Will She Stop This?

Greetings,
I am calling out to all who are experienced Too human flock mates...I have had my U2 (Sheba) for only a month. I am her 3rd home in a short amount of time. Her first home was a very unhealthy environment and none of her needs were being met, so the woman I adopted her from rescued her from the abusive home just 8 month prior. I found Sheba on a rescue site online and it turned out she had become aggressive towards this woman's husband, so she decided to put her up for adoption due to not being able to spend enough time with Sheba because of her fluctuating work schedule. So after multiple visits with Sheba, and learning about her past I bonded with her and made the commitment to her to be her forever home. I have been careful about where I touch her, trying not to stimulate her. The vet estimating her age to be 7-8 years old. When I just rub the back of her neck or even chest area she starts breathing hard, her body shakes, she then will start making sounds like a chicken with her mouth wide open and this can last as long as 3-6 minutes. She is a picky eater and we are still in the process of figuring out what fresh vegetables she likes. They had her on a diet of just pellets and seeds in her first home along with a cage which was to small. I keep her out of her cage about 7 hours a day with playtime, talking to her, training and giving her lots of cuddles and affection. She loves going outside but when wearing her harness the episodes intensify. I took her to a avian vet who told me that she is stimulated. Should I find her a mate to breed with? She also has laid an egg about 2 weeks ago. I am wondering if anyone knows how long this will last and if anything can help her through this? Thank you in advance for your help and/or ideas with this problem.

Hi, welcome to you and Sheba, we have several U2 owners here and you should get some good advice later.

If the vet is correct, Sheba is at the perfect age for a female U2 to experience raging hormones. No, I definitely would not get her a mate, that could lead to even more issues for both birds.

Did you keep the egg? Often if the egg is removed a hen will keep laying to replace it. I would limit touching to head scratches, when she solicits the wrong kind of attention, distract her with something interesting, a new toy, place her on a stand and park the stand somewhere new. I would let her keep the egg, viable eggs would take about 23 days to hatch, by then she should have lost interest completely and be back to normal. A good diet but no soft, warm foods and make sure she is getting enough sleep, most parrots do well with between ten and twelve hours.

Best of luck! This Too shall pass, the hormones, I mean.

I will take your advice and if she is to lay another egg I will do just that, thank you. How long does this hormonal cycle last, do you know? and for how many years? Thank you for your response on this question, my small flock and I appreciate it.

Considering that we often set up our homes to be ideal breeding grounds... well, it can literally last forever! Homes are often kept at the same temperature year round, the lights may be on and off for the same amount throughout the entire year, we feed them a great diet and may unintentionally provide places to nest... not to mention the inappropriate touching!


The best you can do is to teach her new behaviors that are incompatible with being hormonal, and if you can, get er exercising! (i.e. flight)

Some ideas on behaviors to teach can include playing with toys, foraging, turn around, fetch, put an item into a container, etc.

Rocky (who's a male U2) spent a month or so having hormones and really, though I was very careful where I touched him, it didn't seem to matter. Any touch or attention and a few minutes into it, we had Mr. Romance wanting to carry me away to the casbah. LOL However, it did pass and so will Sheba's. Try to find games to play that don't involve touching. Rocky likes to throw things for us to fetch, like plastic cups and paper towel tubes. Play music for her and see if you can get her to dance with you -- you dancing a couple of feet away, not with her on your arm. An excited 'too can become an OVER-excited 'too who wants to chomp. Dancing should be strictly on her cage or play stand.

I have learned some amazingly helpful things since I joined a short while ago. But today I hit the jackpot. Good Touch, Bad Touch. Had no idea there was such a thing in that context with parrots. I knew they could become hormonal and aggressive, but my goodness, Good Touch, Bad Touch? I will definitely jot this bit of info down in Tsali's need to know book. This bit of info will probably save me a lot of grief in a few years.

It's not like a puppy dawg you can rub all over and he just wags his tail and thinks you're terrific. Birds have NO zones unless you want a hormonal mess on your hands.