Hen behavior - like a plane

[Littlelovebird]

Hey guys! Another question for yoo today. Skit is doing the "planeur" as we say in french. I dont know how you call it in english but its a position that they make to indicate to the male to get on their back etc...I always had males in the past so that never was an issue! Im just wondering if I should be worries about that as she is only 5 months old. I dont have the intention of finding her a mate. I can only have one bird in my apartment so thats really not an option. Im worried about the position as I dont want her to start laying eggs. I imagine she is too young and that could be problematic?

any tips? Should I give her less day light or stuff like that?

she has a little tent in her cage that is only made of 3 pieces so theres an entry and exit. Should I change that for a tent with perch only? Bottom of her cage as bars so she cant reach the paper. Basically she doesnt have muchto do nesting behaviors.

but the planeur position is alarming me a bit!

 

[DoubleTake]

I would remove the tent as it is probably playing a part in her hormonal behavior. Are you doing anything in particular when she is asking to be mounted? I would remove anything you may think is causing this behavior as it should be discouraged as much as possible. I mean if she decided to hump something, I'd let her do that but would avoid anything like mirrors, cave like cavities or possibly shredding material. Is petting kept above the neck?

 

[Littlelovebird]

I would remove the tent as it is probably playing a part in her hormonal behavior. Are you doing anything in particular when she is asking to be mounted? I would remove anything you may think is causing this behavior as it should be discouraged as much as possible. I mean if she decided to hump something, I'd let her do that but would avoid anything like mirrors, cave like cavities or possibly shredding material. Is petting kept above the neck?

Yep petting is head only! My boyfriend didnt know about that until a couple weeks ago and did pet her a bit on the wings but I told him never to do that so he stopped. I made sure there was No caves, no mirrors. No shredding. She has shredding toys like little pinatas for her beak and stuff like that. Is that a problem?

I noticed she was doing the position When I was playing peekaboo with her. She usually played and would say peekaboo when I was placing my hand in front if her and removing it to saying peekaboo but tonight she started taking the pose when I was approaching my hand so I stopped.
Ill stop doing that of course and remove the tent. Should she spend more time in her tent? Get her up later and put her back sooner so she has less day light?

 

[DoubleTake]

I would remove the tent and give her a platform perch or something. Birds dont need beds, they have muscles in their feet that keeps them from falling in their sleep. I think @Leih had a similar experience with one of her lovie getting hormonal around her. She may have some insight or suggestiobs. My girls sleep in her bird bath but I will remove that whenever she decides to get nesty.

 

[Littlelovebird]

I would remove the tent and give her a platform perch or something. Birds dont need beds, they have muscles in their feet that keeps them from falling in their sleep. I think @Leih had a similar experience with one of her lovie getting hormonal around her. She may have some insight or suggestiobs. My girls sleep in her bird bath but I will remove that whenever she decides to get nesty.

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Okay! I will do that then!
My male never used a tent before so it should be fine indeed! I just hope she wont hate me for removing it lol!

 

[DoubleTake]

Okay! I will do that then!
My male never used a tent before so it should be fine indeed! I just hope she wont hate me for removing it lol!

I'm sure she will adjust. When I put Loki in a new sleep cage in different room she slept clinging to the side of the cage. After 4-5 days she eventually moved to her perch to sleep and then back to her bird bath.

 

[Zara]

Im worried about the position as I dont want her to start laying eggs

It is good to have her eating well and flying daily now, to prepare her for when the eggs eventually come.
My youngest started laying very early. I believe she was 6-7 months.
When you remove the tent, your bird may seem somewhat unhappy, but she will adapt

 

[Littlelovebird]

It is good to have her eating well and flying daily now, to prepare her for when the eggs eventually come.
My youngest started laying very early. I believe she was 6-7 months.
When you remove the tent, your bird may seem somewhat unhappy, but she will adapt

Ohh ok! So thats not unusual that it happens early then?

 

[Zara]

Ohh ok! So thats not unusual that it happens early then?

Around 5-6 months is when they start to sexually mature. Some lovebirds breed at 6 months old, although it is highly recommended to not allow this so young and to wait ´til they are over a year old.
I allow my young birds a nest box while they adjust to cage life, one of my hens got hormonal at 5 months old because I didn´t remove the box. I removed it and all was well. She laid an egg at 13/14 months old.

 

[Leih]

My lovebird started doing "planeur" (I like that term!) around 5-6 months, but didn't lay eggs until she was about 15 months. They seem to have certain things that trigger them to do the display. My girl is a masked lovebird so I could only touch her on black feathers for awhile. She's not been hormonal lately so I can scratch her and get her pin feathers around her neck. She will display when I try to take a pic of her, or if she sees herself on camera or if I'm watching videos of lovebirds (I try to not do this because I know it bothers her.) If she is on me and does the plane she'll bite me hard if I'm not careful. It's her thinking I'm her mate and not giving her what she wants. Now she mainly does the plane at one of my linnies. She loves him, but she also hates him, it's confusing When she gets to full maturity she may get kind of mean, but don't worry, it's temporary, it's kind of like PMS for us haha during that time rearrange her cage constantly. So for now, just try to distract when she does it. And like Brian said, if she chooses a toy to be a special friend, there's no harm in letting her do it, within reason.