Birds with gender preferences

[IcyWolf]

So, I was just thinking about something, we all know that many of our companion parrots show a very obvious preference towards either males or females when it comes to their favorite humans. My question is, how exactly do they tell the difference between us when it comes to gender? Is it looks, voice, or maybe some hormonal cue that they get from us? We are Zigs third home and both of her prior caretakers were females and she has definitely shown a preference when it comes to me and my boyfriend. For the most part, I can take her out of her cage, while he has yet to get her to step up while she is in or on her cage, although she is nice to him if she goes from my hand to his. I have met and had birds that absolutely hated men though, and would do anything they could to bite them whenever possible. It got me thinking, exactly how do they know which of us are male and which of us are female? I know it probably sounds like kind of a stupid question but I think with some experimentation we could possibly figure out how to "fix" the "I hate women" or "I hate men" problem. It got me to wondering if a man with long hair and a more "feminine voice" would be accepted by a "male hating" bird, or if there is a deeper, possibly hormonal difference that they can somehow sense? Does anyone know of any research that has already been done on this subject, I would be quite interested to read it if so.

 

[Pedro]

I feel they don't give a hoot about gender but loving the person or persons they feel most comfortable with.

I have seen it over & over when clients come to my house to view my babies. I will give a more detailed reason later have to dash out.

 

[IcyWolf]

I agree that the way you act towards and treat a parrot is very important when it comes to building a bond and being able to handle a bird, but I have known men that work with birds for a living and still can't get near some birds that are known to dislike men, in these cases it seems like gender has a lot to do with it.

 

[xreinx]

Yea, I agree with Icy. At the shelter we had a man who was attacked by his amazon one too many times, he turned him in and he said he had birds all his life, he is now 65 years old and says he cant do anything with his bird, (hand raised from 5 weeks old) the bird was two years old when he finally gave up. A girl at the shelter took him and now he is stepping up for her without any issues, when two months ago he was a "little Demon"

The man Raised his bird, it Hates him, likes women. thats confusing because he as 5 other birds.

 

[IcyWolf]

Yea, I agree with Icy. At the shelter we had a man who was attacked by his amazon one too many times, he turned him in and he said he had birds all his life, he is now 65 years old and says he cant do anything with his bird, (hand raised from 5 weeks old) the bird was two years old when he finally gave up. A girl at the shelter took him and now he is stepping up for her without any issues, when two months ago he was a "little Demon"

The man Raised his bird, it Hates him, likes women. thats confusing because he as 5 other birds.

Exactly, which is why, it seems, that if we could figure out exactly how parrots tell the difference between human men and women, maybe we could find a way to work with these birds?

 

[Pedro]

This link may explain a few of the myths we hear about our companion parrots. Hope you enjoy the read.


Myths about pet parrots

 

[Amber]

Alex will go to anyone he knows with no fuss. That link was interesting though. Now that I think about it, he does have a preference for people with similar features to me. I suppose thats where the liking one gender parrot myth may come into play. He's more likely to go to a girl because we are more likely to look similar and share the same mannerisms, and thats what is familiar to him. Anyone tall and slim with red hair gets his love though. Probably because both me and my boyfriend (who handles him regularly) are tall and scrawny with red or strawberry blonde hair.

 

[xreinx]

Really? the older man was alittle heavyset, alittle tall. sandy blond, almost dirty blond going gray, bluegrey eyes and vary pale skin, the kind that reddens when he gets sun.

The girl who adopted wayne (aka John Wayne, she kept the name) is SKINNY, long dark hair, tanned skin, dark eyes, short. compleatly diffrent then the man who had the bird.

Its hard to understand, the man worked with birds for 40 years, over 40 years, he said he had them all his life couldent work with him at all, said he was a "Mean little devil", Tracy never had a big bird, but wayne steps up for her, she has no issues with him. the bird dosent like her boyfriend, and dosent like tall men, at all. so .. is it really a myth?

 

[stephend]

I do not know how acute bird's sence of smell is, but I would not be surprised if they are picking up on pheramones.

