Sudden dislike of hand in cage?

[FuzzyHydralisk]

Duckie has suddenly decided my hand in her cage is a bad thing. She'll get as far away from it as possible - never any aggression, though. She still runs to me when I come down in the morning, still loves head rubbins through the cage bars, still as happy as ever when she comes out on her own, but my whole hand in her cage asking her to step up is apparently not a thing she likes anymore. She'll take treats from me eagerly as usual through the cage bars, but when it's in my hand in the cage, she's extremely hesitant. This behaviour change just came up overnight and to my knowledge nothing has changed! I've been puzzling over it all day. She's only 5/6 months old, so it can't be a hormonal thing I don't think. We haven't changed any furniture, nothing's changed about me - even when I had nail polish on a few weeks back she didn't react like this (she just tried to bite my nails that day) and there don't seem to be any other significant behavioural changes?

What could be causing this?

edited to add that the only thing that's changed with her is she seems to be molting and has a lot of pinfeathers. I don't know if she's just moody from that or what?

 

[Greycloud]

She could definitely be moody and a bit uncomfortable due to molting. She is also maturing and learning to express her likes and dislikes. I would respect her wishes for now and let her come out on her own. When she does come out praise her. It may be a phase. Just have patience with her for now.

 

[FuzzyHydralisk]

Yeah, I don't want to pressure her and stress her out any more - this evening i just have the cage door open and I'm sitting next to it to see if she wants to come out. I'd hate to upset her!

 

[roxynoodle]

I agree that she is probably maturing. It's a conure thing. They become more territorial over their house and possessions as they get closer to puberty and adulthood. They can get that way over food as well.

Conures and mini macs have to secure prime nesting holes and other resources, competing with larger macs and amazons in the wild. So they have a natural instinct to be assertive and guard those resources. I know she's not being aggressive yet, but that may be the next step.

I've always just let Rowdy come to her open cage door and then have her step up. Between the ages of 2-4 she was so protective of her stuff she would attack my hands as I was cleaning her cage. I used to put her into her carrier while I did it. These days though she's quite a bit more cooperative about it. She might pull my hair, but that's about it.

 

[Mizzely]

When you put your hand in to take her out usually, where do you go next? It's possible that she just isn't interested in the current routine and is trying to tell you that.

 

[FuzzyHydralisk]

Depending on the time of day, she either comes upstairs with me, or we hang out in the living room.

Now, here's the weird thing. I reorganized her toys last night shortly after posting, and took out one that she got a few weeks ago. This morning, she's almost back to stepping up as usual. No more running away for the most part, and only a slight bit of hesitation. I didn't peg the toy as causing anything because it had been in her cage for at least two weeks before this started, and she didn't really display any unusual behaviour towards the toy.

I'm a bit confused, but glad I figured it out.