New Crimson Bellied Conure :-D

[Jugni]

Hi everyone!

We just brought home a 4 month old crimson bellied conure! We are really excited to have him with us, but was hoping for some advice from some of the more experienced conure owners here

1. The breeder had him on a seed/fresh fruit and veggies diet and I definitely want to get him to eat healthier but am reading mixed reviews on the pellets...which pellets did your conure enjoy the most? What do you recommend?

2. He is pretty shy, how do we start to bond with him without stressing him out?

3. Please suggest a cute name for our little buddy! We had originally chosen Dobby (from Harry Potter) but he's so beautiful lol the name doesn't suit him at all!

Thank you in advance for reading and any advice you have to offer! We are very excited to have our new baby and want to make sure he is comfortable with our family

 

[Willow12]

Hi! congrats on your new baby! number 1. my YSGCC Archie he loves his Roudy Bush pellets! all 4 of my birds are on that! number 2. too start the bonding thing talk too him in a very soft voice let him know you are not a threat. And put your hand in his cage for like 2 minutes everyday and if he is okay with that ask him too step up take your finger and put it were his belly is if he steps up then that is great! but if not try again the next day don't force him. If he is shy then this will take some time be patient if you have some spray millet all birds love this hold it in your fingers and see if he comes up too eat it that is how I get all my birds too start trust me!. 3. A cute name for your boy let's see Comet is a cute one Oliver is another one Kirby is cute!.

 

[Alyse]

Welcome! My crimson belly eats Harrison's but I have also bought Roudybush in the past. CBCs are wonderful! Congrats!

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

My four crimsons as well as my Amazons eat Zupreem "natural". Nobody here likes anything else in the pellets… Harrison's blech .. they won't touch it! I wish they did because I like the ingredients in it. Tops also has a nutritious pellet with good ingredients. They'll all pick at Roudy bush but I hate the first ingredient is corn.

 

[Willow12]

My four crimsons as well as my Amazons eat Zupreem "natural". Nobody here likes anything else in the pellets… Harrison's blech .. they won't touch it! I wish they did because I like the ingredients in it. Tops also has a nutritious pellet with good ingredients. They'll all pick at Roudy bush but I hate the first ingredient is corn.

Well corn is part of the birds diet yes Tops is a great pellet food I wish all my birds would eat that but I have tried it and they will refuse to eat lol.

 

[Alyse]

I have to disguise mine by hiding it in things like bean cuisine, birdie bread, seed mix, etc. That's the only way my fids eat it, I should have clarified in my first post

 

[birdle]

my conure preferred zupreem natural over all the pellets I give him. But sometimes the pet stores in town don't have it and so they've tried a few diff pellets. He HATES harrisons, that is what he's on now. He won't eat it unless I mix it into his mash. He also liked roudybush. But I heard they don't have the best ingredients so I switched to harrisons. But I will probably switch back because he hates it.

For your cbc conure I really like the name kayden! I saw that name on facebook today and thought it was nice. And to make friends I always start out just sitting and observing birds, talking to them, singing a lot, I start letting them preen my hair and stuff so they get comfy and that's when I will see if they wanna come out and hang out on me.

 

[tattoosiva]

The easiest pellet for me to convert my birds (fosters and my own 2) has been Roudybush.

I used to do the RB CA blend mini but now I do the mini size and add in my own own freeze dried fruits and vegetables plus some white millet, flax seed and some other stuff.

I also put in vegetables to birdy bread like kale, carrots and such to trick them into eating them or there tricking me into baking them fresh bread monthly
Either way, it gets eaten.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

Hi everyone!

We just brought home a 4 month old crimson bellied conure! We are really excited to have him with us, but was hoping for some advice from some of the more experienced conure owners here

1. The breeder had him on a seed/fresh fruit and veggies diet and I definitely want to get him to eat healthier but am reading mixed reviews on the pellets...which pellets did your conure enjoy the most? What do you recommend?

2. He is pretty shy, how do we start to bond with him without stressing him out?

3. Please suggest a cute name for our little buddy! We had originally chosen Dobby (from Harry Potter) but he's so beautiful lol the name doesn't suit him at all!