 

[Amber]

Really? the older man was alittle heavyset, alittle tall. sandy blond, almost dirty blond going gray, bluegrey eyes and vary pale skin, the kind that reddens when he gets sun.

The girl who adopted wayne (aka John Wayne, she kept the name) is SKINNY, long dark hair, tanned skin, dark eyes, short. compleatly diffrent then the man who had the bird.

Its hard to understand, the man worked with birds for 40 years, over 40 years, he said he had them all his life couldent work with him at all, said he was a "Mean little devil", Tracy never had a big bird, but wayne steps up for her, she has no issues with him. the bird dosent like her boyfriend, and dosent like tall men, at all. so .. is it really a myth?

This bird ended up becoming difficult with this man though, right? I'm guessing for some reason in his birdy brain he came to dislike him. The girl, being the exact opposite of the man wouldn't being up the thought of the man, and hence he was easier to work with? If a similar looking person to the man was trying to work with the bird, perhaps he wouldn't have taken to them so well. If that makes sense :54:

 

[xreinx]

yea, he had the bird from a older chick, finished weaning it, after the first 5 months it became difficult. When he surrendered it, it was just over two years old, he had tried two years to work with this bird, and I guess it just got worse over the last year.

Wayne is doing great from what I understand. I guess he still dosent like the boyfriend, and trys to bite him when he gets too close (boyfriend is dark hair, taller then the man who turned him in) but Tracy can handle the bird, the man said he wouldent be turning it in if he could handle it even alittle bit, but it bites and draws blood, and he was tired of having to wrestle it out of the cage, apparently cleaning of that cage went down to about once a week.

 

[Amber]

On the plus side, everything turned out ok for this bird in the end!

 

[oled]

If a bird fells comfortable I dont think the gender is important but I thing that Amazon choose a "leder"

 

[xreinx]

yea, he is in his forever home, she has a 12 year old hedgehog name simon, a 9 year old sun conure and two dogs (snakes, lizards, ect) she still gets nipped now and again but he responds to her, and she has always wanted a dubble yellow amazon. (she nearly got rid of the boyfriend, it wasent a big fight but she said she was getting the bird and was ready to move out when he gave in)

 

[IcyWolf]

A 12 year old hedgie?! That's incredible!

 

[xreinx]

it looks horrible, like its about to breath its last breath, it hates being picked up, but she handles it every day, and says thats the key to keeping it healthy, and she has to give it a bath every other day, cause it really soils itself. she really has taken good care of it, though it started out as someone elses pet, its been with her for almost 7 years, shes only 20 but is Great with animals. I feel good that Wayne is her bird now, he really is in the perfect place now, she loves her animals.

 

[IcyWolf]

Aww, I don't know if I should feel bad for it or very happy for it! I love hedgies, I had a hedgie that I got back, I think in 2000 or 2001, he was awesome, I named him velcro because he was scratchy on one side and soft on the other He went everywhere with me, I had a little fanny pack that he would crawl right into and sleep so I could sneak him into places lol. Here's a pic I found of him. I actually have a ton of pictures of him but they are all on floppy discs from the old school digi cams and I have to find them and transfer them all to my SD card. Unfortunately, hedgies are illegal in PA now or I would have another one in a heart beat.

Lol, I look soooo happy

 

[xreinx]

Id feel happy. He has dirt to dig in, bedding, a huge tank thats at least 3 by 6 feet long, he moves his "tunnels" around all the time and he trys to bluff her every time she picks him up, hes Really active for such a old hedge hog. (maybe thats just the way they look.. cause he looks JUST like that..except his quills are thicker and his nose is longer) his legs are alittle thin though, like hes skinny.

you know, Tracy looks alot like you.

 

[Amber]

I've always wanted a hedgehog. They look like neat pets! We have echidnas here. They look similar, but are totally different animals (being monotremes and all!) Australia has strict import/export laws on animals though so foreign animals hardly ever show up in the pet trade, and if they do their probably their illegally. We don't even have hamsters here. I'd love a hedgehog, lucky guys!

 

[xreinx]

Ive seen them, now and again for sale, but until that one, I never really payed attention, things with prickles.. just isnt my taste. I want something I can hold, her Simon is just.. yea.. she can have it.