Clingy sun conure; weaning

[SnowB]

Hi I was wondering if anyone else has an extremely clingy bird? I am aware that conures are clingy but I’m unsure if my sun is attached in an unhealthy way. He cries and screams when I put him in his cage and looks desperate to get out. Any advice on how to correct this? I don’t want him to get stressed and hurt himself but I also don’t want to over baby him. He is 10 weeks and still relies on hand feeding. I’m not sure if this is contributing to clinginess.

The vet told me to feed less formula so that he will be hungry to eat solid food. According to the vet he is too old for hand feedings now. But I thought between 8-12 weeks was normal. I believe in abundance weaning so I worry that leaving him hungry will cause behavior issues. To follow the vet’s advice, I only left him a little hungry during the day yesterday and he did eat more solid food than usual but kept crying for his formula all day. He didn’t go to sleep hungry, I hand fed him before bed. Solid food is available to him at all times. He is capable of eating vegetables, pellets, seeds, etc. but won’t eat enough of anything to satisfy his hunger and is dependent on hand feeding Am I doing something wrong? Can someone guide me in the right direction to successfully weaning?

Thank you

 

[macawpower58]

Hand-feed until it's not wanted, that is how most of us weaned. It's abundance weaning.
Offer feeding as normal (a bit less if you want) and then offer solid food. A baby that is not hungry and crying for food will be much more confident and ready to explore the solid food shapes, tastes and textures.

As for clingy, weaning is a hard time emotionally. My sister has a Sun Conure, that silly bird lives on her!
You can't 'correct' a desire to be near you. Call out, let him hear your contact call. Make sure he has lots of toys and shredding opportunities. Have a stand/perch that he can use to be near, but not on you.

We all spoil our babies a bit.

 

[Zara]

The vet told me to feed less formula so that he will be hungry to eat solid food.

My vet told me to cut my bird off from formula because she was passed the average weaning age, and he´s not my vet anymore.

As Becky said, if he´s still wanting to be fed, then feed him.
Remember right after the formula to introduce the new adult foods for him to explore, like literally right after finishing the formula and wiping the beak. Sounds a strange concept, but it´s not, we don´t feed the chick until they´re ¨full¨, we give close to 10% of their own body weight in formula, then they can try some new foods and fill themselves.

A stand is a great idea

 

[Mizzely]

Ask any mom of any species that cares for their young... They generally are pretty clingy when they are babies! That clinginess is a key to their survival and Development

 

[SnowB]

My vet told me to cut my bird off from formula because she was passed the average weaning age, and he´s not my vet anymore.

As Becky said, if he´s still wanting to be fed, then feed him.
Remember right after the formula to introduce the new adult foods for him to explore, like literally right after finishing the formula and wiping the beak. Sounds a strange concept, but it´s not, we don´t feed the chick until they´re ¨full¨, we give close to 10% of their own body weight in formula, then they can try some new foods and fill themselves.

A stand is a great idea

Hand-feed until it's not wanted, that is how most of us weaned. It's abundance weaning.
Offer feeding as normal (a bit less if you want) and then offer solid food. A baby that is not hungry and crying for food will be much more confident and ready to explore the solid food shapes, tastes and textures.

As for clingy, weaning is a hard time emotionally. My sister has a Sun Conure, that silly bird lives on her!
You can't 'correct' a desire to be near you. Call out, let him hear your contact call. Make sure he has lots of toys and shredding opportunities. Have a stand/perch that he can use to be near, but not on you.

We all spoil our babies a bit.

Thank you! I don’t mind the clinginess most of the time but the problem is is that he keeps biting me! It doesn’t seem like he always bites to be mean or hurt me but he pinches my skin everywhere! The back of my neck, my ears, my arms, hands, everywhere! So bad that he’s puncturing my skin until I bleed. Today he made my ear bleed so much that I cried How do I control this? He has SO MANY toys and I distract him with a toy to shred and chew on but he loses interest in 5 seconds. I bought so many toys in hopes he would like at least one of them. It seems like he’s obsessed with biting my skin. My ear is punctured, my hands, arms, and neck are cut and bruised up. He also isn’t satisfied with sitting next to me with toys, food, treats, a perch, etc. He always flies right back to my neck and goes back to biting my skin hard I put him away so that he understands that his biting isn’t tolerated but as soon as he goes in the cage he starts screaming and climbing and flying like crazy and my neighbors called the police because the screaming was so loud What do I do about this?? He is driving me crazy

 

[Zara]

I put him away so that he understands that his biting isn’t tolerated

The cage isn´t a punishment. That´s his safe fun space where his toys and food are.
You would be better trying to distance yourself when he starts biting, so put him down on the nearrest bird safe surface and turn your back on him for a minute.

my neighbors called the police because the screaming was so loud What do I do about this??

Talk with your neighbour?