Angry indian ringneck ------please help

[martinsaker]

Hi, I have an Indian Ringneck Parrot, which i've hand raised from the age of 3 weeks. She is now almost 2 years old. In the last 2 months she has totally changed personality from a sweet and affectionate bird to a nasty aggressive bird that bites me at every opportunity and wants nothing to do with me.
Does anyone have advice on what the problem might be and what steps i can take to resolve the issue? She has also become much more destructive, shredding pillows, curtains, books, electronics etc etc. (basically anything in her path). At this stage, i am unable to handle her. She is free in the house. I suspected she may be bored, but she has many toys. I work during the day so the time i can spend with her is limited to evenings. I also have 2 budgies and a cockatiel that also roam the house freely (they don't really socialize with the ringneck). Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I'm at the stage now where i'm thinking of giving her to somewhere with a aviary.
I have plenty of videos of her behavior that i can share.
Regards,
Martin

 

[noodles123]

Excluding any medical issues or recent changes within your home, sexual maturity happens around the age of 2 for IRNs (sometimes earlier, sometimes later, but 2 is about average from my understanding).
All birds change at sexual maturity...just like a baby doesn't stay a baby and a puppy doesn't stay a puppy.

That having been said, while things won't be exactly the same, you can still have a happy relationship with your bird as long as your understand that you can play a direct role in how this progresses.

Make sure that you aren't doing anything to promote hormones (no shadowy places in the cage, no tents/huts/hollow large toys/boxes etc). Do not allow your bird to hang out under furniture, in blankets, in bedding or paper shreds/crumbles...By allowing her access to shredding things like pillows, you will only see the behavior get worse. That sounds very very much like nesting behavior, and nesting activities increase hormonal production etc.
Birds often misinterpret our behavior as sexual and then become frustrated when we do not reciprocate (EDIT- we often behave sexually towards birds because what seems like snuggles to us is like making out to them--this is our bad, not theirs lol). They can get angry at us when they feel rejected, they can become jealous of our relationships with other birds or even interested in them sexually (regardless of species). They can even become upset/territorial about other people or animals in the house.

They naturally are inclined to pick a partner and reproduce. These behaviors can occur at any time when they are stimulated, but they also tend to cycle based on light and the time of year (spring is coming....and many owners complain a few months per year about heightened hormonal behavior)- With female birds, be on the lookout for egg-binding as well during this hormonal stretch (this is easy enough to Google).

All sexually mature birds will get moody from time-to-time (often seasonally), but you want to make sure that your relationship has boundaries and that you aren't triggering anything hormonal via environment or behavior. Healthy socialization/exposure to trustworthy people other than you is important too. I am not trying to say that you need to force relationships with other people, but your bird needs to be around people other than you from time-to-time if possible.

Wooden chew-toys are generally, but sometimes shredding paper or sea-grass can actually increase hormonal behavior as well. You are smart to keep your bird occupied.

Make sure your bird is getting 10-14 hours of uninterrupted/dark sleep each night.
If you pet/hold your bird, keep petting to the head/neck only and don't allow the bird in your shirt etc (dark space--too much contact too).

Avoid feeding warm/moist food (at least until this resolves)

Consider your reactions to her behavior and whether you could be inadvertently reinforcing certain undesirable behaviors.

 

[martinsaker]

Thanks for your advice. You made many good points. I have noticed that she is trying to hide behind the pillows on the sofa and gets aggressive if i try to move her. She is definitely seeking out dark places like u say. She has also started facing away from me. I will try to persevere. Regards, Martin

 

[Laurasea]

Hormonal issues aside, look to see if anything spooked her, made her afraid of hands, happened to me and my GCC. Or changes in the house or routine.
Trust bonding, and starting over likes it a new bird can help many times. Lots of bribes

 

[Betrisher]

Noodles123 has made all the important points in her post. You might want to consider checking out 'hormonal bird' on Google and YouTube to see what the behaviours look like. That might help you judge better what your bird is doing.

The thing I'd like to add is that training can help bridge the gap between you and your hormonal bird. If she has something to think about, it allows her to suspend her hormonally-charged state for a short while. It also allows her to concentrate on what you want from her and the treats you have ready for her. That's a plus!

My own bird is going through her first hormonal flush and when she arrived, she was a holy terror! She's gradually calming down now and has taken to target training and trick training with great joy. Nothing pleases her more than pleasing me and earning her reward. As soon as our training session ends, though, she's cranky and bristly and bitey all over again.

