GCC constantly trying to mate with my quaker

[Libbi24]

Hi!

This is a problem I didn’t ever see myself having with my birds but here we are lol!
If you’ve read my previous threads you know that I rescued a Quaker parrot (who has settled in wonderfully!) I’ve recently took Tofu to the vets, she’s got a lack of muscles in her wings so she can’t fly so I’m building her wing strength up - a little every day, and she’s partially blind. However she’s also bonded very closely to my GCC.

I’ve always kept a close eye on them whenever they interact with one another, making sure there’s no aggression or anything like that. They’ve always gotten on perfectly fine, they sleep in separate cages and just preen each other. Roz (my GCC) prefers my company so she spends most of the day near me on her stand, but will fly back and forth to sort of check up on Tofu, have a preen, etc.

Recently though, her relationship has… gotten intense. Roz is constantly rubbing her but against tofu, doing this weird low pitch screaming sound which due to past experience I know is a mating noise. She’s always been a little rambunctious, she’s tried multiple times to regurgitate on me but I’ve always quickly shut those advances down as I know it isn’t good for a parrot to think your it’s mate due to behavioural issues.

But I’m unsure what to do in this scenario. Tofu has really come out of her shell with Roz, and Roz really loves Tofu so I’d be upset to find that they can’t play together anymore. But will this turn into a behavioural issue for Roz? She’s rubbing her butt all over Tofu and Tofu the poor thing has no idea what’s going on, she does not want to do that in any shape or form and of course they’re different species to begin with. I always try and stop Roz from advancing but she just flies back a few minutes or hours later and she’s back at it. She’s never been aggressive to Tofu yet though.

If there is any advice anyone could give me I’d really appreciate it! I just don’t want Roz getting hormonal and frustrated, when I could prevent it. (I make sure not to touch her wings, I only pet her head. So I know I’m not causing any trouble lol)

 

[LaManuka]

Hi!

This is a problem I didn’t ever see myself having with my birds but here we are lol!
If you’ve read my previous threads you know that I rescued a Quaker parrot (who has settled in wonderfully!) I’ve recently took Tofu to the vets, she’s got a lack of muscles in her wings so she can’t fly so I’m building her wing strength up - a little every day, and she’s partially blind. However she’s also bonded very closely to my GCC.

I’ve always kept a close eye on them whenever they interact with one another, making sure there’s no aggression or anything like that. They’ve always gotten on perfectly fine, they sleep in separate cages and just preen each other. Roz (my GCC) prefers my company so she spends most of the day near me on her stand, but will fly back and forth to sort of check up on Tofu, have a preen, etc.

Recently though, her relationship has… gotten intense. Roz is constantly rubbing her but against tofu, doing this weird low pitch screaming sound which due to past experience I know is a mating noise. She’s always been a little rambunctious, she’s tried multiple times to regurgitate on me but I’ve always quickly shut those advances down as I know it isn’t good for a parrot to think your it’s mate due to behavioural issues.

But I’m unsure what to do in this scenario. Tofu has really come out of her shell with Roz, and Roz really loves Tofu so I’d be upset to find that they can’t play together anymore. But will this turn into a behavioural issue for Roz? She’s rubbing her butt all over Tofu and Tofu the poor thing has no idea what’s going on, she does not want to do that in any shape or form and of course they’re different species to begin with. I always try and stop Roz from advancing but she just flies back a few minutes or hours later and she’s back at it. She’s never been aggressive to Tofu yet though.

If there is any advice anyone could give me I’d really appreciate it! I just don’t want Roz getting hormonal and frustrated, when I could prevent it. (I make sure not to touch her wings, I only pet her head. So I know I’m not causing any trouble lol) View attachment 56326

I have a similar dynamic going on with my varied lorikeet rooster and my princess parrot hen - Peachie the princess is MADLY in love with Lovejoy the lorikeet, and has been from day one!!

She comes on VERY strong with him, with lots of wing fluttering and clucky sounds and "assuming the position" - for his part Lovejoy is bemused by her actions more often than not, but every now and then he does find it just a little too intriguing and I have to break them up just in case. Believe it or not my bird vet has seen hybrid scaly breasted lorikeet/Barraband parrot chicks but he will most definitely NOT be seeing anything similar from this pair!

