Oliver's hormonal phase going on 2 years

[xyloshan]

This is Oliver. I posted about him a long time ago on here. He's a great bird, except for his raging hormones. I know plenty about birds (I work with them for my jobs) and Oliver definitely sees me more as his 'parental figure'. But unfortunately he sees my fiance as his mate. We make sure to do everything we're supposed to do--limit his time around my fiance, don't feed him fatty foods etc, give him lots of foraging toys, exercise him (flies back and forth), but it doesn't seem to be helping. If my fiance is in the house at all, he will bite me and draw blood (and yes, i don't react at all. I simply move my hand away so he isnt digging into my skin) so now I pick him up with a stick. He attacks the stick too sometimes.

I've had other people over without my fiance here and he's great. He flies around and shows off, but doesn't get aggressive. It's been about a year since he selected my fiance as his mate but he just seems to be getting more and more frustrated with getting rejected. He starts regurgitating and fluffing up as soon as he hears his voice--before he even sees him!

The newest thing i've done is finally installed the all-spectrum bulb so the lighting is even more consistent--but i make sure he gets 11-12 hours of sleep.

I've already told my vet about this, and she says that she's surprised his hormonal phase has lasted this long. She says if i've been doing all of this the only other option is hormonal therapy, which doesn't usually help male parrots. I'd prefer not to do that anyway.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[JLcribber]

I don't think it's hormones. You just have a very possessive bird. My male cockatoo loves my wife. When she is in the room I must always be in guard and this has been going on for years.

 

[xyloshan]

I don't think it's hormones. You just have a very possessive bird. My male cockatoo loves my wife. When she is in the room I must always be in guard and this has been going on for years.

Well, I'm pretty sure it's hormonal if he's regurgitating and masturbating on my fiance...

 

[JLcribber]

Well, I'm pretty sure it's hormonal if he's regurgitating and masturbating on my fiance...

Male parrots are opportunists. Females hormones is quite a set cyclical thing. Males are almost always "ready" whenever the opportunity presents itself. My TOO will do the same thing every day if my wife would let him.

It's not really a good idea for your husband to let this be happening on him. It's up to him to distract and change the birds focus.

Site Name - Articles - Behavioral - Sex And The Psittacine

In our homes when a bird has come to perceive someone in the household to be their mate they are often geared towards driving perceived intruders (other family members) away - especially when their perceived mate is in sight. It is easy to see why it is very confusing for parrots when the perceived intruder does not take such blatant (no flock member would misunderstand this in the wild) hints to leave. The situation is not considered by the parrot to be settled and the territorial behaviors used in the attempt to drive off the perceived intruder may be regularly repeated. These futile attempts to drive them from the territory may lead to frustration and desperation in the bird. In the home, as in the wild, the bird will posture, show colors, vocalize (scream repeatedly) and now may even bite. This may even cause the bird to bite their perceived mate in an attempt to get their assistance. This can be severe if the perceived mate is interacting with the perceived intruder rather than helping to defend the territory.

This does not change. Hormones or not.

 

[Milo]

Male eclectus are notorious for this behavior. Rosco will try to romance me if he sits with me for too long, I feel your pain. What's his diet like? Sometimes changing it around can help curb the hormones too