Is Poppy Regressing?

hello All -

Sorry to annoy you again with more questions. Some of you may recall an earlier post of mine about a week ago re: possible molting of my 5-6month old ekkie hen. Most of you put me at ease, and as one poster suggested, her Blue Eye ring in in fact coming in now so I'm much less concerned with her feather loss, as it is Proving to be a molt. Lots of random down feathers around the cage, and normal looking crop, etc...

ANYWAYS - As of the last 3-4 days she started exhibiting more screaming than is usual for her, and she's been here for almost a full month. She used to make the cutest little noises to herself whenever she was left alone, as if practicing words. Well now that has stopped almost entirely from what I can tell and has been replaced with a crow like sqwak.... Today in fact I've noticed, every time i walk into the living room where her cage is, she will start Crowing. Arrwk.... Arrwk..... Arrwk.... maybe 4-5 seconds in-between each screech.

It is not super loud, but it is just non-stop, which can get pretty aggravating to the ear. As soon as I leave the room she will stop, entirely. No noise whatsoever. I am trying NOT to encourage this behavior, so when i come in the room and she starts I do not acknowledge it. However, walking away from her cage and ignoring her as i do other things in the living room or kitchen , she continues.

Not sure why this came about, there have been no major changes in the home or her environment or routine. As mentioned previously, She does appear to be molting, .... so Unsure if maybe that is what is making her moody? She isn't being aggressive as she will still step up nicely no bite, and comes right out of the cage etc. I have noticed she appears to be regressing... For one, she has become a lot more "demanding"... whenever she seems me she attacks the cage door as if saying "PLEASE LET ME OUT" .... I let her out several times a day for 20-45min increments, so its not like she is cage bound and starving for attention. But lately she appears to be a lot more needy than what she has been the last few weeks. Also appears to be regressing in terms of her feeding. I noticed she is constantly reaching for my mouth with her beak, which I guess is a feeding behavior (i didn't know that till earlier today) and she is also attempting to "feed" from her bath spray bottle and occasionally even from my fingers as if she was getting formula, which she hasn't had for at least 2.5 months. So That's kinda weird?

Is all of this hormonal behavior and I just am too NEW to recognize it? Is there something I can do to - not exacerbate it- per say? Is there something that I could be doing to make it worse accidentally? DOES ANY ONE OUT THERE HAVE ADVICE ?

I feed her fruits in the AM, then her seed and dehydrated veggie mix in the afternoon, and a warm bean/veggie mix at night. She goes to bed around 9PM and I wake her around 7AM. As mentioned I have her out of cage and hanging out with me ~ 3-4 hrs a day with 20-45min increments. I also work from home, so she sees me a lot even though i don't specifically have her out of the cage. I plan on taking her into the vet sometime soon, hopefully next Saturday or the following one for her first visit. I was hoping to do some toweling training beforehand but unsure if she will take to it.

Thanks everyone

Always a good idea to introduce towel play in your interactions with your parrot. Tug o war and peek aboo are good things to get your bird use to the sight and feel of cloth around her. AS far as the vocalizing when you come in, right dont acknowledge it, at least at first. She may doing it to get you to pick her up, so wait for a lull or a lower sound, and then pick her up. I could be wrong on this tho.... usualy parrots call when their person leaves the room.

Yeah - totally having the opposite issue! LOL and again, I am not sure what caused it to begin with. But she will just caw and caw away for at least an hour before she tuckers herself out. I hope not to be inadvertently encouraging her. As mentioned i do try to ignore her, and then come give her attention when she becomes quiet, but there isn't enough of a LULL to really hit that target right now. She will just do it constantly

Battle of wits - just make sure you dont come half armed.

Oh man - Her crowing/cawing has escalated to full out screaming tonight.
At exactly every sighting of me, whether I'm coming towards the cage, ignoring her completely, or just going about normal business in the room ...IE: Watching TV, making dinner etc. I keep testing leaving the room just to confirm I am not crazy - and Exactly overtime I leave she quiets down. 10 for 10 of my entering the room = screaming, and my lea ing the room = quiet time.

