Looking for suggestions- featherbarbering and broody

Soooo, I have this lovely 15 yr old scarlet who, when in season, barbers feathers. Well, now she is barbering less but is very nesty and only at night after she is in bed. Ive been going in and re-perching her when I hear her climbing down to the bottom of the cage. There is nothing in the cage because she is only in it for sleep and not at all during waking hours. Should I just leave her be? Is there something else that I can try?:06:

I would try offering her toys in inside the cage to destroy, nothing to nest with but something she can really tear apart. Even just a long piece of untreated plywood. It would be something to keep her busy when she gets broody in her cage.

Thanks! I'll pretty much try anything at this point!

I would definitely put wooden chew stuff in there and make sure your are providing lots of out of cage time and foraging activities.
If she is fishing up the liner on the cage-bottom and shredding it, remove it completely for now and just clean the bottom daily. I had to do this because the paper was a draw.
Avoid grass-type shred toys with a hormonal bird.
No dark/shadowy spaces in or around the cage (that includes under furniture, in clothing, head under blankets or pillows, boxes etc).
No petting anywhere other than the head/neck (no beak either)...no cuddles..no under-wing action..strictly platonic is the goal. My bird will sometimes even get sexual from petting on the head, so you may have to minimize petting in general during this time (even in the safe-zones).
Redirect any regurgitation or other hormonal behavior when it happens but do not attend to it.
No warm/mushy foods.
12 hours of solid sleep nightly = essential for immune and hormone regulation.
Make sure you have a solid light/dark routine and 12 hours of dark/uninterrupted sleep nightly.
Make sure your bird isn't getting too much sunlight during the day (as can be the case with birds housed part-time outdoors)--this can trigger hormones as well.

If this is a female bird, be very careful with egg-binding---this can be deadly if not caught early on. If you think she may lay eggs, a cuttle bone in the cage is a good idea, but remove anything that could possibly be misconstrued as a nesting area.

**ALSO-- when my bird was doing this, I found that placing empty water dishes on the cage floor in the broody-locations (4 corners, in my case) discouraged my "U2" from climbing down there once covered. You might try putting some random unfamiliar (but safe) items down there right before you cover the cage---as in seconds before...worked for me.

Many thanks for all the valuable input! I have considered putting some chewable wood in her cage for awhile but was concerning that her noise would keep my greenwing awake. They share a sleep room but have separate cages. Also, her whole day is always out of cage. I arranged my work schedule so that Im around with them to supervise! Do you think me being around all the time while shes hormonal could be making things worse? 🤔

Christopher1969 said:

Many thanks for all the valuable input! I have considered putting some chewable wood in her cage for awhile but was concerning that her noise would keep my greenwing awake. They share a sleep room but have separate cages. Also, her whole day is always out of cage. I arranged my work schedule so that Im around with them to supervise! Do you think me being around all the time while shes hormonal could be making things worse? ��

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I don't think now is the time to decrease out -of-cage time, but you might want to consider the fact that your other bird could be a major hormonal trigger. It has been my experience that noise early in the evening is less of an issue than noise early in the morning. They all seem to fall asleep in the evening, but once they are up, they are often up (whether or not they have slept enough). My bird chews at night, but not in the morning, as she is usually asleep until I get up around 5...She goes to bed early for that reason, as she will sleep through my noise (within reason) in the evenings, but not in the morning.
I do think that your bird should work on building independence--- in small doses..You don't want to create a bird who plucks if you are out of sight for 10 minutes--that having been said, normalize hormones before you work on that.

Barbering and plucking are close cousins, please read this thread for additional guidance: http://www.parrotforums.com/behavioral/52217-plucking-search-answers.html
Take heart, barbering behavior does not imply your bird will become a plucker.