Mr Gg (long post sorry)

[Mr Gg]

Hello! I have just joined this forum as I thought it was about time.
We (my partner and I) back in May of this year rescued a rainbow lorikeet (Gg) he/she was a barley out of the nest baby and not in good shape when friends of ours found him and asked us to have a look at him. (My partner is very into wildlife and we often pick up strays to nurse back to health) We originally thought he had the dreaded BBFD. But with that all cleared up and in the safe zone we now have a very energetic, social, entertaining little bird who we have fallen in love with. He loves head scratches and kisses and loves to have the run of the house. (Supervised of course)
I’m curious to know if certain behaviours he/she is showing is hormonal based of off his rough age potentially a young ‘teen’.
We know they are often quite bitey birds but we’ve seemed to successfully managed that to the point he only bites when he’s tired or ready to go back into his cage for sleep time. Or when he’s in an extra feisty mood.
He has recently been displaying signs (we think) of a courting display: puffing up, swaying, bobbing up and down, and deep chirping at pretty much any random object including my hands and knee (for some reason). Today however he seems to be very quiet and almost timid which is very out of the ordinary. I’m wondering if changes in our work schedule has thrown his routine off and caused him to become uncomfortable?
What are some signs of him beginning to ‘court’ should we expect anything in particular? What are some great things we can get to keep him occupied, toys, treats cage must haves? Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you x
Mr G

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[April]

@jessem101 @minkylory

 

[jessem101]

I guess to try and help a bit more, it will be helpful to know the age of your Lory. A if it is hormonal, its usually by the time they hit 10 months of age and at times during the spring and fall. There are alot of things that can induce these types of behaviors. Have you gotten the Lory DNA tested to determine if the Lory is a male or female?

If you got the Lory as a hatchling, they are very mold-able from that point regardless what their original conditions were. Really depends how you weaned the bird.

When you mention "bitey" is the lory breaking skin? if not, that wont be considered a bite, they use their beaks like a hand, or for sensory, i.e. move things out of the way, show affectionate and so on. if the Lory is biting, i.e drawing blood or breaking skin, thats something you will need to get ahead of as they can grow and potentially be dangerous (yes they are small but when they bite, it can hurt). There are methods to train it out of them, but if it isnt biting, thats normal as thta is one form of communicating on certain situations as what you mentioned.

So the moods you mentioned can be a number of things. Yes a change in their environment can cause massive mood swings, changes to their diet, and a number of other outlying factors. You need to mold your lory to your schedule, not the other way around. If you have your Lory use to being let loose in the house for 6 or 7 hours throughout the day, they will expect that is the normal flow, and if that changes, it can cause adverse reactions.

The cage environment, diet are other factors, i.e. they need lots of toys, however, if your lory is a female, you have to be very cautious what is inside the cage, like anything that can be used for nesting.

going back to your schedule..i can give you an example of mine. I leave for work in the morning, i set an hour of my time aside for my birds (amazon and my lory). We make a game out of changing their water bowls and food. Both my birds will hang out until i am done getting ready for work, then i put them back in their cage. I leave the radio or TV on for them while i am at work. When i get home, i take them out and if weather permits, i put them in their outdoor cages (sunlight is very important, except if the bird is a female during hormonal stage). I give them baths (i bathe my birds 3 to 4 times a week, some do it daily, but i think thats excessive considering in the wild they do not bathe daily). I also do my normal training routines, i.e. flight training and step up and step down and socialize with the family. I will also let my amazon hang out with us in the living room, the lory, she will be on me no matter what, so i try and keep her off my shoulders and keep her on my arm (its tough with Lorys as they are quick and want to be ontop). 2 to 3 hours before their bedtime, i will change their bowls and make a game of it, and they go to sleep. They need to have a good amount of uninterrupted sleep. This is why i do not have them stay in high traffic areas. i try not to have them out out of the norm for extended periods. I also try and have them go to daycare every 3 to 4 months or so...thats so when the time comes, they are use to it. I also have them go in their travel carriers every so often, and make it fun for them. I also take them to the vet every 3 to 4 months or so, so they get theri nails trimmed and if necessary, wings clipped.

normal daily interaction, i never pet my birds below the neck, or under the wings. this induces hormonal behavior. During hormonal stages, (i will explain the lory only as the amazon reacts differently) i leave her alone. Keep her in a room with dimmed lighting, i make sure she gets enough sleep, even if it is extended. I dont take her out for extended periods, but i will interact with her for short periods. I keep her away from family members during this time, as she will bite and draw blood and rip skin. You can start to see your lory transition out of the harmonal stages, as with my female, she will stop opening her wings when she sees me and wont run away and try and hide in dark areas in the house.. and she starts to listen to normal commands. Whle she was hormonal, i had to use a towell to grab her as she was very resistant. Luckily since i trained her from day 1, she wont ever bite me. However, she will bite others during this stage so i need to be mindful.