I am so perplexed and confused

I've been advised at different forum that she is likely crying to be formula fed again.
Which I have absolutely no experience with, and really would rather not encourage her on. I' trying to switch her form a mostly seed diet which she was weaned to fruit/veggies and bean mix. She was taking all the other offerings just fine, but as of today i noticed she's almost angry and flings almost all the fruits and most of the veggies to the floor and isn't really eating much of it except the seeds.

that was my guess. She may be hungry. She's still young and finding her voice too. She's a baby still. Formula feeding is pretty easy at that age. Bend up a spoon into a trough shape, make up some powdered formula---make sure its not too hot!---and tip it at an angle so it slides down into her beak...she'll do the rest. Oh yeah, its realllllly messy too . Get her off the seeds...only as treats, not a diet staple at all.

coopedup said:

that was my guess. She may be hungry. She's still young and finding her voice too. She's a baby still. Formula feeding is pretty easy at that age. Bend up a spoon into a trough shape, make up some powdered formula---make sure its not too hot!---and tip it at an angle so it slides down into her beak...she'll do the rest. Oh yeah, its realllllly messy too . Get her off the seeds...only as treats, not a diet staple at all.

Click to expand...

Thanks - I'm doing my best. She was weaned onto an all-seed diet. So She wasn't used to nay other foods when I brought her home. As you know - switching diet on a bird is.... difficult.
I currently give her a mix of fruits in the morning, strawberries, raspberries, banana, mango, mandarin slices, grapes, watermelon, etc.... (whatever i have available). After she eats (or throws away) all of that, then I offer 1 Tablespoon of seeds with the sunflowers taken out, and 1 tablespoon of dehydrated veggies ( carrots, peas, corn, red chilis) mixed together. At night comes some fresh veggies and simmer bean mix, which mostly goes to the ground as well....

She's trying almost all of it, but doesn't consume enough of it that i feel comfortable removing seeds as i think she might be starving herself if I do so. I was previously giving 3 tablespoons of seed when she first got here, so getting her down to 1 might be the reason she is MAD lol.

I make no judgment regarding what someone wishes to name their Parrot. That said, mid to larger Parrots can have life expectancy of Humans, which mean they can out live their first family. Being able to maintain their name over their life is one of the few thing we can do for them.

huh??? Poppy never had a name before I picked her up. I am her first owner from the breeder. . .

EsJ87 said:

huh??? Poppy never had a name before I picked her up. I am her first owner from the breeder. . .

Click to expand...

Sorry for being so vag. Multitasking can be so problematic. A Hen Ekkie named Poppy is truly cute! Rather than attempting to clarify my overly vag Post, let's just stay with cute ekkie hen name that will be enjoyed long into the future!

Just as an update - I've been advised by a avian behaviorist NOT to formula feed Poppy as this will act as a positive reinforcer to her screaming. She will learn to equate screaming = yummy warm stuff. I was also told feeding her slightly warmed bean mix was a huge mistake, as this is likely what caused her to regress. I am unsure if I should remove the bean diet completely or simply serve it cold from the fridge... I also was told I will have to live with her screaming for a while until it the behavior is extinguished its own. . .

COOL.

This weekend we caught poppy attempting to bathe in her water bowl while my husband was vacuuming! We've never seen her display that behavior before. So I promptly added a baking dish with water and she happily splashed about for all of 2 minutes. She hasn't tried it again since but I was happy to se her do it for the first time.
The creaming continues, albeit for lesser periods of time. I bought her a new intricate toy on Saturday, and so she was distracted i think and gave my ears a nice rest. I feel bad though as her out of cage time has decreased considerably. I'm practicing when she screams to put her back in the cage and walk away. I only come back and open her cage to allow for outside time once she's been quiet. That never lasts very long though. <y husband was surprised she was "quiet as a church mouse" during my absence for 4 hours on Sunday... immediately upon my return home she started screaming her little head off for about 2 hrs before she grew tired.