In terms of how best to manage them, at the moment I'm letting enjoy each other's company, there is no aggression though I do keep a very close eye on them in case things change. While I won't be letting them have babies, there's always the possibility that Peachie might just get herself so overwhelmed with her love for Lovejoy that she just goes and lays infertile eggs anyway. Having said that, lots of hens go and lay eggs without having a male around, and plenty of others never lay at all. It might pay you to have a few dummy eggs on standby just in case your hen does go and lay, then you can replace them straight away and she can work off her maternal yearnings on those. As far as Peachie and Lovejoy are concerned, I supervise them and figure that as long as they're not completely obsessed with each other and there is no aggression there's no harm in it, and like your pair I think it would break their little hearts if they couldn't be together. Honestly if Peachie's going to lay eggs, with or without Lovejoy's influence, I don't think I could stop her, and I will just cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

 

[Libbi24]

I have a similar dynamic going on with my varied lorikeet rooster and my princess parrot hen - Peachie the princess is MADLY in love with Lovejoy the lorikeet, and has been from day one!!

View attachment 56334

She comes on VERY strong with him, with lots of wing fluttering and clucky sounds and "assuming the position" - for his part Lovejoy is bemused by her actions more often than not, but every now and then he does find it just a little too intriguing and I have to break them up just in case. Believe it or not my bird vet has seen hybrid scaly breasted lorikeet/Barraband parrot chicks but he will most definitely NOT be seeing anything similar from this pair!

In terms of how best to manage them, at the moment I'm letting enjoy each other's company, there is no aggression though I do keep a very close eye on them in case things change. While I won't be letting them have babies, there's always the possibility that Peachie might just get herself so overwhelmed with her love for Lovejoy that she just goes and lays infertile eggs anyway. Having said that, lots of hens go and lay eggs without having a male around, and plenty of others never lay at all. It might pay you to have a few dummy eggs on standby just in case your hen does go and lay, then you can replace them straight away and she can work off her maternal yearnings on those. As far as Peachie and Lovejoy are concerned, I supervise them and figure that as long as they're not completely obsessed with each other and there is no aggression there's no harm in it, and like your pair I think it would break their little hearts if they couldn't be together. Honestly if Peachie's going to lay eggs, with or without Lovejoy's influence, I don't think I could stop her, and I will just cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

Thank you!

I’m unsure the gender of Roz and Tofu, I just feel like they might be girls so hence the she/her pronouns. They might both be boys I won’t know unless I do a DNA test but I don’t really want them to go through the stress of it as for now it doesn’t really matter. I’ll definitely consider the standby eggs just in case! Tofu doesn’t appreciate Roz’s advances at all and I haven’t seen that behaviour from Tofu so she’s definitely not urging Roz on. I think Roz just might be a rambunctious bird lol. I’ll definitely continue keeping a close eye on them and make sure there isn’t any aggression!

Im just happy to know that they will be okay to still play together! Tofu has had such a hard start to life and when she met Roz she turned into a completely new bird. She started coming out of the cage, exploring, playing with all of her toys! So it was really sad to think I might have to split them up. Thank god I won’t have to!

I didn’t know different parrot species could mate and produce offspring… though lorikeets and barraband are close in genetics so I see how that could happen. That’s really interesting! I don’t think a Quaker / green cheek mix would be good for anyone. I can’t imagine how sassy it would be!

 

[LaManuka]

Thank you!

I’m unsure the gender of Roz and Tofu, I just feel like they might be girls so hence the she/her pronouns. They might both be boys I won’t know unless I do a DNA test but I don’t really want them to go through the stress of it as for now it doesn’t really matter. I’ll definitely consider the standby eggs just in case! Tofu doesn’t appreciate Roz’s advances at all and I haven’t seen that behaviour from Tofu so she’s definitely not urging Roz on. I think Roz just might be a rambunctious bird lol. I’ll definitely continue keeping a close eye on them and make sure there isn’t any aggression!

Im just happy to know that they will be okay to still play together! Tofu has had such a hard start to life and when she met Roz she turned into a completely new bird. She started coming out of the cage, exploring, playing with all of her toys! So it was really sad to think I might have to split them up. Thank god I won’t have to!

I didn’t know different parrot species could mate and produce offspring… though lorikeets and barraband are close in genetics so I see how that could happen. That’s really interesting! I don’t think a Quaker / green cheek mix would be good for anyone. I can’t imagine how sassy it would be!

Oh you're most welcome, @Libbi24! Situations like these can be SO difficult to manage, as pairings like ours would never exist in the wild. What works for one may not work for another, that's for sure, and there are any number of quaker/GCC parronts who are unable to have theirs out together at all due to problems with extreme aggression. Of course if either of yours starts laying eggs that brings a whole 'nother level of complexity, as it would if Peachie started, but what's the alternative? Keeping them apart would hurt them, and maybe make them MORE determined to be together and perhaps even cause problems like plucking or self-mutilation due to the extreme frustration of being kept apart! I don't know that there's a "perfect" solution to this because every bird and situation is different, so I just manage them as best I can, try to keep them happy and keep an eye out for "trouble in paradise" with my two. So far so good though, and I hope for the same for Roz and Tofu