Why a Conure?

Pyrrhura Green-cheeks and Aratinga Sun Conures are characterized by their bright colors, slender appearance, and long pointed tails. Many people claim that because of these characteristic they are very much like Macaws; especially the Aratinga group. Although some natural mutations have occurred in the wild, selective domestic breeding over the last few years has provided people with an abundance of color varieties to choose from when selecting a pet or breeder. Conures breed easily as long as you apply the basic breeding principles of temperature, lighting, space, diet, and sanitation to their environment. They are also hardy, intelligent, loving, very sociable, mischievous, active, and playful. They love physical human contact and get very excited when offered a wide variety of food and toys. The general rule for these little guys is the bigger the cage the better. Their highly sociable tendency and need for physical contact also makes them excellent family pets. Green-cheeks and Suns take tremendous satisfaction not only by interacting with each other, but also with multiple people in a family setting.

Toys

Many people have dropped me an e-mail before coming over to buy their Conure. They usually want to know what kind of toys, perches, cages, and food to buy for it. They want everything to be just perfect before taking home their new family member. Well, to answer their first question "what kind of toys should I buy for my Conure" here is your answer.

Because Conures love to chew and explore, toys made of soft wood, bird safe leather, cotton rope, and shiny mettle objects such as keys are most popular. However, if you use cotton rope make sure you stay on top of trimming the loose threads. Once, one of my Green-cheeks got his toe nail tangled on a loose thread on his cotton twirl rope and ended up losing his toe nail.

Conures also love Happy Huts. Although my breeding pairs prefer to spend the night in their nest boxes, my babies and pets prefer to spend the night cuddled up in their hanging fleece tents called a happy huts.
Shredders are another favorite toy. Personally, my Green-cheeks love rolls of toilet paper, which can also be used as tug-a-war toys between bird and human if you don't mind cleaning up the mess afterwards. Dried corn cobs are another favorite toy, shredder, and food all in one. You can buy them at the grocery store in the fall, drill a hole through the center and hang it in their cage with bird safe rope, chain, or twine.
The Sun Conures are my biggest chewers and are always demolishing anything made of wood. For them, I actually like to cut out big blocks of non-chemically treated natural, soft wood. I drill holes through the middle and hang them in their cage. Sometimes, I even just set blocks on the bottom of their cage. My one sun Conure, Alex, will spend all day chewing and chewing on his wood block. He goes through them like candy.

As a note to the readers, please avoid toys such as rings that have large enough holes for your bird to squeeze its head through. I once had a lovebird I bought a plastic ring toy at the pet shop for. The toy even said it was made for lovebirds. I came home from work one day to find him hanging from his neck, dead and strangled by the toy. I cried and cried. It was a tragic loss no one should ever have to experience.

Perches

Perches are another very important item to consider before buying a Conure. They come in all shapes sizes and materials. As a general rule, never uses the cheap dowel perches that usually come with a new bird cage. It's the worst type of perch you could give your Conure. Its smooth surface, perfect straightness and skinny width is really hard on their feet and will eventually cause health problems. Instead, use a variety of different types of perches designed for your conures feet such as concrete perches, red wood perches, manzanita perches, and cotton rope perches. These are designed after what conures use naturally in the wild. A good variety will keep nails and bill trimmed, prevent arthritis, and keep their shanks (skin on feet and legs) from getting dry, rough, or scarred.

Cages

Conures are very active and playful, so the bigger the cage the better. For Green-cheeks and other Pyrrhura's, I would recommend a cage 24" x 18" x 18" or bigger, with a maximum bar spacing of ¾. If you are keeping two Green-cheeks in the same cage together then I recommend a cage 48" x 24" x 24" or bigger.

Sun Conures require even bigger cages. For one sun, I would recommend a cage 48"x 24" x 24" with a maximum bar spacing of ¾. If you are keeping two Sun Conures together then I recommend a cage 48" x 48"x 48" or bigger.

A Conures cage can never be too big, but it can be too small. Just keep in mind that the bar spacing must not be any larger then ¾. A friend told me once that she put her Green-cheek in an Amazon sized parrot cage, with very wide bar spacing. Soon after she heard her bird screaming and after running in her bird room, found he had gotten his head stuck between the wide bar spacing. Luckily, her Green Cheek was unharmed by the incident.

Diet

There has been much controversy over the proper diet for conures. Some people say they should be fed a pellet diet only, and others have said a seed variety diet is the best. However, in the wild, Conures seem to have a hearty appetite for almost anything: fruit, vegetables, nuts, meat, and even garbage that people leave laying about. In some ways they are a lot like crows or ravens over here in the United States.

