Post: New conure

Posted by Popcorn on 10/17/07

It doesn't look like anyone is on the conure board, so I'm
reposting here. Sorry it's so long.

I have never owned a conure before, only parakeets
and cockatiels. Now I have come across a green cheek
conure, whose owner is not caring for him properly and I
have finally convinced him to let me have the bird. So,
this weekend my mom will be going to get him. He is seven
years old. They say they take the bird out sometimes and
I think that may mean about once a month. At the moment
he is living on the top of a dresser in a small cage where
he is above everyone's head and has no contact with them
unless they are cleaning him (which doesn't happen often)
or taking him out. I held him last night for the first
time and he is BITEY! And he bites hard with his strong
little beak. He broke the skin once (not bad but it did
bleed) and left a few bruises. His owners were saying
that it's just because there were so many people in the
room (there were five of us) but he seemed unaffected by
the amount of people and it seems like he's just always
been allowed to bite, so he does. When he started biting
me I imobilized him by grabbing him around the neck and
holding
him against my body. He couldn't bite me from this
position but when he calmed down and I let him up he went
at it even harder and I repeated my response. It
continued until he got hard enough to break the skin and
then after that he was still biting but not as hard. I
think he got worked up when I was holding him because as I
grabbed his neck his owner (more his owners kid) freaked
out because I was "strangling" their bird. I kept calm
but I could tell their tension was mounting even though I
explained everything I was doing as I was doing it. I
don't think that helped the bird.
My problem is that I am in college and only see my birds
when I am home for break. My sister lets my birds out but
she will not know how to handle a biting bird. So the
bird will only be worked with when I am on breaks. I have
five weeks till I will be home and able to work with him
and even then it will only be a few days. In the mean
time I intend to have my mom/sister start introducing him
to the fresh food I feed my birds, since he is on an all
seed diet at the moment. I know that this is not an ideal
situation for taming him but it is better than the one the
bird lives in now.
My actually question is does anyone have any advice on the
biting issue or keeping him entertained while I am not
around? His previous owners have told me he screams and
I'd like something to entertain him to cut down on that.
Any special toys I can get that can make him
happy and he can play on his own and not be bored?
He will be in the same room as my one tiel and three
parakeets so he'll have someone to talk to.
Thanks, Popcorn!

Posts on this thread, including this one

New conure, 10/17/07, by Popcorn.

Re: New conure, 10/17/07, by A Bird Owner.

Re: New conure, 10/17/07, by A Bird Owner.

Re: New conure, 10/18/07, by To Bird Owner.

Re: New conure, 10/18/07, by You Win!.

Re: New conure, 10/18/07, by Popcorn.

Re: New conure, 10/18/07, by WOW!.

Re: New conure, 10/18/07, by To You Win.

Re: New conure, 10/20/07, by A Bird Owner.

Re: New conure, 10/25/07, by everywhere.