Hormones!!!

[zERo]

I thought maybe I'd get lucky with my GCC Tom, that maybe his hormones wouldn't last so long or wouldn't be too bad, but I think it's gonna get worse before it gets better. He bit my face yesterday, twice which he has never done Then today he got mad because I forgot and picked up my phone while he was on the kitchen table, I set it right back down but he got mad and tried to bite my face again. When I take him out I train him and then let him play on the table with different toy parts and foot toys and he always enjoys doing that, but the past few times he starts trying to 'mount' my hands when I'm sitting there, working on my computer or just playing with him.
I minimize all things that could make him more hormonal, no petting other than his head and neck (he's a real cuddler), no warm mushy foods, fruit only 3-4 times a week, no nesty places he can get to, and I give him an avian tea blend that contains raspberry leaves along with other teas like chamomile, hibiscus, rosehips, ginger, etc. a few times a week. Are there other things I can do to minimize hormones? Other ways that you guys have found useful?

 

[wrench13]

Hi. Make sure he is getting 12 hours of solid, quiet sleep. Quiet doesn't mean like church quiet, but like no loud TV, clashing dishes, loud talking that kind of quiet. Covering the cage with a dark material is helpful in getting the parrot in the sleeping mode too. I leave a corner open to act as a night lite. During Salty's mating season hormone bump, we leave out fruit completely and cut way back on veggies with high amounts of sugars, like corn. THis year we really stuck to all the triggers and his mating season was very mild indeed. Past 2 years were killers as far as mating seasons go, and many North American owners reported the same. You can only do so much to reduce mating season hormones. As far as bites, if you know the body language and the conditions where your parrot bites, you can avoid most. The hormone derived ones are very hard to avoid as some parrots are lightening quick mood changers. If you GCC is unpredictable, it may warrant cancelling shoulder priviledges during mating season. THe last thing you want is having unwanted behavior to become a permanent one. Good Luck!

 

[zERo]

Hi. Make sure he is getting 12 hours of solid, quiet sleep. Quiet doesn't mean like church quiet, but like no loud TV, clashing dishes, loud talking that kind of quiet. Covering the cage with a dark material is helpful in getting the parrot in the sleeping mode too. I leave a corner open to act as a night lite. During Salty's mating season hormone bump, we leave out fruit completely and cut way back on veggies with high amounts of sugars, like corn. THis year we really stuck to all the triggers and his mating season was very mild indeed. Past 2 years were killers as far as mating seasons go, and many North American owners reported the same. You can only do so much to reduce mating season hormones. As far as bites, if you know the body language and the conditions where your parrot bites, you can avoid most. The hormone derived ones are very hard to avoid as some parrots are lightening quick mood changers. If you GCC is unpredictable, it may warrant cancelling shoulder priviledges during mating season. THe last thing you want is having unwanted behavior to become a permanent one. Good Luck!

He does get at least 12 hours of sleep each night and it's relatively quiet but could be quieter. It's pretty obvious when he's mad, he does a big head puff and sometimes full body puff too (when he's really mad). I didn't even think about the chop! This batch has beets, sweet potato, peas, and carrots! It has lots of other low sugar veggies but not those four! When I make new chop in a week or two I won't add those ingredients or I'll be cutting back on them. Thanks for the advice

 

[Laurasea]

While he sounds obviously hormonal.

If right now he is territorial over top of cage, then have a perch attached to the outside near the top, have him move there for a treat before stepping to you, then move him away from top of cage before you interact.

It also helps to treat it like something happened to break trust...because with a gcc this is easy to happen.

And I had a time when mine lost her mind over the phone. I did a lot of treats paired with phone. Untill phone became a postive thing.

And a time she was upset over some changes to her routine and unknown was mad at me...same thing charges and bites. I did a lot of hand feeding treats. Apologized, lol, validated her hurt feelings....set up a mommy and me time in early evening that we always keep. Resolved within a few day's

 

[zERo]

While he sounds obviously hormonal.

If right now he is territorial over top of cage, then have a perch attached to the outside near the top, have him move there for a treat before stepping to you, then move him away from top of cage before you interact.

It also helps to treat it like something happened to break trust...because with a gcc this is easy to happen.

And I had a time when mine lost her mind over the phone. I did a lot of treats paired with phone. Untill phone became a postive thing.

And a time she was upset over some changes to her routine and unknown was mad at me...same thing charges and bites. I did a lot of hand feeding treats. Apologized, lol, validated her hurt feelings....set up a mommy and me time in early evening that we always keep. Resolved within a few day's

He's not really territorial, in fact he likes it when I have one of my hands in the cage just playing with him, however he gets aggressive when I try and take out perches or toys he gets very mad. I know I need to work on his 'relationship' with my phone lol.

 

[FieryPhoenix]

Oh I feel you with the hormones.

I have two females that were getting hot for each other so I had to keep their lapidos in check as my vet said that if they lay eggs at their age (18 years old), it is not good for them.

Both girls were also PMSing.

Here is what I did.

1. I cut back their full spectrum lighting from 12 hours to 10 hours. I also let them start to wind down and go to sleep at 6pm.

2. I changed up their cage, changed toys, added perches, did some redecorating.

3. Since it is their birthday, I got them a play gym which they are enjoying LOL!

 

[zERo]

Oh I feel you with the hormones.

I have two females that were getting hot for each other so I had to keep their lapidos in check as my vet said that if they lay eggs at their age (18 years old), it is not good for them.

Both girls were also PMSing.

Here is what I did.

1. I cut back their full spectrum lighting from 12 hours to 10 hours. I also let them start to wind down and go to sleep at 6pm.

2. I changed up their cage, changed toys, added perches, did some redecorating.

3. Since it is their birthday, I got them a play gym which they are enjoying LOL!

Yeah hormones are tough

I put my birds to bed at 7pm roughly. Changing around their cage setups every week or so seems to help, especially with my Quaker.

 

[FieryPhoenix]

Does your Quaker throw tantrums whrn hormonal? Mine does. My sun gets bitey

 

[zERo]

Does your Quaker throw tantrums whrn hormonal? Mine does. My sun gets bitey

Hm, I wouldn't say full out tantrums but he screams more, other than that he's the easiest to deal with when it comes to hormones out of all my birds.

 

[FieryPhoenix]

Hm, I wouldn't say full out tantrums but he screams more, other than that he's the easiest to deal with when it comes to hormones out of all my birds.

Yeah my Quaker will screech and then the Sun will do it LOL!

 

[Laurasea]

Hm, I wouldn't say full out tantrums but he screams more, other than that he's the easiest to deal with when it comes to hormones out of all my birds.

Agree on increased hormonal vocalizations! But otherwise I haven't been having issues

 

[PyroParrot]

Such an education!!!! Like i have mentioned in another post- if not for this site I would be hopelessly clueless!!
I think this is what my sun is going thru, well, she/he has a bunch at the moment. At 13 months, could it also / instead, be puberty? And currently is molting. We have been havin to work on an increase In nippy-ness and screeching. I have been ‘catching’ her being gentle with her mouthing me (fingers, ears etc) tell her ‘good gentle” very enthusiastically and popping a safflower seed in her beak. When its too hard, stern “no!”, followed by softer voice, “be gentle.“ She’s getting it, when she wants too. I’m always amazed by how smart and problem solving they are; she was chomping with a bit too much pressure on my right ear and got the NO! Chomp, NO! Sat there for about 30 seconds and ran over my shoulders and chomped my left ear!! I guess she wondered if the rules were the same on the other side!. She found out they were, and settled down.