However, because my Conures always get very excited when offered a wide variety of food, I feed them pellets, a variety of seeds, nuts, pasta, corn bread, and both fresh and dried fruit and vegetables. My Green-cheek, Sarah, often eats chicken, top roman, and Macaroni and cheese with me at launch time. Macaroni and Cheese seems to be one of her favorites. Sometimes I wonder if she likes eating or playing in it more. She's always so fascinated with the holes in the noodles (LOL).

There are some foods however, your Conure should never be offered because they are ether harmful or poison to birds. Some of these foods are Chocolate, Avocados, and caffeine. Once I left out a half of a cup of coke on my desk. When I came back in the room there was my Green-cheek, Sarah, happily slurping it down. She had shockingly drunk almost all of it before I snatched it away under her protest. For the next 3 hours she had liquid diarrhea everywhere. However, after that time she was completely recovered and wanting more coke, which of course was out of the question

Aggressive Biting & Time Outs

Many people have dropped me an e-mail after having owned a sweet, baby Green-cheek Conure for only several weeks. They all have the same story. The Conure was sweet as can be when they bought it, then it turned mean and started biting and attacking them. They usually then add that they don't understand what went wrong and are now considering getting rid of it. If this is the situation you are in then keep reading!
The best method I have found to stop most Conure biting behaviors are time outs. However, please keep in mind that not all bites are mean bites. Just like human babies put everything in their mouths to explore new things, so does your Conure. Make sure you know the difference between aggressive bites and curious nibbles.

To begin the time out method, remove your Conure from its cage. When it bites, frown, firmly and quietly say "no bite", jerk the hand the bird is perched on slightly, then set him down and leave the room, taking with you whatever he wanted. If you are worried about him getting into mischief if left by himself, then either do this exercise in a bird-safe-room, or place him in a small, completely empty cage before leaving. Do not use his regular cage as it contains all his favorite toys and other amusement objects. Personally, I like using a small cat carrier for time outs.

Next, wait five minutes before going back in the room and then repeat the exercise from step one. If he still bites, put him back in the isolation area for ten minuets instead of five. Keep doing this, each time increasing the time he has to spend alone and "VERY BORED" by himself. Conures crave physical human contact, so time outs can be very effective. You may have to do this for several days, but eventually your bird will get the picture.

Never yell, scream, cry, or hit your bird when he bites. This is what he wants you to do and will only encourage him in aggressive behavior. Use self control and surprise him by not giving him what he wants: excitement, entertainment, stimulation, and control of your home. Conures are smart and it doesn't take them long to figure you out. Like kids, they know just the right buttons to push to get their way. As the parent/owner, it's up to you to set the boundaries.

When your bird finally comes out of his cage and does not bite, it is important that you praise him. Let him see you smile and get all excited when he is doing what he is suppose to do as a pet in your home. You can squeal, laugh, scream, scratch his head, wave your arms, jump up and down….whatever will get your bird existed over his good behavior. Birds read our body language and facial expressions just as well as your kids can read you. If your bird wants excitement, make sure he only gets it from you when he is being good and not bad. This will encourage good behavior and keep him sweet and tame forever and ever.

The first year of a bird's life is the most important for training and it can be the most challenging. It's the time that tells us what kind of bird people we are as owners of our pets. It's the time in our bird's life that we set the boundaries for them and shape the way they will respond to humans for the rest of their lives. What's important is how we handle the situations when they come our way. Conures can be some of the greatest, most awesome, playful, interacting pets to own if you understand their behavior and learn how to handle them when they act up. A "Guide to Companion Parrot Behavior" by Mattie Sue Athan it a great book to read for further information on parrot behavior and training. I hope this article has helped you. It has worked for me and I think it can work for you too if you stay on top and in control.

Teaching Your Conure to Step Up

Teaching your Conure to step up on your finger is not only the first step in training and building trust with your Conure, but it is also the most important tool used in controlling your bird's behavior over the entire duration of its life. Once you have mastered step ups, you can teach your bird almost anything! All it takes is a bit of patience and endurance on your part, as it takes to train any animal.

Although it is never too late to teach old birds new tricks, in my experience, young birds master new tricks much faster then older birds. For this reason, we usually start teaching our Conures to step up before they are fully weaned. If you are working with an older bird, for the best results, start teaching it step ups within the first three days after bringing it into your home. Do the following exercises with tame or untamed Conure as specified below, two to three times a day, in 15 minute sessions, until the technique has been mastered. This may take several days to several months depending on the bird. If you make the training exercises into a game to play with your bird, it is most likely it will have the most success.

TAME CONURES: Be begin remove the Conure from its cage. Once it has settled down place it on your finger, use your opposite hand to gently press the lower abdomen, just above the feet, your bird should then step up onto your other hand. It is easier to do this if your bird's wings are clipped. If your conure does not step up and does not seem to understand what you want it to do, use your opposite hand to place a finger under the tip of its claws and gently lift up. Unsettled, the conure will usually step up onto that figure.

