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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly About Nanday Conures

stephanie69wvu

Strolling the yard
Joined
11/13/14
Messages
88
Location
west Virginia
Real Name
stephanie
I have even managed to get sheila potty trained for the most part. She has her play stand she goes potty on. It took some time but they are such smart birds that with praise and treats they are willing to learn. Now when she gets mad at me she will poop on something she knows she isn't supposed to and I know she does it on purpose. I can see her trying to poop when she does it lol. When I first got her she went everywhere but now every morning when she comes out she goes straight to her stand to do her business then I give her lots of good girls and whistles. She loves to sing twinkle twinkle little star, play peek a boo and she has her toys she has to have on the couch so she can play by mommy everyday. The one thing that has amazed me the most was when she accidentally got outside and in the tree outback. I thought I would never get her back. But I started to act like I was crying and she flew right to me and we walked right back in the house. I still don't think most people believe me but I don't care I know she did. She came at the right time too. There was a hawk flying over that tree not more than a minute after I had her in the house!! I'm sure it heard her talking to me when she was in the tree. Now we take extra precautions to make sure it never happens again. I take her out in a carrier or her cage and guard nthe door like fort Knox!!
 

stephanie69wvu

Strolling the yard
Joined
11/13/14
Messages
88
Location
west Virginia
Real Name
stephanie
Rockbird. Sheila is my only bird and I wasn't looking for a bird when I got her but when I was on Craigslist and came across her and saw the pictures of her and saw the sadness in her eyes and how miserable she looked. I knew she needed me and I felt this instant connection to her for some reason. I can't explain it. Then I called the people and found out she was in a cage for 2 years and that they had another parrot that they let out of the cage and loved on it but poor sheila was ignored and I'm pretty sure abused and swatted at. I knew I had to save her from that place and give her a home where she could have the attention she needed and deserved. So I made arrangements and went and researched everything I could find on nandays so I knew how to take care of her. Of course I wasn't as prepared as I thought and its been learning everyday and I thank everyone on the avian avenue for all the help and advice that's made me a great mommy to sheila. I even found that sheila loves the baby food fruit. She loves apple blueberry and banana strawberry. She likes to eat off a spoon and isn't always a fan of trying fruit but she like loves baby food. She doesn't get much of it at a time and we just started trying it about a month or two ago but it's been a great way to get her to try new things. Then I eat fruit so she likes to eat fruit with me too and veggies when I make dinner. She has her own plate for dinner every evening. Hers isn't always exactly what we eat but she wants to eat when we do and she likes to be fed like a baby from a spoon. My mom says sheila is more spoiled than most kids and I tell her sheila is one of my kids. She just has feathers lol. She has every toy I can find that I think she would like and a lot she doesn't like. But I'm allowed to spoil her she's my baby and she tells me "love you" and "me and you ever" I promised her it would be me and her forever and I have told her me and you forever since she came home. So she tells me now. And I agree the noise with Nanday can be very loud at times but sheila is like scout usually quiet until she gets mad or someone who doesn't belong there pulls in the driveway or comes in the house. Then its screaming non stop until they are out of sight.
 

MosbyGCC

Moving in
Joined
12/14/14
Messages
6
Location
Canada
Real Name
Manda
I have had My Foster for a little over a year now. And Total Foster Fail. He was in my home only 3 weeks when I told them I wanted to make him part of the flock forever. He is very much a one person bird, and has a lot of fears. We are working on it and he grows a little braver everyday. He has so much love to give and the screams are loud, but rare. Their nails sounds are so soft and cool to listen too. He loves to preen me, and once in a while lets me return the favour. So happy I decided to welcome him into my home.
 

rockybird

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
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Joined
10/11/11
Messages
3,843
@MosbyGCC Your Foster sounds so sweet and so much like my Scout. She is so affectionate and just melts my heart. She has never bitten. But she is definitely a one person bird. She also rarely screams, but when she does it is loud. She also is very fearful of people and new things and will scream. She is terrified of hawks. She saw a roadrunner the other day, and screamed in fear. I had to take my little girl out and snuggle her away from the window.
 

Carrie Smith

Checking out the neighborhood
Joined
8/3/18
Messages
4
Real Name
Carrie
The attributes listed in this thread are the experiences of each individual and your experiences may differ with your individual bird.

I obtained Rowdy from a local pet store when she was 8 months old. She will be 13 in less than a month. I hadn't planned on buying a parrot that day, but had been doing research for awhile and conures were high on my list of possible birds. I happened to go into that store for their after Christmas tack sale, but was chosen by a bird instead. Now I don't necessarily recommend getting a bird spontaneously, but it all worked out. However I did have to drive her from there to another pet store that cold December evening to find her a cage :) The one I got her from had cages for large parrots (bar spacing was too large) and those tiny, cheap budgie cages. Planning for your new bird by having a cage and supplies is probably the better way to do it :D

My new parrot came into my home as if she had always lived here. Within an hour of settling her into her new cage she asked to share dinner with me. I was amazed to discover a little bird could eat half a serving of veggies :hehe: Still, life with Rowdy wasn't the easiest adjustment. She was very happy to be with me, but didn't have the foggiest idea of how to properly interact with her new human companion and would just start biting and gnawing on my hands or any part of me she could get hold of. I didn't have the internet back then for advice and the books I bought on parrot behavior were not as helpful as I had hoped they would be. It took me a long time to figure out that she wasn't biting for most of the common reasons parrots bite like fear or anger, but rather she seemed to view me the same way as a toy or perch. My hands and arms resembled tree branches apparently. It also took me awhile to figure out how to curb that behavior. The hand "wobble" she found amusing and then bit me to get her amusement park ride. Finally I figured out I needed to ignore her for it since being with me was obviously what she wanted most. So setting her down on a table top play gym and not looking at her or speaking to her for a couple of minutes was my best option. Then I would allow her back with me, but the moment she began chewing on my flesh, back on the stand to be ignored she went. After a few days she understood :)

