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Link to Information on Hormonal Behavior in Birds

farmgirl63

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I'm getting a 3 year old U2 in a few weeks and have been studying about hormonal behavior so I can minimize it w/my behavior. This is great information. Thanks.
 

Welshanne

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That was a great read, and describes jay as an aggressive male Amazon to a T .
He is subsiding in the aggression since being kept in his cage, but he is getting so crafty. Took a piece of raw carrot off me through the bars threw it and asked for more. Gave him another piece and he deliberately missed the carrot to go for my fingers! But I am more on my toes these days and avoided another nasty bite.
He then went down to the floor of the cage retrieved the carrot bits and ate them.:rofl:
 

JLcribber

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Excellent article.
 

Smilecatcher

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Are there months when they don't have it?????? Or is it all the time?????
Know they have it at breeding season and wondering when that starts to trigger their hormones & when does it stop?????:)
 

Holiday

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Are there months when they don't have it?????? Or is it all the time?????
Know they have it at breeding season and wondering when that starts to trigger their hormones & when does it stop?????:)
How long it lasts and how often it happens (and what time of year) depends on species and individual. Some of the cockatoo owners claim that theirs are hormonal several times a year. My female macaw has a very well defined pattern of hormonal behavior, though; it starts at Thanksgiving and ends around New Year's. The rest of the time, she's a steady, level headed, sweetheart :heart: :)

Check the forum for your particular species for more specific information.
 

atvchick95

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Glad i ran across this, I will be forwarding it to my b/fs sister They have 3 too's and they WONT listen to me, they are causing MORE problems then just a hormonal bird - but I know nothing

so maybe if its in black and white they'll listen!

because i'm already to the point of wanting to kill them, and my b/f knows when he comes here after being there not to tell me one single thing about their birds because I will throw stuff at him, I know we can't make them change and its not my b/fs fault but its beyond aggravating when they wont listen and the one too I had for several months and She was never ever ever like she is now! and when he comes over and tells me what they're doing or feeding them it just ticks me off
 

ortegah

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Our U2 is going through a major hormonal time right now and I just found a great article that goes into detail about what can be done and suggestions to help make things better.

I don't know if it's been posted here before but I thought I'd share. It's been the most informative one I've read so far.

Hormonal Behavior in Pet Birds - Pet Bird Behaviors Unraveled — For The Birds DVM — Avian Vet

Hormonal Behavior in Pet Birds - Therapeutic Remedies — For The Birds DVM — Avian Vet

Hormonal Behavior in Pet Birds - Conclusion — For The Birds DVM — Avian Vet
 

suncoast

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Thanks Heather, about the only thing I'm doing right is letting her fly.

Ginger
 

ortegah

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What really struck me was where it says about not letting them shred paper up on the bottom of their cage. Shawn spends ALL DAY shredding paper and hiding under a big sheet preparing his nest :D I wonder how he'll react when I take all the paper out? What sucks is that the previous owner reconstructed the cage to make more room. They moved the grate to the bottom as a new bottom and zip tied it to the frame and then put the sliding tray over it, so there's no grate and therefore I'll have to scrub the tray out multiple times a day to clean up the poop.

Shawn is in full hormonal mode right now. When my daughter Allie(who is the love of his life) gets him out he tries having sex with her hand and arm. :o: He's attacked her to protect her from us(and brooms :lol:) and attacked us to protect her a lot lately. We can only have him out for a few minutes at a time before he gets all wacky. I'm willing to do anything right now to help the poor guy out. I know he's a total horndog right now and he can't help it :( The doctor said he could give him a Lupron shot to help but we didn't want to go that extreme yet.
 

suncoast

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I don't know. I have found that if we do not allow Zamir to shred she get's depressed and goes stir crazy because she's hard wired to do it. What I did do was let her shred but take out all the stuff at the end of the day so that it does not ever get to be a nest. That seemed to be a good compromise, but now I'm not sure. Perhaps that is why she's laying clutch after clutch. I think I'm going to take out the easy shred stuff and just leave the wood up so that she has to work harder at it.

Ginger
 

ortegah

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I don't know. I have found that if we do not allow Zamir to shred she get's depressed and goes stir crazy because she's hard wired to do it. What I did do was let her shred but take out all the stuff at the end of the day so that it does not ever get to be a nest. That seemed to be a good compromise, but now I'm not sure. Perhaps that is why she's laying clutch after clutch. I think I'm going to take out the easy shred stuff and just leave the wood up so that she has to work harder at it.

Ginger
Well Shawn is already crazy(what U2 isn't though :lol:) so we'll see if it helps. He shreds as soon as I change the papers out and then he uses one sheet to hide under. It's terribly cute but obviously not helping with his issues.

I'll let you know how Shawn does with the changes. Let me know if you try it with Zamir and if it helps!
 

Karen

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What a good read. Thanks so much for posting the links!

I'm a bit confused by this (below quote). Is it best to follow sunup/sundown or is it suggesting to follow a 12 hour cycle if our birds are equatorial latitude birds (such as some Macaws)?

What are your thoughts about this?

On another note; I always thought birds sensed when the sun was up or down, whether or not they were subjected to the actual light. Glad to see my thoughts confirmed.

Photoperiod

If there is one single positive change that pet bird owners can make, it is returning the bird to a regularly recurring photoperiod. Whether in the wild or in captivity, most birds demonstrate a remark-able periodicity to their days. Restoration of a regular recurring day and night cycle usually results in a happier and healthier companion bird. Ideally the photoperiod would begin at dawn when most birds, covered or not, sense the new day and begin to stir. As most birds are from equatorial and subequa-torial latitudes where day length is roughly twelve hours year round, establishing a routine that follows a 12-hour day with a 12-hour night is ideal.

http://www.forthebirdsdvm.com/pages/hormonal-behavior-in-pet-birds-therapeutic-remedies
 
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ortegah

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I think they are just saying that it's best to let them sleep for 12 hours. I guess it would have to coincide with being up for 12 hours after sunrise. I know our bird room gets outside light so when the sun comes up they are awake. That being said they stay pretty quiet until they hear us stir. I've been able to sleep in til 9 or 10 am occasionally :D
 

Holiday

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Great read, Heather. :) Thanks for posting.
 

JLcribber

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That was an outstanding read. Great find.
 

ortegah

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That was an outstanding read. Great find.
I was doing research about Lupron and male umbrella cockatoos and ran into this article. It's given me lots of good ideas to try and change things not only with Shawn(U2) but also with Emmett, Jellybean and Petrie.
 
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