I have a green cheek conure, Luca, and he's the first bird that belongs to me (as opposed to a 'family" pet, which really meant that my mom took care of them), and the first bird in my house since I was a child so we are kinda learning as we go. We (my boyfriend and I) got him straight from the breeder (at a show) and were warned that he wasn't "the sweetest" bird he had, and after a few minutes it was very obvious why. (I really shouldn't judge, because I'm not sure if this is normal but at the time I was horrified.)
When we first saw Luca, he was very scared (which is understandable considering the size and noise level of a bird show) and was trying to escape. Truthfully we wanted to play, and he wanted nothing to do with us. He flew off the top of the cage and rather than let him land safely on the floor and then grab him the breeder caught him by the base of the tail and held him up-side-down for several minutes. Seeing the horror on my face he explained that it was no different from holding a cat by the scruff of his neck and even told us this was an option for letting the bird "get some energy out". Maybe it was a bad decision, but rather than purchase one of the many other "sweet" birds we held that day we decided to take home the anxious, stressed, scared bird that wanted nothing to do with us. I felt like those sweet birds wouldn't have trouble finding a home, but this guy... this scared little escape artist, whenever he found a home there is no guarantee that those people would do the research and learn to love him properly, care for him, and finally rid him of his bad habits through proper actions rather than negative reinforcement. Making a long story short... it was only a few weeks before he was willing to hop onto our hands for a treat of millet, and over the past several months he has become very affectionate with both me and my boyfriend (I might argue that he prefers Doug over me, but that's for another time). He also has almost NO fear of strangers (at least not any that we've introduced him to)! Once we broke his fear of hands he'll step-up for anyone! Having said all of that good stuff, he is a green cheek, and saying that he is "nippy" is an understatement (I am currently wearing three band-aids)!
I will admit here that for a while we took the advice of a friend (I trusted this friend because they had a sun conure for several years, and do lots of research--like me) and used a second smaller cage (not his normal cage with toys, food, etc) as a "time out cage". This is actually how we THOUGHT we broke him of biting... When he bit we would say "Luca, no biting" as calmly as possible and if he didn't stop we would place him into the "time out cage" for 3 minutes. I was weary of this method when we started using it because I new that birds don't respond to negative reinforcement, but my friend insisted that it worked wonders for her bird. After discussing with the vet (who didn't give us a solid answer on wether this was OK or not) we decided that this probably wasn't the best thing to do and slowly phased it out, only to replace it later with "3 minute time outs" in the bathroom (there is a towel rack that we use as a perch). We thought we rid him of the biting. Occasionally he would bite, but not hard, and usually he would get into a "mood" that would last a few days then he would stop biting again. I never was able to tie the biting to a stimulus, food, activity, sound, smell, etc that might explain what was going on.
Recently we started the process of introducing him to his flight suit. We did this VERY slowly, over the course of several months. We want him to eventually have full reign of the house, and have the ability to go where he chooses. This past weekend was the first time we tried actually putting him into the flight suit. We followed the directions that came withe the flight suit and removed all food from his cage for 2 hours, then put it on him and immediately gave him treats, praise, and his food dish. Getting him into the flight suit wasn't easy. He bit us, struggled, and after a minute or so we got him into it. We gave him some space for about 10 minutes, until he looked like he had calmed down some, then I showered him with constant attention for the next ~4 hours. When it was time for him to come out of the flight suit he bit me again and didn't show much interest in coming out of his cage the rest of the night. He did come out of his cage, but didn't want to leave it. Normally if we spend time in his room while he's out of his cage he'll play for a few minutes then wants to be with us.
We discussed how this first attempt with the flight suit went and decided that he's probably going to be unwilling to wear it for a while, then eventually get used to it. So we decided to get through this "unwilling" period as fast as we could and put him back into the flight suit the very next day. We repeated the same process, no food, flight suit, treats, lots of attention. This time he struggled A LOT, he bit both of us drawing blood from both Doug and I and finally when the suit was on it was almost 30 minutes before he didn't run the other direction when we tried to pick him up. Since I was the one to spend time with him the day before Doug spent most of the day with him this second time. Of course when it came time to take his flight suit off there was more struggling, but luckily no more blood shed even though there was more biting.
Finally, to get to the meat of the problem. Luca wants nothing to do with me. He isn't thrilled with Doug either and has been biting the both of us pretty regularly, but actually runs away from me when I try to pick him up or get close. He only steps up for me when he has no other choice because he has something behind or to the side of him. I have been trying to keep my space from him because I don't want to stress him out, but I also don't want this to be the beginning of the end of my relationship with Luca!
Any advice that anyone can give regarding how to gain is trust back, what we may have done wrong, what we can do in the future... I am all ears! Also, since the last attempt with the bird diaper, we have put it away until we can figure out how to make him feel more comfortable with it, I am afraid that by forcing him into it we may lose all trust and love (if anyone has advice on this I am interested, but my primary concern is to gain his trust and stop the biting)! Also, since I'm not sure if I made this clear earlier we have stopped all "timeouts" and don't use punishment aside from placing him back into his cage when he is misbehaving (i.e. biting and screaming).
