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New and need all the help I can get

1K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  catalinadee 
#1 ·
Hi there from Queensland Australia. My son and his girlfriend in February purchased a sun conure they name Beeka! Unfortunately they have now spilt up and guess who is left to look after Beeka, yea thats right good old mum lol. I am no stranger to birds and bird raising, I have 4 all tame budgies and just love birds. I have been researching heaps tryin to find all I need to know about these birds but thought there is no better place to go than other owners for info. So anything you may be able to tell me I would appreciate. I have been reading through the threads and it seems biting is an issue. Beeka drew blood on my lip last night:shrug: so I was wondering if they need some time to settle into a new home just as the budgies do???? Also any food info would be great. I feed my budgies heaps of fruit and vegies and seems the good thing to do with Beeka to. Basically any advice you can give would be great. Thanks heaps :whitefacedbluebudgi
 
#2 ·
All birds have to settle in :)
any questions just fire away!

+ welcome to the forum :D
 
#4 ·
:welcome: to the forum!! Like any parrot, lots of fresh fruit and veg is always a plus :) I would go slow, let the little one relax and adjust. He's probably stressed, getting comfy with 2 owners then losing them and now readjusting to someone else. Give him some time, some space, and some love and I think he'll come around for you :lovehearts: How old is Beeka?
 
#8 ·
My conure ( as well as my parrotlet and budgies ) all eat a diet of seeds , ( small mixes for budgies and 'let and larger stuff for the conure), pellets, fresh and frozen veggies, cooked rices ( 4-5 different kinds), cooked barley, cooked quinoa, cooked millet, cooked pasta, cooked lentils, cooked split peas, sprouts , and egg food crumbles , with hemp seeds given as treats and training aids.
 
#9 ·
A varied diet is best; you can offer pellet and seed, usually a 75% ratio pellet to 25% seed is a good base, but when teaching him to eat pellets you'll want to start with a small amount of pellet and increase the ratio over time so it's mostly pellet compared to seed. It's also important to offer fresh/frozen fruits and veggies. They also like fresh greens too. The nice part is your budgies can/will eat it too, so you can offer everyone the same fruit/veg/greens mix I found budgies generally really like their greens, especially the dark greens like collards and kale. There's nothing cuter than watching a budgie try to bathe on a wet piece of kale :giggle: They rub all over it and flap about.

As for the nipping, if he was sold as a baby in February, he was probably born around December... he's likely 6-8 months old. At that age, he's in his "teenage phase" where he's transitioning from a baby to a sexually mature adult. Like a teenager, his hormones are out of whack so he's going to be moody, hormonal, and more nippy. He's also, like a teenager, going to test his boundaries and rules to see what he can get away with :giggle: Give him a few months and he'll mellow out again, but in the mean time you'll have to be patient and work with him so he learns that biting isn't allowed. A good way to tell the age of a sun conure is by seeing how much green they have on their feathers. As a baby, they are mostly greenish and when they're a full adult they are almost completely yellow/orange with a band of green on the wings.

for example, these are babies, at an age where they're still being hand fed:



Here are some juveniles who are likely weaned and are in their teenage phase. Notice their heads are starting to get good and orange and the green is mostly on the chest and back:



And here's a full adult sunny. Notice how orange and yellow s/he is with just a band of green on the wings:



I hope that helps!!
 
#10 ·
Jenny! Stop showing me baby sun conures, YOU'RE MAKING ME WANT ONE NOW! :rofl: so cute!
 
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