Need suggestions on teaching a baby conure manners!!

[Lindsey]

Hey!
we just brought home a baby conure, we named him Raider. He is fully weaned and super sweet. However he's doing some things we are wanting to stop before it becomes a problem. First, he is constantly flying on our heads. If we can get our fingers up quick enough, he MIGHT land on our hands, but he prefers heads cause he can get a handful of hair if he loses his balance. We would like to teach him to land on fingers or shoulders instead of our heads, but don't really know how to teach this...


second, his nibbling is getting stronger... I know hes just testing his boundaries, but i dint know how to say "thats too much" in bird -speak. How do I discourage him from this? I don't mind mouthing at all but I don't want him thinking I'm a chew stick either!!


and third, this little birdy is spoiled. He has tons if toys of all sizes and materials but he loves chewing on our clothes and necklaces... I've tried giving him something else to do, but he always comes back for the shirts and necklaces! Is there another way to discourage that?
All help and suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Agapornis]

I bought a "bird necklace" Interactive Plastic Pet Bird Toy: Super Bird Creations Treat Cup Necklace Bird Toy and it keeps those little beaks busy when they're on you. Hubby and I also have special bird shirts we wear at home, old shirts we dont care about. Oh, and i immediately take off all my jewelry the minute I get home from work!

As for the nipping...I'm having the same problem with Sundance right now. hopefully it's because he is going thru his first molt and not in a good mood. I'm interested in seeing what others say about this problem!

 

[Agapornis]

oh, and btw, Raider is adorable!!!! It's hard NOT to spoil them, isnt it???

 

[CheekyBeaks]

I would recommend looking at some of Barbara Heidenreichs website Training Parrots | Parrot Training DVDS & Books or books, it is really good to start some basic positive reinforcement training from a young age and will help in the long term.

also have plenty of foot toys while having out of cage play time to act as a distraction if he gets a little nippy can help too.
alot of people will also recommend to stay silent if a bird bites or nips to hard, I don't agree with this I find a short sharp ah-ah work well, if you ever see two birds interacting and one nips the other they certainly don't stay quiet, they will squawk to say hey that hurt!

 

[macawpower58]

As for the head landing, wear hats for a time. Reward when he lands where you like.

 

[BeakyBird]

My sun conure, Gracie loved chewing shirts. It was a problem in the beginning, and I tried my best to express to her it was unwanted behavior. However, there's a point where you can't keep telling them no and giving them a time out. So when she wanted to be on our shoulders, or with us, we'd start wearing old shirts. Shirts specifically set aside for her to nibble, chew, and shred. And in her cage, we made a toy out of a few old shirts we cut up. She loved them!

 

[Macgyver]

Hey!
we just brought home a baby conure, we named him Raider. He is fully weaned and super sweet. However he's doing some things we are wanting to stop before it becomes a problem. First, he is constantly flying on our heads. If we can get our fingers up quick enough, he MIGHT land on our hands, but he prefers heads cause he can get a handful of hair if he loses his balance. We would like to teach him to land on fingers or shoulders instead of our heads, but don't really know how to teach this...


second, his nibbling is getting stronger... I know hes just testing his boundaries, but i dint know how to say "thats too much" in bird -speak. How do I discourage him from this? I don't mind mouthing at all but I don't want him thinking I'm a chew stick either!!


and third, this little birdy is spoiled. He has tons if toys of all sizes and materials but he loves chewing on our clothes and necklaces... I've tried giving him something else to do, but he always comes back for the shirts and necklaces! Is there another way to discourage that?
All help and suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

Hi there, I was wondering if you had an update on this post? I had a linnie that would put holes in our shirts in the beginning, but I realized that over the years, she stopped. I'm not sure if that's because we would nudge her away, take her off when she did it, etc., or if she just wasn't a big chewer.
How is it going with your Raider these days?

 

[SueA555]

I have birdy shirts full of holes too.