When we first saw Luca, he was very scared (which is understandable considering the size and noise level of a bird show) and was trying to escape. Truthfully we wanted to play, and he wanted nothing to do with us. He flew off the top of the cage and rather than let him land safely on the floor and then grab him the breeder caught him by the base of the tail and held him up-side-down for several minutes. Seeing the horror on my face he explained that it was no different from holding a cat by the scruff of his neck and even told us this was an option for letting the bird "get some energy out". Maybe it was a bad decision, but rather than purchase one of the many other "sweet" birds we held that day we decided to take home the anxious, stressed, scared bird that wanted nothing to do with us. I felt like those sweet birds wouldn't have trouble finding a home, but this guy... this scared little escape artist, whenever he found a home there is no guarantee that those people would do the research and learn to love him properly, care for him, and finally rid him of his bad habits through proper actions rather than negative reinforcement. Making a long story short... it was only a few weeks before he was willing to hop onto our hands for a treat of millet, and over the past several months he has become very affectionate with both me and my boyfriend (I might argue that he prefers Doug over me, but that's for another time). He also has almost NO fear of strangers (at least not any that we've introduced him to)! Once we broke his fear of hands he'll step-up for anyone! Having said all of that good stuff, he is a green cheek, and saying that he is "nippy" is an understatement (I am currently wearing three band-aids)!
I will admit here that for a while we took the advice of a friend (I trusted this friend because they had a sun conure for several years, and do lots of research--like me) and used a second smaller cage (not his normal cage with toys, food, etc) as a "time out cage". This is actually how we THOUGHT we broke him of biting... When he bit we would say "Luca, no biting" as calmly as possible and if he didn't stop we would place him into the "time out cage" for 3 minutes. I was weary of this method when we started using it because I new that birds don't respond to negative reinforcement, but my friend insisted that it worked wonders for her bird. After discussing with the vet (who didn't give us a solid answer on wether this was OK or not) we decided that this probably wasn't the best thing to do and slowly phased it out, only to replace it later with "3 minute time outs" in the bathroom (there is a towel rack that we use as a perch). We thought we rid him of the biting. Occasionally he would bite, but not hard, and usually he would get into a "mood" that would last a few days then he would stop biting again. I never was able to tie the biting to a stimulus, food, activity, sound, smell, etc that might explain what was going on.
Recently we started the process of introducing him to his flight suit. We did this VERY slowly, over the course of several months. We want him to eventually have full reign of the house, and have the ability to go where he chooses. This past weekend was the first time we tried actually putting him into the flight suit. We followed the directions that came withe the flight suit and removed all food from his cage for 2 hours, then put it on him and immediately gave him treats, praise, and his food dish. Getting him into the flight suit wasn't easy. He bit us, struggled, and after a minute or so we got him into it. We gave him some space for about 10 minutes, until he looked like he had calmed down some, then I showered him with constant attention for the next ~4 hours. When it was time for him to come out of the flight suit he bit me again and didn't show much interest in coming out of his cage the rest of the night. He did come out of his cage, but didn't want to leave it. Normally if we spend time in his room while he's out of his cage he'll play for a few minutes then wants to be with us.
We discussed how this first attempt with the flight suit went and decided that he's probably going to be unwilling to wear it for a while, then eventually get used to it. So we decided to get through this "unwilling" period as fast as we could and put him back into the flight suit the very next day. We repeated the same process, no food, flight suit, treats, lots of attention. This time he struggled A LOT, he bit both of us drawing blood from both Doug and I and finally when the suit was on it was almost 30 minutes before he didn't run the other direction when we tried to pick him up. Since I was the one to spend time with him the day before Doug spent most of the day with him this second time. Of course when it came time to take his flight suit off there was more struggling, but luckily no more blood shed even though there was more biting.
Finally, to get to the meat of the problem. Luca wants nothing to do with me. He isn't thrilled with Doug either and has been biting the both of us pretty regularly, but actually runs away from me when I try to pick him up or get close. He only steps up for me when he has no other choice because he has something behind or to the side of him. I have been trying to keep my space from him because I don't want to stress him out, but I also don't want this to be the beginning of the end of my relationship with Luca!
Any advice that anyone can give regarding how to gain is trust back, what we may have done wrong, what we can do in the future... I am all ears! Also, since the last attempt with the bird diaper, we have put it away until we can figure out how to make him feel more comfortable with it, I am afraid that by forcing him into it we may lose all trust and love (if anyone has advice on this I am interested, but my primary concern is to gain his trust and stop the biting)! Also, since I'm not sure if I made this clear earlier we have stopped all "timeouts" and don't use punishment aside from placing him back into his cage when he is misbehaving (i.e. biting and screaming).