Animal-World > Pet Birds > Conures > Jenday Conure

Jenday Conure ~ Janday Conure

Jandaya Conure ~ Yellow-headed Conure
Family: Psittacidae

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Aratinga jandaya Photo Courtesy: Flavia Lopes

   The Jenday Conure is probably the best known of the Aratinga conures, as well as being one of the most popular and commonly kept!

   The Jenday Conure is quite striking with its beautiful colors. They are closely related to the Sun Conure Aratinga solstitialis and the Golden-capped Conure Aratinga auricapilla. Sometimes there is confusion between the Jenday Conure and the Sun Conure but you can easily identify the Jenday by its green wings and back, while the Sun has mostly yellow wings.

   A super sweet bird, the attractive Jenday Conure is very sociable and makes a very tame and loveable companion. They love to "talk", and yes, they are rather noisy little creatures. Being very active, they enjoy playing with toys, climbing, and chewing. Their antics can be very comical and at the same time they are very affectionate.

   If you are looking for a beautiful conure, the Jenday Conure will certainly capture your attention. It is also much less costly than the Golden Conure or the Queen of Bavaria Conure, two conures which are often touted for their beauty.

For more information about the care of Conures see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Conure

Distribution:
   These birds are native to northeastern Brazil.

Description:
   The Jenday Conure is a small member of the parrot family, and is very colorful. The head and upper breast are a golden yellow that blends into a reddish gold on the lower abdomen. Sometimes they will have an olive yellow breast. The wings, upper tail, and upper back are green moving into an orangish red on the lower back. The underside of the tail is black and the under side of the wings are an orangish red. The tip of the tail and the outer wing feathers are blue. The beak and the feet are black.
   A mature Jenday Conure reaches its full coloration at about two years of age. A younger bird will have duller coloration; a paler yellow head and neck with some greens, and a paler red on the breast.

Size - Weight:
   The Jenday Conure will get up to 11 4/5" (30 cm), 4.4 ozs for the male and
5 ozs for the female (125g -142 g).

Care and feeding:
   A roomy cage is required unless the bird is to be let out for extended periods. Many birds can spend most of their time on a play pen or parrot perch. They eat a variety of sprouts, seeds, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and commercial pellets, as well as the same nutritional foods humans eat.

   See About Conures: Housing and About Conures: Care and Feeding for more information.

Social Behaviors:
   They live in pairs or small groups of 10 to 15 birds. They love to play, and can be fairly destructive if not watched. They can also be rather noisy. Despite all this, they make a real fun pet and are very popular.

Breeding/Reproduction:
   They breed readily if they have the right size aviary. Though these birds will need to be either DNA or surgically sexed for a certain determination, the iris of the female is light brown and they have a grayish white eye ring while the male's iris is darker and his eye ring is pure white.
   The hen lays three to four eggs which are incubated for about 26 days. Both parents will feed the young. The young fledge (leave the nest) after about two months. The ideal nest box size should be 21 1/2" x 10" x 11" (55x25x28 cm), with a 2 3/4" opening (7 cm) which the parents will chew on and alter it to their liking.
   There has been a hybrid conure produced by crossing a Jenday Conure with a Nanday Conure.

Potential Problems:
   As with most Aratinga species, this bird can be noisy.
   See About Conures: Potential Problems for information on illnesses.

Availability:
  This bird is generally available. They can usually be found at pet stores and reputable breeders.

Activities:  Loves to climb and play. Provide lots of toys.

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Latest Comments
I've just acquired one of these little guys, Kaboo. I didn't name him that, for some reason his previous owner didn't want him :( Don't know why, he's great. Full of fun and mischief, can be a bit noisy at times, like a spoilt kid who can't get his own way. He loves to be out of his cage, and has just learned that windows have glass in them, so there's no point in trying to fly through them! Don't worry he didn't get hurt. I actually got him to keep my elderly mother (who lives with me) company during the day, she's not as confident with him as I am, so he stays in the cage while I'm at work, but she does talk to him and strokes him while I'm away. I go home for lunch and let him out for a while, and the same when I get home in the evening, when he spends much more time out of the cage, in fact he now decides when he wants to go back in, and goes there himself. He loves his snuggle shelter, and one of his rope toys that originally had four blocks of wood strung onto it. Needless to say, these ended up shredded and deposited on the bottom of the cage, and he's broken two bells so far. He has a birdie bath in his cage but hasn't used it yet. Instead he tries to bathe in his water bowl, but it's a bit too small. He's also getting used to being sprayed with a mister. He snuggles up to his rope, his cloth and his shelter and makes happy little chirpy noises. He's not quite poop trained, but is learning, last night he did manage to go back to his cage, have a poop, and then came back out again, and yes he got lots of praise and a treat for that. So he's a happy little guy who loves being with his 'dad' when he gets home, and he sends his love to all you guys out there. Martyn, Sussex, UK 2009-05-28
Our Jenday, Gizzy, got out late one afternoon and headed for the sunset. We do not clip her wings. I looked until it got dark and then just came home. I got up the next morning and drove around the neighborhood, just listening. She is very loud and if she squawked, I would hear her. Sure enough, I heard her! She was up in a globe willow that looked just like the one in my back yard. The owners of the house did not speak English, but let me crawl out onto their garage roof. Gizzy was very happy to see me and was singing and whistling but was afraid to let go of the tree branch to fly to me. My next door neighbor was out looking too and stopped. She handed me a branch, which I whacked the limb Gizzy was on. Off she flew! "Where's she headed?" I yelled to my neighbor. She yelled back," Straight to you!". And here comes Gizzy, wings out-stretched, feet full forward, Wham onto my chest and straight down my shirt, singing and whistling. She loves to be inside one of our shirts. We have "bird clothes" so she can snuggle and coo. Yes, she's spoiled rotten! Joree 2008-12-29
I was given a lovely Jenday a few weeks ago she is absolutely gorgeous and keeps trying to feed me (which is not very nice). She hates being in her cage and has to be out all the time or she shrieks and screams. I am going to have to buy a huge perch for her. My son adores her too, and she is very playful, but nippy kazza 2008-11-20
Skittles is my conure's name. He is half Jenday and half Sun conure. He is 5 months old, he is very inquisitive and very playful. Any opportunity he has to spend time with us is welcomed immensely. He will do anything for attention. I've never had a bird before, but Skittles has made a bird lover out of me. Bobby H. 2008-10-20
I bought my jenday conure, Rainbow, 2 months ago. He is truly one of the most amazing animals I have ever seen! Though he can be quite noisy, there is never a dull moment with him in the house! I bought him a second cage for the bedroom, so that when I sleep, he can see me and sleep too. He has a nap tent and he absolutely seems to be loving life here. I am loving him more every day, he's such a spoiled little fellow already! While these birds are relatively small, their personalities certainly are very large indeed! Bobbi 2008-08-16

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Author: Clarice Brough, CAS