Weather

[glenna]

I have had Charlie the Conure for 4 weeks now. Its seems everytime we have storms he gets very grouchy. Today he would not step up to go back into his cage and i had to work forever to get him on a stick. we live in illinois so we have lots of storms in the spring. any suggestions on how to help him feel more secure. he doesnt act like he is scared just grouchy. thanks glenna

[ROYJOY]

birds just have bad days sometimes. i hate bad weather too.

for stepping up, push your finger, or perch, gently, but firmly, into his chest, while saying "step up" he must step up to regain balance. he will soon learn this with out the pushing, but you must say step up so he knows what your trying to do. after a while he'll be stepping with out the command. dont forget to reward.

[glenna]

royjoy--- charlie knows how to step up he just wont because he is so upset with the weather. when he gets like this should i just cover his cage?

[ROYJOY]

wow, thats a hard one. are we talkin about thunder, or just gloomyness? if covering him makes him feel safe, and calms him, yes, but dont make it like a punishment. or he will hate bed time. maybe just pulling the shades down will help. play some cartoons, or up beat music for him to lift his spirits. sway with the music. see if he joins in. he may be getting a little hormonal, now that its spring. good luck.

[glenna]

we have country music on any time the house is empty but it seems to annoy him. he came from a pet shop where is was the owners private bird. so he is used to people and noise. maybe it is the spring thing!!!

[xafsmom]

I feel the same about country music myself... /hehe

I'm assuming that your little guy is acting nervous or scared during the storm? If you have storms at night, he might not be sleeping, thus making him grouchy during the day. Hmm.. We don't get storms here often, but we get a LOT of wind so we get the whoooosh sounds all the time. My birds got used to it fairly quick, but one of our conures is a scaredy bird and would freak at the wind sounds. So, I pulled my sleepy sound maker thingie from my bedroom and set it for 'wind' and stuck it on low. After 3 days of continuous quiet whooshing, she started to ignore it, then we set the volume higher until she ignored that too. Next wind storm we had, she didn't freak at all. Might work for you too!

If it's just grouchiness or odd behaviour and it just seems to coincide with your storms, then it might be as ROYJOY says; spring time. All my birds are feeling broody and snappish right now, right down to the babies. Go go hormones!