Conure Conundrum

Question
Hello,

I have two conures: a 5 yr old female black-capped  and a 3 year old yellow-sided (green-cheek variation) male.  They have been DNA sexed.  I had the female first, and got the male about 6 mos later.  I gradually introduced them to one another and they have always gotten along well.  I was eventually able to house them in the same (large) cage.  They would occasionally exhibit mating behavior, but I discourage nest building and the like, so the female never laid an egg or anything.  Since this past spring, the male has been picking feathers (lightly), mainly from himself.  My avian vet checked him out and determined that there was no medical reason for this, but that he was probably going through a phase of sexual maturing.

About 1 month ago, I moved to a new home.  It was not a long distance move, and I made every effort to minimize the stress on the birds.  They seemed out of sorts the first night, but had settled down by the next morning.  However, the male started attacking the female whenever she got close.  He continued this behavior all day, to the point that I had to keep him in a separate cage that night.  Over one month later, and the situation has not improved.  They both seem adjusted to the new home (exhibiting "happy" behavior like preening, tail-feather wagging, eating normally, etc) and seem their old selves EXCEPT that they will not tolerate each other.  She seems afraid of him, although in the past, she always seemed to be the more dominant bird.


I am not sure what to do; I have been trying to spend more time and attention with the male to help ease any stress he still feels.  But I am afraid that I am causing more harm than good by doing this because he seems more bonded to me than ever (chases away even the dogs if they come too close) and therefore less likely to reestablish the bond with the female parrot.

Help! Any advise appreciated.  I am not the kind of person who would ever give the birds up, but they are making my life more difficult and I would love for them to go back to the way they were!

Answer
Hi, Christine.  Thanks for posting!

They may never go back to the way they were.  How long have you owned both of these birds?  Sexual maturing may be a reason for feather plucking, but if not a medical reason, feather plucking is usually the result of too much stress without an outlet/relief.  With another bird present, particularly a female with which the male seems happy, this doesn't sound quite right.  A move can be very stressful on birds...perhaps a month for your birds isn't enough time for them to adjust completely, especially at their ages (overnight definitely isn't enough time).  Birds prefer other birds to humans in most cases.  Sometimes a move will result in behavior like this, sometimes a move will result in a pair of birds breeding/laying eggs soon after the move.  The fact that your male started plucking feathers in the spring, leads me to believe there's something else going on here.  Can't quite put my finger on it yet though (need more information).

Sometimes a pair of birds just simply stop liking each other and the human needs to separate them and keep them in separate cages (maybe allowing them to interact during play time outside their cages).  Do you not want your birds bonding to you?  Perhaps your male is chasing the female away because of his bondness with you (perhaps he prefers his bond with you to his bond with the female).  

While it's OK for 2 parrots of the same species/subspecies (or not) to be friendly with each other, I don't think I'd allow these 2 birds to get too close with each other so they breed.  Although both of these birds are pyrrhura, they are subspecies of one another...not usually good aviculture to allow breeding of subspecies (unless they are very similar genetically).  

I recommend you keep these 2 parrots separate for now and see what happens.  It would be OK to allow them to play/interact with each other, but I think separate cages for sleeping/resting are in order.  At this point, they both seem to need their comfort areas (their cages) to themselves.  Getting to the bottom of the male's feather plucking would be my first priority.  If not medical, it's a psychological thing.  Did you happen to start packing in early spring when the feather plucking started?  You mention dogs...they could be part of the problem.  Also, if the male is bonded with you, does he chase the female conure away from you (could this be why she seems scared of him)?

If you can provide more details, confirm some of my theories, and answer my questions above, we might be able to get to the bottom of this situation.

Thanks.

Chrys