I'm interested to see how she'll be once summer is over and the days become longer (ie. out of breeding season). I *hope* I'll see a happier, gentler birdie. Perhaps I won't, but that's OK: she's a real character and I love her.

Try to widen your notion of what a bird can be in your home. Most of us buy a bird and assume it will be a cuddly, affectionate family pet. However, birds are living creatures and therefore subject to daily, monthly and annual cycles of behaviour. They have preferences for what they'll eat and who they're prepared to bond with. They have individual personalities as well, so one bird might just adore sitting on your wrist and chatting meaningfully with you while another can't bear it and prefers to be anywhere but there. Every bird is different and part of the fun of sharing our homes with them is sussing them out and helping them have a great life.

Good luck with your IRN! Please stay in touch and let us know how you and she are going. We love to hear everyone's story!

 

[wrench13]

Also with irn n particular, its importat that you maintain SOME ineraction with yours, as IRNs are notorious for going back to the ;wild; state, if they are left in their cages all the tiime. Yours is just going thru her first sevual puberty nd the hormones are coursing thru her little body.

 

[martinsaker]

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions. So many things to consider. I haven't done anything i can think of to make her afraid of my hand. She has free range of the house (i've never used a cage). The only place off limits to her is my bedroom, so of course she is constantly trying to get in there. If she does manage to sneak in, i pick her up and she bites me in defiance (biting has become the new norm over the past couple of months). I've never hit her, or given her reason to be afraid of my hands. I might try going back to giving her more treats and rewarding her for good behavior, and try trick training. If her beak is occupied with a treat, she physically can't harm me.
The only other change to routine I can think is that I've had visitors for the past month or so. I've always known that she completely hates anyone else in the house, but in the past this hasn't affected her actions toward me.

 

[Betrisher]

I reckon hormones are what's causing your birdie's weird behaviour. She sounds exactly like my Madge when she first hit puberty. It was... memorable! I forgot to mention that aside from target training, it's handy always to carry a chopstick. Either you can use it to target your bird away from biting OR if you have to, you can offer the chopstick so she bites that instead of you. The target training is probably the more positive option, but always remember: a full beak can't bite you.

Another useful thing is to always offer the back of your tightly closed fist to a bird who's going through a bitey phase. When you offer your relaxed hand, she can get ahold of you and chomp right down. If you offer a tightly closed fist, it's a lot harder for her to get much of anything between her mandibles.

Eventually, she'll tire of biting when it doesn't work for her. Your idea of only rewarding good behaviour is *exactly* the right way to proceed. Like cats, birds don't generally thrive on punishment and just grow resentful. They do, however, *love* learning and being rewarded. Why not use that to our advantage in moments like these, eh?

 

[EllenD]

Definitely your bird going through puberty...Everything that Noodles wrote to you is exactly correct, and I actually have 2 concerns that haven't been mentioned yet in regards to her hormones going crazy constantly, which is most of the reason she is acting the way that she is...

The first issue, and a big one, is that she has free-range of your house all day long, all the time...That absolutely means that she is getting underneath furniture, pillows, blankets, rugs, anything that she can get underneath all day long every day while you're at work, and this is most-likely the main reason her hormones are so out of control...And they aren't going to stop any time soon if she isn't limited to a cage or at least a small room that has nothing at all that she can get underneath and where there are no small, dark places that she can get into or under. That's the first big thing that you need to change, because if you don't then her hormones are only going to continue to rage. And when you have her free when you're home to supervise, you absolutely cannot let her get underneath anything or behind pillows or anything else. No bedding/towels, furniture, rugs, into any type of boxes, etc. While in puberty this is only going to get worse and worse unless she has no small, dark places to get into or underneath.

The other issue is having Budgies and Cockatiels out free with her all day long when no one is home...IRN's are larger than both of Budgies and Cockatiels, and you have an angry, hormonal IRN right now...And even though you're going to say something like "They've been find this far" or "They don't ever bother with each other", you need to understand that that doesn't make any difference at all, and I guarantee if you don't stop them from being out together unsupervised all day long, you WILL come home one day soon to dead Budgies/Cockatiels. They are not predictable in their behaviors at all any time, and when a female is hormonal like this, forget about it. One wrong step by a Budgie and it's going to be in trouble, as the size difference (mostly the beak-size difference) is going to leave your poor other birds totally helpless...I don't want you to come home to that sight one day, because when it happens it's not pretty at all...

