Hormones

[saracuse]

Since this is our first bout with hormones, neither of us has any idea whats going on. There is just so much information out there that it's confusing in a way to decide whats gospel and what's not.

This all started (with nature obviously) with a toy the last week of January. Tiki has a few balls i keep in her cage and on her play stand. They're slotted with a little bell in them (i'm pretty sure they were cat toys). I noticed that she would kind of try and sit on them while making what we call the "sexy-time noises". I tried to distract her and wanted to make sure she didn't think she was in trouble or did something bad, so I left them and just didn't put them back after cleaning her cage two days later. Crisis averted.

Fast forward one week. Poor girl doesn't know whether to scratch her watch or wind her butt. She spends most of the time we're home out and about with us, relaxing in the living room, hanging out in the shower, watching me fold laundry, etc. Lately she wants to be with us but bites, then she gets upset that we say "no bite!" firmly. She wants to be out but not touched but gets mad when we don't give the scritches. Shes upset when we hit a pinnie (poor baby is starting a molt too) but doesn't want us to stop scratching. She wants to snuggle but it makes her think she needs "sexy-time". She must be going absolutely crazy.

On the daily she gets up at 6 (northeast of US) when the alarm goes off and hangs out with us getting ready for work. Shes out and about until 7:15. She gets breakfast and goes back into her cage so we can go to work. She usually snuggles back in to her heated perch and snoozes a little in the mornings after we leave. Shes out from the time we get home between 3-5pm until she tells us its bedtime. Right now shes going to bed at 7:45-8pm. Her cage is in the living room and we cover half of it where she sleeps. She doesn't like to be covered fully. On the weekends she gets up when the sun comes up but usually stays pretty quiet and just kinda hangs out until we get up. Shes out and about with us all day (every hour or so i bring her to her cage and ask if she wants to go hang out in her house just so she has the option. I close the door over when shes in there but I don't lock or latch it so she has the option to come back out whenever she wants to. She still goes to bed around 7:45-8pm. In the summer she never stays up past 8:30.

She eats pellets and fresh or fresh-frozen fruits and veggies when I can talk her into trying them. She has seed mix (no sunflower seeds) for a snack occasionally, 3 pine nuts daily for training and millet on the weekends.

She comes in the shower with me daily and gets a real full on soaking twice a week. When shes mad about something she'll go in her dish in her cage.

I'm wondering if there is anything I should be doing to help the poor girl or if it's just nature doing its thing. She just turned 1 in December 2016 and I knew hormones would probably be pretty intense I'm just not sure what to expect. How long will the cranky-ness last, will she still be my loving little baby bird when its over, will this happen every spring or is this puberty, she doesn't have anywhere to snuggle into in her cage and we don't allow it outside her cage but what should I be on the look-out for egg wise?

Sorry for the ranting and thanks in advance. You guys really make being a bird mom a lot easier.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Here are my thoughts on light, which has made all the difference for me and mine.
Ever since the Rickeybird hit sexual maturity at about 3-4 years of age, I've had to manage his hormones! If kept on too steady a long day, and too much light, he stayed "in the mood" (aggressive, even louder than usual, pleasuring himself on my neck ) year round. If I keep him on a natural light schedule... up with dawn, down with dusk, year around... THEN he's only a little monster rooster from July to September). He has his own room, so I can do that easily.