Hormonal, plucking, and biting. What do I do?

[Sintser]

Hi! I'm really new to this forum so I'm really sorry if I mess anything up!

I have one pineapple green cheek conure (named Zeke, the beautiful boy) who's the love of my life. I've had him for nearly nine years and we're stuck together like glue. I love him with all my heart and do everything I can to educate myself and make sure that he is as happy as possible, which is why his current behavior is making me so distraught.

Lately, he has been chewing on the feathers on his stomach, legs, and wings, leaving patches of down where the feathers got too damaged. I tried to supplement this by switching up his toys and taking him out for longer than I already did, seeing as it was most likely that he was just bored. However, now I can't even do that - every time I take him out of his cage, he immediately bites so hard it draws blood. My hands are a mess of scabs. From his other behavior - walking along the floor of his cage, staying in his hut (which I recently removed), etc. - it is obvious that he is territorial and hormonal. I assumed that he was territorial over his cage and switched up my approach - however, as soon as I get him out and he seems calm, I do something innocuous (like shift or talk lightly) and he immediately starts going for my face. Every time I have quietly laddered and brought him back to his cage. It's gotten to the point that I'm really scared of him.

The only option I can think of is to wait for him to ride out his hormonal period. Yet every time I see the spots of down get larger and larger I can't help but feel terrified and like a failure. I have absolutely no idea how I can make myself less of a target or how I can help him. It's been going on for a while (I don't know the exact time period, every day melts together) and it's tearing me up every single day. I just genuinely have no idea what to do.

If you have any possible solutions or ideas, please let me know. Thank you!

 

[Olliebirb]

Bump

 

[WalnutKing]

Hi! I'm really new to this forum so I'm really sorry if I mess anything up!

I have one pineapple green cheek conure (named Zeke, the beautiful boy) who's the love of my life. I've had him for nearly nine years and we're stuck together like glue. I love him with all my heart and do everything I can to educate myself and make sure that he is as happy as possible, which is why his current behavior is making me so distraught.

Lately, he has been chewing on the feathers on his stomach, legs, and wings, leaving patches of down where the feathers got too damaged. I tried to supplement this by switching up his toys and taking him out for longer than I already did, seeing as it was most likely that he was just bored. However, now I can't even do that - every time I take him out of his cage, he immediately bites so hard it draws blood. My hands are a mess of scabs. From his other behavior - walking along the floor of his cage, staying in his hut (which I recently removed), etc. - it is obvious that he is territorial and hormonal. I assumed that he was territorial over his cage and switched up my approach - however, as soon as I get him out and he seems calm, I do something innocuous (like shift or talk lightly) and he immediately starts going for my face. Every time I have quietly laddered and brought him back to his cage. It's gotten to the point that I'm really scared of him.

The only option I can think of is to wait for him to ride out his hormonal period. Yet every time I see the spots of down get larger and larger I can't help but feel terrified and like a failure. I have absolutely no idea how I can make myself less of a target or how I can help him. It's been going on for a while (I don't know the exact time period, every day melts together) and it's tearing me up every single day. I just genuinely have no idea what to do.

If you have any possible solutions or ideas, please let me know. Thank you!

Have you taken him to the vet? When was the last time he was there? what is his diet like? Maybe he‘s lacking a certain vitamin which makes him more moody than usual? any changes in his routine—you with a new job? Something other than taking his hut? A change of food? Tbh I’m relatively new to bird care but just throwing ideas out there. He sounds like a sweet boy!

 

[ParrotNuts]

Bump

 

[Monica]

I'm in agreement with @WalnutKing - please take him to a vet to rule out medical causes!

Please read through this...

The Basics of Feather Picking

Article containing veterinarian's approach to diagnosing and treating feather-destructive disorders

featherpicking.com

Every time I have quietly laddered and brought him back to his cage.

This isn't necessarily a 'good' behavior to do... especially if you are not rewarding him for stepping up each and every time.

We can work on the behavior aspects, but please see a vet first! Get bloodwork, x-rays and skin/feather graphs to rule out medical issues!

 

[emdh]

I can tell you that this happened with my Jenday. From day one, he adored me and only me but was aggressive with almost everyone else. Then about the same age-9-he became extremely aggressive with me too. It became extremely difficultly to handle him at all.

 

[dollfish]

I'm going through a similar phase with Astro and I'm strictly following these rules with her, which is working wonders. She regurgutated for me for 1 week and showed very hormonal signs. I immediately took action:

• She is never allowed on me. Not even on my knee. She can only perch on my hand. I take her from my shoulder or knee or wherever with a treat and put her on a perch.
• We are practicing stationing to accompany the previous. She gets a treat if she doesn't fly to me when I am doing chores around the house. For example, I walk away to take rubbish out, I stop midway, click if she hasn't followed then reward. I can now go 5 minutes between treats. It has only been a week and a half but I have been very consistent. Increase treat frequency for this when necessary.
• If things get out of hand and she is overly excited to be around me, I put her in the aviary with a nice treat and some foraging to keep her occupied. She can come back out in half an hour if she has calmed down and made herself busy. If she is screaming for attention then she can have a bit more time to relax.
• No petting anywhere except for the head and even then, occasionally. Nobody is allowed to pet now, not just me.
• She is not allowed behind the curtains or in the cupboard. Again, stationing for this.
• Removed the top cover of her cage to make it open and bright. Also I swap out the toys and perches every week and I move the cage around the house too. She is used to this from before, it doesn't stress her out.
• I also had to wear a bandana for some time because my hair was what got her going. So remember, anything that resembles nest making material can help hormones to go out of hand.
• No pulling from the beak to help her up. She used my fibger for leverage when I offered but I didn't know that bonded pairs held each others' beaks.

I hope these things help. Maybe you know these things already but I wanted to share because these rules helped me immensely.