Robbie!

[Cheese Specialist]

Cheese, you'll find it very hard to train Symon while you let him have free reign, especially with him having the choice of going to and from his cage when he wants. I wouldnt let him have any time out for a week or two. After a week or more start training him from scratch and I bet within a couple of weeks he'll be hand tame
He has a decent sized cage so I wouldnt worry. None of my birds are allowed to leave their cages of their own accord, they have to leave via me.

Ah, I couldn't do that. It's too cruel IMo and goes against what I think about it. I prefer to just do the hand in the cage thing and let him come to me.

I feel really strongly about it.

 

[Jess]

He's on calcivet, feather-up and the best parrot food you can get!! He should be fine!

He's actually just started plucking his back and wings - he's got a few bald patches, but hopefully ill be able to get him to stop that...

The story the people i picked him up from came out with was that he'd been flying loose around Gloucester since the end of July and they managed to coax him down and have kept him for a week...

This could be true, but seeing as my Grey only lasted 4 days outside its pretty unlikely that a conure could last nearly 4 months... And he seemed to have bonded quite well with the man, which wouldn't usually happen in a week... and i asked what they had been calling him, they said they came up with the name Robbie because they found him nearl someone called Robbie or something weird But, he says "hello Robbie", and if he's learnt that in a week he's gotta be the smartest conure ive ever heard of! Oh, and lastly, the woman was in tears when we left with the bird - bit attached for only a week with him wouldn't you say...?

But im a very suspicious person, it could all be true of course... lol

I shall be taking him to the Birdline show in Stoke this weekend so he can have his wings clipped and so that i can make sure they realise i am NOT keeping him... He just bit me really hard... little bugger...lol

Jess

 

[Pointy_kitty]

Hmmm... well, ignore what the books say cos that never works!!! For me at least!!  I found that just having them out (when you're on here? ) in the same room with you works.  If you just ignore him and carry on with what your doing i can assure you that he will eventually come over just cos they're so inquisitive!!!  It can take a long time to tame a bird and you've not had Symon that long so i wouldn't worry too much, but a couple of hours with him in the same room with you each night should help!

Well, I am with him for hours everyday. I open his cage at about 10am (if I do it later he starts squalking and can hear him from bed (I sleep late )) and he's still out now. I just close it when he goes home and sits in his sleeping place. lol. He's with me for almost all that time as I spend all my time in the living room on the pc/working/etc unless I am at Uni.

I know that it can take a long time with animals, Oscar (middle pig) wouldn't let me stroke him for about a year and a half! Now he's grand.

I'll look forward to seeing more pics of Robbie. I like that he's noisy, Symon is vry noisey, he looks like such a dude!

yeesh
a year and a half?
thats a very long time
all of my animals, (birds, guinea pigs, ect.)
have been hand tame within days of me getting them
they were (and those i have today are) very healthy, happy
and very VERY well kept
their quality of life is very good (except for my dog who is going under some strict retraining and for the time being is on a chain since she dug through a wall and you can now look beside the steal door and see straight outside!)

at the risk of starting a debate
in captivity,
animals, like infants and children need boundaries
they do not understand the dangers found in households
its as simple as closing a door as they decide to go through, or sitting down on a bed as they play underneith the sheets and are suffocated/ badly injured
i could name them off forever,
burners, plants, other animals, windows, feet, doors, electrical cords, heaters, vents, even something so simply as chipping paint

in the beginning they should not have free rein imo
my animals were all restricted unless under supervision
annd they all turned out marvelous in a rediculously short amount of time
imo its irresponsible to have them out without supervision

but thats just me
pickle was hand tamed (no joke) in a day and began training in a week
he talked in a few months
now he is 9 months old (my how time flies! no pun intended)
and since he was about 4 months old he has spoke full sentences, songs, immitates tons of noises, is fully hand tame and trained and even does tricks
i have NEVER had to clip his wings
he is very cuddley and well behaved

i am not saying anything negative about symon because in my opinion all budgies are highly inteligent and in alot of cases the more inteligent the animal, the more stubborn they can be
but IMO he needs some boundaries

but he is your bird and every parent raises their children differently
that doesn't mean you are wrong

EDIT: i know this post is worded wierd and riddled with spelling mistakes but its because i am in a rush