Ask Lafeber

Bonding with my 2 and green cheek conure

I currently own an 11 year old green cheek conure who is very close to me and i decided to purchase a 2nd gcc who is 1.5 years old 5 months ago. The 2 have bonded great with each other but he is having trouble bonding with me. I am very quiet when I enter the room and try to speak with a calm ,quiet voice and try not to make abrupt moves but he seems to be a skittish around me still and is always ready to fly away from me.I have to admit there are times when I need to get both birds in the cage and I would literally chase him to capture him. How do i get my 2nd gcc to trust and go to me?

Hi,

It can be hard and sometimes impossible to form a bond with a bird when it is bonded to another. And having them in the same cage may eventually result in your older bird reverting to the same behavior and no longer wanting to be handled. It is their instinct to only have one mate, or close companion. And when sharing a cage, two birds usually end up forming a mate bond, even if they are the same sex. You might try letting each bird have their own cage. You would probably make more progress with the new bird. We do have a good webinar on GCC, so I will give you the link to that video for more help with these little guys.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda