How can I outsmart him?

[fluffypoptarts]

The big cage is hard to cover well so he ends up waking me up far too early. That's why he sleeps separately.

Update on lights on: relentless screaming. Whole house unable to sleep.

What about just getting a dark queen-sized flat sheet? It seems to pretty much cover all sides of a standard flight cage.

 

[JLcribber]

Update on lights on: relentless screaming. Whole house unable to sleep.

I never said it would help the screaming. The point is to upset this hormonal behaviour to help bring back some normalcy.

 

[JLcribber]

The big cage is hard to cover well so he ends up waking me up far too early. That's why he sleeps separately.

Have you thought of keeping a different schedule so you're more in sync with your bird? How early is far too early? Birds get up a dawn. To not let them get up early is exactly the same to them as you not wanting to get up early.

 

[Peachfaced]

What I mean is, he will wake up in the middle of the night if he hears something outside or even if I'm just getting up to use the restroom. If he notices any change, be it light from the hall or a noise, he starts to wake up and thinks it's time to start the day.

 

[fluffypoptarts]

@Peachfaced My girls are the same way. It's impossible to be stealthy enough, and it can be completely dark and they will still start squeaking if they hear a door so much as quietly click in the hallway. Sounds like Sherbs is way more gung-ho about being the birdy alert system, though.

Does he have any morning time out with you, or is it usually later in the day?

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Does he masturbate at all? Allowing and encouraging physical relief would help normalize him. The other thing I would do is allow him to establish and defend a nest area. That way he would defend the nest, focus on it and work through his hormonal instincts. Right now all you are doing is fighting nature and thousands of years of evolution. Instead of frustrating him, accommodate his instincts.

I had the same problem with Harley PFLB. He did not normalize his behavior until I gave him a nest box on his cage and allowed him to build a nest inside. Once he did that, he started coming back to me for attention and scritching, after which he would masturbate, go into his nest and rearrange everything. By allowing him to express his instinct, he normalized himself.

He even courted the single hen tiels, actually getting Gracie Tiel as a companion. They groomed one another, perched side by side, but Gracie refused to allow him to mate with her. For four years he tended his nest, companioned Gracie a got scritching from me. Then 16 y/ o Gracie died. Harley was devastated. This was the fourth mate he had who died. So I got him a lovie mate and he and Blu do everything except actual mating. Harley comes to me for scritching, then masturbates on his perch. He's a happy bird now.

Stop fighting instincts. Feed them instead. The only purpose of a living creature is to produce more living creatures. Please don't go the hormone injection route and scramble his brain and instincts. Try doing what comes naturally instead. Please.

 

[Peachfaced]

@Peachfaced My girls are the same way. It's impossible to be stealthy enough, and it can be completely dark and they will still start squeaking if they hear a door so much as quietly click in the hallway. Sounds like Sherbs is way more gung-ho about being the birdy alert system, though.

Does he have any morning time out with you, or is it usually later in the day?

If I have to leave for work right away I'll let the fiance let him out a little later. Otherwise Sherbs comes out with me after I brush my teeth and hair. (He sees hair brushing as offensive! Don't ask me why.)

---

I think if he actually masturbated instead of just putting up his wings/tail, he might actually be able to normalize. I have shown him a time or two... I held up a foot toy and he put up his wings and then he realized he could do his little chicken dance on a pile of foot toys. He proceeded to do his dance for a solid 10 minutes before he wore himself out. So it's clear he at least understands, but he won't do it when he's on his own. He has plenty of toys and perches he could get busy with.

We've also tried letting him have a nest of sorts; it's one of those seagrass mats rolled in to a tunnel shape. He seems to not use it much anymore, even just to play peek-a-boo in. He's never once tried to build/form a nest, though. He tucks paper in his tail but that's as far as it goes. Could I just get him a small cardboard box (with an opening) and see if he takes to it? Cardboard would be easier to keep clean, since I could pitch it when it gets dirty.

I don't want to get another bird for several reasons- The biggest reasons are I couldn't afford the vet bills and the space for another large cage. I don't trust him to behave nicely around another bird. My nesty hen would lure budgies and then try to pretend to be a plastic surgeon (her specialty was toe removal, or attempted toe removal).

Trust me, I'd like to avoid injections. He's just a very complicated little individual and I still don't speak bird after all this time.

 

[Peachfaced]

I installed a makeshift nestbox earlier and little mister wore himself out playing in it; the fiance caught him napping in it.

During dinner the Sherbster was getting down and dirty with the cage grate. An hour later I tried to convince Sherbs to eat a little more of his dinner and afterwards he hopped to the top of his nestbox and romanced a half-chewed grass bundle. Oh, baby.

 

[Aubrey]

Oh Sherbs! Get it out buddy Get all that buzzinuss out

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

You don't have to get him a mate. It was just something I knew Harley wanted and I looked for six years before I found the right girl. You can give him any type box/nest you want, but I find Blu and Harley love their real box made out of wood. They NEVER relieve themselves in it, but they do pack, pack, pack it full of nest material. Every now and then they blow the top off of it by packing it too full. I have to remember to remove some of the packing every two weeks or so. Just let him go with the flow of his instincts and you and he will be much happier. Honest.

As far as masturbating, my Sunshine Senegal simply will NOT engage in "that type" of behavior. I am her loved one and she requires I hold my hand at the perfect angle and she climbs on fidgets around, never touching my hand with her lady parts. She must do it all in her mind, because two or three minutes later, she is back to her prim, proper self. I am sure you must be Sherbie's love and he seems to require that you watch. Interesting little exhibitionist that he is!

