TheTameParrot.com - Say “BYE” To Your Parrot Problems

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Green Cheek conures are one of most playful and intelligent conures out there. But they are known to be a little nippy.

When people have asked us for advice on getting birds not to bite, we begin by trying to get a little history of the bird. What quickly become apparent is the bird is not being worked with on a daily basis. The owners will ignore the bird for a few days, but then want to take the bird out to play. They get bit, get upset, and unintentionally “punish” the bird by putting it into “timeout”.

Unfortunately, this isn’t going to work with a Green Cheek. This breed of bird is very demanding and wants to be cuddled and played with. They bite for many reasons, but it’s very easy to teach them to stop with just a little patience and daily work.

STEP UP

The first step is to get the bird to step up on your finger and get used to being handled. In our e-Book The Easy Parrot System, we discuss some simple, step-by-step methods to finger train your bird. It should only take a few days to accomplish this.

If the bird is nipping at you during this state, begin to immediately teach him that it is unacceptable behavior by saying “NO BITE!” in a firm tone. When the bird steps up and behaves, give him lots of praise and offer a favorite treat like a nut or grape. Continue to do this every day, and you will soon teach your bird that if he wants to be with you he must learn not to bite.

Green Cheeks will learn this method! They are known to be a friendly bird and they want to be cuddled and played with. This trait is normally seen only in Cockatoos, and most conures are not this willing to be handled. But Green Cheeks are different. And if they want to play with you, they must learn to stop biting.

One other cause for biting is they have reached sexual maturity. Green Cheeks reach this point at about one year old. They become a bit more aggressive, and this will lead to their tendency to nit at your finger. Just reinforce your training. If it gets out of control, use the “time out” method and place the bird in its “discipline” cage located in another room. Try not to use its “home cage” for discipline because it will get confused. Remember, Green Cheeks are a little more intelligent then you think. You need them to understand that the “discipline” cage is because they acted badly. Otherwise, they will learn that if they want to go back to their “home” cage, they simply have to bite you. You are passing the wrong message to them!

Never strike your bird. I can certainly guarantee that from that point on you will never be able to train your bird.

Here are a few extra points. For more ideas check out our Ebook!

-Clip the wings before you begin training. You want to be in control of the bird, and if it can fly away you lose that control!

-Use constant praise and reinforcement. Keep a supply of treats handy

-Stay in control. Do not let your bird think you are afraid. Fortunately, these little guys bite does not do much harm to you, other than a painful pinch. Try to deal with it!

-When working with the bird, also teach it other simple tricks like lying on it’s back, playing dead, and playing catch with objects. A small foam ball works great for this.

-Work with the bird daily, preferably at the same time of the day. Sessions should be about 15 minutes at a time.

Once your bird has been tamed, you will find that he wants to stay with you most of the time. Use this to your advantage while training him. If you are watching TV, have him in your lap while you gently handle him. The constant human interaction will reinforce to him you are not a threat and he should not bite you.

If you ever thought of becoming a bird breeder, one of the “brass rings” you are always trying to grab is the ability to breed mutations. In other words, by breeding two birds you are trying to develop special colors or traits into birds.People that breed parakeets are well aware of this hobby. They spend years trying to create beautiful birds, and will travel for miles to show them off at shows.

Several years ago, we were introduced to a very unique little bird…the Blue Quaker. We never heard of them before. We were introduced to them by a breeder who was getting rid of her green Quakers so she could concentrate on breeding blues. Because they were very rare at the time, they were selling for many times the cost of a normal green Quaker. We researched this for a little while, and discovered that not only are there Blue Quakers, but also Yellow, White, Grey, and Cinnamons. They also have been bred into pearly, and pied mutations. All of these are quite rare, but as breeders continue to work on these different mutations, they are becoming available in greater quantities.

BACKGROUND

Blue Quakers started showing up in the wild many years ago. According to historic records, The Duke of Bedford in England began breeding them from a captured pairs, and all blue Quakers can be traced to this stock line.

In 1993, four pairs were imported into the US, where breeders started a breeding program to increase those numbers. At that time they were extremely rare, and cost nearly $5000. But after several years, and a successful breeding program, costs have come down to $300-$500.

