food was bulk birdseed. I know that is far from the case now. Do you have any recommendations/faves? I've seen a variety of cage sizes recommended for Conures. What is your experience as far as cage sizes if you have one Conure?

The bottom line: Please tell me everything you know!

Hello dear friend, just get a alexander ringneck instead, I have two conures and i got the second one only to be a friend for my pineapple conure while i was at work but guess what they now fight and try to bite eachothers fingers idk why, but they are very messy birds, they also bite other people and it depends on the bird but they tend to be hard to tame unless you take them when they are babies, they can be very loved and will love you back, if you can handle bird poop loud noises in 6 am etc… I would gladly give my yellowsided conure to someone who can truly take care of them for free because they are just too much to handle

 

[Jennifer RachaelAnn]

My conure bonded with me instantly, before we even got out the door at the person's home when I bought her. She absolutely loves me, but hates everyone else. She will flat out attack viciously if/when anyone but me tries to handle her. So be aware that your conure may be like that. My conure's cage comes up to my top lip and I'm 6'3". I line it with printer paper, as I usually don't have any newspaper lying around.

She is noisy when she wants attention, but is normally quiet. Her chirps are extremely high pitch. So if you can't do high pitch sounds, I would advise against getting one. I feed her a mix of fresh veggies and pellets.

I got a conure for several reasons. One was because I had wanted one for years. The other was to help me get over my fear of birds. My grandfather had geese that terrified me and would chase me all over the yard. They also had an extremely mean rooster. This all was going on when I was a toddler. I have had parakeets in the past, but was wanting a little feather baby that was possibly as crazy as me.

Be ready to do a lot of laundry, because the bird WILL mistake you for a porta-potty. Mine goes on me several times when I play with her. Maybe it's her marking her territory or something.

You should be aware that your conure my attack you if you do a certain thing. For example, mine attacks my fingers if I try to play any video games when I have her out. I don't know why, but she absolutely despises video games.


Your conure will always have a goofball personality. They may bond with only person like mine did, or they may be a lover and go to everyone and anyone when they want attention.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Conures can make for very great pets. Both of mine (sun & Jenday) were easy to train, and work with. Both have extremely loud contact calls. I wouldn’t recommend them for the apartment life unless you know your neighbors don’t care about loud screams. I believe some of the other types of conure are known to be more quiet. Both of my conures can be snuggly, but when they are done they are done. Both of my conures also have a tendency to chew holes through my shirts when I have them out. I just buy a bunch of $1 shirts from goodwill, or my family members give me their old shirts that already have holes/stains. Conures also are avid chewers at least mine are. They go through toys really fast. Both love their baths/showers sometimes they do this in their water bowls that they drink out of which makes a huge mess. Spring time once both of my conures matured can be challenging. They can be a little sassy during this time, and when molting is going on. I always try to inform people looking into getting a parrot that a baby parrot, and a fully matured parrot are a little different. My Jenday is a one person parrot for the most part. She will fly, and dive at people that are strangers. My sun conure loves everyone! Neither of them talk, or say words.

By far the most commonly kept conure is the green cheeked (GCC) and it's various color mutations (pineapple, cinnamon, etc) and for good reason! They are less expensive than most other conures because they breed readily in captivity. They are quite small so they don't require a massive cage and they're less noisy than most other conures. They can be affectionate and cuddly and can be taught tricks. Just read some of the threads on this forum by GCC owners. I don't have a conure myself but if I ever decided to get one it would definitely be a GCC. Good luck!

 

[bkbirdlady]

Thank you all for your input.

My next question: is it really bad to buy a conure in the pet store? I went to scope out cages etc. and I saw a conure very shyly watching the sales floor from the far corner of the cage. From what I could see the birds were well taken care of in large separate cages. One bird was asleep with his foot tucked. The shy bird looked tiny and almost irresistible. Is a pet shop bird ok or am I better off with a breeder?

 

[wrench13]

2 schools of thought on Pet Shop or Breeder. Buying one from a pet shop - pro - you will be essentially rescuing the parrot from a less then great place. Con - You will supporting the 'bird mill' business model most pet shops have. Breeder - pro - you will be buying a parrot that hopefully was raised with lots of human contact, by a responsible breeder who truly cares about who adopts their baby, is weaned properly and fledged for a while. Con - might have to travel quite a bit to find a breeder, health guarantee might not be the best.

You will have to make that decision. I have purchased every parrot I have owned from pet shop type business ( but not the chain store type ones - I dealt either with very small shops or a bird only type pet shop) and have had no issues.

 

[kme3388]

It’s not bad/good to buy you parrot from a pet store, breeder, or shelter. It depends on what you are looking for. I only bought one parrot as a baby. The other 2 I adopted. I would tell anyone to call a shelter, and ask if you can meet their parrots as you are interested in getting one. It’s a good resource, and you’ll learn a lot by the experience. Even if you go get a baby parrot from a store after the fact you’ll be more educated on how an adult parrot who’s fully matured behaves. The amount of work, and effort that goes into “taming” a parrot, and building a relationship can be perplexing. Parrots are a lot of work. They have a lot of special needs. Take bathing for an example. Sometimes I give my parrots little spray baths twice a day when they are molting. There are just little tips, and tricks like this that I picked up on by just simply volunteering at a shelter. It helped me better care for my parrots.