Are hormonal surges inevitable?

[macaronish]

Basically, the title. I mean, you can keep their sleep schedule 14 hours of pure darkness a night forever, but you can't really stop it getting warmr in the spring/summer months, and it's probably not wise to change their diet to one unsuitable for breeding for the rest of their lives, since a low fat and low protein diet can't be good for other things like molting... so are hormonal surges inevitable?

 

[expressmailtome]

Yes, it is inevitable. It is just part of owning parrots. To be honest, I also do not feel that it is healthy to restrict a bird to 14 hours of darkness everyday of their life simply to try to mitigate hormones.

 

[macaronish]

Yes, it is inevitable. It is just part of owning parrots. To be honest, I also do not feel that it is healthy to restrict a bird to 14 hours of darkness everyday of their life simply to try to mitigate hormones.

Another thing, if a bird is clearly hormonal but it isn't actually causing issues, why is it a big deal? Like male birds who masturbate in their cages but have no aggression or noise issues.

 

[Mizzely]

Yes, but they manifest differently for every bird.

Hormones are a natural part of life. They are only a problem if a bird is putting itself or others at risk with its behaviors. For most healthy birds, laying a clutch of eggs once or twice a year, for instance, isn't likely to be a problem. But you can't assume that they will stop at one or two clutches, especially if they are a species prone to chronic egg laying (like cockatiels).

Some birds excessively regurgitate, pluck, attack, make nests in inappropriate areas, stop eating, etc.

Others they get a bit nippy, masturbate, regurgitate some, stick a cloaca in your face, and that's the end of it.

It's all about finding a balance and reacting as necessary based on their health and behaviors.

 

[Emma&pico]

Yes the are I think it’s just managing the how much it affects them

my lovebird pico as a wife cat ball bell that he feeds makes love to I’ve tired removing accidentally stood on his last one he just moves onto something else he not hurting anyone with the ball he still eats plays etc just goes back feeds it chats to it then off again for good playing etc
He did get over excited with a rope knot perch that I had to throw away as he spent all day making love to it wouldn’t come out of cage etc overly aggressive with it which isn’t pico

I think rountie is good at removing a lot mine have lights out at 8 I open their curtains at 8/8:30 refill their water lots of foraging toys time out of cage time with me etc

not that I am perfect but I’ve found these things help with pico and indie

 

[birdfloof]

yes they are inevitable. as long as there aren't behaviors that are putting anybody at risk (aggression, mutilation, plucking, egg binding, etc) there's nothing you can really do to prevent it as hormones are a natural part of life.