Hormonal Behaviour?

[katie_fleming]

I've been trying to figure this out for awhile...other than the birdie dance Jasper is determined to do on my shoulder, I was wondering if these are signs of hormones and if they should be avoided:

1. He'll be on top of his cage and all of a sudden he starts screaming, and I mean SCREAMING. But it's a super high pitch one, and it's the only time I hear it. He flaps his wings vigorously and looks visibly agitated. His body shakes and he doesn't want me to pick him up. But then when he calms down he'll run over to me, his eyes will get super huge and he opens his feathers to flap a few times and kind of screeches at me.

2. My boyfriend and Jasper have developed a...ugh...weird type of bonding or something. Jasper opens his mouth as wide as he can and my bf does it back. Jasper wiggles his tongue up and down and bf follows (look at what Jasper has made him do, silly bird lol). Is this a type of mating behaviour?!?! They'll go back and forth like this for ages. Jasper's eyes will suddenly get huge and he flaps his wings and makes a high pitch (happy) sound.

Are both of these related to mating behaviour?

What can I do about the birdie dancing problem as well? He'll "call" me over repeatedly to his cage when I'm sitting on the chair beside him and of course I feel badly because I want to hold him, but a quick play fight turns into the dreaded birdie dance

 

[chris-md]

1 yes 2 no.

Increased vocalizations are totally part of the package. Parker is not a morning screamer but when he’s at his worst - once a year maybe for a week - he will start contact calls at like 8 am on the nose like clockwork.

Regarding the bf, to me that sounds more like playful behavior.

 

[SailBoat]

Hey, Guys just have to have fun, 'also.'

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

wiggling his tongue...lol..cute!..I am no expert on Ekkies or any other avian creature by any means..but to me it sounds like Jasper is having a good time with your b.f....a sort of bonding ritual maybe?

A video would be pretty cool to see too Katie!





Jim

 

[katie_fleming]

Thanks for the replies!

Haha it's actually pretty hilarious. They both seem to take this very seriously lollllllll. When I get Jasper back I will def take a video hehe

Is there anything I can do to help eliminate the screaming and birdie dancing?

 

[chris-md]

Nope. You’ll find all sorts of suggestions (reduce sugar in diet, steady 12 hours darkness, etc). it might take the edge off but really you just have to grin and bear it. There’s no on/off switch for this

 

[MonicaMc]

There may be no "on/off" switch necessarily, but there are methods to reduce the hormones or get birds to really tone it down.

Also, training new behaviors which are incompatible to being hormonal can redirect their behavior.


Although it is normal for parrots to be sexually hormonal, there are plenty of parrots within captivity that are *TOO* hormonal! It's not healthy for them to be sexually hormonal all the time or as frequently as they may be, and it's these birds that we need to "calm down" and redirect.


Also, I would have to wonder why he's screaming. Is something bothering him? Or is he just bored? Or?

 

[chris-md]

Training - generally speaking - being a shining example of what I’m talking about. This whole suite of recommendations don’t often work with ekkie owners. When it does it may take a small edge off. This is why I always tell people to moderate their expectations with such recommendations. Training being a prime example. It’s often right back to hormones after the training session is over.

That said Monica, in the hundreds of hours I’ve spent on this issue with other ekkie owners no one has brought up this concept of “behaviors incompatible with being hormonal” and you certainly have my attention there. Sounds like potential beyond "12 hours of sleep", more disruptive an event for sure. What sort of behaviors are you envisioning with this suggestion?

Regarding the screaming, for ekkies it’s just part and parcel of being hormonal. Usually it’s attention seeking. Sometimes baby’s just got to cry. You ignore it/walk away and come back when they stops so you don’t train it outside of hormones. . Just takes longer for it to stop. The screaming settles once the hormones pass.

 

[MonicaMc]

This is geared towards small birds, so obviously, things could be different for larger birds (who lay fewer eggs)

This is generally what I recommend for egg-laying hens. (X-post)

1. • Remove Eggs
   • Rearrange the cage
   • Move the cage to a new location
   • Use a cage grate
   • Get a new cage/Use a different cage
   • 12-14 hours of complete darkness (may require as much as 16 hrs for 2 weeks - or try providing the opposite, as little as 8 hrs of sleep)
   • Full Spectrum Lighting/Better Lighting
   • Lower the indoor temperature
   • Decrease calcium and protein within the diet (if she is on a high calcium & protein diet prior to laying eggs)
   • Remove anything that could be taken as a nest
   • Remove anything that could be used as nesting material
   • Don't allow her in any dark place or enclosed area
   • IMPORTANT: save the eggs in the fridge
   • If she lays more than 3-4 eggs, put them back in the cage
2. Leave the Eggs
   • Leave the eggs alone in the cage
   • [Optional] Replace with fake eggs (prevent eggs from breaking)
   • Increase calcium
   • Let hen sit on eggs for 3-4 weeks or until she gets bored of them
   • Once done sitting, toss

Generally speaking, there are triggers to hens laying eggs, and if you can remove the triggers, you may be able to stop the egg laying. Triggers can include toys that she can lay in, a plastic base to a cage, nesting material (i.e. cage bedding), a diet high in protein and fat, too much or not enough light, quality of light, etc. All things that should be considered. Removing the triggers to egg laying should be considered *FIRST* before any drastic measures should be taken. You never know, it could be something simple!