Also, where does your IRN sleep if she has no cage? The other issue that allowing them to be free-range 100% of the time is that you really can't control what type of sleep schedule they have, and when they are hormonal they should be put on a Natural-Light Schedule, which will calm their hormones and ensure that they are getting around 12 hours of solid sleep. This means they must go to bed right at sunset, regardless of the time, and they must wake up with the sunrise, and they need to be able to see the light changes of both through the window. This is their natural sleep schedule in the wild, and it keeps them rested and healthy, and it keeps their hormones from going crazy...But if your IRN is free-range and you can't cover her at night, then you have no idea if she's sleeping during the entire night or not, she may not be getting much sleep at all if she's free to do whatever she wants, and this is absolutely going to make her hormonal rages much, much worse.

This problem isn't your IRN's fault, it's her natural puberty/hormones combined with the fact that she's a captive/pet bird and not living in the wild, but she's got no structure or rather "limitations" in getting into small, dark places as often as she wants to, and she isn't covered at night and can stay awake if she wants to all night, or wake up and then get underneath or behind something, etc. So there is nothing limiting her hormones at all in her environment, and that's why she's doing the things that she's doing...It's kind of like she's being allowed to live like a "wild" bird, but not in a wild environment, rather a captive/pet environment with no limitations, and that just doesn't work...

 

[martinsaker]

Thanks Ellen, Its a good point you made about the consistency of sleeping habits (I have definitely failed in that respect). Kylie lives in the lounge room mostly, and the time she goes to sleep depends on when I finish watching Netflix ;-( . She also doesn't have a designated place to sleep. Lately i have noticed that after "lights-out", she climbs up the curtain and roosts on top of the curtail rod. Other times, she sleeps on top of the bird cage (which remains permanently open), or on top of the aquarium. These are the three highest points in the room. She never sleeps on the floor.
The general idea i've taken from all these helpful posts is that she needs more consistency in her life (feeding times, sleeping habits, sleeping place, interactions with me etc.) and an overhaul of my apartment to make sure she cant hide in dark places. Thanks so much Noodles, Ellen, Laurasea and Betricher. Will update with some pics soon.

 

[noodles123]

Oh good- glad we could help! Ellen is totally right about sleep. It helps with their mood etc, but it also is directly related to hormone production and immune health. The sooner you can establish a quiet and dark sleep location for 10-14 hours a night, the better.

 

[EllenD]

I'm very glad you understand where we are all coming from...What you were trying to do by letting your birds live in your home "free-range" and cageless 24/7 was extremely well-meaning and caring of you, you meant to do the best thing possible for your birds, that we all understand. Unfortunately the issue is that you have birds that were bred in captivity, that are tame, and that are living inside a home and in a 'human" lifestyle and not outside in their natural environment. If they were wild parrots living in their natural environments obviously they would be "free-range" because they'd be wild parrots; however, they'd be living in a flock a parrots of their own species, and out in the wild environment with no tame, captive, or human-like habits or instincts like your birds have. If you notice in the wild, you hear the birds chirping and singing at sunrise and see them flying around together after sunrise and all day long, and then after sunset you don't hear or see them at all (except for the nocturnal birds like Owls). That's because in the wild they live the life that is best for them in that environment.

When you put parrots that were bred in captivity and who are tame and used to living with people as their flockmates, and who are living inside a human home and on a human schedule, and even more importantly in a human environment with human possessions and living spaces, they just can't be allowed to be 'free-range" and live like wild parrots do. They must have limitations in captivity for their own health and safety. An IRN, Budgie, or Cockatiel in the wild can't be killed by Teflon fumes from pots and pans, they can't ingest carpet fibers or chew on plastic items, they can't eat fatty prepared foods, they can't get into pesticides or other toxic chemicals, they can't drown in the toilet if the seat is left up. So it's our responsibility as their owners and family to keep them safe and keep them healthy, and that means making rules they must follow, setting limitations on where they can go and what they can get into, and putting them on a schedule that will force them to get enough sleep every single night to keep them healthy.

This also means protecting all the birds in your flock from each other, as if you think long and hard about it, Budgies, Cockatiels, and Indian Ringnecks do not ever live together in the wild, obviously. That doesn't mean that they can't live together in captivity happily and safely, but chances are that any time you bring home a new parrot into your flock, you need to be prepared that they just aren't going to be able to live together freely like you've been doing, it's just not safe, and I can tell you from experience working at an Avian Rescue for years and seeing birds that people surrender that you just cannot let parrots live together that way forever and have them be safe from each other. And that's ALL parrots, even ones of the same species. There's no guarantee at all that if you were to bring home another IRN that it would get along with your current IRN, and the same goes for your Budgie and Cockatiel. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, and you have no way to know until they get home together...And even then you still don't know because the dynamics between them can change in the blink of an eye, especially when the largest parrot with the largest beak goes through puberty! So you absolutely must protect all of your birds from each other, and honestly the ONLY WAY to do that is to keep them all separate from each other when you're not home, and to ONLY let them out together when you're supervising them the entire time...

