Hello people .. my first post here and I could use a little advice regarding Momo the blue-crowned conure.

Momo is 4 years old, very healthy and has come to me from a very loving home where the owner did not have time to care for the bird. Knowing that I have kept budgies in the past and always loved parakeets, she offered me the bird and huge cage free of charge and I was happy to accept.

My concern is that Momo is very timid, even after a week of settling in he tends to shy away in the corner of his cage. He flies away immediately when I put my hand within about 12 inches of him and has clearly never been handled. So my question is simple ... given that he is 4 years old and possibly quite set in his ways, would Momo lead a happier life if I were to have his wings clipped and train him to enjoy being handled?

As I say, I have kept birds before and never had to clip their wing feathers but those were budgies raised from about 4 months old.

Momo is a beautiful, intelligent and much loved bird so I want to tread carefully here and hear all sides of the argument for and against. My personal feeling is that he would be calmer and happier if I just force him to interact a bit more closely with me. As it stands, he's cowering every time I walk past his cage.

Momo originally came from a breeder. I should have mentioned that he has quite a bad problem with pin feathers on his head and neck due to lack of grooming. I'm spending a lot of time talking to him and reassuring him constantly, he's shown a few encouraging signs like eating from a food bowl when I offer it to him and he will take monkey nuts from me with a little patience.

Just a little more info, working backwards through his life.

I've had him for 9 days. For 4 months prior to that he was living in a house where he was free to fly round pretty much all day but never handled. He had a room to himself to keep him safe from the owner's dogs and cat.

Before that he was with the breeder, I'm guessing in an aviary due to his timid nature.

I suppose what I'm really asking is is it too late to hand tame him now? I'm really starting to believe that he'd be safer and happier in a big aviary with other birds.

Many thanks to you all for the replies and advice.

I'm actually quite troubled by this bird. He's effectively a wild bird who lives in a cage in my lounge and I can't believe that is a satisfactory life for him. I don't think clipping is a solution, all I'd get is a wild bird who can't fly any more and that's not going to make for a happy bird. I feel I'm running the risk of stressing him by trying too hard but at the same time I want to at least try to reach out and befriend him. The problem is he's just about unapproachable.

I'll persevere for now with patience and encouragement. Maybe in a few months we can think about wing clipping again but he's far too flighty and nervous to benefit from that now.

Thank you all once again, I will doubtless post again with more questions and requests for advice.

Frankster, before I found Birdline I took in a lovebird found in the street.

I now know that he was probably an escaped aviary bird. I put him in an extremely large cage and I used to spend hours and hours reading to him. singing, albeit badly, and getting serious arm ache as I sat there with lots of treats trying to tempt him over. It seriously took over a year unti he was what I would regard as tame but every day he would do something for the first time. I called hubby at work the first time he stepped up, took a treat from my finger etc etc.

NOw I know what I know, I wouldn't do that again.  Was I cruel?  I don't know but I can;t change it and I did it for the right reason, my heart was in the right place.

The bond I built with him was was worth more than my weight in gold, patience is the key and you must let him come to you, personally, and its just my opinion, clipping at this stage is a definite no no.

If he is taking seed from hands, he doesn't sound very much like a 'traditional'áviary bird to me. 

Keep us up to date with his progress