"He's just a very complicated little individual and I still don't speak bird after all this time." I have been bird mad since six years old and a pet bird owner since I was 30. I still do not speak bird and I find the more you think you know about them, the more complicated they are. Keep me updated how he is doing. Sherby is one of my favorites. I have a terrible weakness for lutino lovebirds.

 

[fluffypoptarts]

If I have to leave for work right away I'll let the fiance let him out a little later. Otherwise Sherbs comes out with me after I brush my teeth and hair. (He sees hair brushing asoffensive! Don't ask me why.)

Aww, poor Sherbie! Some creepy bristly stick thing touches his person every day! Mine have issues with hairbrushes as well - in addition to the dislikes they don't share with the others.

He's a tough little nut to figure out. Does he ever seem jealous of your fiancé at all? (I know he has the hormonal issue, but I wonder if there's not something else on his birdy mind as well.)

 

[Peachfaced]

Sherbie hasn't quite grasped the nest material part of nesting, but I gave him a small amount of shred and tossed in some balsa and a finger trap. I heard him destroying the balsa a few minutes ago. He does a lot of beak rubbing and beak tapping (it sounds like a woodpecker) on the inside of the box; Kind of like he's trying to force the box to be bigger. He's done this when playing in towel tunnels... Always working to make it roomier.

It wouldn't surprise me much if he had ulterior motives! Sometimes he does get a little jealous. Sherbs will try to "hide" in my hair or under my chin if I'm about to be given a hug. You can tell he's positioning himself in case he feels the need to defend me. It's generally not a problem, but I prefer to have Sherbie off of me if we're going to hug. Sherb has a wicked bite-- he gnaws with his lower mandible and man does it smart! Thankfully there's usually a warning... he'll start clicking and fanning his tail/ruffling his feathers. Other times, he'll just charge forward and bite without any hesitation.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

The tapping of the nest box is a claiming gesture and also draws the attention of the local females. He is showing off his real estate and saying "I have a nest, do you have eggs?"

Right now Blu has infertile eggs in the box and she kicked Harley out of the nest. I found him sleeping under the papers on the top of the cage where one of the foraging stations is located. Poor Harley is literally hen pecked! Those hen lovies are worse than master sergeants!

Good idea to make sure Sherbie is off your person before being physical with your human love. Sunshine refuses to warm up to my BFF, Kim. And if we hug or anything in Sunny's presence, Sunny has a temper tantrum and then sulks for the rest of Kim's visit. How dare I cheat on Sunny with that, that human!

So, is Sherbie being more normal, less screaming, etc? I hope you see some improvement quickly with him. It just seems so cruel and counterproductive to fight the normal instincts birds have. We can all be much happier if we accommodate their instincts the way they seem to accommodate our strange behavior.

 

[Peachfaced]

The tapping of the nest box is a claiming gesture and also draws the attention of the local females. He is showing off his real estate and saying "I have a nest, do you have eggs?"

Right now Blu has infertile eggs in the box and she kicked Harley out of the nest. I found him sleeping under the papers on the top of the cage where one of the foraging stations is located. Poor Harley is literally hen pecked! Those hen lovies are worse than master sergeants!

Good idea to make sure Sherbie is off your person before being physical with your human love. Sunshine refuses to warm up to my BFF, Kim. And if we hug or anything in Sunny's presence, Sunny has a temper tantrum and then sulks for the rest of Kim's visit. How dare I cheat on Sunny with that, that human!

So, is Sherbie being more normal, less screaming, etc? I hope you see some improvement quickly with him. It just seems so cruel and counterproductive to fight the normal instincts birds have. We can all be much happier if we accommodate their instincts the way they seem to accommodate our strange behavior.

Crazy! What a peculiar way to ask.

Poor little fellow, banished from the nest! He's got to use the nesting materials to keep warm. They really are!

How dare you, indeed! Sunny clearly has first dibs. It's in the birdy book of rules.

Far less screaming. He's not happy with having to sleep in the flight cage (he protested for 15 minutes before falling asleep and woke me up with a tantrum) but I think with time and dark blankets he'll get over it. I'm going to weigh him and make sure he's still eating enough. He seems much more normal.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Glad to hear Sherbie is doing better. Keep on keeping on and hopefully, he will normalize himself.

I learned just 11 months ago from a person from Africa where lovebirds are wild, that lovies can breed all year round if they have adequate food.... No wonder Blu and Harley are producing eggs six times a year! I was really devastated. Do I try and starve them or just let them do what they do?

DOH!!!

 

[Peachfaced]

I guess that's the real reason they're called lovebirds, but maybe it should be promiscuousbirds instead? I guess as long as they're healthy and happy, let 'em be?

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

My choice exactly. They are what they are and I am lucky Blu will not allow Harley to actually mate with her and she lays infertile eggs. What would I do with 24 baby lovies every year?

 

[Peachfaced]

They would breed you out of house and home! If lovebirds are ever on the endangered species list, we'll know who to employ to repopulate!

 

[fluffypoptarts]

I'm glad Sherbs is doing better with the changes!

Re: the beak tapping...I had thought that might be a claiming gesture, too, so I was pretty amused when my mom's lovie hen started tapping directly on me. She also "draws lines" (gently drags her beak on me).

 

[Peachfaced]

I'm glad Sherbs is doing better with the changes!

Re: the beak tapping...I had thought that might be a claiming gesture, too, so I was pretty amused when my mom's lovie hen started tapping directly on me. She also "draws lines" (gently drags her beak on me).

Yes! Sherbie does this to my cheek all the time! I thought at first he was just rubbing food off on me. I was born to be a napkin, after all. Yet he does this at random, rubbing a straight line on my face and then peering sideways at me, hoping I'll feed him.