FACTORS

So how exactly do you create a Blue Quaker? On the surface it sounds very simple, but doing it is complicated.

Quaker parrots are normally green. The green color comes from combining the blue coloring of the feather structure, and the yellow, which is the actual color of the feather. Through selective breeding, you select Quakers with a predominate blue gene, and breed it with another Quaker with a lesser yellow gene. Since a different gene is responsible for each, you can gradually produce a blue, or even a yellow, Quaker. By combining a weaker “blue” gene, you can produce a lighter “green” color, producing a cinnamon colored Quaker.

Today, because of this dedication of breeders, there is a large variety of color variations and splits. These unique birds are now widely available, especially from breeders. And new variations are still being worked on, such as Aqua colored Quakers. These are starting to appear at bird shows and getting great reviews from judges.

We have been asked by beginning bird breeders what is the best type of bird breed?

Normally, that depends on their experience and how much they can invest. Being a hobbyist bird breeder can be expensive, and does take a tremendous commitment of time. No matter what type of birds you plan to raise, the time commitment is going to be the same.

Expense wise, Cockatiels are probably the most inexpensive and easiest birds to breed and hand feed.

But if you want a easy to breed bird that will bring back a good investment, we suggest Jendays. They breed fairly easily, and are known to breed year round. They lay three to four eggs per clutch, and generally are very good parents.

Breeder pairs are readily available. You can usually pick up a proven pair for $400-$500. Baby Jendays sell for about the price of medium priced Conures, in the $300-$500 range. Pet stores will usually buy these birds from hobbyist breeders, but don’t expect to make a lot of money this way… they expect wholesale prices. You are much better selling at bird shows or even advertising in the newspaper. Your customers will come to you!

A hand raised baby Jenday is (in my opinion) one of the most friendly and playful birds available. This is why they are in such demand.

GETTING STARTED

Jendays are a very prolific breeder. They will breed at any time, but the conditions must be right. They do not like it too warm. Baby Jendays do poorly when the temperature is above 90 degrees, so the parents tend to stop breeding in hot weather. They can breed up to four times a year. To promote this, you must pull the babies from them after a few weeks and begin handfeeding. Fortunately, this is fairly easy, as Jendays are easy to hand feed (with proper training). It usually takes 10 weeks to wean a Jenday baby. If you let the parents do most of the care, you can reduce this to 7 weeks. During this time you try and handle to bird as often as possible, to get the babies used to human interaction. But this will reduce the number of clutches per year.

Jendays are a little difficult to sex. It is recommended that a DNA text be performed to ensure you have a pair. Also make sure that you do not get a hybrid conure. Hybrids are those that were bred between a Jenday and Sun Conure, producing a Sunday conure. They will not breed well with a pure Jenday.

CAGE

As with any breeding pair of birds, the larger the cage the better. It is recommended that they have a flight cage 4 feet long, but many people can not offer this much space unless they are raising them in an outdoor flight cage. A 24”x24”x36” will do fine. There are some very good cages that are heavy enough to allow a breeding box to be attached to the side.

The breeder box is a square box about 12”x16”. Jendays have a tendency of tossing the bedding out of their boxes, so we lined the inside of the box with wire mesh. This seems to help prevent it.

Once you have everything set up…just sit back and let nature do it’s work.

CARE

Be sure that you are feeding your breeders a good diet. Calcium is important if you plan on letting them breed year round. Ensure a lot of fruits and vegi’s are available. Once they babies arrive, they will be eating a lot more! So make sure you keep a adequate supply of food. We highly recommend pellets, as this will ensure your bird is getting all of the vitamins and nutrients they need.

Do not attempt to hand feed your babies unless you have done your research. Just reading about it isn’t enough. Hand-on experience is recommended, and you can get this by visiting another breeder, or an avian vet. This is where your local bird clubs come in handy. Their members will be more then willing to take you “under their wing” and train you on hand feeding. We have done this many times ourselves.

