Can't figure out what she wants! she's grumpy often...

[TP89]

Strange "clingy" behaviour from my 12 week old alex Frankie.

She has time both locked in her cage, and free time out to play on the floor and fly around the room (she's really good at not crashing into stuff!). She has lots of toys that she plays with, and has a (supervised) friendship with the cat and they get along well. Plenty to do and she's not territorial at all. I have short training sessions with her too and she knows how to do at least 3 tricks.

But she gets super weird almost every arvo, where no matter what i do with her she just gets soo clingy and grumpy at the same time. It's weird. right now she's on my shoulder, but wont stop with the baby cries (you know the ones... KREE-AWW) and as much as i love her there's only so much my poor ears can take before i have to put her back in the cage.
I don't mind her nibbling my hair and gently nibbling my ear, but she gets a bit hard sometimes and i have to say "gentle" which stops her, but she still does a loud cry.

Right now she's got this weird thing where she's alternating between nibbles, and then a cry, then she'll nuzzle hard into my hair and rub her head around... cry...Then she'll wander to the front and look in my face and try to nibble my cheek - thats not on! and saying "uh uh!" makes her give a super angry growl and she'll fly off and do a lap around the room. And then come back and it's rinse and repeat.

if i look at her and talk to her or whistle, she gives an angry growl.
oh, she also is fixated with trying to get onto my head. But she doesnt try that much anymore.

It's like she's trying to tell me something and is annoyed im not listening. And she still has no concept of being quiet, i know thats because she's just a baby though.

I'm really stumped on this one. Any ideas?

 

[MikeyTN]

She's still acting like a baby as she is still freshly weaned! They will do that for awhile. Your not giving anything to her so she's getting irritated. I really hate to say it, but clipping might be a good thing right now since she's young. It's a whole lot easier to train especially with one that's already starting some bad habits. None of my adult birds are clipped as I allow them to grow out during their first molt. BUT while as babies I do clip them, BUT it also depends on the babies too. There's some babies I've raised that I would never clip cause they're so well behaved. One of the babies I've kept was never clipped since the day she learned how to fly and she's over 9 months old right now and still good as ever. I don't know how your baby is but I know my babies well enough to determine to clip or not to clip. IF they're going into new homes, I always clip them cause I know they will go wild flying through their house and they wouldn't know how to control it.

 

[TP89]

Thanks for the fast reply. I didn't realise they stay so fussy AFTER weaning is over... during weaning she was even grumpier but I just put up with it.
I was keen to leave her unclipped, but if you really think it'll help curb her fussy/overly independant behaviour i might give it a try, and let them grow back another time.
As for not giving her what she wants, it's frustrating that she gets in this loop of being grumpy for something, and then growling and refusing when i offer it to her. Like seeds and attention.
I do try to reward her if she's behaving good and talking quietly, but it's really hit and miss whether she'll take that treat then. She does take them no worries during training.

 

[IcyWolf]

Was she force weaned or abundance weaned? They really shouldn't be begging for food a lot when they are weaning, they should be refusing feedings on their own IMHO. It sounds like she still wants formula. Have you tried giving her soft foods when she starts crying? Also, you can always give her a baby clip for now, just one or two feathers off each wing(alex's are pretty heavy), it will keep her relatively grounded without hindering her confidence too much. I think there's a happy medium between a bird that's afraid to try anything new and the overly confident, going to do whatever they want bird, if you can find that midground I think you will both be much happier.

 

[TP89]

Hi IcyWolf. Frankie decided to wean by herself at 10 weeks (earlier than i expected, i was suprised). She refused all food, but i continued to offer her the syringe as well as leaving fresh food in a dish. She was never forced. And she doesnt like the syringe anymore. She's quite independant about that.

It's a bit late in the afternoon now for a clip. I'd rather do it in the morning so she can adjust all day.

She's pretty independant yes, not much scares her unless its a weird new object. She routinely snaps at the cat when it gets too close. So yes, probably time to get her to tone that down a bit.