Diet..this can cause mood swings as well, so make sure your lory sees a vet and make sure he or she has a clean bill of health. once that is determined, make sure your lory is eating veggies, fruits and either a dry or wet mix of lory food. I feed my lory dry food indoors, and outdoors she eats wet food and fruits. Also weigh your lory periodically, ensure the lory isnt over weight or underweight. Find out what is the Lorys fav food and use it as a treat. My lory will do flips for a grape...so i dont normally feed her grapes but use it for training purposes only.

Let me know if you have any questions and can try and provide assistance, but this is from my experience so far dealing with my Lory that has helped me so far.

Jesse

 

[Mr Gg]

I guess to try and help a bit more, it will be helpful to know the age of your Lory. A if it is hormonal, its usually by the time they hit 10 months of age and at times during the spring and fall. There are alot of things that can induce these types of behaviors. Have you gotten the Lory DNA tested to determine if the Lory is a male or female?

If you got the Lory as a hatchling, they are very mold-able from that point regardless what their original conditions were. Really depends how you weaned the bird.

When you mention "bitey" is the lory breaking skin? if not, that wont be considered a bite, they use their beaks like a hand, or for sensory, i.e. move things out of the way, show affectionate and so on. if the Lory is biting, i.e drawing blood or breaking skin, thats something you will need to get ahead of as they can grow and potentially be dangerous (yes they are small but when they bite, it can hurt). There are methods to train it out of them, but if it isnt biting, thats normal as thta is one form of communicating on certain situations as what you mentioned.

So the moods you mentioned can be a number of things. Yes a change in their environment can cause massive mood swings, changes to their diet, and a number of other outlying factors. You need to mold your lory to your schedule, not the other way around. If you have your Lory use to being let loose in the house for 6 or 7 hours throughout the day, they will expect that is the normal flow, and if that changes, it can cause adverse reactions.

The cage environment, diet are other factors, i.e. they need lots of toys, however, if your lory is a female, you have to be very cautious what is inside the cage, like anything that can be used for nesting.

going back to your schedule..i can give you an example of mine. I leave for work in the morning, i set an hour of my time aside for my birds (amazon and my lory). We make a game out of changing their water bowls and food. Both my birds will hang out until i am done getting ready for work, then i put them back in their cage. I leave the radio or TV on for them while i am at work. When i get home, i take them out and if weather permits, i put them in their outdoor cages (sunlight is very important, except if the bird is a female during hormonal stage). I give them baths (i bathe my birds 3 to 4 times a week, some do it daily, but i think thats excessive considering in the wild they do not bathe daily). I also do my normal training routines, i.e. flight training and step up and step down and socialize with the family. I will also let my amazon hang out with us in the living room, the lory, she will be on me no matter what, so i try and keep her off my shoulders and keep her on my arm (its tough with Lorys as they are quick and want to be ontop). 2 to 3 hours before their bedtime, i will change their bowls and make a game of it, and they go to sleep. They need to have a good amount of uninterrupted sleep. This is why i do not have them stay in high traffic areas. i try not to have them out out of the norm for extended periods. I also try and have them go to daycare every 3 to 4 months or so...thats so when the time comes, they are use to it. I also have them go in their travel carriers every so often, and make it fun for them. I also take them to the vet every 3 to 4 months or so, so they get theri nails trimmed and if necessary, wings clipped.

normal daily interaction, i never pet my birds below the neck, or under the wings. this induces hormonal behavior. During hormonal stages, (i will explain the lory only as the amazon reacts differently) i leave her alone. Keep her in a room with dimmed lighting, i make sure she gets enough sleep, even if it is extended. I dont take her out for extended periods, but i will interact with her for short periods. I keep her away from family members during this time, as she will bite and draw blood and rip skin. You can start to see your lory transition out of the harmonal stages, as with my female, she will stop opening her wings when she sees me and wont run away and try and hide in dark areas in the house.. and she starts to listen to normal commands. Whle she was hormonal, i had to use a towell to grab her as she was very resistant. Luckily since i trained her from day 1, she wont ever bite me. However, she will bite others during this stage so i need to be mindful.

Diet..this can cause mood swings as well, so make sure your lory sees a vet and make sure he or she has a clean bill of health. once that is determined, make sure your lory is eating veggies, fruits and either a dry or wet mix of lory food. I feed my lory dry food indoors, and outdoors she eats wet food and fruits. Also weigh your lory periodically, ensure the lory isnt over weight or underweight. Find out what is the Lorys fav food and use it as a treat. My lory will do flips for a grape...so i dont normally feed her grapes but use it for training purposes only.

Let me know if you have any questions and can try and provide assistance, but this is from my experience so far dealing with my Lory that has helped me so far.

Jesse

thank you so much! All that is very helpful.

We aren’t entirely sure of the age but we will be taking him to see an avairian for a dna test and hopefully determine the age and gender as when we rescued him he was still needing to be hand fed and very very small.
He doesn’t break our skin but if anyone else tries to interact with him he can sometimes. We have been making sure to keep others away from his cage and not letting him out when guest come over.

Can I ask kind of outdoor cage do you have? Is it a small one or a larger one. We have been looking at getting a larger one for outside but won’t replace our smaller one if it’s not worth the change.

we will introduce some treats for training that’s a great idea

again thank you for your time I truly appreciate the response.