New owner question re Pineapple Conure

[gfd78]

Hi, just hoping someone on here can offer some advice on my handreared pineapple conure. I have had the bird roughly 4 days, he seems very outgoing and appears as though he is happy in our busy, 4 child household however when I open his cage he flies down to the floor as best as he can with a clipped wing and when I put my hand out for him to hop on he sqwarks and goes to bite me.
I realise these birds use their beak to climb onto your hand but I can tell there is aggression when I offer to let them climb on. Being new to this bird owning stuff was I niave in thinking a handreared bird was easier than this? Im assuming it comes back to the handling the breeder has put into them?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, Im a bit worried we have outlayed the cost for a handreared bird who is destined to be confined to his cage if we cant sort this out

[avinet]

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

It takes time for a young bird to settle into a new environment - especially one with 4 kids! Patience is always a necessity.

When you say he goes to bite you does he actually bite, potentially drawing blood or is it more just a threat. If you persist will he step up onto your hand. If you open his cage and try to get him to step on your hand before he flies to the ground what happens - does he still try to bite?

Basically a properly hand raised baby should be well enough socialised to happily step onto a hand without problems. Unfortunately not all breeders are good at socialising their hand raised babies. additionally I have always found the Green-cheeks can be a bit nippy as a young bird just after weaning. It seems to be a phase they go through but with patience will get over and become a good pet.

If he is biting then all I can suggest is patience - hand feeding treats is a good approach. Find something that he enjoys eating - it might be a small bit of a plain biscuit for instance - or a fragment of plain peanut of almond or if you are feeding pellets then maybe a sunflower seed.

Once he will take the treat form your fingers then offer him the treat in the palm of your hand so he has to step on the hand to get it - as he does so say "step up" to him before he gets the treat. He will quickly learn to associate stepping up onto a hand or finger with a treat. However all this is something he should have been taught before you got him.

I am sure that he will end up OK and won't need to be confined to a cage - although I have to say that if you have 4 young kids then perhaps a Green-cheek wasn't the best choice - they will always be liable to give an occasional nip, they don't usually tolerate any rough handling. Whedn I had my shop and a family with young kids around 4 to 9 I always recommended a cockatiel as the best choice if it was to be a family bird and not a parent bird.

Finally what are you feeding the bird - did you get good advice from the seller about diet - see my article at scas.org.au/html/pet_parrot_care.html

cheers,

Mike

[christine]

Hello, That is excellent advice Mike gave you. I have a Pineapple Conure I acquired at 5 months hand reared and he was just a love bug. After awhile I purchased a Sun Conure as a companion bird for him. He picked her out of 4 other Suns and we would go down and visit twice a week until she could come home on hand feedings so they could bond. Since then they are inseperable. Like "glue". Long story short my Pineapple has been biting me for a couple of months now. He steps up fine and then bites me. He often flies to me and doesn't bite? I know something is wrong and he is trying to tell me what it is but I am at a loss to figure it out. I'm thinking he might be jealous of the Macaw I purchased who is on hand feedings now?? Good luck!

[gfd78]

Thanks Mike for responding, we are feeding him (as i call it dont know sex however) small parrot seed aswell as raw vegies & fruit. Do you think we should consider a pellet instead? he does seem to waste alot of the seed picking through it for the seeds he likes & leaving alot of the smaller stuff.
I will try some of yr suggestions re treats, but can u tell me why does he fly onto the ground when he gets his cage opened? is that him just investigating?
I did consider a cockatiel but thought they werent as interactive and sociable but am probably wrong and in hinesight probably should have gone down that path.
Do you reccomend continuing with wing clipping? I am worried if we dont clip his wing though he will get let out by one of the kids coming in & out.
thanks
Geraldine

[avinet]

Feb 15, 2013 12:21:52 GMT 10 gfd78 said:

Thanks Mike for responding, we are feeding him (as i call it dont know sex however) small parrot seed aswell as raw vegies & fruit. Do you think we should consider a pellet instead? he does seem to waste alot of the seed picking through it for the seeds he likes & leaving alot of the smaller stuff.

Hi Geraldine,

Small parrot seed and fresh food is OK but pellets and fresh food is always a better basis for a diet. Seed by itself is a very unbalanced diet, and the hope is that the fresh food will help to balance the overall nutrition. In practice that is a very hit or miss affair - being very dependent on what he is willing to eat and the variety that is given to him. With the better quality pellets you know he is starting out with a reasonably balanced diet even before the fresh food.