I have a weird flock made-up of several different types of birds...I have a male Senegal, he's the largest and has a HUGE BEAK for his body size, I didn't even realize how large their beaks were until I brought Kane home, his beak is as large as some Amazon beaks...Then I have a female Quaker Parrot as the next largest, then a female Cockatiel, then a male Green Cheek Conure...Then I have 8 English/American Budgie hybrids that are a bit smaller than the Green Cheek Conure, and they all live together in a walk-in Aviary in my home. So I've made sure that my Budgies are not ever able to be in contact with any of the larger parrots, and even then I have to always make sure that the 8 Budgies are getting along with each other and not hurting each other, and they are all siblings from the very last clutch of birds I ever bred and hand-raised. It's 7 males and one female Budgie, and I have to separate the female from the other 7 males every year, sometimes twice a year, any time her Cere turns rough and dark brown, because they will breed with their siblings and the males can become extremely aggressive and jealous over the one female, and they can hurt or kill each other or the female. So she goes into a large cage by herself at least once or twice every year for a month or two that sits next to the Aviary until she's out of breeding-season. As far as my other 4 parrots, they all have their own cages which are very large and full of toys and foraging activities for them to do, and whenever I'm not home they are inside of their cages, and whenever I am home they are all out of their cages. As soon as I walk in the door the first things I do are let my dogs out into the backyard and let the 4 parrots out of their cages. However, that doesn't at all mean that I can just let them out flying around a 1,800 square-foot house with 3 stories and letting them be together. My Senegal does not get along with any other bird in the house, he just doesn't. Whether he's jealous over me or just doesn't want anything to do with any other birds, whatever the reason he just doesn't like them. My Cockatiel is the same way, though she's a sweetheart and can't really bite hard to defend herself against any of the other birds, and the only one she can be with is the Green Cheek; they preen each other occasionally and they don't fight and aren't aggressive at all, but they also aren't at all "bonded' to each other, they simply tolerate each other...My Quaker only likes my Green Cheek, they are the only two of my birds that I would say are even remotely "bonded' with each other, and I don't really think they are "bonded", they simply are able to cuddle-up with each other and sleep on the same T-Stand together, but they still do occasionally fight/peck at each other...I also have a male Ringneck Dove who also has his own enclosure, and he has NO BEAK at all but rather a bill, a soft bill, and he can't protect himself at all, and he doesn't get along with ANY of them except for the very weird relationship he and the Cockatiel have, they seem to love each other very much and are bonded to one another, it's weird but it is what it is...

So that's the dynamic I have going on in my house and with my flock, and even with all the chaos I still have it worked out so that ALL of my larger birds are out in the house with me whenever I'm home. It took a lot of training and time, and a lot of patience from me and from them, but they all figured it out, they all have their own T-Stands in whatever room I'm in so they can all be with me, and they know that they stay on their own stand in the room and play or eat (each stand has multiple toys hanging from it and also a food and water bowl), and the Green Cheek and the Quaker can go and sit with each other if they want to, the Green Cheek and the Cockatiel can do the same when they want to, and the Dove and the Cockatiel are usually together all the time, while the Senegal is happy as hell just being out by himself, playing and chewing and eating and climbing all over me...And the Budgies get to come out every single night for about 3-4 hours each night to fly around the house and spend time with me after the larger birds all go to bed...So you have to figure out the dynamics in your flock between your individual birds, and then you have to get them all into a routine that is firstly safe for all of them, and then that works for all of them. But what you can't do is just leave them all out together when you're not home, especially now that your IRN is going through puberty, because that means all bets are off now. Everything changes once hormones are involved, and the bottom-line is that you've got a IRN with a large beak living with a Budgie and a Cockatiel that he could kill without any issue at all if he wants to, or if his hormones go crazy and he just does it...Puberty changes everything with birds...

So it's all about finding a happy-medium between letting your pet birds all be 'free-range' in your home when you're not at home to supervise them, and having them all locked-up in cages 24/7. Neither one of these extremes are good for them or at all safe for them, and it can be a challenge to figure it all out and get everyone on schedules that work for each of them individually, but it's absolutely not impossible.