I have seen the recommendation to increase sleep to 14-16 hours. Likewise, I've also seen providing the birds with 72 hours of complete light. That is, never turn the light off and don't cover them. This can be enough to upset their cycle to the point that the hormones stop. However, this is not something that I like to recommend. I may mention it, but I don't like recommending it. I would, however, recommend it over Lupron shots which seem to be hit or miss, even when they do work!


Instead of allowing a parrot access to a food dish 24/7 (aka food is in abundance - we can make babies!), you could instead limit the food in the dish and teach the bird to forage. Instead of it taking 5 minutes to eat, it might take 15+ minutes! This extra time eating could be less time being hormonal! It could be as simple as getting 5-6 small food dishes and placing them around the cage and putting only a small amount of food in the dish. You could increase difficulty by mixing pistachio shells or maybe paper into the dish (or covering dish with paper and poking a hole in it). You can go from there, to covering food in cupcake liners, hiding food in toys, or even buying and using foraging toys!


Sure, you could work on training new behaviors, and after training stops, the bird could go back to being hormonal... what we want to teach the bird is that we like them performing these new behaviors or maybe we like them playing with toys? And playing independently, they get rewarded for it! And doing these behaviors is more rewarding than being hormonal.


Maybe it's an energy thing? That is, a bird has a bunch of energy and doesn't know what to do with it all? And one outlet is being sexually active. Well, what if we had the bird flighted? And we were having them fly from one location to another until they tire out? Flying burns energy, which means that they'll have less pent up energy for other activities!


Myth #5
http://goodbirdinc.blogspot.com/2014/09/5-myths-about-parrot-behavior.html

Barbara Heidenreich also has a video that goes over dealing with this...
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/parrothormones

https://larajoseph.wordpress.com/20...through-consistency-a-winwin-outcome-for-all/

https://larajoseph.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/its-that-time-of-year-again/

https://larajoseph.wordpress.com/20...t-can-help-in-preventing-a-negative-behavior/

 

[katie_fleming]

Thank you all for your replies! A ton of useful information.

The biggest problem is the 12 hour thing. I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, Jasper is in the living room. He goes to bed when I go to bed, so it's impossible for him to have this much 'dark' time. How would I alter this for my living situation?

If I shut off most of the lights but I'm still up for several hours, would that do anything??

 

[Uglow]

Thank you all for your replies! A ton of useful information.

The biggest problem is the 12 hour thing. I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, Jasper is in the living room. He goes to bed when I go to bed, so it's impossible for him to have this much 'dark' time. How would I alter this for my living situation?

If I shut off most of the lights but I'm still up for several hours, would that do anything??

So my wife and I are in the same boat. Apartment with Uglow in the living room. 9:30p lights dim and TV volume is lowered. He rushes into his cage to get a few more bites before bed, then its preening. He's then put in his cage, covered and lights out at 10:30. and we move to the bedroom on our laptops to watch TV or we go to bed. In the morning we tiptoe around the apartment while getting ready and keep the lights off. We can hear him doing his morning mumbling. He sounds like Gizmo from gremlins. It's ridiculously cute. Things quiet down when my wife's off to work and I work from home in one of the other rooms until 10:30 when I uncover him and let him decide when he's ready to come out. about 10:45 he's up on the shower curtain enjoying some shower steam for about 10 minutes and by 11 he's eating his breakfast.
The only thing I can think of is a timer for your lights. I wouldn't rush into it but perhaps keep them dim while you're getting ready and then an 15 minutes later they transition to fully on. then a week later they're dim for 30 minutes and so on until he's getting about 12 hours. I can't say that this is a good or bad idea. See what your avian vet thinks maybe?

 

[katie_fleming]

The light right beside his cage is on a timer! If I'm going out but know I won't be too late it works well. I only leave one other light on so when his timer goes out he can safely move to his boing and puts himself to bed.

Through the week when that light turns out he knows sleepy time is coming soon so he'll normally promptly go into his cage when this happens. But he's not sleeping as long as I'm still up.

Is it a darkness thing or a sleep thing? If it's a sleep thing I honestly don't know how I can change anything short of building him a box in my living room lol

 

[chris-md]

Don’t stress the light, really. Worst case, you can get a cage cover.

 

[SailBoat]

Thank you all for your replies! A ton of useful information.

The biggest problem is the 12 hour thing. I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, Jasper is in the living room. He goes to bed when I go to bed, so it's impossible for him to have this much 'dark' time. How would I alter this for my living situation?

If I shut off most of the lights but I'm still up for several hours, would that do anything??

Deep, dark, some what thick cover. Reduce the lighting in the room, back-off the volume on the TV. They all help to allow them to sleep longer. It will also help your body-clock transition to sleeping easier. Most people that keep a bright home up-on-till going to sleep have problems falling asleep.