If you want to try pellets then my order of preference is as follows - way out ahead is Roudybush (mini size for a GCC) followed by either Pretty Bird or Kaytee, then Vetafarm and Paswell. Vetafarm is normally the easiest to find and is OK, just not in my opinion the best around. For all of the pellets varieties get a small size that is similar in size to the seed mix he is currently getting.

can u tell me why does he fly onto the ground when he gets his cage opened? is that him just investigating?

Can you be a bit more descriptive here - does he immediately fly to the ground as soon as the door is opened as if he is desperate to get out? Does he sit at the entrance looking around for a while before taking off? When on the ground does he wander around exploring or goes and hides?

A good idea with a bird that goes to the ground is to provide a ladder from the floor to his cage for him to climb back up when he wants to. Long bird ladders can be found in some pet shops - we used to sell a 21 rung ladder that was ideal for this purpose. alternatively a boing might be OK for him (see www.myparrotshop.com/perches/boings/cat_61.html if you are not familiar with boings)

I did consider a cockatiel but thought they werent as interactive and sociable but am probably wrong and in hinesight probably should have gone down that path.
Do you reccomend continuing with wing clipping? I am worried if we dont clip his wing though he will get let out by one of the kids coming in & out.
thanks
Geraldine

There are not many birds more sociable and interactive than a good hand raised cockatiel.

Wing clipping is often a contentious subject - personally I am happy for birds to be able to fly if the house is safe and the bird is well trained, and I am happy for the bird to be clipped if, as in your case, there are young kids in the house, and sooner or later he will escape.

However that clipping needs to be done properly and from your initial post it sounds like he only has one wing clipped. That is a big mistake and indicates to me a breeder or shop that doesn't know too much about pet birds. It is an accident waiting to happen and avian vets see lots of badly clipped birds coming in with injuries. See my article at scas.org.au/html/wing_clipping.html

If your bird does only have one wing clipped then there may not be much that can be done until he moults and the clipping can be corrected. Actually there is a possibility of making a correcting clip but I unfortunately need to see the bird to be able to make suggestions and unless you live on the Sunshine Coast that isn't likely.

Just a final comment about the biting problem when you go to pick him up - have a short perch - around 20 cm long - and get him to step up onto that and transport him to the cage on that for a while - once he is happy doing that then gradually hold it closer to where he is stepping onto it. Eventually he will step onto your hand rather than the perch.

cheers,

Mike

[gfd78]

I will try the pellets, my family owns a fodder store so im sure we can get your first option mentioned.
In regards to the flying down to the floor he definatley sits and waits and looks around then flies/crashes to the floor, and sometimes like today his cage is open and half hour later he still hasnt flown down.

At present he is in a temporary cage but next week his open top cage arrives, Im sure you know the type with the top that opens up with a perch on top. The breeder had a cage like ive ordered so I think he will be happier in the same one like he was used to. Do you think this is the way to go cage wise? I was going to get a standard cage with a play area on top.
When we get the new cage I will buy a ladder or a boing as you mentioned.

To answer your question re what he does when he flies to the ground im not sure as we usually get him and put him back at the cage but I will observe him next time he does it.
This morning when I opened his cage he hopped on to the door and I said 'up' and he stepped onto my hand without biting and let me stroke his back but he does still seem a bit anxious regarding being stroked Im assuming the breeder hasnt put in possibly as much handling as he could have so will just keep working at it. The breeder doesnt keep conures as pets just handrears the young and sells them so I spose that should have alerted me to buy elsewhere really.
Thanks for the idea of using a small perch to get him to step onto, we will try that.

Today when I opened his cage he was standing on a perch and looked like he was bobbing up and down like he was dancing and he really seems happy and not too fazed by our busy household so fingers crossed we will get him worked out.
I have also been giving him grapes and fruit from my hand and he takes them no problem so im hopeful some of the sqwarking biting issues are just teething problems being that it has only been one week today that he got here.

I guess in hinesight when we bought him I thought he would just stay near his cage when let out but Im assuming he is looking to investigate our house?? Being that the breeder doesnt keep a pet conure I cant really get any advice from him and from what you have said re clipping his wing and the link you posted he really doesnt know what hes doing so his advice probably wouldnt be worthwhile anyway.