Thank you in advance for reading and any advice you have to offer! We are very excited to have our new baby and want to make sure he is comfortable with our family

Does he step up on your hand for you? If he does then move slowly away from the cage and find a quiet place to sit and just let him sit without trying to pet him. It's important to start gaining his trust. You can tell if they are nervous if they sit with their feathers tight to the body and once they start to relax they'll give their body a shake and ruffle their feathers up much like a dog shakes it's coat. Just continue to let it sit and talk to it. Keep him on your hand about waist to chest level and avoid letting him crawl up you arm. If he does then use your other hand to block him from crawling up so that he has to step on to the other hand and say "Up". I like to keep words simple, many people will say "step up". At this point you really want to avoid allowing him to sit on your shoulder until you become more accustomed to him. Once they get to your shoulder you'll have a harder time trying to get him off and it's awkward because he'll avoid getting on your hand and may cause him to nip your finger. Birds naturally want to get to a higher point. After a few days of having sit on your hand and he seems to be more relaxed then I would practice the ladder technique. Watch this video on teaching him how to step up.You'll have to click on the blue link to watch this video --- Train a Bird to Step Up Video

Next This is the ladder technique with a green cheek conure.

Most important give your little guy time to get to know you, your voice and the basic commands of stepping up and down and positive attention. Limit the amount of time with sessions if your bird starts to get a bit nippy, he may just be telling you he's had enough movement at that time. Let the mainstay of dry food be the pellets since they are formulated to give him what he needs and limit the seed. I personally use two different cups for each ( it makes it easier to monitor how much they eat of each) and a third cup for vegetables/fruits. Chopping the vegetables and fruits makes it easier for them eat as youngsters.

 

[Jugni]

Thank you so much for the replies everyone! Sorry to post and totally disappear, my sister is in town for a few days

I got him Zupreem natural and mixed it into his seeds...hopefully we will wean him off the seeds and onto the pellets over the next few weeks. Another question....he is such a little piggy! It seems like all he does is eat lol is this normal?

Still working on bonding. He will come out of his cage on his own and sometimes he will fly away from his cage to explore but he is still very scared. I can hold him but will have to finger/hand train him because he has no clue. He doesn't bite at all (yet, lol)! When I hold him he just sticks to my chest, and today he even rested his little head on my chest and my heart completely melted He allows me to scratch his head and he even sat on my chest after I took my hands off of him, but sometimes he wants to stick on my shoulders and go on my head. I am going to ask in the training section as well, but if any of you have any suggestions/websites/youtube videos please send them my way! I had read a lot about training and watched a few videos as well before we got him, but I feel like I don't know where to begin with him and I just want to get off on the right foot.

So we decided to stick with the name Dobby mostly because my kids won't stop calling him Dobby lol

 

[webchirp]

Zupreem natural + nutriberries + avicakes, veggies, fruits and other good people food.

Congrats on your new baby!

 

[Willow12]

My Archie is a real piggy lol when he is done with the food in the mornings he looking for more! I think that it is great that they are eating! when they don't eat is when I become really worried! if you are feeding him good stuff then I don't see why he can't eat like a pig!!.

 

[Jugni]

Zupreem natural + nutriberries + avicakes, veggies, fruits and other good people food.

Congrats on your new baby!

Thank you!

Is this the one you are talking about? Lafeber's Nutri-Berries Conure Food at PETCO He doesn't seem to like the pellets much :-/

 

[webchirp]

Mine do not like Lafeber's pellets but do seem to like the Zupreem. I stopped feeding fruity zupreem after I spent $300 and worry with red poop.

Mine like the tropical nutriberries best, el paso nutriberries second and will eat the regular nutriberries if they have to. Of course I buy the 20lb boxes. I also give mine half of a cockatoo/macaw size avicake. They love the larger ones.

 

[roxynoodle]

The best pellet is the one he will eat Some of mine took right to Harrison's, but the conures went for the Zupreem Fruitblend. No more (or less?) artificial colors now on the Zupreem and no more red or purple poop!