Hello Everyone!

[CrayZbirdlady]

Hello everyone! I'm new here and a fairly new owner of a YSGCC. I've had cockatiels in the past and have always wanted a larger bird that would be more social with me and the rest of the family. My cockatiels were always my birds and wouldn't really let anyone else interact with them. GCCs are definately different in many ways to what I'm used to. We got him/her in July and now she (as we believe a girl due to some behavior) is about a year now and seems to be going through her 1st hormonal phase. All I've read now of a bird looking to find a place to lay eggs and the was she likes to lift her tail and lay down trying to get you to rub her back and would love to rub her butt on everyone but we are trying to discourage this, makes us believe its a girl. Having thought this behavior was cute and all we had allowed her to have things in her cage that she would try and use this behavior on. Now we have created a bit of a monster. She has been a little more nippy than before and is defiant at bed time. I think its all due to the hormonal phase and we are now trying to modify our way of interacting with her by not rubbing her back and when she tries to rub her butt on us we are starting to put her at her cage. I've also purchased some Avicalm supplement to try and get her to calm down and do less screaming particularly at bed time. Its on its way but has anyone here used that before for such an issue? I hope it helps to get her out of this phase and then I'll stop using it and have it on hand for the next time she gets homonal. At least that is my hope anyway.
Well anyway, that was a bit chatty, lol. I'm new here and look forward to chatting with everyone about our crazy birds. They definatley are so much fun and have such great personalities. Even my husband has become a bird fan now too.

 

[jenphilly]

Welcome to the forum!! Green cheeks are the birds that won me over... for first 40something years I was not a bird fan, they were noisey and messy. My daughter was the birdnut and had cockatiels at first... But, when the first green cheek came home, she just won me over.

Green cheeks definitely have the terrible twos, in a big way. We joke if our little pineapple girl was a macaw she would be a dangerous scary bird She thinks she is such a big bird even in that tiny little body.

Definitely keep all the pets / scratches the neck and above. Anything else is like courting and she thinks its time to setup the nest and start a family

If she is nippy about her cage, you can teach her to step up using a perch to get her in and out. This can still be a big issue for Monkey, little brat is so cage possessive / aggressive, but wonderful once out! The good news is that she puffs out her head feathers to look big and bad usually before she bites, so least she is nice enough to give some warning!!

It was a matter of patience and working thru the little temper issues, coming out the other side, Monkey bird is such a funny, neat little personality. Who actually at this very moment is sitting on my head (no clue why, but apparently she thinks my hair is a mess and needs grooming).

Good luck!!

 

[Terry57]

Hello and welcome!
jenphilly has some great advice for you, so I will just say that it's good to have you here and I would love to see pictures of your little girl!

 

[TessieB]

Hey! Glad you joined!