She is my moodiest and most temperamental bird. She can change moods every 2 minutes :D She is very territorial and for a long time I had to put her into her carrier to scrub down her cage and toys and perches if I didn't want to be attacked for it. I was very grateful for outside feeding doors on the cage. She doesn't just claim her cage and play gyms; she has claimed this entire room. Any time I bring anything in she doesn't want in her she screeches bloody murder. And yes, Nandays have a very loud, obnoxious screech and can screech several times a day. She screeches when I clean, anytime someone pulls in the driveway, anytime a guest comes in, and then every time the guest even moves for the first day s/he is visiting. She screeches because I walked across the room with a screwdriver. I can't help but notice though she doesn't screech about things she actually wants though, like that new, big screen TV I bought 2 years ago :hehe:

She is very jealous of the phone. She screeches anytime it rings or I am talking to someone. Last summer I answered it while she was out of her cage and she flew at my face and latched onto my bottom lip. She hung from my lip, piercing and grinding and I nearly had to pry her beak open to get her off. She also hates the camera and has ripped that out of my hands and thrown it on the floor so many times it is now held together with packing tape.

Mostly she enjoys having other people come over, and is probably my friendliest bird with strangers. She likes most people. These days she also gets along pretty well with other birds, but that hasn't always been true. However, she will think nothing of biting Pete, who outweighs her by nearly 400g, and it's good for her that s a big baby because if he were to retaliate, it would be very, very bad.

She is bold, hyperactive,curious, easily distracted, demanding and loud. She can also be cuddly when she wants to be, but not anywhere near as much as most conures. She really likes to preen hair, but she also tries to remove my freckles and still doesn't seem to get that they don't come off. Because of her I learned I have a freckle in my right ear canal :D

She doesn't give a lot of warning that she doesn't want to do this or that. If I'm lucky she will say, "Unh!" at me to let me know that no, she doesn't want to step up.

She is an excellent eater and will eat nearly anything. She also demands whatever I'm eating every time I eat. She has learned though "Not birdie food" means she won't be getting certain things that wouldn't be good for her.

She is my most likely parrot to contact call. Years ago I taught her to say, "Hey hey" instead of screech and so she usually does do that.

Noise is probably the biggest drawback for owning a Nanday. They alarm screech, contact call, make a variety of other loud chirps and sounds (including one that sounds like "Uh oh! Uh oh!". If you or anyone in your family does not like loud, obnoxious sounds, or you live in an apartment or have close neighbors who might complain, this is not the species for you :)

She is good at entertaining herself though and loves all kinds of toys. So if you work, a conure might make a good bird as she doesn't seem to require as much interaction from me as my other birds do. Just provide a LOT of things for the bird to do.

Vocabulary wise she is the best talker of any bird I've had. She says new, appropriate things almost every day. Sometimes she tells me paragraphs of stuff, and goes on and on. But, she is not always easy to understand. Sometimes she is quite clear and has good volume, and other times she is muttering and I can't make any sense out of what she is saying.
 

Carrie Smith

Checking out the neighborhood
Joined
8/3/18
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4
Real Name
Carrie
Thanks. I'm learning more and more about my nanday conur, Stanley every day. I am so pleased to have him
 

The Hulk

Checking out the neighborhood
Joined
6/2/19
Messages
1
Real Name
Tom
Jack (aka Jackey-Jack, full is Captain Jack Aubrey, after the fictional character) is a rescue from Peninsula Humane Society near San Francisco, CA. His leg band reads 1992, adopted 2005. He's been traumatized, both wings broken, and who knows along with that. The bird lady at the adoption center said he fell out of a tree at a friend's house, then spent over six months at the vet before transitioning to the adoption center, where he hung out for many months, where the other birds came and went, and he screamed his head off and bit everyone. Very likely he'll always be a full on screamer, however, he's learned to tone it done considerable - now he lets fly when I'm heading out the door, when he sees someone walking by - the usual for most conures, I'm sure! He's a sweetie - when not on his cage! He'll step right up and hang out most anytime. A poor mimic, he clearly whistles, laughs, meows, barks, and farts (perfectly); unclearly, many phrases he hears often or has heard often, sailor talk (cussin'), his name, etc., which I can pick out, but the uninitiated wouldn't recognize. He can't fly, but gets around well with beak and feet.

He's a deep fear/loathing of gloves, paper bags, and James Brown music - he recognizes any/all of his hits within a bar or two, then goes nuts! He likes (other) music, with some beat to it, and dance dance dance he does. He will remember which drawer/cabinet contains gloves, for months! It would be plain mean to leave gloves out where he can see them.

Of course he loves to eat, everything; his main is Zupreem, supplemented by fruit, vegs, and crunchy stuff/treats. He's saved many a pizza, which he loves a bit o' crust. I turn the oven light on - he watches carefully, then lets me know when it's brown and bubbling.

I enjoyed reading this thread!
 
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