Young conure scared of hands suddenly! + How to get off hard cemented feeding formula?

[Edgar]

Hello there everyone! Some of you may already know my bird from my previous thread (Conure baby doesn't like to eat much). I've solved the problem mentioned in that thread, but some new problems have risen. Firstly, my conure LOVES flying on top of everyone's head and LOVES to snuggle along my neck sitting on my shoulder, being nippy as well. She used to love sitting and getting on hands too. However, all of a sudden she seems to hate hands and tends to be aggressive towards them. It's not like she hates me or other people, she still is playful, will jump to the shoulder or the head on anyone but will try to land bites when it sees a full hand nearby. This would be normal if this reaction was during the 2 days I had to forcefully handfeed it. But she totally eats on her own now, no force involved in recent weeks. Since the last 2 days she's been real violent towards hands or fingers. Although I must mention she stops biting when I try to calm her by petting and then she stops biting for the whole period when she's on my fingers. I don't want her to associate to this (give-bites-to-get-pets) behavior. Now, what can I do to make it feel safer or normal around hands again?


My second problem is that, some of the feeding formula that I couldn't clean or she didn't shake off during feeding has cemented. Mostly around the cheeks. I have cleaned all of the head and most of the neck cements using a cotton bud and warm water but she hates it! And I can't get to her cheeks without holding her but due to her recent behavior towards hands I don't want to force her either. What is a viable solution to clean the cemented formula?
Lastly, she's almost 2 months, maybe 1 or 1.5weeks remaining. She calls for handfeeding from time to time but won't eat much in one go. However, she likes chewing into small cut fruits, nuts and sometimes eats it. Can I confidently (but yes, slowly) move to the weaning process?

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hello there everyone! Some of you may already know my bird from my previous thread (Conure baby doesn't like to eat much). I've solved the problem mentioned in that thread, but some new problems have risen. Firstly, my conure LOVES flying on top of everyone's head and LOVES to snuggle along my neck sitting on my shoulder, being nippy as well. She used to love sitting and getting on hands too. However, all of a sudden she seems to hate hands and tends to be aggressive towards them. It's not like she hates me or other people, she still is playful, will jump to the shoulder or the head on anyone but will try to land bites when it sees a full hand nearby. This would be normal if this reaction was during the 2 days I had to forcefully handfeed it. But she totally eats on her own now, no force involved in recent weeks. Since the last 2 days she's been real violent towards hands or fingers. Although I must mention she stops biting when I try to calm her by petting and then she stops biting for the whole period when she's on my fingers. I don't want her to associate to this (give-bites-to-get-pets) behavior. Now, what can I do to make it feel safer or normal around hands again?


My second problem is that, some of the feeding formula that I couldn't clean or she didn't shake off during feeding has cemented. Mostly around the cheeks. I have cleaned all of the head and most of the neck cements using a cotton bud and warm water but she hates it! And I can't get to her cheeks without holding her but due to her recent behavior towards hands I don't want to force her either. What is a viable solution to clean the cemented formula?
Lastly, she's almost 2 months, maybe 1 or 1.5weeks remaining. She calls for handfeeding from time to time but won't eat much in one go. However, she likes chewing into small cut fruits, nuts and sometimes eats it. Can I confidently (but yes, slowly) move to the weaning process?

What a cute baby birdie she is! You should absolutely be weaning her now. I mixed very small pellets into Rocky's formula and fed the mixture to her on a spoon. It's really important that you wean her onto pellets in addition to fruits and veggies because now is the easiest time to get her in the habit of eating them. Seeds should be training treats only.
Regarding her behavior, Rocky acted exactly the same way when she was two months old

 

[DonnaBudgie]

What a cute baby birdie she is! You should absolutely be weaning her now. I mixed very small pellets into Rocky's formula and fed the mixture to her on a spoon. It's really important that you wean her onto pellets in addition to fruits and veggies because now is the easiest time to get her in the habit of eating them. Seeds should be training treats only.
Regarding her behavior, Rocky acted exactly the same way when she was two months old

Rocky knew that hands transported her to places she didn't want to go like her cage. She loves to fly around and land on everyone's heads. She also chews on anything she can get her beak on including paper, fabrics, clothing and human skin! Part of this behavior is because Rocky is a girl. Female budgies excavate the nesting holes so it's to be expected that they have a stronger chewing instinct and will chew on things much more than males budgies do even when they aren't in breeding mode. I don't know anything about GCC nesting behavio

To break this habit start using using a stick perch to pick her up and move her around instead of your hand that way she doesn't associate your approaching hand with going back in her cage, and use your hand to give her treats. She won't lunge at your hand if she thinks it has goodies in it.

Rocky's six months old now and her hand nipping has improved a lot since I started using a stick to move her around and put her back in her cage.

As for the dried on formula, get her a cat watering fountain and offer her long frequent bathing sessions. The dried formula should soften up and come off.

Good luck and enjoy your baby!

 

[Edgar]

Rocky knew that hands transported her to places she didn't want to go like her cage. She loves to fly around and land on everyone's heads. She also chews on anything she can get her beak on including paper, fabrics, clothing and human skin! Part of this behavior is because Rocky is a girl. Female budgies excavate the nesting holes so it's to be expected that they have a stronger chewing instinct and will chew on things much more than males budgies do even when they aren't in breeding mode. I don't know anything about GCC nesting behavio

To break this habit start using using a stick perch to pick her up and move her around instead of your hand that way she doesn't associate your approaching hand with going back in her cage, and use your hand to give her treats. She won't lunge at your hand if she thinks it has goodies in it.

Rocky's six months old now and her hand nipping has improved a lot since I started using a stick to move her around and put her back in her cage.

As for the dried on formula, get her a cat watering fountain and offer her long frequent bathing sessions. The dried formula should soften up and come off.

Good luck and enjoy your baby!

The usage of stick makes perfect sense! Thanks a lot for the insightful information.