Vicious conures

[Banshee]

I've got a pair of maroon-bellied conures that always seem angry or worried. I've had them for quite a few months now but I'm worried coz I don't know if they're happy. They're a bonded pair that lived in an avery for four years then sat in a pet shop for six months before I got them. Scarlette the female is very timid, always runs away if I go near her but the male Crowley is quite vicious. He attacks us, the other parrots I have and bullies Scarlette a lot. He always attacks her when my husband talks to her, not so much me tho. I was told he would fly onto his previous owners shoulder and every now and then he'll fly onto us for a while but usually ends up suddenly biting and flying off. I let them out of the cage whenever I can but they mostly stay with it. They never play, they just sit there. They seem marginally more at home than when I first got them, crowley's attacks aren't so regular but I'm worried they might be sad. We're planning to build a sml inside avery for them, do you think this might make them happier? Will they ever chill out? I'm hoping they'll breed

[Joshme22]

just one thing I know and I am sure you are aware but if you want them to be friendly everything I have read and heard from breeders is that once they becoming a breeding pair they lose their "pet" qualities. not completely but they become much less tame. I have some Jenday conures that are agressive towards my wife and I am going to clip their wings so they are more easily managable until I can fix the behaivor. just an idea, might let you be able to handle them more.

[Banshee]

Clipping wings definately does the trick with crowley, he's much more mellow since I did that. They haven't bred yet but I'm hoping they will if I get them an aviary. They always look so alarmed at us and Crowley's so aggresive, I just hope they don't hate it here. I spent the whole day with them today and they showed improvement by not running across the cage when I talked to them, Crowley let me get close and was listening to me a few times, and he flew over to our friend and sat on his head for a couple mins. I'd just hate to keep them here if they relly want to be in a big avery or to let them go to an aviary if they were happy all along

[amanda143]

Have they bred before? Since you say they were in an aviary for 4 years they may have. It's a rare occurrence to see pet quality in a breeding pair, at least in my experience. Our rescued Nanday Conure was a breeder and he can be "vicious" although we have gotten him to the point where he will actually play and come out of his cage for small periods of time. However, I would never allow him to sit on any part of my body out of fear of his dangerous beak! ha If you are trying to rehabilitate these guys, you will need a lot of patience. Good luck!

[LesliandPeanut]

My family has had a g-c conure for several years now. When he was younger, he was so nice to everyone and loved to get passed around amongst family members. When he got a little older (and our birdie caretaker suggested he hit "breeding age"), he immediately picked only one person in our family to allow to hold him anymore, and now whenever anyone else goes near his cage, he lashes out and bites if he can get close enough. Apparently it's even normal for these little guys to pick a "mate" amongst their humans. Good luck with your pair.

[chapala]

A large cage would be better though I don't know the size you have them in now. If the male is attacking the female, more room would help her to get away if she needs to. Do you have shredding and chewing toys for them? Several different perches? If you do build an indoor aviary, you can locate a couple of food bowls in different places to encourage moving around.

Birds that have never been handled and are paired up will be very difficult to tame. Have they produced before? Are you sure they are male and female?