Help with a hormonal Conure

[GoldieConure2]

Hi everyone, I just came across this forum after searching for information on how to help our little GCC, I’m loving looking at all the photos of your feathered babies and reading the great advice.

This little fella is called Kiwi (DNA test pending but we keep calling them a him). He moved in with us at the end of June after seeing that he needed a new home, we were told he was 7months old but later found out from vet records he was closer to 18months. My husband and I have been caring for wild birds for the last 5 years and have slowly built our knowledge up but obviously having one in the home is very different and has been an adjustment.
Initially kiwi was big on biting and drew blood a fair bit (more so with my husband), We got support from a parrot trainer to help us learn and overcome some of the initial behaviour issues and with a change up in diet (too much fruit) we saw a complete change in kiwi and he was a much calmer bird loving his scritches and playtime and learning some tricks.
Then about 2 weeks ago we started seeing a change, he started licking and grooming me a lot more and regurgitating around me, and became nippier with my husband. There are days when he comes out of his cage biting and gets aggressive toward his food bowl, others when he comes out happy and calm. The last couple of days he’s been a demon, he’ll come over to me and bite/pinch my skin, climb up on my shoulder and ignore me when I encourage him to move down my arm or off my shoulder, bite at my neck or face if he gets a chance. He has also been targeting my husband and flying onto his shoulder and biting into his neck or shoulder within seconds of landing. The good news is he isn’t drawing blood but it still hurts and bruises. He also gets “wired” like he doesn’t know what to do with himself, previously some cage and quiet time helped him reset but not so much the last few days. From all we’ve read we are thinking we kiwi has hit puberty (plus its mating season here) and is struggling with his hormones.
He gets 12hrs in “bed” (in his cage, in a room on his own with the blinds closed and his cage 3/4 covered), otherwise he has free flight in our open plan living area where he has a large cage and a few perches around plus lots of foraging and toys to play with. His diet consists of nutriblend mini pellets, chop made with a mixture of veggies with chia and flax seeds, a veggie kebab, once a week soaked pulses and seeds, maybe once or twice a week a small bit of fruit. Then millet and sunflower seeds for training.
The parrot trainer did advise us that a friend for kiwi would help with some of his behaviours but we are now unsure that this would be a good idea.

Sorry this has turned into a long post. If anyone has advice on coping with a conures hormones or just reassurance that the demon wont be here to stay it would be much appreciated, also any input on adding a friend or keeping him as an only feathered child would be great!

 

[AMD91]

WELCOME TO THE FORUM! What a cutie you have there. Every parrot reacts to their hormonal/breeding time differently, but be assured it is only temporay. It sounds like you are pretty much doing everything you can to help him/her. Hoping others will have some advice for you.

 

[SailBoat1]

Welcome and be welcomed to this Amazing World of Parrot Forums.
A truly great place as near every here has a loving feathered friend living with them.

Hormonal Season can be very confusing as ones loving feathered friend becomes a vampire.

NOTE: The WORD “bed” or “bedtime” has zero meaning unless the room is truly dark and near silent. Parrots are affected by the change of seasons and when the sun sits longer in the sky, our parrots are up and around, they are busy. When it near rushes to set and it becomes dark outside, they roost, nap, and sleep. Yes, jungles are a bit noisy place even at night. But for a Parrot that is sensitive to hormonal issues, they really need near silent settings.

We have a Double Yellow-Headed Amazon. A bit over 500 grams of pure muscle. When it is Hormonal Season, he can be down right dangerous. Add to it, he has assigned himself the Home Watchman, the protector of all and most importantly, the love of his life, my dear wife. So, yes I fully understand what your Husband is going through.

There are Hormonal Parrots and then there are truly Hormonal Parrots. We have one of the later kind and it is both his DNA and his role of night watchman that steals his sleep.. I classify him as a night watchman because he night time naps and is a very light sleeper. Hence, we have to work at assuring that he gets the sleep he needs. The reality that he will get 12 hours of sleep straight any night is just kidding ourselves. So, if he steals a nap during the day, we let him have that time.

Lights, most homes have LED Daytime light bulbs, which are great until they are not! They clearly affect Humans and are known to be able to reset our body clocks. What would you guess they are able to do to a Parrot? Have all the fixtures that you have on to light where Humans and Parrot are during late afternoon and evening placed on a controller (dimmer) and buy dim-able LED lights for those fixtures. Use them to mimic the setting sun. The morning should be the reverse. Done correctly, both Humans and Parrot will get better sleep.

Noise, commonly, now-a-days, TV’s should be turned down lower as night falls.

When this is all working well, everyone will be getting better sleep and have a happier Parrot.

FYI: Dad gets to provide all the treats and happy stuff as a means of offset your parrots love for mom!

Life should become slowly better.

 

[osklvste49]

As above. Don't forget about those tablets and phones too! My CAG, can't stand them when she's hormonal. Even with earplugs and in a different room! Otherwise she doesn't care.