Jenday Conures are a very colorful, medium size bird. They are closely related to Sun Conures, both being in the aratinga conure family. As with many Conures, they are mostly green. They have a yellow head, and orange front. Their tail is tipped with red or blue, and their wings are commonly tipped with blue. They will have a white to pale grey ring around the eye. Their beaks and feet are black. They certainly are a very colorful bird!

It is believed that Suns, Gold Caps and Jendays are all part of the same species, as opposed to being three separate species or sub-species. They are the same bird, but just a different color variation depending on the region they are from.

Jenday Conures come from South America, and are mostly found in Northern Brazil and Northeastern Argentina. They are easy to breed, and are very popular to bird breeders.

Jendays are a very playful bird. If raised as a baby, they are extremely friendly and do well around children. They love to be handled, and are trained easily.

Jendays are considered a medium sized Conure, averaging around 10 to 12 inches long and weigh 100-180 gm. If properly cared for, they have a lifespan of 20-30 years.

Like most Conures, Jendays are fairly noisy. They have a loud and harsh scream that they use to get your attention. They are also capable of talking, but from my experience they only say a couple of words. They are not known to be very good talkers, however there are cases where they can be good talkers if worked with daily over a long period of time.

Jendays are a very playful bird that loves to be handled and played with. If you get a very young Jenday, it’s recommended that you play with it daily. Let him sit on your lap while you watch TV, and let him play with some toys or wooden blocks. This interaction will make him very tame and friendly.

Their diet is important, and Jendays have a couple of unique requirements. They are susceptible to Conure Bleeding Syndrome, which is caused by the lack of Vitamin K. This condition prevents the bird from being able to clot their blood, causing excessive bleeding.

This can be easily prevented by supplying your bird leafy green vegetables such as broccoli, brussel sprouts and spinach. Some breeders offer their birds parsley leaves to munch on, which is very high in Vitamin K. You can use wheat bran in some home made dishes for them to eat, or supply some diced kiwifruit and bananas. This makes Jenday Conures one of my favorite birds, as I now have an excuse to get rid of my icky vegi’s that my wife tries to feed me. They somehow end up in our birds food dish!

They also love shredded meat or pasta, bean sprouts and hard boiled eggs. Some breeders we know are firm believers in feeding sprouts to their Conures, but I never ventured into growing them myself…this is one of my future research projects.

As usual, be sure they get enough calcium, especially in the females. If you feed your bird a pellet diet, and supplement it with fruits and vegi’s, you will not have to worry too much about this. Pelleted diets are formulated to have all the vitamins and minerals most birds need, and you only need to supplement certain items specific to your bird (like Vitamin K)

Jendays will require a few additional maintenance chores then other birds. They are very good flyers, and since they have a lighter body then other conures, they will take flight unless you do a lot of extensive wing clipping. You want the bird to be able to glide to the floor and not get hurt, but you also want to prevent full flight. With Jendays, you need to educate yourself on how to clip wings, or else expect a lot of trips to the vet. If they can’t fly, they won’t get into trouble!

While Jendays are susceptible to a number of common bird diseases, they are usually fairly healthy and easy to care for. By monitoring their behavior and looking for the telltale signs of problems, you should not have any major problems with their health.

Jendays are known to love to chew. If you have them out of their cage, you must monitor them to ensure they don’t damage your furniture or woodwork. Supply them with some toys they can chew on inside their cage. Most common are colored wood blocks or sticks. Our Jenday enjoyed destroying colored popsicle sticks, quickly turning them into toothpicks. They also love any toys that make noise. You can be a bit creative and make your own using some bells, beads, and bottles.

One of the bird breeds that we frequently recommend for a new pet owner is the Quaker (Monk) Parrot This bird is a great starter bird because it has a lot of things pet owners are looking for…playful, talking ability, not too loud, and easy to maintain.

So, what I’ve done is put together a “factsheet” to help you decide if this bird is for you.

