Animal-World > Birds > Conures > Jenday Conure

Jenday Conure ~ Janday ConureJandaya Conure, Yellow-headed Conure

Family: Psittacidae

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Aratinga jandayaPhoto 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

Scientific Name: Aratinga jandaya

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
My jenday is named Jendy, I found him at the local pet store. When I asked for a good bird they kinda laughed, so I asked for the meanest 1 and found jendy. I gave it to my girlfriend "who is a vet tech" as a b-day present. The vet there said no one could hold him but from the first day I brought him home He loves my girlfriend, he likes to play in her hair, lol. We take him outside, he flies around a little then returns home. We leave the front door open until he returns, and yeah, the first time was an accident. He really likes to laugh with us and sounds just like me, lol. And he attacks over weight people for some reason. My neighbor is deathly scared of him, lol. happy timez James 2009-11-07
We have a 6 mos Jenday Very lovable bird, big kisser, quite playful, loves to wrestle and take showers, and starting talking. However, we have a 4 yearold maroon belly conure who does not like him. She bites him and has starting pulling feathers. We will have to adopt him out. Caution when bringing a new bird home, make sure your other bird(s) like it. Looking for a home for Ernie. dr.michelle levan 2009-10-13
Mine I've had for awhile. I got her from my grandmother who could not play with her. She plucked her feathers and is mean to others ecept me. I'm tryin to teach her to talk and to do tricks and advise. joe 2009-07-15
I have a jenday conure, he is 13 years old and I have had him since I was 12 years old. I am now 25 and he is like my child, so all of my motherly attention goes to him and although he is mostly in love with my long time boy friend, when he is not feeling well he wants me. (Or when I am upset he sits on my shoulder and if I am crying he gets puffy and makes sweet tweets all in an effort to make me feel better). I have realized over the years that these are very smart birdies. I also have noticed that his wing/back feathers have become darker and almost black (not all of them) this has caused me to become worried, especially when my vet told me she did not know why and had no answer for me. And it is difficult, I know these animals live 20-30 years, but no one seems to know the biology of older birds... melissa 2009-07-15
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
Some of the coolest comments:
My husband and I have a very young jenday conure. Its name is Graceful. It was the name given by the caretaker at the pet store, but we decided to keep it because it describes its personality. Today we are taking Graceful to its first veterinary appt hopefully we'll find its gender later. Graceful is clownish, cuddly, brattish at times, but lots of fun. It is beginning to learn a few words, it tries them at night before going to sleep. Graceful is also a very picky eater. We have not been able to feed him fruit and veggies. Grace does love bean sprouts, dehydrated mango, papaya bits and shredded carrot, but it feeds mostly on pellets. We are trying to add more variety to its diet. Ah, its day is not complete without a bath. Lately, it likes to dunk pellets in its water dish after the bath, and prefers balsa wood toys to chew/destroy. It hisses and gets aggresive with a platic ball with a rattle we don't know why though. What is most amazing is that it has never been exposed to that kind of toy before. We wonder what it reminded it of, or what danger Graceful associates it with. Isabel 2009-10-16

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