When your bird gets the idea that it is supposed to step up, practice making it step from your left hand, to your right hand, and then back to your left hand again. Next, set your conure on a perch stand outside its cage. Practice making it step from the perch to your hand, and then back up onto the perch. Thirdly, set you conure in its cage. Practice making it step from the cage to your hand, and then back into the cage.

Each time your Conure steps up onto your hand, cage, or perch praise it. Smile big and say excitedly "Pretty bird" or "Good bird", and then repeat the exercise. Keep your first training period short to about 15 minuets, as most Conures have a short attention span and continue it until your bird no longer hesitates when you offer it a hand. After awhile, step ups will become a fun game for your bird to play.

UNTAMED CONURES: As with any bird, untamed conures are shy, nervous, and untrusting. So before beginning, remember to move slowly and cautiously. Sudden movements and fast approaches will startle the bird and make you loose any progress you have made with it. By teaching an untamed Conure to step up onto your finger, you are really asking and teaching it to trust you. So trust must be built if you are ever going to have a friendly and interacting relationship with your bird. Do not approach your bird if you are nervous or scared, as the bird will sense this. Wait until you feel confident. Otherwise, how can you show the Conure there is nothing to be scared of, when you yourself are scared of it?

To begin, I would suggest putting on a strong pair of leather gloves as an untamed conures beak is very powerful. If you choose to wear gloves, make sure they are white or black in color. Since parrots can see a wider spectrum of colors then the human eye, bright colors will often freak them out. Place your hand in the bird's cage and hold it there. I find that it helps sometimes to softly and coaxingly say "up" or "step up". If your bird panics and goes crazy, do not remove your hand. If you remove your hand the bird will realize it scored a victory, and will continue its antics the next time you try the exercise. Do not remove your hand until some progress "however small" has been made.

Eventually, when your Conure realizes that your hand does not present a danger, it will accept your hand as part of its cage. Once your conure shows little or no fear of your hand, you can try softly stroking the bird's breast and lower abdomen, slowly working your finger towards its feet. When the bird seems like it has gotten used to you touching it, try gently pressing its lower abdomen, just above the feet. Your Conure should then step up onto your finger. If this does not succeed at first, return to the first part of the exercise and give your bird more time to get used to your hand. When your bird finally accepts your finger as a perch without panicking for several days in a row, you can try proceeding with the steps associating with a tame Conure.

Remember, don't expect miracles overnight. Any well trained animal takes lots of time and effort. Do the following exercises as specifically described for tame and untamed Conures two to three times a day, in 15 minute sessions, until the technique has been mastered. This may take several days to several months depending on the bird. If you make the training exercises into a game to play with your bird, it is most likely it will have the most success. Remember that teaching your Conure to step up on your finger is not only the first step training and building trust with your conure, but it is also the most important tool used in controlling your bird's behavior over the entire duration of its life.

Potty Training Your Bird

I absolutely love carrying my conure Sarah around the house while going about my daily household routines. However, I cringe inside every time the furniture or I get bombarded with birdie poop. So one day I got a crazy idea in my head. I decided that if birds were supposed to be as smart as dogs (if not smarter) then they could be potty trained too. So I tried potty training Sarah and it worked. Here's how I did it.

First I looked for patterns in Sarah's restroom habits. I kept track of how frequently she pooped and what kind of signals she gave off before taking a dump. For instance, I recognized that she usually pooped every 10-15 minutes, and before unleashing her tiny bombs, would start to squat and then wiggle her tail feathers. Each bird will demonstrate a unique body language and different length of time between poops. So you will really have to get to know your bird well if you want to potty train it. Some birds will poop every 5 minutes while others every 30 minutes. And signals could be anything from a certain look in the eye to the ruffling of tail feathers.

Next, when Sarah gave me her special body language, or I thought it was about 10-15 minuet since her last poop, I would hold her over a piece of newspaper or the toilet, and say "Go Poop Poo" or "Poop". I would then wait for about two minutes. If she relieved herself, I'd act all existed and praise her. If Sarah wouldn't poop for me, I'd let her go back and play for several more minutes and then try again.
It took me about three days to potty train Sarah, but with some birds it may take much longer. When she would poop on me I would firmly and immediately say "no" and set her aside. When Sarah pooped were I wanted, I would praise her and tell her what a good bird she was. She caught on fast.

Sometimes she still has accidents on me when I forget to monitor her pooping frequencies, but then so will your dog if you forget to put him outside to go. Over time, Sarah has gotten so good about bathroom times, that when I say "Poop" and hold her out over a newspaper, she will try to push something out even if her tank is empty.