Help with a Princess Parrot

Hi everyone, I'm new here.
My name is Chloe and I have a 2 year old male Princess Parrot named Emmett.

Emmett is a hilarious and loud bird, but I am worried about him being lonely.

The problem is, I can't have him out of his cage as much as I like because he bonds with random objects in my house and then attacks me for walking/sitting/breathing near his things.

Don't get me wrong, he is super friendly and loves to sit with anyone for maybe 10 mins, chatting and playing and being cute. And then all of a sudden he gets very angry and "play" attacks you.

He seems to get angry that he cannot mate with you.

So I wanted to buy him a mate, but then I couldn't let him out of his cage at all because he was so fiercely protecting this new bird. (Bird borrowed from a friend to see how he would go).

I'm just at a loss. Do I keep another bird and have them in the cage 24/7 or deal with a hormonal lonely bird for a couple of hours a day?

Welcome!

I don't know a ton about "Princess parrots" but I Googled it and it says they mature sexually between 3-5 years (but that some can breed earlier). Birds often do have some behavior changes during puberty (prior to sexual maturity) BUT if he is 2 and this has been going on for quite a long time, then hormones were not likely the root of the problem initially. That having been said, still make sure you are always avoiding triggers (mentioned below) as they can definitely make things worse. Hormones are likely involved (no denying that) but the initial cause/how to fix it is hard to guess without more information.

How long has this been going on and how long much time was he spending out of his cage each day when you first noticed the behavior?
He may have needed more time out of his cage even then, but it is hard to speculate without knowing how much out-of-cage-time he was getting. Lonely/bored/pent-up parrots often start doing strange things...Also remember that passive interaction is not a substitute for direct interaction (play etc), so being out is huge, but some of that time should be spent actually doing stuff.

1. Never get another bird for your bird (unless you personally want another bird for yourself and have the time etc)....there is no way to know if they will get along, and if you don't have time for 1, then you won't have time for 2 especially if they have to be kept separately due to conflict. If they do get along, you have already seen what can happen in terms of mate-defending etc...It is going to vary by bird, so just because he got along with that one, doesn't mean another would be the same...Plus, it could change.

2. He needs to be out for a few hours a day--otherwise he is just going to get weirder with time.
Does he tend to seek out these objects in shadowy places? If so, try to remove access by blocking off shadowy nooks etc. These can be triggers.

When you have him out, do you guys interact other than sitting/cuddles? If not, you should (come up with games/foraging activities...interactive stuff).

Avoid petting anywhere other than the head or neck, do not give "kisses" and make sure the area is well-lit. Too much petting in other areas is a trigger/sexual.

Also---make sure he has no shadowy spaces in his cage (like huts/tents etc)

3. How do you react to these "play attacks" (what do you do immediately afterwards)?

4. How is his daily diet and is he on a set sleep schedule? Sleep is hugely important and it should be a routine (approx 12 hours sleep at roughly the same time daily). It can impact hormones and behavior. Diet can also have a huge impact on behavior.

5. Never ever cover his cage unless it is bedtime and make sure that his cage is in the main center of activity within the house.

I agree with Noodles.
You need to still have him out of the cage, probably even more than you have been in the past.

Set up a few different areas for him to hangout, you can have things to shred at those location, and offer snacks there to. If he is flighted get him flying to those locations. Birds need their own " furniture" perches to hang out at besides the cage. I put ceiling hook, and use fishing line to hang a hoop perch at eye level or just below eye level in a couple of spots in my house. I also have a metal hook stand that I attached a bunch of toys and perches to, and I can move it to different spots around the house.

Often parrots that behave like this. Just don't have enough stuff to do, and keep them busy, and may need more social contact with you. Birds are very social. I would come up with foraging ideas to. A good way to keep them occupied.

What is his cage like? What sort of stuff does he have to chew on and destroy in the cage, and play with? How large is the cage? Where is the cage in the house? Does that area get enough light?

What does he eat?

@noodles123 @Laurasea
He is out of his cage from 9am until 3pm, as my daughter gets home from school just after 3pm and if he's not away he will attack her for playing with her toys.

We live in a 1 bedroom unit, my bed is in the lounge and my daughter has the bedroom with a big floor to ceiling window, so his cage is in there in front of the window to give him the most amount of light possible.

He has a play station set up above his cage, and I have a big island bench in the kitchen that is set up for him during the day, but it doesn't really play with any of his toys while he's out of his cage.

His cage is 22"W x 36"L x 40"H and it is full to the brim of toys, ropes of all different sizes and shapes, different branches and bells and whatnot. He doesn't chew anything, never has. I've given him cardboard and wood and other chew-able toys and he won't even think about chewing them.

Princess Parrot's are notorious for not wanting to be pet, so the closest we get is him sitting on my shoulder of leg.

When he attacks I walk away and ignore him. He always comes back and keeps going after the first time so then I walk into the room his cage is in and close him in the room by himself and walk away (the room is bird safe).

His blind is opened at 8am and closed at 8pm every day. I don't ever have to cover his cage because he knows when the blind is closed that means it's bed time. My daughter goes to bed at 9.30pm so the lamp is usually on for 1.5 hours after his blind is closed but he spends that time sleeping still.

His diet is a general seed mix for parrots, but I mix in a fruit and nut and veggie mix with it, plus fresh fruit and veg every day. I tried to switch him over to pellets when I first got him but he just would not eat them no matter what I tried.

Well darn! I mean great that he has all that great stuff!!!! But dang on how to fix!

Laurasea said:

Well darn! I mean great that he has all that great stuff!!!! But dang on how to fix!

Click to expand...

Right?! Sometimes I think I'm doing everything in my power to keep him happy, and then he gets all grumpy and I get sad because i want him to have the best life possible and if he's attacking me and getting grumpy and has to be put in his cage then he's obviously not happy. Argh 😂😭

Do you do any training with him, like target training? He might be attacking because he is frustrated that he can’t communicate with you. Target training is a great way to develop positive communication with a bird as you are developing a shared language. I would suggest teaching him to target and also rewarding him for calm behaviour.

Also, what non-verbal cues does he give you before he attacks? Like does he give you lost of warning before an attack, like a shuffle away or a mock nip/bite? Birds rarely go full on attack mode, generally they give lots of non verbal cues first and biting is their last resort.
Sometimes bird communication incorporates colour, but since we can’t see the, shifting the colours on their feathers we can miss a lot of that. Birdtricks did an interview with a eclectus breeder whilst they were in Australia about this, the video is on their youtube, plus there’s lots of great information about uv colour in birds being used for communication.
I would suggest that if the attacks seem to come out of the blue, he’s probably decided that's his only form of communication, so it would be super useful to learn his body language, including how his feathers colour looks subtly different in different moods, so that you can hear what he’s telling you before he feels that he has to yell (aka bite) that message to you.