Crazy things your birds do during hormones season

[RosieBird]

What strange behaviors do your fids do during hormone season?


Rosie wasn't cranky today but she did put her head down for grooming then snapped at me and changed her mind. That happens sometimes.

But when my husband came home she wanted to cuddle with him immediately, then she stuck her tongue in his ear. She's never done that before. Could be just a grooming thing.

A few weeks back hubby was lying down on the bed, Rosie was cranky so I brought her over to him. She climbed up his chest, up to his shoulder and then she was trying to get on his face! OMG.

 

[Birdbabe]

Merlin barfs on all my stuff, I mean EVERY THING.

 

[parrotluv]

My grey, bites bites, lovey, lovey, bites bitey. Changes from one minute to the next! My quaker, gets more snugly with me, but monster to others and just once in awhile a little bitey but not like my grey! Hahns macaw, just louder.

 

[zvezdast]

My lovie is trying to get into the stove!

It's a gas range, and she gets under the metal grate and investigates the hole between the burner and the stove top. And I better not have anything sitting on the grate, as the added darkness just makes it that more appealing.
I of course take her away every time I see it, but she *has* to be around kitchen when I am getting her/our food ready in the morning, and as soon as I turn my back - she goes for the stove. Makes the morning routine take much longer.

 

[sunnysmom]

Knock on wood it doesn't happen this year, but Sunny went through a crazy hormonal period a few years ago where he would just randomly attack my fiancé's feet. At first I didn't believe my fiancé and said he had to be doing something to provoke Sunny. But no, Sunny would just chase after him and try to bite him. Luckily, it hasn't happened since.

 

[Odin]

Odin doesn't seem to have had any changes so far....He is still his quiet, happy, chirpy self. Stuck to me like glue. Sherbert is making everything with a drawer, blanket, hole, etc her home. When it is time for her to go to bed, she will get very upset.
I posted on another spot, that last night she was sitting quietly on my shoulder, Odin was in my lap, I was knitting. All was well, until Sherbie decided to SCREAM in my ear, bite my ear and fly off to her tree.

 

[RosieBird]

@Birdbabe I wonder if that is a regurgitation thing?


Our poor birdies all hormonal and frustrated.

 

[cassiesdad]

Titan has a thing about feet. He will rip socks to get to your toes,and them attempt to feed them. Then he goes for the full-on nasty.
At the end of silly season, he begins his moult-and he has heavy moults...and the last few years, the moults have been accompanied by seizures. The vet has done tests,and found no known cause for the seizures,so she and I have to suspect hormonal changes...

 

[DancingFeathers]

@cassiesdad Triton has developed a foot fetish too! I wonder what it is about those toes?

 

[cassiesdad]

@cassiesdad Triton has developed a foot fetish too! I wonder what it is about those toes?

I don't know...what I can say is when "silly season" strikes, we have to wear shoes until Titan goes to bed every night.That totally flusters him, and he gives the "stink eye" to you...and your shoes...

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

I think toes are just the right size for newly hatched chicks and the fact toes move "independently" may make them think they are actual chicks.

All my hens, 'tiel, lovie, budgie, Senegal, get wierd about holes, any size, kind of holes; they want nesting spaces, is my guess. Solution: I give them nest boxes, cardboard boxes with open ends, large bowls or even cook pots and just allow them to nest where they want. Since I do not care if they produce eggs (It is the reason the hens exist), I let them do what they want during hormone time, and they seem much happier than when I used to fight their behavior. I just check to see if produced eggs are fertile or not and make sure I abort the live ones: NO BREEDING IN THIS HOUSE!!! Another reason I give them nest spaces is I have blocked off all the under furniture areas so they can't crawl under something heavy and hide eggs; this way the eggs are right in the nest areas and I can screen them for life.

However.... THIS year Cookie Monster Tiel and her new mate, Frank, chewed a hole in the cardboard baffle I placed around the base of the woodstove and I think Cookie has hatched a chick under there. I heard her feeding it last night, right as I arrived in the room. So I had to get down on my hands and knees, move one side of the baffle and try and make sure that is what is going on. Unfortunately, with my disability, I can't stay on the floor long enough to make sure there is a baby in there. It certainly isn't an entire clutch of babies; when there is you hear the parents feed them one right after another: this is just one feeding and the distinctive sound stops. I heard the sound over the past week or so, but I thought it was Cookie continuing to feed Frank, or vice versa; they did this during courtship. But last night, when I heard the feeding, I was staring right at Frank and only Cookie was missing. SIGH. If it is a new baby, it is actually OK with me. If I could afford it, I would have hundreds of tiels; but I am limited financially and can only feed and deal with vet visits for so many. So part of me is excited I may have a new cockatiel baby and another part of me is frustrated my no-breeding protocols have failed.

One of the things Emmie CAG does is dig in the bottom of his cage; dig, dig, dig. He shreds the newpaper, builds a nest like area and then digs through it over and over. He also gets really aggressive toward me. He cheerfully bites me every chance he gets. Despite this, I actually love hormone season, watching the birds do what they would do in the wild and all the interaction between them.

Oh, yeah.... Sunny, at 15 years old this year, has discovered rubbing her vent against my thumb feels g-o-o-d! Unlike every other bird who has used some part of my body for masturbation, Sunny never seems to get to climax with her rubbing. The longest she has continued her attentions to my thumb has been 22 minutes and I have to admit I got tired holding my thumb in position and hid my hand. She was incensed the thumb disappeared and looked all over for it (only the right thumb is used). She even got on my shoulder and walked down my right arm looking for the thumb; but I had my hand hidden under the towel I keep in my lap. Anyone ever experience this? A bird that never seems to get to "satisfaction"?

 

[Lady Jane]

Daisy chewed off her flight feathers and cannot fly untitled growth. I think this was hormonal.

 

[DancingFeathers]

@Laurul Feather Cat I've never considered that! That's a really good theory.

 

[InTheAir]

Sapphire tries to climb into my boyfriends bellybutton when he has no shirt on. She doesn't even particularly like him, just his bellybutton. Between her unsuitable ideas for nesting spots and Nila thinking that courtship is to chew her eyelid and fly off, I'm hoping we won't have to worry about dealing with fertile eggs for a long time.

 

[ZoeyFredrik]

Joey, so far, has not done anything too crazy - yet.

Sammy on the other hand... a week or so ago he was helping me with the dishes, until he spotted a Tupperware container (big enough to fit like 3 quakers in) and decided he was going to well... have his way with it....