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My bird likes to preen me!

jh81

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Hello!

I have a young Senegal Parrot, shes about 12 weeks old now!

I left her in her cage the first four weeks, she would only crawl out on top of the cage, but nothing more. After i got done with that, i took her on my hand, let her bite for a while while feeding her lots of nice things, and all went well! The past few weeks we've grown inseperable! She goes out with me, she even learned where to get milkshakes from! And she has hers without the straw *sigh* she's a real socialite, beeing friends with everyone and every animal, and she seems to like the atention!

Now.. Recently she started to "bite" in my neck, or so i thought! But we noticed she's preening me. She wants to get out all the small hairs she can find! So i wonder, will this behavior pass? I love her to pieces allready, i just dont feel for this painful version of bikiniwaxing :D she leaves alone all other hair and flesh, just not the little hairs!

Also, she's starting to "push" her beak against my neck! And not in the way they do when cleaning the side, but she really pushes her front beak in my neck. Its not hurtful in any way, its just some behavior ive never seen before!

I hope the professionals here can shed some light and help this soon to be bald man out :D
 

sunnysmom

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Can you do something to distract her? I've seen bird necklaces people where so their birds play with those instead: Necklace Toys
 

jh81

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Well so far i can get her to stop with a simple stop command, she seems to learn very quick :)
I suppose i was hoping for someone to tell me its perfectly normal behaviour ang that it'll pass :)
 

Begone

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But it is normal behaviour. :) She is showing affection to you. ♥
I would not have tried to stop that behaviour, I find it very cute, but if it's hurting to much do as Michelle suggest, use a bird necklaces to distract her.
 

apollosparents

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Oh yes, that is definitely normal behavior and your girl is showing affection. How much affection is tolerated or acceptable is entirely up to you and your girl. Some people do not tolerate this behavior at all and others to other degrees and even others that fully allow it. It is perfectly normal behavior though and she will not stop unless you distract her attention to something/someone else or she looses interest in you. 2 of our flock are VERY heavy preeners of me. One happens to be a Senegal. Her name is Sofie but we usually call her Sopapilla or Sof. She will preen the hairs on my arms all day and I will let her. She doesn't pluck, she just lines them up and "cleans" them. Same for my leg hair if I am wearing shorts. However, she will start to preen my face and I usually have to stop her because she will always try to get in my mouth and even tries to pull my lips open (our saliva is not good for our birds) I also have to stop her a lot because if she is preening me and I am touching her, sometimes she gets over stimulated and starts doing her "skirt dance" thing, which is going a little beyond affection in my book and I am afraid that type of behavior may cause her to lay an egg.
 

jh81

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I must admit that i was not expecting this! The male Senegal i had was very cuddly, he would have his neck scritched all day, whereas Kaya does not! She likes to sit on my shoulder, doing her thing. And i can scritch her neck every once in a while, just not too often! Shes very independed! So one would understand my amazement when this all started :)
 

FLmom

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Awwwwww she's so cute! And that preening is adorable! My Caique does that a lot too. He is a huge neck snuggler and he will take my earrings out and throw them on the floor as if to say "those don't belong there" I think it's adorable and just part of his funny loving personality.
 

Begone

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Adorable pics Jan! ♥ But the last one seems hurtful! :rofl::peace:
 

jh81

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Well its not so much hurtfull as it is annoying :)
But ill live with it! All for my little partner in crime! Especially because she likes beeng social outside yhe house :)
 
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