new conure showing breeding behavior??

Hi everyone, so i just adopted a "5-6" month old gcc. I wasnt able to get alot of info from the gal I got her from. She was living in a small cage in a spare room with a cat litter box and the cats. She was on a seed based conure diet, anywho I got her home into a big cage lots of toys, good food etc. She is a sweet lil bird, really doesnt bite etc. Well my question is, she plays on her back alot when she is hanging out with us, but she starts to do the very quick "regurgitation" head bob. I was told she was young about 6 months old. She is going through a pretty heavy molt since I got her a couple weeks ago, they called her a she but Im not sure that she is female (I will send out feathers for dna soon) what do you all think? Breeding behavior or young behavior? We dont say anything to her when she does it, just ignore and imediatly take her to cage for a time out. What should i do? We only scratch her head and neck not her back. My other bird was not cuddly like this one, didnt play on her back etc. So Im in new territory here. I just dont want her laying eggs and having those issues if she is indeed a she. Thanks for your input.

A healthy diet and exercise (i.e. flight) can go a long ways into keeping hens from getting egg-bound!

As far as the regurgitation behavior, it could be either. You might want to try distracting her with toys or training a behavior that is incompatible with the regurgitation - such as flying, picking an object up, turning in circles, etc.

Thanks for the replies! I will try training with her while holding her for distraction. She bathes everyday which I know helps with the molt. Thanks again!

Squirrel plays on his back all the time with me. He's about 3-4 months old. Interesting thread, good to know about the regurgitation bob just in case.

Riio i would think at 5 or 6 months is a little young to regurtitate food, usually they start all that when they are matured at 18 months to 2 years. In my experience they get hormonal then & some get very aggressive & really attack their carer. However it does sound like he/she maybe be doing the typical head bob conures do. Putting him in time out for head bobbing doesn't seem to fair to me.LOL. By the way if your little guy is getting a lot of new feathers around face & head his age sounds correct.

Every Green Cheek Conure i breed lay on their backs for a good old tummy rub. I call them velcro birds. They really are no trouble once you get to know their body language.

Conures have a variety of characteristics that make them charming. Quite often they will enjoy having their head scratched. Some conures will bury themselves in their owner’s shirts, jackets and sweaters. All that might be seen is a little head poking out. Some conures when aroused will sway or slowly move their head in a circle. This is thought to be associated with courtship.
Some conures have been known to hop up and down when excited. This can be put on cue for an entertaining trick.
Conures will also sometimes bob their heads up and down as if they are nodding “yes” or dancing. This can also be put on cue.

Thanks Pedro! So if I see head bobbing at this age (3-4) months, it's not a bad thing?

No not at all, all baby conures do it. I think it's a kind of a happy greeting. Even my breeding GCC do the head bob when i go visit their aviaries. As your little one gets older you will notice changes it just means they are maturing.

I had a lady rehome her GCC to me a few months ago because she couldn't understand the bird was maturing. He was 2 years old & bacame very aggressive. The owner reacted very badly & I think maybe hurt the bird. In all the months I have had him he had never once bitten me. He is still very scared of hands but we are working on that & slowly he is comming around.

Thanks Pedro! I was just a little worried because of not being 100% sure of the age, she does do the different "hi let me out, I want that" head bob but this is the really quick almost in and out head movement, with an open beak like shes going to regurgitate. But like you said the serious head neck molt does go with the young age. These lil guys and their crazy behavior is so confusing (and worrying) This is my second lil fid and neither came with owners manuals! Darn it! Thanks for all the help and advice, its really appreciated and helpful.

My best advice is to read up on Parrot Behaviour. If you know what that body language means then it's so easy to understand. If the behaviour is undesireable well don't encourage it.

I will find some good links for you to read through.

I have three parrots my Qp is about 13 mo old, my redbellied is about 7 mo old and my yellow side green cheek conure is about 5 and a half years old. they all do the headbobbing thing when their happy or excited so we applaud and tell them do the Happy Dance .then we applaud and laugh and their learning to do the happy dance on command.

sorry make that 5 and one half month old for the green cheek conure

When Birdy does the quick "hi let me out, I want that" head bob, his mouth is always closed and it looks more like a head nod. He only ever does this when he's clinging to the inside of the cage or if I'm holding something he likes.

When he does the 'regurgitation head bob' his beak is open and its more like he's expanding and contracting his neck instead of nodding his head. He only does this when he's snuggling up to me or happy to be with me. I've never encouraged or discouraged it.

Has Sunshine ever regurgitated anything?
Can you upload a video of her head bobbing while on her back? She sounds adorable!

my cinnamon GCC does the same things, but its a boy. He loves playing on his back, he will actually walk up to my face, while I lay on the couch, and throw himself upside down under my chin and kick me in the face. The regurgitation thing I ignored when it happened, and it slowly stopped. He seemed to do that more when he was really really happy. Now he stretches and shows off when hes happy

Brisch said:

he will actually walk up to my face, while I lay on the couch, and throw himself upside down under my chin and kick me in the face.

Click to expand...

There aren't too many things in this world which I would allow to do that to me.
A GCC is one of them that I would!

Mudkips said:

When Birdy does the quick "hi let me out, I want that" head bob, his mouth is always closed and it looks more like a head nod. He only ever does this when he's clinging to the inside of the cage or if I'm holding something he likes.

When he does the 'regurgitation head bob' his beak is open and its more like he's expanding and contracting his neck instead of nodding his head. He only does this when he's snuggling up to me or happy to be with me. I've never encouraged or discouraged it.

Has Sunshine ever regurgitated anything?
Can you upload a video of her head bobbing while on her back? She sounds adorable!

Click to expand...

This is exactly what sunshine does! I will just ignore it for now and see if she does it less. Thanks again for all the help and reassuring words! I will try and get some video soon.