I have 2 bird, a crimson belly conure and a green cheek conure. The birds get long great and we all are together a lot, they eat right, have dedicated time outside their cage and everything I can provide them.
Problem is my GCC has been very aggressive the last 48 hours, today she latched onto my lip and I had to pry her off my face. This is the first time this has happened, I can usually read her body language and prevent biting behavior but she has only ever nipped.
For context my ex brought her home when she was very young and they were inseparable but he didn’t want the GCC when we split, she’s been 2 years without him. I say she but the bird has never been sexed or laid an egg, so gender unknown.
Answer:
Hi,
This is most likely hormonal-based behavior. Either the bird is being territorial or is protecting the other bird. Are these birds housed in the same cage? To understand hormonal behavior, you have to understand basic parrot behavior. All of their behavior is driven by instincts – they aren’t naturally tame and domestic like a dog. When you have more than one bird, there is always the chance they may bond as a pair, even if they are the same sex or different species. If they share a cage, they almost always bond and gradually lose interest in people. This is because in the wild, they only interact with flock members until they are mature enough to have a mate. Once a mate is chosen, they stop having close contact with flock members. And when they breed, the pairs distance themselves from the flock. Any flock members who get too close are treated as rivals and are chased away. Even if your birds haven’t bonded, your conure may feel territorial right now. This behavior should pass as long as the birds aren’t in the same cage. Of course you need to be careful and keep your distance when she is out of the cage. Hormonal issues are so common in pet birds that we have an entire playlist of webinars on parrots and hormones. I’ll provide the link below. There are things you can do to try to divert your bird to other activities such as foraging activities or even trick training. Ways to avoid or minimize hormonal behavior include limiting her light to 8-10 hours by covering the cage early each evening. Never let her have anything she can get inside of – no bird huts, tents, boxes etc. The bird huts made of fabric are very dangerous for conures because they tend to eat the fibers and these will eventually get impacted and the bird dies. When you handle her don’t pet her below the head and neck. When she is out, don’t let her roam and don’t let her get into cozy places. This mimics searching for and finding a nest.
