I know I have been down this road before, but I need some tips again please. Lada (female eclectus) is again getting broody. She laid an egg again yesterday. Last time was a few months ago... so not good in terms of span. The egg laying is not the problem though. She is and has been for quite awhile very behaviorally feeding dependent on me. Allow me to explain. She still eats by herself once I am gone, but whenever I am nearby she just wants to beg for food from me and makes the baby/allofeeding motions with my fingers CONSTANTLY. If I try to pass her anything (nut, treat, anything) she completely ignores the treat "between" my fingers and instead prefers to wrap her beak around one of the fingers holding the treat and make the feeding motion.
I understand what she is doing and why. I don't need any explanation there. Clearly we have gotten a little too close. She is hormonal. Wants to be fed as her mate would do for her in the nest in the wild. I just need some tips on how to change the behavior as in the long run I know this is not healthy for her as it is reinforcing her breeding mindset. I know I need to change how I handle her and not be so snuggly. That is big problem #1. The problem with Lada is, she is so very different from every bird on the planet. Never in her life has she liked toys. She has never been an active or curious bird either. Only sounds she makes are begging noises as of recent. She is and has been her entire life like a stuffed animal...
This makes it difficult because when she is out of the cage (which I keep her out as much as possible), all she ever wants to do (regardless of time of year) is find a spot to nest. THATS IT! She is either in the cage on her one spot that she prefers, or if I bring her out and try to be active with her/train with her/take her out to park/other activities/etc. all she wants to do is climb down and find a nest year round 100% of time. As a result of this wanting on my part to give her as much out of cage time as possible, its inevitable that some of that time will be spent by her with her mind on nesting.
Any tips to:
A. try to distract her from her nesting desires and get her to be more active?
B. Get her to stop the baby/allofeeding motions with my fingers and to instead accept the treats I offer? (By the way training is impossible too because she either immediately wants to climb/fly down to go nest, or if she does sit still, she ignores the treat and instead begs or tries to feed with my fingers... She will even go as far as taking the nut or whatever I am offering out of my fingers and throwing it so she can then go back to my fingers unimpeded.
I know I need to work on the following:
1. Less snuggle time
2. Probably need to put her back in cage each night for sleep instead of letting her sleep in her bird bed outside cage. I just hate leaving her in cage even if its for sleep time.
3. Probably need to just keep trying to train. I would say try when she is hungry, but I think that just makes her finger feeding impulses stronger.
She is a great bird and super sweet. Never bites and anyone and I mean anyone can hold/poke/pull on her and she is fine. At one point she did some work with mentally disabled children.
In summary, I know though that if I let this behavior go on too long she is going to start to get frustrated and her behavior will start to change in a very negative way eventually. It should be noted that if you have been following her in some of my previous posts, her weight is going back up I hope that this nesting re-occurrence does not impact her weight again as it did last time.
I understand what she is doing and why. I don't need any explanation there. Clearly we have gotten a little too close. She is hormonal. Wants to be fed as her mate would do for her in the nest in the wild. I just need some tips on how to change the behavior as in the long run I know this is not healthy for her as it is reinforcing her breeding mindset. I know I need to change how I handle her and not be so snuggly. That is big problem #1. The problem with Lada is, she is so very different from every bird on the planet. Never in her life has she liked toys. She has never been an active or curious bird either. Only sounds she makes are begging noises as of recent. She is and has been her entire life like a stuffed animal...
This makes it difficult because when she is out of the cage (which I keep her out as much as possible), all she ever wants to do (regardless of time of year) is find a spot to nest. THATS IT! She is either in the cage on her one spot that she prefers, or if I bring her out and try to be active with her/train with her/take her out to park/other activities/etc. all she wants to do is climb down and find a nest year round 100% of time. As a result of this wanting on my part to give her as much out of cage time as possible, its inevitable that some of that time will be spent by her with her mind on nesting.
Any tips to:
A. try to distract her from her nesting desires and get her to be more active?
B. Get her to stop the baby/allofeeding motions with my fingers and to instead accept the treats I offer? (By the way training is impossible too because she either immediately wants to climb/fly down to go nest, or if she does sit still, she ignores the treat and instead begs or tries to feed with my fingers... She will even go as far as taking the nut or whatever I am offering out of my fingers and throwing it so she can then go back to my fingers unimpeded.
I know I need to work on the following:
1. Less snuggle time
2. Probably need to put her back in cage each night for sleep instead of letting her sleep in her bird bed outside cage. I just hate leaving her in cage even if its for sleep time.
3. Probably need to just keep trying to train. I would say try when she is hungry, but I think that just makes her finger feeding impulses stronger.
She is a great bird and super sweet. Never bites and anyone and I mean anyone can hold/poke/pull on her and she is fine. At one point she did some work with mentally disabled children.
In summary, I know though that if I let this behavior go on too long she is going to start to get frustrated and her behavior will start to change in a very negative way eventually. It should be noted that if you have been following her in some of my previous posts, her weight is going back up I hope that this nesting re-occurrence does not impact her weight again as it did last time.
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