New Bird owner of a baby Suncheek Conure

prania

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Hi I have had my baby bird since she was 5 months old. I picked her from a litter or hatchlings and visitied her everyday until i could bring her home. She is really sweet. I did the research and bought her everything i thought she needs. Two Kings cages, i upstairs and 1 downstairs. Premium blend of parot food, toys, you name it and i bought it. She goes to sleep the same time every night, i let her out of her cage when it is light outside. She gets 12 hours of sleep. During the day, i sit in her room where she sleeps as it is my office. Lately she is starting to bite me and it really hurts. I don't know what to do. I don't want to yell, I would never hit her, she is still a baby but i don't want her to continue this behavior. BTW her name is "Willow". Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

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Hello and welcome to the forum, you will find a lot of support here.
I don't know how long Willow has been with you, but it sounds like she will be testing the boundaries.
When she does bite (and they pretty much all do at some point) try to keep calm and not react apart from being firm to say "no", and put her back on/ in her cage fire a few minutes.
Can you identify what the precursor to a bite is? For example she may be telling you to back off and leave her be, or that she needs to have a sleep, food, a poo etc, or it might be she wants more head scratches.
Have a look at the training section of the forum where you will find a lot of information.
I'm sure that more experienced members will soon be along to help better than me.
 
Welcome, lots of time and patience needed and I mean lots. As has been mentioned have a look under the Training sections such good advice on there thanks to @Roz
 
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:welcome: @prania and Willow. I have never heard of a Suncheek Conure before - had to Google and see she is a rare colour mutation of a Green Cheek. Really interesting!

My initial thoughts are that she is beginning to mature. What age is she now? Perhaps around 1 year old? Hormones often make a bird more sensitive/reactive.

Regardless of hormones, there are things we can do to lessen the biting.

As Wendy suggested, we need to work out the antecedent to the bite, ie. what is setting the stage for the bite or what happens immediately before the bite? With biting we work mainly with antecedents because it is too late to do anything about the behaviour after the bite. The deed is done! So what is happening immediately before - are you asking her to do something she doesn't want to do and she responds with a bite? Or maybe the antecedent is over excited play? Over excitement and aggression share common neurotransmitters in the brain, so it is easy for an over excited bird to flip into aggression. Or perhaps it is something else?

With these two aforementioned examples, if you want her to do something it is a good idea to arrange the environment so that she wants to do the behaviour, eg step up. This can be done with a treat as a reinforcer/reward. And if she is biting whilst stepping up, hold the treat high so that she has to reach up for it. If it's over excitement spilling over into aggression, stop play before it becomes too over stimulating by pausing for a few minutes and letting her calm down.

It's all about carefully reading her body language and heeding it.

Looking forward to hearing more.
 
Welcome to the forum. Willow is beautiful! I have a Sun Conure and I previously had two Green-Cheeked Conures (different colour variations of your Conure species) who died.

WendyWolfe and Roz already gave you some good advice. Willow might be testing boundaries or communicating that she doesn't want you to do something. Many owners recommend "shunning" - make sure that your bird does not receive any type of "reward", in her mind, for biting. When she bites, say "no" in a firm (not loud) tone, and walk away for several minutes. She needs to learn that biting does not result in scratches or treats.

Along with the training section here, if you watch YouTube, there are some good videos by "Flying Fids" and "Poodles and Parrots" - both of them own Conures also.


 
Hi @prania and Willow welcome hun. Just to follow on from the brill advice already given can I please draw your attention to Willow's diet? Just feeding birds seeds means they are nutrient deficient which will eventually lead to illness. Please can I ask you to explore 'sprouting' link to follow and also feeding a balanced diet of veggies, little fruit if she likes it and maybe a pellet as a top up. My only recommends are Harrison's or TOPs both organic and available from good parrot suppliers such as Northern Parrots who do a range of lots of parrot items.

It could be Willow is asking something of you re the nips, she wants your attention or for you to do something. It is a huge learning curve for several years when you have a bird.

