Pictures Mating with her perch?

[santacruzjack]

Prelude: Don't worry, the pictures aren't of her mating with the perch, I just included a picture of her on it for reference. No hanky panky here.

Now, onward to the point. Last night I caught Dinah rubbing her Cloaca against the playful part of her perch before bed time, and she is a little bit mirror obsessed due to this perch.... It's not so bad that she hates us, in fact she's really progressing well and warming up to being scratched and stepping up onto hands. However, she spends most of the time in her cage on this preferred perch, talking into the mirror here and there and getting excited when she catches her reflection in moving light. While that's not so unusual for a parrot I'm beginning to get concerned now that I've seen this rubbing behavior....

After she went to bed, I started looking up Linnie body language and mating rituals to try and understand her a little bit better. I'm almost positive that's what she's doing with her perch. Her foot was on the perch, she was facing forward, and the other foot was raised over the area she was rubbing, just like Linnie mating.... We're really concerned she's going to start laying eggs, as she is just now hitting a year and she is certainly able to, although we've been keeping her to 12 hours of sleep a night. I was hopeful we wouldn't see an egg until spring, but I guess that's too much to ask...

Does anyone have any advice for this? Should we remove the perch if it becomes an egg stimulant? We already removed her tent as she was starting to nest in it a little bit, outright refusing to poop in it and preening the fibers out and out....

Here she is with the offending perch, she loves it dearly and I'd hate to see her lose it... she's been bonded to it for as long as she was in the bird store we got her from and she is very content with it most of the time, this has only been a recent thing. Last night she was rubbing against the spinning playful part, this morning I caught her rubbing against the mirror....

 

[Tim]

She's a beauty! No wonder she loves herself so much
Yep, that's mating behavior. You can try moving the perch, or covering the mirrored part, but you may have to remove it until the...uh...urge passes.

 

[Lady Jane]

You probably heard this before but Linnies more than any other species like another Linnie to be with. By the way Linnies mate side by side - its quite unique. The male puts his leg over her body and they both turn towards each other.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

It is crazy to worry a toy or a perch will be an egg laying stimulant. Birds do sexual behavior and lay eggs according to the hormonal levels in their brain of four different hormones which govern reproduction. So, no, the perch cannot be an eggs laying stimulant.

The reason birds lay eggs is to continue the species and this was determined by the creator of life (God?) and/or evolution. That is the only reason they lay eggs: to continue the species after the parent birds die. In my opinion it is easier to go along with the hormones rather than fight them.

 

[santacruzjack]

You probably heard this before but Linnies more than any other species like another Linnie to be with. By the way Linnies mate side by side - its quite unique. The male puts his leg over her body and they both turn towards each other.

Yeah, I saw the linnie side-by-side mating while I was researching the other night, that's why I started worrying about this behavior. It really is so cute... but I just don't want her to be laying eggs off-season. I don't really see how having another Linnie would help with her laying eggs, if we get a boy it will just turn into real mating, if we get a girl just more eggs... she's bonding to us quite nicely so far and she's also taking to ollie better, We've been talking about getting a second Linnie, but it's not in the cards within the next year for a number of reasons including money, space, and our hopes that she will bond with Ollie.

It is crazy to worry a toy or a perch will be an egg laying stimulant. Birds do sexual behavior and lay eggs according to the hormonal levels in their brain of four different hormones which govern reproduction. So, no, the perch cannot be an eggs laying stimulant.

Starting with what you're saying here, my Ornithology textbook bluntly states the exact opposite from you, that parrots commonly can grow attached to toys and cozy corners, which is why we were initially told by our vet to remove her tent... It was stimulating nesting behavior. She was nesting in her tent. Plain and simple. Man-made objects are man-made objects, whether it's a toy or a tent, and parrots can grow attached to or develop feelings for an inanimate object. They're individuals, they can have their own reasons. Yes, hormones govern reproduction, and hormones come with the seasons and other factors, but they can also be directly stimulated by warmth, or even just comfort, as well as being "turned on" by things we can't even comprehend. Random feelings. My friend's lovebird never mated with his cage-mate, and only mated with a specific, grey rag. When they took that rag away, boom: No humping whatsoever. For the rest of his life. How can you assume to know that it's impossible?

The reason birds lay eggs is to continue the species and this was determined by the creator of life (God?) and/or evolution. That is the only reason they lay eggs: to continue the species after the parent birds die. In my opinion it is easier to go along with the hormones rather than fight them

I do understand the idea of not wanting to interfere with natural hormonal behavior, and for the love of god, I know why birds lay eggs. But it is NOT natural to be laying eggs in winter, with no nesting box, no mate, and when it comes to the point where she is laying too many eggs and egg binding happens, do you want me to keep going along with the hormones and let her keep laying eggs despite it causing her grievous injury? No. Absolutely not. It's not like i'm freaking out, she hasn't even lain her first egg yet. She may never have a single egg problem in her life, just pop out a few a year like she's supposed to. I'm just approaching the forum for information, and help. And that's why I'm so upset with your response. My fear isn't really unrealistic, and responding this way to my post admittedly hurt my feelings.

Please just... Don't approach posts with direct criticism and nothing useful, and especially don't open up by calling me crazy, wrong, and lecturing me about third grade biology, as if I don't know why birds lay eggs, why animals reproduce. Be more polite, open-minded, and contribute more, it's excessively common on this forum to state your wide, vague opinion on the nature of bird care in general without offering any real advice and it's making me not want to use the forum anymore. This is a constructive, positive forum. Be constructive, and positive. Please.

 

[DerbyBirdy]

It is crazy to worry a toy or a perch will be an egg laying stimulant. Birds do sexual behavior and lay eggs according to the hormonal levels in their brain of four different hormones which govern reproduction. So, no, the perch cannot be an eggs laying stimulant.

The reason birds lay eggs is to continue the species and this was determined by the creator of life (God?) and/or evolution. That is the only reason they lay eggs: to continue the species after the parent birds die. In my opinion it is easier to go along with the hormones rather than fight them.

Fighting hormones is different from discouraging a behavior. It's not crazy to worry. We're all bird-owners here, and so many things can kill a pet bird. It's normal to be concerned for our fids.