Transylvania
New member
Hey guys,
I need some advice. A friend of mine asked me if I would take care of her Alexandrine Parakeet, Marley. The bird is a 3-year-old feather-plucker. My friend rescued Marley from a family that kept her in a tiny budgie cage on a diet of sunflower seeds. That's when she began plucking her feathers. Before that, she was bounced around from household to household, and now I am her 7th owner. My friend did her best to care for Marley. However, Marley was unsatisfied, socially, living with my friend, who has another parrot that she's strongly bonded with (every time my friend would have someone staying with her for a while, Marley's feathers would start to grow back, so she was pretty confident that Marley's social needs just weren't satisfied). She had Marley for a year. I took her in three days ago, and so far she's not shown much stress to her new home. When she's in her cage, she eats well and plays with toys. She likes coming out of the cage and exploring the apartment, and she hasn't tried to bite me once.
However... Marley is the broodiest bird I have ever seen. She's broodier than the speckled pigeon, Bruce, that I take care of at work, and that is really saying something lol. She is constantly wanting to mate. It's making my attempts to train her very frustrating, because she's more interested in sex than food or enrichment. When she does something good, like stepping up on my hand, I'll reinforce it by petting her head, since I know that tactile contact is what she wants, but then she always arches her back and gets broody again. I want to build a relationship with this bird, but it's like all she wants to do is mate. My friend said that she and her friends would pet her back a lot, so I'm guessing that this behavior was encouraged. Marley also likes to burrow under blankets and between couch cushions (nesting behavior?) My friend said that she has never laid an egg.
How would you guys recommend I proceed? For now, I ignore the behavior every time she starts it. But she does it ALL the time - even if I just look at and talk to her. I want her to be comfortable and stop plucking her feathers out, so I can't just ignore her all the time. I need to train this animal. Are there any things I can do, husbandry-wise, to try to quell her broodiness?
Thanks!
I need some advice. A friend of mine asked me if I would take care of her Alexandrine Parakeet, Marley. The bird is a 3-year-old feather-plucker. My friend rescued Marley from a family that kept her in a tiny budgie cage on a diet of sunflower seeds. That's when she began plucking her feathers. Before that, she was bounced around from household to household, and now I am her 7th owner. My friend did her best to care for Marley. However, Marley was unsatisfied, socially, living with my friend, who has another parrot that she's strongly bonded with (every time my friend would have someone staying with her for a while, Marley's feathers would start to grow back, so she was pretty confident that Marley's social needs just weren't satisfied). She had Marley for a year. I took her in three days ago, and so far she's not shown much stress to her new home. When she's in her cage, she eats well and plays with toys. She likes coming out of the cage and exploring the apartment, and she hasn't tried to bite me once.
However... Marley is the broodiest bird I have ever seen. She's broodier than the speckled pigeon, Bruce, that I take care of at work, and that is really saying something lol. She is constantly wanting to mate. It's making my attempts to train her very frustrating, because she's more interested in sex than food or enrichment. When she does something good, like stepping up on my hand, I'll reinforce it by petting her head, since I know that tactile contact is what she wants, but then she always arches her back and gets broody again. I want to build a relationship with this bird, but it's like all she wants to do is mate. My friend said that she and her friends would pet her back a lot, so I'm guessing that this behavior was encouraged. Marley also likes to burrow under blankets and between couch cushions (nesting behavior?) My friend said that she has never laid an egg.
How would you guys recommend I proceed? For now, I ignore the behavior every time she starts it. But she does it ALL the time - even if I just look at and talk to her. I want her to be comfortable and stop plucking her feathers out, so I can't just ignore her all the time. I need to train this animal. Are there any things I can do, husbandry-wise, to try to quell her broodiness?
Thanks!
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