Bird scared of a child, also silly frog noises

[Briggan]

Hello, interesting title I know but I thought I'd ask about two of Juno's puzzling behavioral traits in one post.

I live in a house with all my siblings and the youngest (5 years old) will sometimes wander into my room, which is also where the bird is. Although he's never done anything to Juno, she seems to be scared of him and will go all skinny, crest straight up, and the most interesting part- she holds her right foot straight up at him. Not as intensely, but she will also do this to the second youngest. No one in the house can figure out why she does this and I'm wondering if anybody else's birds seem to be afraid of small children?

The second part to this post is a bit silly but still strange. One of the things we discovered about Juno early on is that she has a weird attachment to her swing and will walk underneath it, brushing her crest feathers on it, walking back and forth and making a little noise that i relate to a "frog noise" because it sounds a bit like a tiny coqui frog. She only seems to do this when no one is looking or she thinks no one is around. I think I mentioned this before but I though I'd throw it in there to see if anyone can come up with some theories as to why she makes this funny sound.

Thanks

 

[Mizzely]

Children are unpredictable, move different than adults, and are often loud. Fear of children is pretty normal.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I also think that the general unpredictability and loudness of children makes birds naturally leery of them.

The behavior you described sounds like your girl is hormonal and exhibiting the “come hither” stance and trying to mate with her swing.

 

[Briggan]

I also think that the general unpredictability and loudness of children makes birds naturally leery of them.

The behavior you described sounds like your girl is hormonal and exhibiting the “come hither” stance and trying to mate with her swing.

Should I remove it at all? I haven't in the past because she tends to sleep on it at night and has for the past year and a half so I just didn't want take something she liked, but would it be better if I did?

 

[Tiel Feathers]

You don’t have to remove it unless she gets obsessed, possessive of it, and aggressive to you.

 

[Briggan]

You don’t have to remove it unless she gets obsessed, possessive of it, and aggressive to you.

I think I jinxed it by posting about this because she's starting to spend a lot of time under her swing and chirping. I also caught her ripping the paper at the bottom of the cage with her tail up on the bars and mumbling to herself. She's becoming a little aggressive towards me if I approach the cage while shes doing that. I removed the paper towels but she's still spending time down there. Now, she's always liked to hang out on the bottom but she's never gotten mad about me being there and the last time she was ripping the paper she laid eggs and I don't want that to happen again. Outside of the cage shes still super cuddly and friendly but inside the cage shes getting snippy.

I ordered her a new and bigger cage and it should be here sometime at the beginning of the week and I plan to rearrange her toys and perches. will this help in any way? Is there anything else I should do?

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Getting a bigger cage, and rearranging the cage will help. You can try giving more than 12 hours of darkness. Is there a grate on the bottom? I would use a grate if you don’t have one already. Another trick I’ve learned is to cut up the round dowel perches that come with cages into about 4-5” long pieces and scatter them on the bottom of the cage. When your bird walks down there they roll around on her and make it very inhospitable. This really helped one of my birds from becoming too nesty on the bottom of her cage.

 

[Briggan]

Getting a bigger cage, and rearranging the cage will help. You can try giving more than 12 hours of darkness. Is there a grate on the bottom? I would use a grate if you don’t have one already. Another trick I’ve learned is to cut up the round dowel perches that come with cages into about 4-5” long pieces and scatter them on the bottom of the cage. When your bird walks down there they roll around on her and make it very inhospitable. This really helped one of my birds from becoming too nesty on the bottom of her cage.

yep there's a grate but its gotten bent over time and she can reach the towels underneath. I replaced it with a flat hand towel so there's nothing for her to build with but if it doesn't help and the cage still isn't here then i will just remove it and be washing the tray every day. Could I ask what kind of day/night cycle you have your birds on (what time you put them to bed at night etc)? I try to give her at least 11 hours of darkness but I myself stay up til the early hours just on my phone, do you think the light would disturb her sleep?

I do have some spare dowel perches so I can try cutting them up. Thanks so much!

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I think in general 11 hours is fine, but sometimes extending the dark hours can help curb hormones. I put my birds to bed at 7:00, and get them up about 8:00, sometimes even 8:30, but whatever schedule works for you is fine. I don’t think your phone light would be too disruptive, but you can turn the brightness down and keep the sound off. My birds sleep in their own individual sleep cages in a very dark closet. Our house is small, we are sometimes loud, and it’s not like they can’t hear us, but I think the separation and darkness helps. Also, we all go to bed about 11:00, so it’s quiet after that. I know some birds have night frights, and I know some people like a little light for their birds, but I also think complete darkness works well, as my birds never have night frights. If your bird is tame, remember not to pet anywhere but her head, and cut back on baths and moist foods. Also, I notice that my hen gets nesty even when she can just see a dark crevice, so make sure your bird isn’t fixating on one particular area. I had to put a towel over part of a bookshelf next to her cage to get my bird to stop.

 

[Briggan]

I think in general 11 hours is fine, but sometimes extending the dark hours can help curb hormones. I put my birds to bed at 7:00, and get them up about 8:00, sometimes even 8:30, but whatever schedule works for you is fine. I don’t think your phone light would be too disruptive, but you can turn the brightness down and keep the sound off. My birds sleep in their own individual sleep cages in a very dark closet. Our house is small, we are sometimes loud, and it’s not like they can’t hear us, but I think the separation and darkness helps. Also, we all go to bed about 11:00, so it’s quiet after that. I know some birds have night frights, and I know some people like a little light for their birds, but I also think complete darkness works well, as my birds never have night frights. If your bird is tame, remember not to pet anywhere but her head, and cut back on baths and moist foods. Also, I notice that my hen gets nesty even when she can just see a dark crevice, so make sure your bird isn’t fixating on one particular area. I had to put a towel over part of a bookshelf next to her cage to get my bird to stop.

The only area she seems fixated on is the back corner of her cage where she likes to sit and rip the paper. Hopefully with the new cage she won't be so interested in the bottom part.

As much as she loves to cuddle I don't think Juno would even want me touching her back, shes very particular with how I pet her, if I do it wrong she just leaves lol so I don't even try petting anywhere other than her head.

She tends to only get night frights if someone walks in front of her cage while it's too dark, but there is a small night light in the hall just outside our room so this is as much light as she has at night but it seems to work.