How To Sprout - Step By Step Guide

Recently I’ve been asked by two members how to sprout… the basics. So here is a step by step, image heavy thread for those of us new to sprouting. Sprouted grains, seeds and legumes are a powerhouse of nutrients. Fed whilst still growing, there is no loss of precious vitamins, minerals and...
theparrotclub.co.uk

Food And Diet

Ask about all the foods that can be fed and how best to feed them.
theparrotclub.co.uk
 
Hi @prania here is an idea of feeding fresh veggies hun, some small amounts. When I had just Plum it worked well, freezes well, defrost in fridge overnight. I now do similar but in bigger quantities for both pink ones. Obviously changes could be made to accomodate your conure. BTW when I had a Patagonian for a short time he took to my chop well and his colours flourished as a result of balanced feeding.

Two Seasons Chop

I thought I would share some chop making efforts - I have called this two seasons chops because the wonderful colours reminded me of Spring and Autumn. Hope this inspires the uninspired non chop makers :-) Autumn chop (RH side) Beetroot, two large, peeled, food processed/chopped and lightly...
theparrotclub.co.uk

This is a really useful book to have on hand https://theparrotclub.co.uk/communi...karmen-budai-and-shean-pao.46277/#post-534908
 
Remember that they use their beaks like a 3rd foot which could be misconstrued as going in for a bite.
Something else I wonder is that she may not yet know the strength of her beak.... Dora has a very sharp beak, but she can hold on to me in a bitey way without breaking the skin. That said, she can puncture my skin easily with just a nip.
 
Wendy Wolfe said:
Hello and welcome to the forum, you will find a lot of support here.
I don't know how long Willow has been with you, but it sounds like she will be testing the boundaries.
When she does bite (and they pretty much all do at some point) try to keep calm and not react apart from being firm to say "no", and put her back on/ in her cage fire a few minutes.
Can you identify what the precursor to a bite is? For example she may be telling you to back off and leave her be, or that she needs to have a sleep, food, a poo etc, or it might be she wants more head scratches.
Have a look at the training section of the forum where you will find a lot of information.
I'm sure that more experienced members will soon be along to help better than me.
Click to expand...
 
Hi. Thanks for the welcome and advice. I have had Willow since September 4th, 2025. Two months yesterday. She is still a baby, she will be 6 months on the 15th. I allow her to be out of the cage all day because i work from home full time. She gets aggressive when i want to put her in her cage downstairs, mostly wheni am going to cook dinner(for her safety). When i bring her upstairs to bed, she goes right in her cage. I put her to sleep the same time everynight. She gets 12 hours of sleep. Anyway, I love her, she is really a sweet little bird, i just don't want her to have behavioral issues. Thank you.
 
Hi. Thanks for the welcome and advice. I have had Willow since September 4th, 2025. Two months yesterday. She is still a baby, she will be 6 months on the 15th. I allow her to be out of the cage all day because i work f
Roz said:
Those are great videos @AprilRobin ! I especially like the first one.

Absolutely agree with fresh diet suggestions @plumsmum ! So important!
Click to expand...
I will by all the fresh food ingredients and make that for her this weekend! Thank you.
 
prania said:
Hi. Thanks for the welcome and advice. I have had Willow since September 4th, 2025. Two months yesterday. She is still a baby, she will be 6 months on the 15th. I allow her to be out of the cage all day because i work from home full time. She gets aggressive when i want to put her in her cage downstairs, mostly wheni am going to cook dinner(for her safety). When i bring her upstairs to bed, she goes right in her cage. I put her to sleep the same time everynight. She gets 12 hours of sleep. Anyway, I love her, she is really a sweet little bird, i just don't want her to have behavioral issues. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Does she seem to have one or two favorite treats? If she does, try putting those in her downstairs cage when you want her to go inside. Don't put them in the other cage. Make the downstairs cage the only place where she can get them. Sprite, my Sun Conure, likes walnuts. I can usually show her a walnut and she will go back into her cage when I drop a walnut into her bowl.
 
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