# Taming Billy the Conure



## sailor (Feb 5, 2010)

Hi All, 

Feels like we have had Billy forever now, but it has only been a few weeks in reality.
He is such a funny little thing, he loves getting to free fly all day at the weekends in our company and at bedtime when we put him oin his cage and say bye bye, he always acts alittle distressed. In the mornings when we say Hello Billy, he seems to get hyper and chirps quite loud and pins himself up against the bars to get a good look at us etc.

So the way he acts would suggest he sees us as his little flock.

But we haven`t been able to get him to trust us yet.

Every evening I take his food away and in the mornings, I put his favourite foods in the palm of my hand and leave my hand in his cage, for him to eat from my hand, but he will only take orange segments from my hand.. with his little neck stretched right out, because he refuses to step onto my hand still.

Apart from hand feeding like this, I don`t know any other way of taming a bird to get used to us... 

Any helpful ideas, hints,tips ??

My son is feeling quite sad, as it was a bird for him and altho Billy loves to sit at his desk and play around my son, he wont allow my son to touch him or even put his hand near him.
We don`t use sudden movements, just slow and steady.
He will take food from us, if we pass it to him normally in our fingers, thats about the only time we can get close to him. So I feel like there is some hope there atleast


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## petzplazaUK (Feb 21, 2011)

it can take months or years with birds hun, then suddenly one day they will do it and shock u lol its really exciting when they do and you have to try and contain yourself so you dont move fast etc- u would think id won the lottery when some of mine finally stepped up or let me touch them i got more excited than them pmsl

lots of praise ,encouragement and reassurance and most of all time and patience- they do come round 

just keep with offering treats even after he has finally stepped up on your hand (yayy) u have to work at the other things like touching , unfortunately only time will help but im sure u will get there.

when he stretches over for the orange speak quietly and keep saying good boy or something as encouragement, some people use a perch they can hold and a bird will step up on that first but as he was wary of the branches that might not be a good idea


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## sailor (Feb 5, 2010)

Thanx for that.
When we had a budgie it took 6 months of me constantly feeding it from my hand, each time he landed on my hand to feed I said come here.

He soon started to fly to my hand randomly looking for food and soon learnt the magic box contained food and would be on you quicker than you could pick it up lol

One day he did start flying to our hands on command "come here"

I have plenty of patience to spare ofcourse, but the way he stares at our palms with food on it, anyone would think I was offering him a bomb and thought there might be other things I could do.
His got over the branch issue... he sits on the shredding them tp pieces now 
But he wont step onto anything outside the cage, unless its his bowl and he his hungry.


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## petzplazaUK (Feb 21, 2011)

one of mine will fly onto me to feed from a bowl if i hold one - maybe u could try ur son holding the bowl and see if he comes down to him- it would build a trust between them two then and ur son would feel he is getting something from billy.

i did have a pic somewhere of me with a african grey a cockateil and a nanday conure (the nanday is the one that feeds from the bowl tho now i cant feed them without her being transported around on me ) sat on me all at once lol will see if i can find it- hubby calls me birdwoman


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