Oh My God The HORMONES!!!

[EllenD]

So my Senegal Parrot, Kane, is 1 and 1/2 years old now, he'll be 2 years old in October. He was hand-raised from 2 weeks old, is totally tame, doesn't bite at all, and I've been extremely lucky with his behavior thus far. I've been single since I brought him home so there aren't any jealousy issues as of now, though he is not at all a fan of other people inside my house, or rather his house, lol. However, when he goes out on his Aviator Harness to stores, hiking, etc. he's totally fine with people. As far as my other birds, the only one he doesn't like AT ALL is my female Quaker, so we keep them separate, really Kane keeps away from them all on his own anyway...So all-in-all he's a great bird and I love him dearly, he's my little cuddler...but lately maybe a little TOO cuddly...

Starting in late March/early April I noticed him starting to do "heart wings" with me, so I knew puberty was starting, and I basically ignored him. At first this worked, but the last couple of weeks nothing I do is stopping him, he's constantly regurgitating for me, doing heart-wings, etc. For the most part I just ignore him and walk away when he does this...

This morning I was laying on the couch and Kane flew over and landed on my stomach/chest, as he normally does. I expected him to tuck himself under my chin and fall asleep to scritches...NOPE! He walked down my leg to my knee and dropped his wings, I thought he was doing heart-wings, but no, after getting himself situated (I didn't realize what he was doing) he started humping my knee. Right now he's on his big PVC playgym humping a hanging wooden toy. At least it's not me.

So I'm looking for tips from anyone who's gone through this, as besides my female cockatiel, Duff, who from a very young age would sit on me, put her butt in the air towards my face, and make those soft, constant chirps, which I managed to stop, I've not dealt with a male bird actually humping me. My biggest fear is that he'll get frustrated or mad with me and start nipping, as I know how a lot of Senegals get, and i don't want that...

 

[GaleriaGila]

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.
If/when things get aggressive or risque, you may want to look into avoiding touching/rubbing the backside, maybe even a quick time-out for unacceptable behavior... keeping in mind that a lot of parronts just tolerate quite a bit of this stuff as long as there is no aggression.
The Rb likes to fly to a high perch and ogle me while... doing his thing... and screaming sweet nothings.
My husband covers his eyes and goes "lalalalalalala".
Which brings me to my last solution. Tell your best stories to us. We'll laugh along with you, fellow parront!

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Beebs does the heart shaped arm thing all the time,but I guess that's a trait of a cockatiel And just turning two a few months ago I'm guess he turned into a young 'stud" all set to repopulate the whole world.
He is constantly and relentlessly trying to do the chaa-chaa on my hand
I shoo him up one arm,only for him to go down the other arm to my other hand and try again. It gets VERY aggravating,to say the least!
I have no advice to offer...siighhh


Jim

 

[JamesC]

Redirect with something to distract him when he gets in the mood. Time outs when he becomes too insistent though be careful of frustration bites. And light management even if that means you keep the blinds/curtains closed later in the morning and close them while it is still light outside. Sidney gets about 12 hours maximum of bright lighting before he is under his cover or I have the lights in the room dimmed way down. Which usually turns into a nice snuggle time before he goes to bed. Other than wanting to kill my blue crowns, he hasn't been too hormonal this year. Might be because he will be 11 in July and is slowing down a little or because his wings are clipped after the incident of him attacking my old Tootsie and costing her a toe.

 

[Anansi]

Ah, Spring is in the air and the dreaded hormones have come a raging! I know your pain.

As mentioned above, light management is key. Longer days are among the indicators for them that it's time to get their romance on. Cutting down on their more sugary and fatty foods also helps. So veggies over fruits. And avoid touching the problem areas: stroking along the back, under the wings, or (obviously, but I list it for the sake of others who may be reading) the groin area.

Beyond these measures for blunting their hormonal eagerness, there is also the one I find most effective. Namely, getting rid of all that excess energy. If Kane is flighted and recall-trained, doing flight drills is ideal for this. Jolly is a strong flier, so I actually have him fly up the stairs from the living room and then down the hall and back over and over again until he gets a little winded. Or other times I let him do laps of the house's interior. Once he's pushed long enough to get a little tuckered out, he has less energy to expend on trying to propagate the species.

But if he still finds some hidden reservoir of strength to make a move on you anyway, I'd suggest doing exactly as you did: calmly putting him up on his playgym and turning your attention elsewhere. Personally, though, I take great care to differentiate this action from a traditional timeout. I never want them to feel like they are being punished for just doing what comes naturally. So my body movement is less urgent, and my "No's", while still firm, are less strong. Also, the "cool off" period is never in the cage as a timeout would be. Redirection rather than "punishment".