BACKGROUND

Quakers have been around as pets for a long time. Native to South America, they are the only breed of parrot that builds their nests in colonies. Because of this, they have developed into four distinct subspecies. However, in the last few decades they were brought into the United States and Europe, where wild Quakers have become considered a pest. This is because they are a very hardy bird, and prolific breeder. In their native country of Argentina, Quakers are reportedly responsible for 30% of the corn crop destruction. In the US, they have been known to build huge colony nests which interfere with utility cables and towers. Because of the potential of becoming a major agricultural pest, they are banned or restricted in several states. Connecticut, for example, bans the sale or breeding of Quakers. This problem became a major concern when Quakers were being imported in 1993 in greater numbers, and many got into the wild. Colonies began to develop in states as far north as Illinois and New York, with some smaller colonies being recorded in Colorado!

Currently, Quakers are widely available. Because they are prolific breeders, and can produce clutches or 4 to 8 eggs, they are a popular bird for pet breeders to raise. Over the years, several different color mutations have been developed, making them even more popular (and expensive).

MUTATIONS

Over the years, Quakers rapidly became a popular pet, and professional breeders have developed a number if color mutations. The normal Quaker color is green, with gray on their chest and chest. You may have already heard about blue mutations of Quakers, but there are also many variations of this. You can also find yellow, lutino, and gray and white. These birds are very difficult to find (and expensive!) but as more breeders begin to breed them, they should become available. At one point, the Blue Quaker was extremely hard to find, but currently they are readily available for as little as $300.

HEALTH

Quakers are fairly hardy birds. Their average lifespan is 25 to 30 years if well cared for. They are known for developing Fatty Liver Disease, especially in domesticated birds. This is usually helped on by owners who feed an all seed diet and practice poor nutrition. Quaker owners need to educate themselves a little on this disease.

Quakers are also known as bad feather pluckers. This is sometimes due to poor diet, but many times is behavioral. It can also get quite severe, turning into Quaker Mutilation Syndrome, where the bird begins to chew and damage the skin itself.

WHERE TO BUY

Quakers are readily available at most large pet stores, and are actively bred by many bird breeders. It is highly recommended that you search out a hand fed baby, as trying to train an older Quaker can sometimes be a challenge for a new bird owner.

The cost will very depending on where you buy it, and what part of the country you live in. Since Quakers are very prolific, many breeders in warm climates have large outside aviaries, and are able to mass produce them. They can be purchased for as little as $50. In northern climates, it is common for many breeders to have a couple of pairs, and they sell their babies at bird shows or to pet shops. These can be purchased for $175-$300.

PERSONALITY

The personality of the Quaker is one of their main features! They are comical and intelligent, capable of teaching tricks to. They are in the top ten list of talking birds.

They can be entertained for days with a handful of toys, straws, shoe laces, and puzzles. They love to weave things through the bars of their cage. This goes back to their instincts of creating nest colonies.

Puzzles? You bet! One of the most common tricks Quakers will teach YOU is how easy they can break out of their cage! These escape artists have driven us crazy attempting to find clamps or straps they couldn’t remove. Our solution was to give them puzzle toys and hide treats into them. They will occupy their time getting their treats and not getting out of their cage….and into trouble.

Quakers will usually bond to one person (hopefully their owner) and can be very protective. Nothing scares them. If they are on the floor, no feet are safe! And you will find that your pet dog or cat will make a wide detour around them.

NOISE

Quakers are not known to be a very noisy bird. This makes them a great companion bird for apartment residents. They don’t “scream” but tend to have a loud “chip” or “chatter”. If you have more then one Quaker they may tend to get loud as the talk to each other….mostly in the mornings and evenings.

FEEDING

Due to their tendency to become overweight, you must watch their diets. As usual, we do not recommend an all seed diet. Quakers will require a good pellet diet with lots of fruits and vegetables. You may also need to supplement their Vitamin B and Calcium. To do this, sprinkle a good powdered vitamin mix on their fresh food. Our favorite trick is to take a 2 inch section of corn-on-the-cob (raw), moisten it and sprinkle a little vitamin power on it. We use a mix of vitamin, hand feeding formula and powered calcium. Quakers are suckers for corn! Try to stay away from feeding fatty nuts.

CAGE

Quakers can get along just fine in a cockatiel size cage. Their tail is not that long, so large cages are not necessary. An 18×18x24 will do fine. Just make sure they have room for their toys. They are a very active bird, so if you do not intend to give them time outside of their cage, you may want to invest in a larger cage/play area.