Aggressive Amazon

[TashO]

Hi All, I'm hoping to get some help with my Amazon Parrot and his behavior of late. Beau is a 7yo male amazon parrot, I have had him since he was a baby (I lived with his breeder, when she was having trouble finding him a home, he seemed to like me so my partner suggested I get him, which I did) we moved in with my family about 6 months later and all was fine as he was a baby, he enjoyed hanging out with my family although I was his main person. As time went on he didn't like certain things, like visitors to the house or children. He wouldn't attack them but he would attack me (biting), so he would stay in his cage when people would come over. One day I misjudged and while changing his water, he attacked my face and got my eye with his foot nail (it bled but I was okay), from then on obviously I was more hesitant with him, but he did start fly attacking me on some days, usually around hormone time, when it happened I would either put something he liked in his food bowl and he would go in and I would close his cage. Some days I would notice his mood before letting him out and he would not calm down enough to have safe out of cage time, so I would sit with him and interact that way.

Almost 2 years ago now, my partner and I moved out of my family home and into our own place, since then his aggression has been slowly getting worse. (My partner did live in our family home for a time and Beau got to the stage he was happy to be handled by him, I would still get attacked but I could usually figure out why, eg he was jealous, hormonal etc.) My partner does have a bird as well, she is a blue quaker, they two of them do not interact as she doesn't like Beau. So essentially it is me with Beau and my partner with his bird and we all coexist but the birds don't interact.
I work fulltime, so I usually uncover and get the birds ready for the day (fresh water/fresh food/a few morning scratches) around 6.30am, I leave for work, they stay in a sunny room with full windows so they can both see out. When I get home is when the problems are, some days I get home and I go to say hello and he lunges at the cage and tries to attack me, other days he seems okay and I'll let him out, offer some head scratches and he will try to bite/fly attack, other days I'll be scratching him and he will switch and bite, other days I'll scratch his head and then go to wheel his cage out in the loungeroom and he will attack while moving, other days, I'll get him out the the loungeroom and start doing some chores and when I turn my back he will fly attack my head. When this happens, I can't handle him at all, I have to get a blanket on my hand, he will fly attack the blanket, I'll cover him up and put him away in his cage. On most night's he will calm down at about 5.30pm-6pm, we all have dinner and he will get a little bit of mine, and then he will come out and be friendly (some nights he is still aggressive and I can't get him out at all) There some days none of the above happen and we have a good night, but those are becoming few and further between.
We have tried a number of things to stop his behavior, we have changed his cage to include more toys, tried changing his food to less fats and oils, we put him in a different room where he can see more of the world while I'm at work, training when I get home so we are spending quality time together, sitting in a different room of an afternoon so we get one on one time, leaving the radio on during the day, increasing his nighttime hours to 12 hours fully covered and in a quiet room, I'm now trying to keep the birds in separate rooms throughout the day to see if she is stressing him out. He is still eating, hasn't lost any weight, and on the night's when we have a good night he is completely back to his old self.

I have contacted a few parrot behavior specialists, but unfortunately they are too expensive for me. I have come here to see if there is anyone that can give some advice.

 

[nkrbkr]

Hi there! I’m sorry to hear you are struggling a bit with Beau. Quite often, aggression is associated with hormonal behavior. One of the biggest contributing factors to hormonal behavior in parrots (aside from regular seasonal factors) is diet. I know you said you’ve adjusted his diet to reduce fats, but what does his daily diet look like? Things like nuts, seeds, & fruit in a daily diet can all trigger hormones. Personally, I only use them as treats, and not at all in my birds’ daily diets.

Has Beau been to an avian vet to check his body composition (is he a healthy weight or overweight)? Sometimes it’s not necessarily just the food we’re feeding the bird, but the quantity. A large surplus of food in nature = time to make baby birds. Amazons love to eat, and are prone to being overweight.

Is it possible to use blackout blinds to make his space dark for sleep? Some birds can interpret their cages as a nest when cage covers are used, which again, can trigger hormonal behavior.

What kind of toys does Beau have? Anything shiny or reflective?

When spending time together & giving scratches, are you keeping petting to Beau’s head/neck?