Of course, if he bites you out of frustration a true timeout is indeed warranted. But it is the biting that earns said timeout, not the attempts to romance your knee. Know what I mean?

 

[EllenD]

Yeah, that's what I thought...I just have to deal with it, lol...which is fine with me. All my birds are on a natural light schedule, though I do need to get Kane out and about more, he's harness trained and recall trained, so I think we'll be hiking/flying a bit more than usual.

I don't really mind what he's doing, my biggest fear is his frustration. I've seen this happen before with birds at the rescue I volunteer at, and they get very aggressive when they become sexually frustrated, some more than other (nothing like a huge U2 that is horny, my god). Kane hasn't gotten nippy yet, he just kind of walks back to his playgym or cage with his head down in disgust, lol..

I'm sure I'll have lots of stories to share, already have one...I have a little stuffed "Car Fox", you know, from the CarFax commercials, my CarFax Rep brought them to the dealership I work at and I took 2 of them for my dogs to play with...Well, yesterday morning after Kane ate his breakfast, I heard this bizarre noise, kind of like a squeaky hinge chirping...lol...I went downstairs, and there was Kane, on the living room carpet, humping the Car Fox...it was disturbing...

 

[Anansi]

Disturbing? I bet!

Hilarious? Absolutely!

Different birds react differently to the frustration. Maya reacted badly once. The very first time that she got hit with the hormones, actually, so I attribute it to her having a WTH?!? type of reaction. It's the one time she ever bit me and drew blood. (That one time was a doozy, though.) Jolly, on the other hand, only reacts with one loud, obviously frustrated scream of indignation. But he's still never bitten.

The existing bite pressure training helps in this regard, I believe. Even though the surge of hormones can sometimes override that training, I do feel it brings down the likelihood, or at least severity, of a bite.

 

[EllenD]

Oh dear god help me...now not only is he horny, but he just started molting a couple of days ago! I wasn't sure if it was going to be a full-on molt, I had my fingers crossed, but he's got feathers flying all over the house, and he's got pin feathers all over his face and his head...

He's turned into a little green and orange monster from hell. He's been making some disturbing, growling noises while he sits on his cage-top. It's like he's talking to himself, having a conversation, and then all of sudden these demon-spawn noises start...I thought he'd love to get in the shower with me this morning, he usually does, and I thought it might help his itchiness. Well at first he seemed happy, but he wouldn't sit on his shower perch, only on the shower rod, so I just let him, whatever, but then he started making the demon-spawn noises again, except he was above me on the shower rod and I was naked, and he's looking down on me like he looks at that damn stuffed CarFox of his, and all I could think was "I am not being a substitute for the CarFox, I'm outta here!", so I was shaving as fast as I could (of course I cut my legs to bits)...I got out, pulled the shower curtain open, and he made another weird noise that sounded like one of the sound effects from the Exorcist when Linda Blair's head was spinning around, and he flew off out of the bathroom...I expected to find him on the floor with the CarFox, but instead he was on his swing in his cage, and he had that thing swinging so hard and so fast that I thought he was going to swing it right through the cage bars. I wish I had recorded it, he was talking to himself, making these satanic noises, while swinging his swing like he was doing it for money or something...I just walked out of the room and left him to it...the CarFox was on the floor beside his cage...face down...

 

[JamesC]

Sidney makes that growling noise too. It is disconcerting. I'm not sure if it is harmless or if I'm going to be missing the tip of a finger if I try to touch him. Usually he is puffed up as much as he can be when he makes it which is doubly intimidating.

 

[EllenD]

It is disconcerting, lol...Kane has never even nipped at me, but I gotta tell ya that his attachment to this stuffed Carfax "Carfox" is also disconcerting, and I don't dare touch him, as I'm pretty sure that Kane would be all over me. I can deal with these hormones, but not when I'm in the shower naked.

 

[chris-md]

I know the feeling. Try having an Ekkie that can slip into hormonal mode at any time in the blink of an eye! My boy is rare, most male ekkies just become amorous. My boy gets aggressive (that statement caught the attention of a local parrot breeder, who was shocked to hear it). A couple years ago it got so bad I had to keep him in cage 3 straight days.

At its worst, it is disconcerting. Almost to the point it can break the bond and make you regret getting a parrot.

But you persevere and everything is ultimately restored. It’s just finding the way to get through to the other side. Certainly wish you luck!