Is it time to clip his wings?

[shadoweon]

Lately I have been having alot of trouble with my Sun Conure,Cody. It's beginning to also hurt my feelings because I feel like he no longer wants to spend time with me or likes me

Comments

[zandperl]

At his age he may be going through puberty. Look up tips elsewhere in this comm for reducing hormonal behavior or preventing egg laying (yeah, I know he's male so won't lay eggs, but the same things that prevent females from laying eggs can help behavior in males). Give those a try for 1-3 months and see if it makes a difference.

Also, any time there's a chance in behavior, consider getting a vet checkup.

[banshea]

To directly answer your question, clipping his wings sounds to me like a band-aid. It might help, but it's not addressing the actual problem, and it probably won't actually fix anything

[a_dead_bird]

This reminds me of what I've been going through since January with my 4 year old Meyers parrot, Bartleby. You can read about it here, here and here. There are also some very relevant discussions in amryfal's posts about her Senegal ( here is oneAfter months of no change for the better, last month I finally relented to have Bartleby's wings clipped. At some point in the last few months, I started to only handle him with a perch, which made out-of-cage time a lot less stressful for both of us. For the first two weeks after clipping his wings, I let him take it easy, and kept him low to the ground over the carpets so he could get used to the clipping without getting hurt. The next week he spent being boarded. The week he's been back, he has been really good. I can use my hands to bring him out of the cage and transfer him between table perches. I still use the stick to put him back in the cage though, and to pick him up when he flies to the floor. Baby steps for now

[goldleafgoddess]

I don't think aggression problems have anything to do with whether his wings are clipped or not. I've done both with my senegal, but he has been flighted for 5 years now, and when he gets aggressive, its usually because I'm not paying enough attention to him. I spend a lot of time kissing under wings, touching feet, belly, beak, seems to keep him happy. But...all of the above comments are valuable...I just think that clipping his wings may be worse for him.

[a_dead_bird]

That's actually the reason I didn't want to clip my meyers' wings to help with his aggression, and for the first couple of weeks it was really hard for him to adjust. But since he is unable to fly wherever he wants, he no longer flies over to attack me, and that little detail is helping immensely. So I feel like it actually can be useful.
Did you go through any hormonal aggression with your senegal around age 4 at all? I'm curious because it seems like a lot of people are having this issue right now.

[goldleafgoddess]

I noticed that Ki was very high energy, curious, independent, fearless....but the only aggression he has displayed is minor...like flying towards me & grabbing at my hair as he flies by, usually when I'm not paying attention to him while on the phone. But, if I go get him, tell him to step, he is always obedient to that, and he never bites or gets aggressive in any other way. It actually doesn't bother me when he buzz-flies me, I just laugh at him, and he seems to be very playful when he does it...never ever has he hurt me or scratched or anything. He has landed on my head a few times, mostly to climb onto my shoulder. He is super lovey and affectionate, gives kisses and rubs on me, and lifts his wing to get kisses in the soft spot. He is also great with other people, very sweet and friendly. I wonder if its because I raised him from a very young baby who wasn't weaned yet, and then also was at I was at home in my studio the first few years, so he had a LOT of time being out, sometimes all day...lol...(I hated putting him in his cage