What happened?! Green Cheek

[Joshuwaaa]

Hey,

About 2 months ago I bought Cricket, my green cheek conure. He has been such a nice bird, learning step up and getting used to people. He's been doing really well getting used to us and being a generally lovely bird.

Today however, completely out of the blue, hes been screaming?! like excessive no reason screaming. Lots of people have said maybe something changed, but nothing has. Really. Temperature is the same, apartment is the same, same people same routine. Cleaned and stuff all normally.

He never has really screamed so badly before and I'm kinda worried. Funnily enough as I write this he seems to have slowed and calmed. I know to ignore him and hes being doing so well with it. If we pause the tele he knows to stop screaming otherwise it wont come back on. We dont talk when he screams, we just ignore him and stay still.

I know he needs to call, but this seems so out of the blue, and when he has been doing so well too.

Got nippy with me too and hes only 8 months old.

Thanks for reading, any help would be ace.

 

[Grenage]

It's only been two months, and he's young; it takes a while for birds to settle and at such ages their habits/temperament is not necessarily be consistent. Things will settle down eventually.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

terrible twos (as in two months new). lol.

wondering if the time change might have anything to do with it? is he sleeping same or has that need changed. since the time change -- pritti was getting crabby earlier -- and i finally realized he wanted to get in cage on sleep perch earlier and he's not crabby now.

 

[Birdlover11]

Don't know, maybe sexual maturity , he finally got used to you and is comfterble,or breeding season ?

 

[MonicaMc]

First things first... make sure he has everything he needs. Food. Water. Toys. Exercise. Interaction.

Second, could there be something in the environment setting him off? Something outside a window? A new hair cut? A different colored shirt?


Sometimes, screaming can be due to a simple *little* change that you'd never think of! My birds are used to me wearing neutral colors.... blues... whites... browns... blacks... nothing bright. Heck, they are even okay with me wearing red! One day, I got an old shirt out that I got in/from Middle School and it was a bright orangy-yellow color with a picture and words (an "Argentina" shirt, each class would pick a country to learn about, then teach other students). I wore it one day, just around the house, went to go see the birds, and immediatelly, *EVERYONE* freaked out! They were screaming and trying to fly inside their cage! I immediately turned around, walked out the door and changed shirts! When I went back in, everyone was quite ruffled but fine.


My conure tends to scream more if he doesn't get enough exercise... so at least with him, I know it helps to have him flying as often as possible.

 

[Pedro]

Hey,

About 2 months ago I bought Cricket, my green cheek conure. He has been such a nice bird, learning step up and getting used to people. He's been doing really well getting used to us and being a generally lovely bird.

Today however, completely out of the blue, hes been screaming?! like excessive no reason screaming. Lots of people have said maybe something changed, but nothing has. Really. Temperature is the same, apartment is the same, same people same routine. Cleaned and stuff all normally.

He never has really screamed so badly before and I'm kinda worried. Funnily enough as I write this he seems to have slowed and calmed. I know to ignore him and hes being doing so well with it. If we pause the tele he knows to stop screaming otherwise it wont come back on. We dont talk when he screams, we just ignore him and stay still.

I know he needs to call, but this seems so out of the blue, and when he has been doing so well too.

Got nippy with me too and hes only 8 months old.

Thanks for reading, any help would be ace.

First & foremost look at his health, usually if something is out of character he could be feeling a little under the weather. So don't overlook his health.

It seems to me your doing all the right things with reinforcing positive behaviour. So keep up the good work. My Parrots sometimes let loose from time to time, i just talk to them & ask what's the matter. I do also know that if music, TV or machinery are to loud our parrots tend to compete.

I am dealing with a GCC that was given to me because he screamed & attacked his owner every chance he got. Since he has been with me he hasn't bitten once. Although its been a long road to get him to trust that i am not going to hurt him. I think he has been with me for 4 months now & i am still having trouble getting him to come out of the cage.

 

[Joshuwaaa]

Thank you to everyone!

His behaviour, eating habits and (I know it's gross) toiletries have all been the same, however I did get a hair cut! An now it's been like a week he has calmed a bit. Drastic because I look really different. I need thought this would have an effect

Thankfully he is such a lovely bird and I love him to bits.

One thing again, sorry to keep pestering

He doesn't pull back his head and like hiss and bite like I'm used to from other birds, but he does nip all along my hand. It's fine until he breaks skin or won't let go. I don't like ignoring him but each time he does it I pull away and give him 2 minutes.

He seems so loving, he loves coming to openin of the cage to me when I there, an goes to sides of the cage to me. He bounces with excitement to see me, but then gets nippy? Any advice?

I love him soooo much, which I guess is silly for a bird lol

Thanks again everyone

 

[MonicaMc]

Sounds like the hair cut might have been the culprit. I've heard of one flock that their owner had long hair (possibly someone on this forum?). The birds were fine as long as the owner wore her hair down long, but the moment she wore it up, they freaked out!

Another flock was fine when the ceiling fan was on, and would happily fly around the house with it on (safety hazards, but that's another story). The moment that ceiling fan was off, everyone would go quiet and stare at the ceiling fan intently and would not move.

Like I said, simple things!



As far as the nippy thing, birds are inquisitve creatures. They don't have hands with which to explore things, so they use their beaks a lot! I wonder if the 'nipping along the hand' is his way to explore you. After all, you are squishy, hairy, imperfect and do funny things when he presses a little too hard!

Common suggestion is to just ignore it. MY advice? Don't ignore it, and don't discourage it! Instead, redirect his attention to appropriate things to chew on and nibble! Before he starts 'beaking', give him toys, foot toys, leather strips, popsicle/craft sticks, pony beads, wooden beads, etc to play with, or maybe some treats and foraging things!