 

[TashO]

Hi there! I’m sorry to hear you are struggling a bit with Beau. Quite often, aggression is associated with hormonal behavior. One of the biggest contributing factors to hormonal behavior in parrots (aside from regular seasonal factors) is diet. I know you said you’ve adjusted his diet to reduce fats, but what does his daily diet look like? Things like nuts, seeds, & fruit in a daily diet can all trigger hormones. Personally, I only use them as treats, and not at all in my birds’ daily diets.

Has Beau been to an avian vet to check his body composition (is he a healthy weight or overweight)? Sometimes it’s not necessarily just the food we’re feeding the bird, but the quantity. A large surplus of food in nature = time to make baby birds. Amazons love to eat, and are prone to being overweight.

Is it possible to use blackout blinds to make his space dark for sleep? Some birds can interpret their cages as a nest when cage covers are used, which again, can trigger hormonal behavior.

What kind of toys does Beau have? Anything shiny or reflective?

I think diet may be an issue, he has some foraging toys/interactive puzzles that have sunflower seeds, he also has a constant bowl of amazon specific pellets that are mixed with the avian "calm" pellets available. He gets fresh fruit/veg mix each morning (fruit and veg changes each week depending on what I get to keep things interesting), and then I usually will offer him some of my dinner when I am eating so we can eat together, usually I'll give him the veg I have cooked (peas, corn, sweet potato, potato, sometimes plain pasta). We do have blinds in the room they aren't black out, but they are pretty good. He does tend to vocalize when I put his cover on, I thought this was just due to him not wanting to go to bed, like a little kid.

He has a lot of wooden colorful hanging toys, some puzzle toys, foot toys and foraging toys. I was putting him in front of a mirrored wardrobe, I have recently realized that may be a problem and moved him, but his behavior isn't consistent with when I started putting him there for the day.


Thank you so much for your help!

 

[nkrbkr]

I think diet may be an issue, he has some foraging toys/interactive puzzles that have sunflower seeds, he also has a constant bowl of amazon specific pellets that are mixed with the avian "calm" pellets available. He gets fresh fruit/veg mix each morning (fruit and veg changes each week depending on what I get to keep things interesting), and then I usually will offer him some of my dinner when I am eating so we can eat together, usually I'll give him the veg I have cooked (peas, corn, sweet potato, potato, sometimes plain pasta). We do have blinds in the room they aren't black out, but they are pretty good. He does tend to vocalize when I put his cover on, I thought this was just due to him not wanting to go to bed, like a little kid.

He has a lot of wooden colorful hanging toys, some puzzle toys, foot toys and foraging toys. I was putting him in front of a mirrored wardrobe, I have recently realized that may be a problem and moved him, but his behavior isn't consistent with when I started putting him there for the day.


Thank you so much for your help!

You’re very welcome! I would definitely try cutting out any seeds/nuts/fruit from his daily diet, using them only as treats and for training, and see if that helps. You could try putting some of his pellets in his foraging toys instead. It’s a good idea to keep him away from the mirror, and anything else reflective. It might be worth a try to see if keeping his cage uncovered helps. I’d highly recommend blackout blinds. My lovebird was a total nesty and cage territorial mess when I was temporarily covering his cage for a few weeks. I was waiting for a sleep cage to arrive to put in a room with blackout blinds. Once we got him into the sleep cage setup at night, it was much better. I hope some of this helps, and best of luck!

 

[TashO]

You’re very welcome! I would definitely try cutting out any seeds/nuts/fruit from his daily diet, using them only as treats and for training, and see if that helps. You could try putting some of his pellets in his foraging toys instead. It’s a good idea to keep him away from the mirror, and anything else reflective. It might be worth a try to see if keeping his cage uncovered helps. I’d highly recommend blackout blinds. My lovebird was a total nesty and cage territorial mess when I was temporarily covering his cage for a few weeks. I was waiting for a sleep cage to arrive to put in a room with blackout blinds. Once we got him into the sleep cage setup at night, it was much better. I hope some of this helps, and best of luck!

I have read a lot about "chop" being provided as a daily food? do you think only giving pellets and nothing fresh unless through training?
We had a good day together yesterday, it was the first day I had taken him away from the mirror and had my partners quaker in that room and then him in the loungeroom next to a large window, I'm trying to pin point what exactly the change in the new house has been to trigger such a big difference in him. I thought as she is quite an energetic and loud bird, maybe during the day she is overwhelming or stressing him and then when I get home he is directing his built up energy to me.
Hopefully, I see an improvement today as well.