is my 11 month old trying to dominate me? Loves sitting and displaying on my head.

[RawOnion]

He does this really any chance he gets and I don't mind, just remove him periodically when I think he's not pooped in a while, lol. He has no problem with me removing him, but he LOVES being on top of my head. He's the noisiest while up there, making his peeps and squawks and flapping his wings.

He also loves being under the blanket with us and under our chins and will never pass a good scratching. I just want to know if I should stop this behavior, if it will worsen as he matures, or if a lot of IRN owners have their birdies on their heads.

Thanks!

 

[Amandastander]

Lol birdies like being high up, the higher the better I even see it with my baby now, she feeds, poops, gives a kissy( she may think I'm hiding more food in my mouth lol) and up she goes to my head, perches a while and then heads to the dressing table for a nap

 

[RawOnion]

I know they like being high but I'm just concerned because from what I've read, they shouldn't really perch higher than eye level in order to have a healthy "pecking order" and not let him think he's the dominant one in the "flock".

And he displays the most when he's on my head, it's like freakin crack to him! He doesn't have his black ring, but he sure acts like a boy. He's my first and I love the crap out of him, I've only had him since sunday and every day with him is like the first day, it just keeps getting better!

I'm not working right now, when I got back to work I'll feel like him leaving my kid at home all alone. It's been so long since I had a parrot, I forgot how insanely sweet and cute they are.

I just REALLY hope he ends up being a talker, so far it's just parrot noises, but the person I adopted him from said her IRN didn't say a peep until a year and a half when like over night he got his ring and started talking.

I want to know more about people experiences with their IRNs talking.

 

[MonicaMc]

Dominance doesn't exist in parrots! If parrots don't want to come down, it's not because they are trying to dominate you, it's simply because they don't want to come down! It's like a child who doesn't want to go to bed at night. It's funner to stay up than to come down. If you have a problem getting your bird down, then I would suggest training him so he learns that coming down can be a good thing!


Casey (cockatiel) and Charlie (mitred conure) both enjoy flying to the top of my head. Casey typically doesn't climb down but sometimes she does (OW! my ears!). She readily steps up no problem, and has even flown to other parts of my body (shoulders, arms, hands, chest, stomach, and yes, even my butt! ). Charlie typically flies to my head, shoulders, arms or hands. If he lands on my head, he then prefers to climb down to either my shoulders or my arms. He's really happy anywhere as long as he's with me!



My avian vet has an african grey and a blue fronted amazon. She often brings them in with her to work! One night, after work, she was giving a seminar about bird care and had both birds with her. I was highly amused as her african grey sat on her shoulder and her amazon sat on her head! She just laughed and smiled! Apparently, the 'zons favorite spot is her head!



Where your bird sits is really up to you and how well the bird is trained! If the bird isn't trained to step down, you need to either not allow it, or do better training! With Casey, it was easy! If she didn't want to come down, I'd tempt her with millet or scritches! She *loves* scritches, so any time I ask her to do something, she always gets a scritch afterwards! No force required!

 

[Amandastander]

Well buster hasn't got his ring yet, and he talks. Sometimes I gotto tell him to keep it down lol! He says hello, come, good boy, busty good, busty boy and a few other things on occasion lol! My friends IRN Ridge is almost 1, he also talks a lot, just regularly chat to him and repeat words over and over, pretty soon he will catch on, also try downloading some talking parrot sounds to play for him on repeat, 15 minutes 2 or 3 times a day. Within a few weeks he should start to mimick the sounds. Buster even waves bye at my son in the mornings too cute!