In other words, don't allow the behavior you don't like to occur by keeping his beak busy with other things to do! He can't easily chew on a toy and you at the same time!

 

[ZephyrTK]

I'm so grateful you are asking this question and getting responses. Emmy has been a nightmare to live with the past week or so from sudden screaming outbursts.

 

[Joshuwaaa]

His nippy nature is common to green cheeks its just difficult as I feel sometimes I'm not getting anywhere. I'd hate to accidentally be encouraging bad behaviour. Just been to our local pet store and bought some more like preening and beak play toys.

I also got a nice furry tent for night time ! Il let you know how he progresses with it lol.

I'd rather tell everyone my mistakes and then we all know and learn to be honest. Can be hard to care for them properly.

Step up is kinda here and there, he will do it for food or to look at my phone, only sometimes just to sit with me though. Still building bridges lol.

I really want to introduce another bird. Maybe a bigger bird. So researching all the time. Any suggestions on appropriate friends?

Oh he's on my Instagram if anyone wants to see too ! "Joshuwaaaa"

Thanks everyone.

Oh oh! Pausing the tele is becoming a great silencing tool! He loves it on so pausing sky is always a good noise deterrent.

An general play time is also good !

Thanks x

 

[Lee11]

I got my maroon bellied conure a month ago (he is a year old)...he too made no noise at the start but now goes through occassional 'episodes'...the worst one yesterday morning where he did his full 'jungle chorus'...maybe he knew I was going to be gone all day...The neighbors would have a problem if he did that all the time so I certainly didn't encourage that kind of outburst.
He usually lets me know when he doesn't want to be bothered by turning his back on me...which I am fine with...lets me get on with stuff. lol!
However, when I turn my back on him its a different story...he comes racing across the floor to where I am checking to see that I am all right!

 

[Mikayla]

My green cheek yells at the blue jays, I think she's calling to them.I forgot to add I love how her calls sound, unlike my sun conure that can pierce your brain LOL.

 

[Joshuwaaa]

At the moment I'm getting like full finger bites, I now have about 7 cuts where he has broken skin. Not to mention the ones which have healed.

I don't get his aggression, I'm trying to use positive enforcement with toys that aren't in his cage, treats and praise but the step up and biting just won't stick.


I'm worried il never get him to be tame, even though he was apparently hand reared.


I'm not sure what to do ! Should I change his cage or change his food? His has loads of toys. He's spoilt really. I ignore and walk off after each bite and scream.




Oh gosh it's a lot of work loll.


Not giving up!! Persevere!!

 

[MonicaMc]

Any way you can get on video how you interact with your bird? And trying to teach him to step up?

 

[Joshuwaaa]

I could try and do a youtube video? If that would work?

Show you how I go about everything, look at his cage, him, my environment.

I'd happily take any criticism to help me loll.

If that would be okay? I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[MonicaMc]

Of course, that would work!

And maybe someone might see something that could use improvement?

 

[Joshuwaaa]

I would love that.

To be honest I would much rather someone see something and just say that it's wrong, then I can learn and try something different.

An you never know, if its something common we all do, we can all learn from it really.

I just dont want him to be miserable, I love him to bits but tonight especially he has been a little unbearable. Sitting on the top of his cage king of his castle loll.

I think the biting is the worst part, the training will come with time and trust, the biting needs to be nipped in the bud so that I dont accidentally encourage it.

 

[Joshuwaaa]

Ok so just a quick update Conure lovers!

I just tried something a little new and it really worked with his step up and took his mind from biting to playing.

Me and Jack both took a toy we know he likes the best. Each having one. We got him out of his cage and he sat back at the top.

I coaxed him to the side with the toy, lots of encouragement etc, an he got up onto my hand! Now usually when I use food he takes it and runs off. This time because he was playing he stood on my hand for a while.

Then we got Jack to dangle the other toy he loves, and asked him to step up to play with that as I slyly hid the one I had. He stood up and played with Jack. We kept repeating this cycle, I got the toy and got him onto my hand saying Step Up! Then Jack did the same with his toy, and by the end it was as if Step up was slowly sinking in, and when we said it to get to the toy he started moving one leg around.

Nothing major but to me and Jack this was great progress, no biting and some step up using Toys and not food.

It was lovely to play with him and have him step up without biting, the toys unlike the food were a good way to if he looked like he was about to bite dangle and sway them to take his mind off of it.

Hope this helps anyone, Il keep progressing with this using Jack as a second pair of hands to keep trying to do some step up training. Il let you know how this works.

If anyone knows anyway we could improve this please let me know. As ever I'll keep you posted frequently.

This seems to have had the best effect, good 10 minutes of stepping up onto both our hands for toys.

Anyway, hope your all well,

Thanks

 

[MonicaMc]

The reward doesn't have to be food! It can be anything the bird enjoys!


I'd say to keep up with what you are doing, and perhaps in time you can find other rewards he enjoys as well that he'll take without issues!



Good job!!!! So proud of you guys!

 

[Joshuwaaa]

I was trying to think of rewards but Im so unsure what to use.

I took a trek to a really nice pet store today and was looking about at cages, birds, toys and then like table tops and play tables.

I really like the look of a play table and a table top, something where I can bring him over and its not his place but its neutral. For training and socialising with me and jack by the sofa a bit more.

I also thought if I got one around the same time I got the new bird, it would be a good place to bring them both out and socialise them together. That ways neither will be as territorial because its not their cage and its new to both of them. Thought it could be a nice play time, out of the cage space, closer to us area and good meeting space for the new bird.

What do you think?

Thanks