birdowner
Moving in
- Joined
- 2/17/26
- Messages
- 6
Hey all, long time lurker first time poster, thanks in advance for any responses regarding some of the issues I never anticipated having.
I have one bird named Franny, she is a female ringneck (2 years old this month) and has been seemingly very disturbed and unhappy regardless of where she is in the house and what she is presented with. I'm curious is this is potentially brought on by hormones and the early stages of puberty, especially considering she's shown signs of attempting to nest and clucking. Myself and my partner have been doing our best to keep her hormones at bay and adjust her situation when problems have arose regarding mating behaviors and such. Regardless, she does a couple of persistent behaviors wherever she is around the house.
She will incessantly bite her nails and do a series of chirps and or screams while occasionally flapping in the direction of her cage, playstand, or other rooms in the house. She will do this in the direction of whatever surface she is not on/in. If she is moved to where she seems to want to go the behavior continues. If she is ignored the behavior continues until she occasionally will fly there, only to repeat the aforementioned behavior.
If she's in her cage she will writhe against the cage bars and push her head against them endlessly, occasionally she will stop and aggressively destroy the toys that are blocking her from getting to the bars she wants to writhe on. She will also ceaselessly scream while doing so, making sounds that seem like she's calling for help as if shes in pain. It's very hard to listen to, as far as I know I've done everything I can to keep her happy, healthy, and entertained.
She gets regular rotations of new toys, fresh vegetables/fruit daily, and a healthy mix of 3 types of pellets. As well as regular cage and playstand cleaning.
The only time she is content is when she is on me or my partner, and obviously she cannot be on one of us constantly. I worry that she's lost her independence and ability to self entertain that she had in spades.
I'll address the things I see most reccomended to other parrot parents here to save those reading this some time.
More sleep: she gets 12 hours daily
More baths: she is bathed daily
More Training: she will sometimes willingly train but is increasingly resistant/ uninterested regardless of treat incentive or attention given. Forcing her to continue training when her attention is fading leads to aggression.
Move cages: this has been tried but has changed nothing
Thank you all very much for reading, I hope I can make her situation better. She's very dear to me and I just want her to be happy and regain some peace at home, as its increasingly difficult to co-habitate with her and deal with the guilt of having a seemingly unhappy parrot I've attempted to work so hard to raise well and give the best circumstances possible. Though I know this is bird life at the end of the day, and we've all been there with our funny little creatures.
Here's a picture of her in all her glory.
,
I have one bird named Franny, she is a female ringneck (2 years old this month) and has been seemingly very disturbed and unhappy regardless of where she is in the house and what she is presented with. I'm curious is this is potentially brought on by hormones and the early stages of puberty, especially considering she's shown signs of attempting to nest and clucking. Myself and my partner have been doing our best to keep her hormones at bay and adjust her situation when problems have arose regarding mating behaviors and such. Regardless, she does a couple of persistent behaviors wherever she is around the house.
She will incessantly bite her nails and do a series of chirps and or screams while occasionally flapping in the direction of her cage, playstand, or other rooms in the house. She will do this in the direction of whatever surface she is not on/in. If she is moved to where she seems to want to go the behavior continues. If she is ignored the behavior continues until she occasionally will fly there, only to repeat the aforementioned behavior.
If she's in her cage she will writhe against the cage bars and push her head against them endlessly, occasionally she will stop and aggressively destroy the toys that are blocking her from getting to the bars she wants to writhe on. She will also ceaselessly scream while doing so, making sounds that seem like she's calling for help as if shes in pain. It's very hard to listen to, as far as I know I've done everything I can to keep her happy, healthy, and entertained.
She gets regular rotations of new toys, fresh vegetables/fruit daily, and a healthy mix of 3 types of pellets. As well as regular cage and playstand cleaning.
The only time she is content is when she is on me or my partner, and obviously she cannot be on one of us constantly. I worry that she's lost her independence and ability to self entertain that she had in spades.
I'll address the things I see most reccomended to other parrot parents here to save those reading this some time.
More sleep: she gets 12 hours daily
More baths: she is bathed daily
More Training: she will sometimes willingly train but is increasingly resistant/ uninterested regardless of treat incentive or attention given. Forcing her to continue training when her attention is fading leads to aggression.
Move cages: this has been tried but has changed nothing
Thank you all very much for reading, I hope I can make her situation better. She's very dear to me and I just want her to be happy and regain some peace at home, as its increasingly difficult to co-habitate with her and deal with the guilt of having a seemingly unhappy parrot I've attempted to work so hard to raise well and give the best circumstances possible. Though I know this is bird life at the end of the day, and we've all been there with our funny little creatures.
Here's a picture of her in all her glory.
,
Not exactly the same, but similar. He is 2,5 years old right now. Hormone season for him is starting up again, and he gets restless, not wanting to do anything, but not being at peace either. I don't think it is always related to hormones with him though. Foraging and flight training does help but he is not always interested in that, and I think your girl is similar as I read she lost interest in training. It may be worth a try to train easier behaviours, reward for smaller steps? Is she food motivated? You could try shaping play/chewing behaviour and reward her for that. 
