Too personality changes due to puberty?

[jlockhart29]

Was wondering if if harmons and puberty are causing this or ideas. I have a Bare eye girl Too named Aerial that I have had since weaning. She turned 4 this past April and untill about a month and half ago was the stereo typical Too. I guess I should be happy but hears is the situation. She has always been flighted, never clipped. Kept in a huge cage for full size Too's and let out with us several times a day. Fed pellets consisting of 3 different brands I custom mix and of course fresh vegetables, grain, and limited nuts and seed.
Since I brought her home she has been a wide open. I posted under small Too sticky a long time ago but a typical moment in her life is launching off my shoulder, snatching a magnet off the frig in flight, circling back and dropping it on the sleeping German Shepherd, landing by the expresso machine and snatching the cover off the grinder then flying to the top of the curtain with it all while I'm chasing after her....in other words what I consider a normal Bare eyed!lol I had a Nanday for 25 years before her. Just as happy to sit on a perch or shoulder all day and watch the world go by. My wife was really attached to him. Aerial not so much. She's my bird and Aerial knows it. Very bonded to me but I don't allow her to be overly.
Well about a month and a half ago she changed over the course of only a few days. She never was a screamer in Too terms but then still did quite a lot of call in to us from her cage. That has dropped off to half but the biggest change is her behavior. ALWAYS before you had to shove her back if you opened the cage door to keep her in. She wold go up for a almond sliver but if she was in the cage the war was on to keep her in. Now many times I have to make her come out. I don't want her to become cage bound. Once out she flies very little. Just from her perch to me or something similar. Just as content to sit on my shoulder or knee if I'm in the recliner as my old Nanday was. She is much more fearful now as well. Nothing scared her before but now she's even scared of the Shephard. Yes that makes sense but before I had to protect him from her as it were!lol Its not just him vacuums, strange objects out of place, things that never bothered her at all worry her now. Not screaming scared panic just more avoidance. OF NOTE SHE HAS BEEN MOLTING HER MAIN FEATURES starting about the time all this started but she has done that before and no behavior change.
I don't mind taking her to the vet if needed but she is a 6 hour round trip and the last time a general check up with blood cost me right at $350! She doesn't act sick at all. Eats well and holding her year average weight with in 5 grams pluse/minus. Seems more behavior than sick. I suspect puberty with its harmons is the biggest factor as well as the molting at the same time. What's your take on it? Thanks!

 

[Scott]

From your detailed description you are doing so many things correctly! Can you think of anything in the environment, no matter how small, that has changed and may be causing her fear and reluctance to leave the cage?

Aerial is a close cousin to my Goffins, and I well know the personality! Having a large cage, being flighted, and a well-rounded diet is ideal. It is possible she is of the age of puberty, but not really sure. All of my babies have been males; my only experience with young hens is limited to an Eclectus about 20 years ago. Hopefully others can better verify this possibility.

If her behavioral changes continue, a vet visit may be advisable.

 

[jlockhart29]

Absolutely nothing has changed. I work shift work since she was a chick. Even though not ideal for any of us it really helped to make her adaptable since she never knew anything else. She's just as up to play at 2am as 2pm or sleep uncovered in living room in her cage till 2pm then play till 2am. The only thing that has happened is a couple weeks before this change she fell off her perch one night and got a wing caught between a perch and the cage where she couldn't get loose. Of course she went to screaming and my wife got her loose in about 20 seconds. She may have sprain something but nothing broke. She flew and acted normal till the behavior change and molting started. This molting is really bothering her as every time a wing feather especially gets loose but not quite falls out, she goes to hollering until it falls on its self or I remove it.

 

[MonicaMc]

I feel like the wing caught in the cage was a big incident, and even if she didn't react immediately, it has had a huge affect on her.


I think it would be a good idea to take her to an avian vet just to be on the safe side and discuss with the a-vet her behavior and the incident. She might not be sick, but something could still be "off".



She may need a lot of positive reinforcement training.