Wing flapping

Skittles will normally go into his sleep cage unprompted and thats that. But lately he will go in and then sit on the edge of the door and tip his head down, meaning he wants head scritches, which is fine. He's been growing in some new feathers and likes to have the back and top and side of his head scritched. But once he goes back in his cage, he will climb onto the bottom of the cage and go to the back and flap his wings rapidly. I will back away because when he does this it sends stuff (dander etc) into the air and I don't want to breath it in.

I don't believe its wing stretching because he gets PLENTY of exercise. I don't believe its mating behavior cause he's never done it before. I know its not aggression because if I stick my hand in the cage while he does his flapping, he won't attack and will climb onto my hand. So what in the world is it that is causing him to do this?

I've been doing a ton of research and I just have not found a clear cut answer. I've read everything from wing stretching to mating behavior to aggression yet none of these three seem to fit the issue I have.

zod does this but its for attention, attention seeking behavior, usually when I'm going to bed.

I'd assume it's attention seeking behavior.

Finley does this when he is mad at me. He goes to the bottom of his cage and broods and flaps his wings. It's funny. Lol.

Nike flaps her wings occasionally when she is clipped, but not in her cage. I always chalked it up to her gauging her lift potential.

Baby (one of my suns) does it, not every day but probably a few times a week. Always just before bed time (or when she just wakes up) and usually while climbing up the side of the cage to or from her sleeping perch. I always just assumed it was a birdie version of a last stretch before bed or first stretch of the morning. She’s flighted and flies all the time, so I don’t think it’s an exercise thing. She’s not trying to fly, her cage is 6’ wide and she can (and does) fly in it.

I've just noticed that he only stops when I back away and if I start walking toward the cage again he'll start flapping his wings again. But if I talk sweet to him while approaching and say "come on, come one" he'll walk toward me and climb onto the front of the cage. But sometimes when I go to put my hand in, he'll climb onto it but sometimes does his flapping instead. I'd almost say he's trying to scare me away from his cage. But if thats the case why does he let me put my hand in? I also change his food and water in his sleep cage right at his bedtime so if it was some form of cage aggression, it'd show- I'd think.

I just want to know why he does it. It's not a problem behavior, I just don't want it to become one. If he's trying to tell me something I just want to know what it is. Maybe I should shoot an email to his breeder and see what she thinks? She's the one who finally was able to explain why he did the 'wing spasms/twitches'.

BB will do the same on occasion (not sitting in his basement,but on a perch) OR when he is on my shoulder,beating the CRAP out of my head and face with his very vigorous arm waving! I can't figure it out either. He flies around the house,down the hall every night! I just thought it was for exercise at first..who knows!


Jim

I emailed his breeder last night and she got back to me this morning.

She asked me if there was anything new in his sleep cage or anything changed and I said no at first and then went to check and noticed I had taken one of his rope boings out and hadn't replaced it. He had chewed up the one I got him and I had gotten some new ones but hadn't put in a replacement. I thought I did! I wanted to wash them first, so I just did that and put a new one in.

As soon as he saw it, when I took it out of the package, he went nuts. I washed it and dried it and brought it into the bedroom. The entire time I was doing that, he kept flying onto it and trying to attack me. He didn't though, cause I scolded him "no, no biting". Which was surprising that he listened, lol, though he 'usually' does since he knows that NOT listening to that means timeout in his cage with a cover and he hates those!

Anyways, while he was still excited, he wasn't trying to attack me once I was putting it in his cage and attaching it. He did keep jumping on it. He LOVES those things, lol.

They aren't cheap though. If I buy him the cheap ones, they only last a few weeks. But if I buy him the expensive ones, they last a good six months, sometimes longer.

I'll find out tonight if thats why he was doing the wing flapping. The breeder said if its not that, then it could be hes being bratty cause I stopped scritching and he wants more playtime.

I actually think its the rope perch. I can't believe I didn't realize I hadn't put a new one in.

Skitty's Daddy, thank you for this post - I think.