I see lots of info about training birds, but not much on guiding the behaviour of the very young parrot + what to watch for. Can anyone recommend some reading material? sites or ebooks?

 

[MikeyTN]

Icy, I still have one adult bird that begs and he's over a year old....BUT in his case, it's a habit with Black Lory to do so...I think they called it souking or something like that....lol....He grew back his flight feathers and he flies to me on command. One of the babies I weaned awhile back took me about 4 months to wean, a baby tiel, he was totally healthy but refuse to eat on his own. I'm a sucker for their baby cries....lol....But when my partner called me one day and told me the baby is eating food on his own. I came home and he's still begging, he played me for a fool....You would think after 16 years of raising babies I would catch it when they played me for a fool...lol....

 

[MikeyTN]

I've read through hundreds of sites and books through the years of raising birds and keeping them. Here's what I do with my babies. I handle them often while young and I don't really start the training process until after they're weaned. After they're fully fledged and got their flying lesson down, I clip them. Then I start daily training with step up to begin with. Then I cuddle with them and put my hands where ever on them. When they do something they shouldn't be doing, I told them no right away and if they refuse to listen I put my hand over their whole body and hold them close to me and I give them a pep talk...lol....If they persist, I usually make them do the step up routine over and over to keep them concentrated then they usually quit. I also do perch training as well where they learn how to step up onto any type of perch when it's held infront of them, no matter if its your finger, arms, stick, etc. They will step up to it. That comes handy especially once they grow back their feathers and refuses to get down from high places and that does the trick. I have once lost a baby outside that was clipped but the heavy gust of wind came around and he took off in the wind and flew way up into the trees. I was lucky that I lived with a firefighter and he kept long poles. I used it to get him to step up from the tree and slowly brought the pole down and I got him back inside the house.

 

[IcyWolf]

I would look into target training, it's an amazingly helpful tool and can be used in pretty much everything you need to do with your bird. As for books, check out parrots for dummies, it's a good place to start. Also, birds off the perch is a good one on bird behavior.

@Mikey, I am the same way! I just can't help but give in when they beg! We have an english budgie that we are keeping, he came from another breeder because he was hatched with only half a wing. I got him when he was about 7 weeks old and have had him for almost a month and he is still taking formula! He actually just started eating on his own a few days ago and I was soooo ecstatic when I saw him chowing down in his bowl. Budgies usually wean at 5-8 weeks so he is way behind. On a different, yet similar note, I was working a table at a reptile show when a couple brought in their 4 year old american alligator and gave it to us, they said they just had a baby and didn't feel comfortable having the gator in the house anymore. I picked him up and he wouldn't stop crying like a baby! Baby gators cry to their moms but they almost always grow out of it by the time they are about a year old. I couldn't believe that I was holding a pretty hefty four year old that was still crying like a hatchling

 

[TP89]

Cool, that's mostly what i do really. I didnt start training until she finished weaning - there was no point because she didnt understand how seeds worked yet.
I try to handle her as much as possible, she tolerates a little scritch and a bit of a back pat, but doesn't like it much right now. I've heard Alexandrines often hate touching. I do reward with seeds when she lets me pet her for a while without a fuss.
She definitely knows "UH UH" means "stop now or i'll get put back in the cage", lol. I distract otherwise if she persists. I never actually physically punish her, even though sometimes it's tempting to give her a little whack when she's hurt me. I just distract.

She does have a tendency to ignore "step up" alot, even when treats are involved. But she does "pick up" items i point at, which is cool. I'm currently trying to figure out how to make her hold an item longer.

 

[IcyWolf]

Sounds like you guys are off to a great start. And you are right, Alex's don't usually enjoy being petted or snuggled too much...they are much too regal for that lol.

 

[TP89]

Well, clipped her wings just now, so she has all day to adjust. I ended up having to do more than 2 feathers because she could still fly well. So i did about 5.
Wrapped her up in my jumper to do it... so innocent, making curious sounds and not panicking haha, feeling guilty....

thanks for the advice