birblover22
Moving in
- Joined
- 4/9/18
- Messages
- 8
Hi everyone, I currently own a 7.5 month old green cheek conure. I just got him a few days ago but I have already noticed that he picked up some bad habits from his previous owner.
1) For example, he screeches almost on a consistent basis from around 7:30 am until the afternoon and when he does not get attention he screams even louder. This leads me to believe that the previous owners (who had children) may have encouraged this behavior by reacting in such a way that makes him want to scream to get people to come to him.
I live in an apartment so his screeching during the day is not what concerns me, it's mainly when he gets up very early to scream and do flock calls and if he is noisy during the evening I'm worried the neighbours will start to complain. However, I did run into one of my neighbours yesterday and she said she couldn't hear him except for when she was in the hallway.
I feel bad because it seems like the only way to quiet him down is to put a cover on his cage. I've been interacting with him for hours a day but it still seems like the cage cover is the only thing that can get him to lower his voice into soft little chirps. I don't want to always be putting a cover on his cage especially when it's not anytime close to his bedtime yet.
2) Another thing I'm concerned about is the portion sizes of food I have been feeding him. I feed him the daily recommended pellets portion that his bird food bag tells me to. I also add a tbsp of egg food. I've also been trying to get him to eat more fruits and veg, but so far he only seems to like grapes and tries to evade carrots. I've even attempted to chop them up into fine pieces but he doesn't seem to like that. He seems to only want nutriberries if he has to eat anything other than his pellet food. I've also noticed that he tends to eat for most of the day so if I still see a decent amount of food in his bowl from the previous day, I do not refill it unless I need to.
3) Lastly, he's a really sweet bird. Apparently he was handfed and is used to human contact. Even the first day I took him home he already seemed comfortable, and did not even try to bite or nip at me or my partner when he hopped on my arm and we started petting him. The problem I've noticed is that he is able to step up but he has a strong desire to run up my arm and towards my shoulder. I have tried to counteract his attempt by suddenly moving my arm and putting him back on his cage. I've began to teach him to step up and down with treats and with much progress but he still can't master the laddering method and still tries to fly to my shoulder when I take him out of his cage.
I'm somewhat of a novice bird owner. I grew up with my senegal parrot but that bird was more accustomed to my parents rather than me. I know I just got the green cheek conure but I would like to learn some effective training methods early on so I can ensure that he grows up with good behaviours. Thanks!
1) For example, he screeches almost on a consistent basis from around 7:30 am until the afternoon and when he does not get attention he screams even louder. This leads me to believe that the previous owners (who had children) may have encouraged this behavior by reacting in such a way that makes him want to scream to get people to come to him.
I live in an apartment so his screeching during the day is not what concerns me, it's mainly when he gets up very early to scream and do flock calls and if he is noisy during the evening I'm worried the neighbours will start to complain. However, I did run into one of my neighbours yesterday and she said she couldn't hear him except for when she was in the hallway.
I feel bad because it seems like the only way to quiet him down is to put a cover on his cage. I've been interacting with him for hours a day but it still seems like the cage cover is the only thing that can get him to lower his voice into soft little chirps. I don't want to always be putting a cover on his cage especially when it's not anytime close to his bedtime yet.
2) Another thing I'm concerned about is the portion sizes of food I have been feeding him. I feed him the daily recommended pellets portion that his bird food bag tells me to. I also add a tbsp of egg food. I've also been trying to get him to eat more fruits and veg, but so far he only seems to like grapes and tries to evade carrots. I've even attempted to chop them up into fine pieces but he doesn't seem to like that. He seems to only want nutriberries if he has to eat anything other than his pellet food. I've also noticed that he tends to eat for most of the day so if I still see a decent amount of food in his bowl from the previous day, I do not refill it unless I need to.
3) Lastly, he's a really sweet bird. Apparently he was handfed and is used to human contact. Even the first day I took him home he already seemed comfortable, and did not even try to bite or nip at me or my partner when he hopped on my arm and we started petting him. The problem I've noticed is that he is able to step up but he has a strong desire to run up my arm and towards my shoulder. I have tried to counteract his attempt by suddenly moving my arm and putting him back on his cage. I've began to teach him to step up and down with treats and with much progress but he still can't master the laddering method and still tries to fly to my shoulder when I take him out of his cage.
I'm somewhat of a novice bird owner. I grew up with my senegal parrot but that bird was more accustomed to my parents rather than me. I know I just got the green cheek conure but I would like to learn some effective training methods early on so I can ensure that he grows up with good behaviours. Thanks!