I sort of asked this same question in a different manner before. This is our daily routine. I put my conure in her sleep cage for about an hour before covering it and then move it to the quiet room. She will not be disturbed for 12 hours. Either when I am walking her to the quiet room or mostly after she is in place in the quiet room, she flutters her wings like crazy. She is flapping her wings so hard that the light sleep cover is literally blowing out a good half foot or more.

It doesn't happen all of the time. I say 30% of the time. She did it more when the sleep cage routine was started but she has tapered the strong wing flapping off. But she did it two days ago after she was in place in the quiet room. I have been doing this sleep cage in the quiet room routine for 5 months. I have only had this conure for 7 months.

I initially thought she was frightened with the cover. Basically the answer I got in this forum was that this was called a "thunder flap" and birds sometimes do this to put their feathers in place before they sleep.

It is funny that you mentioned the rope perch. She has one in her sleep cage. I put her in the sleep cage and sit next to her for about an hour before putting on the cover. She loves to show me how she can attack this rope perch. She bites, growls, does flips on it, and etc. I once asked her while she was doing this if she was trying to show me who is boss? She stopped and looked at me with a smile in her eyes. Sort of startled me and never asked the question again.

I never thought she hates this rope perch. It just get her animated a bit before she sleeps. I see that as a way to get rid of any stress and allows for a better night of sleep. She has one of those long tubular bells in her main cage that at times she attacks too.

Do you think a thunder flap to put feathers in place is a real thing?

Should I worry about these attacks on perches?

She is clipped if that was going to be a question.

I put Skittles to bed tonight and he still did the 'flapping' thing. Despite adding the new rope perch to replace the old one. He did hold his wings out for a few seconds.

I've noticed that when I walk away, he stops and walks toward the front of the cage. But then when I walk back toward the cage, he backs up and flaps his wings again. Its like he will only do it if I can see him and am looking at him. Its like he's saying "look daddy, im a birdy!". But why? Why now? I don't get it.

I'd almost say he was saying "hey, you, get away from here!" But there's ZERO aggression with him when he does it, so I don't think that's it. Its like he's doing it out of frustration or to get my attention- trying to tell me something and I'm not getting the hint and its frustrating me as well. Skittles and I have our communication down pack, and the fact that I cannot understand what he's trying to tell me is driving me nuts.

Aww. I thought SURE you were gonna say this had resolved it. But maybe you're right anyway? Maybe Skittles really did just come up with a new way to say, "Hey look, I'm a birdie!" : "I'm a- thunder-flapping, hear me roar!" ??

It could very well be. But it has me flabbergasted. I'm gonna keep trying to figure it out because he and I have always had a great line of communication (since I retrained him, that is) and I don't want this to lead to behavioral problems so I'm determined to find out exactly why he's doing it. Just so I know. That way if its a pre-cursor to a more problematic behavior I can be prepared to resolve it.

I believe I have found the culprit. It appears to be some sort of either 'mating dance/ritual' or a sign of affection.

I suppose that makes sense since its after his bedtime scritches that he does this. He still did it after I put in his new rope perch replacement. So tonight after I put him to bed, I left the cage cover off and turned the lights off, I went up to the cage and he was making all sorts of kissing noises. He walked toward the front and once he saw me he backed up and did it again. A few times he held up wings out.

I'm hoping its not hormones but is rather just him expressing affection for all the scritches. He's not acting hormonal at all in any other way. He does spend a lot of time cuddling on my shoulder or in my shirt and he loves rubbing his head in my chest hair but he's not regurgitating on me like he normally does when he's hormonal and I have to limit his burrowing.

In all honesty I can't think of it being anything else. I was just worried it was something more serious (an invader in his cage or some other unpleasantry with his cage) or perhaps a wing issue.

I have now found the REAL culprit. He started doing the flapping again even after the new perch was put in and he got plenty of scritches. It turns out it was the lack of chewing items. I normally put plain tissues, plain paper towels and/or empty tissue boxes (glue & plastic removed) for him to chew up or make a 'bed' out of and the past week or two, with the heat, I didn't do it. Now, I have done that several days in a row and each time he dives into his cage and does his chew thing. No more 'angry wing flapping'. Thats what it was. He WAS trying to get my attention, just not in a happy way. lol.