trouble sweeping

Jamesgang

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May 27, 2009
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Hello friends. Jim here. I'm just curious if this occurs with anyone elses birds. Our Bobbi, a 3 yr old female sun conure is as I've said before is a flying monkey,she plays and chews constantly. She's very affectionate and has the run of the house,we keep her wings clipped but she can still fly from her cage or perch to the lamp or drapes in another room, maybe 15 feet or so. But the problem we've encountered is when doing housework. you can play the tv too loud or use the blender or vacuum cleaner and they dont even phase her. However the minute you pull out the broom and start back into the room her feathers stand up and she starts in with one of those ear piercing screams as she flies right at us usually to the head or neck and starts biting us.. It isn't the bite a stranger would get, but it isnt the love bites she grooms us with either.Does this sound familiar to anyone? I'd hate to think of one of the big birds doing this.Anyway, thanks for your time, Jim.
 

Auggie's Dad

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Never heard of this. Only two ideas come to my mind:

If sweeping kicks up dust she may have associated the discomfort of the dusty irritating air with the broom that causes it.

Or, she may feel a kinship with the broom. Crazy I know, but I have a bottle of Aloe after-sun lotion which I mix with water occasionally to spritz Auggie with. The bottle is roughly bird size, and is just Auggie's shade of green. If I ever try to touch the bottle when he is out he panics and attacks me to protect the bottle. Then he'll cuddle with or groom the bottle for a moment before coming back to me. Sounds weird, but it looks to me like he thinks the bottle is another bird.
 

Jez

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May 19, 2009
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Never heard of this. Only two ideas come to my mind:

If sweeping kicks up dust she may have associated the discomfort of the dusty irritating air with the broom that causes it.

Or, she may feel a kinship with the broom. Crazy I know, but I have a bottle of Aloe after-sun lotion which I mix with water occasionally to spritz Auggie with. The bottle is roughly bird size, and is just Auggie's shade of green. If I ever try to touch the bottle when he is out he panics and attacks me to protect the bottle. Then he'll cuddle with or groom the bottle for a moment before coming back to me. Sounds weird, but it looks to me like he thinks the bottle is another bird.

I would agree for the second one, but I have another opinion. My old Lovebird used to HATE vacuums.
Even a vacuum that was off.
MAYBE your bird associates the broom as a danger.
Is it possible the bird had a bad experience with a broom? Has anything ever happened?

I haven't noticed brooms specifically, but everyone I know that has a bird - their bird has one thing that they protect/HATE. Not sure which, kinda hard to tell the difference as to whether or the bird is protecting the object or protecting you/hating the object.

Try observing the additude when he sees the broom and determine what he's doing.

Good luck!
 
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Jamesgang

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Wow. I like what your saying, I know they have sensitive little systems and on the other side about 25 yrs back, my first bird, a cockatiel would fly from his cage whenever we would do dishes in the sink. He would land next to the sink and jump in the water and take his bath only to hop out and do the same with the soap bottle, just about her size. We got this bird when she was about 4 or 5 months old so I could see where there was time enough for an event as well at the breeders' where we got her.I bought a book before I got this bird and read about never retaliating and hiting your bird as it would only take once and that bird would never trust that person again. made sense to me not that i"d ever hit my bird but if something from her juvenile days occured I could see how this would result in some violent reaction. It's happened enough in the past that we normally lock her up and cover the cage but you get caught up in your routine sometimes and forget about the bird and BAM, there she is. Thanks for all the input, Jim.
 

Jez

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Birds do have good memory, so it could be back at the breeder, maybe even a broom fell and hit the cage your guy was in. Things like that stick in, with a lot of animals.
When I first got my dog, my gate (to keep her downstairs and out of some rooms) fell down. Ever since that she is TERRIFIED of the gate. When it falls... cover your ears...

I don't think she will ever get over it; it's been over 5 or 6 years, and I highly doubt you can train it out of them, since it isn't a person, so they can show theyre trustworthy.

Maybe you can try making the broom look different. Maybe add some weird stick coming out of it and paint it... it'll look WEIRD, but maybe your bird will not associate it as a dangerous item/thing.
 
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Jamesgang

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Jez, I gotta hand it to you, I got to workin' on the broom just before I put her to bed. At the moment the best I could come up with was a couple of old teddy bears, let's see, theres a penguin on the bottom over the bristles and shrek is standing on his head. The top of the handle is wrapped in one of those new permanent shopping bags you buy from the grocery store. I couldn't believe it, I walked in the room right in front of her and swept around the aquarium and she only gave it the "new item" glance, just a slight distrust but I was actually able to sweep without her blowing any gaskets over it. I'm amazed, there's actually hope in this matter. Now as long as I don't forget one day and sweep the driveway with this broom, then, I'm sure my neighbors would have the proof they need to finally put to rest their nagging question of my sanity. This is what I love about a forum, lots of information and input by people who care about the animals or the hobby involved. Lots of insight. Thanks again, this is so cool. Jim.
 

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