Nanday conure (black-hooded parakeet): how to channel a hyperactive little bird's energy
Published by Planète Pets · managing editor: Clément Lacaille · how our guides are written
The nanday conure, also called the black-hooded parakeet (Aratinga nenday), is a small South American conure known for boundless energy and piercing screams the moment it gets bored. A study by Cheryl Meehan, Joy Garner and Joy Mench, published in 2004 in Developmental Psychobiology, tracked young orange-winged Amazon parrots raised either in barren cages or in cages enriched with foraging and locomotor opportunities: the unenriched birds developed stereotyped behaviour earlier, faster and more intensely than those given enrichment from a young age. The species differs from the nanday, but the underlying principle — a brain kept busy early in life develops fewer stereotypies — carries over to most highly intelligent psittacines. More ideas for keeping birds occupied live in the bird toys and enrichment section.
Contents · 4 sections
Why is the nanday so energetic?
In the wild, nandays live in noisy flocks that travel long distances to forage and that keep in constant touch through contact calls. In a cage, that same energy, left unchannelled, quickly turns into repeated screaming, bar-chewing or constant restlessness.
Which kinds of enrichment work best?
- foraging toys that require searching for food rather than finding it in an open dish
- frequent toy rotation to prevent boredom, as covered in our article on how often to rotate bird toys
- daily out-of-cage time in a bird-proofed room to burn off excess energy
- short clicker-training sessions that engage the body as much as the mind
What if the nanday already screams a lot?
Starting enrichment later than ideal still helps: the Amazon parrot study shows that even late enrichment reduces already-established stereotypies, though it works more slowly than an early setup. Our comparison of loud, hyperactive conures covers approaches that carry over well to the nanday, a species with a very similar temperament to the sun conure.
Frequently asked questions
Is a nanday suited to apartment living?
Yes, as long as you accept the morning and evening screaming bouts typical of conures; daily enrichment reduces how often they happen without ever eliminating them entirely.
Should you keep a pair of nandays rather than a single bird?
A single bird, properly stimulated and socialised with people, does very well on its own; a pair, on the other hand, needs more space and more individual out-of-cage time for each bird.
At what age should enrichment start?
The earlier the better, from weaning onward, but an already-stressed adult nanday still benefits noticeably from an enriched environment introduced gradually.
In our shop, for this use: Wooden plug board, puzzle toy for parrots (€19.90) · the whole shop
This guide is part of Planète Pets’s Birds universe. Our advice is general in nature: for any health concern, your veterinarian remains the only reference.
