Hormonal 6 year old boy

[PamnJay]

Hi,

Ozzy is 6 and is pretty hormonal. He would slow down as we rejected his advances but he seems much more insistent now and is actually getting a bit aggressive, biting our hands as we try to move him and poking at us. I know they get a testosterone build up which causes some increase in aqgression, does any know of a way to reduce the hormones?

Thanks,

J

 

[zERo]

With Eclectus, since they require mostly fresh food diets anyways, I've heard ekkie owners find out what's the limit to how much fruit they can feed them, the amount that makes them hormonal, then back it off a bit.
Does he have access to any kind of 'nest' or dark places that would feel like one?
Avoiding warm mushy food such as oatmeal.
Soy and corn based pellets can make some parrots really hormonal because of the excess in carbs, sugar, and protein.
Certain foods can help reduce hormones, especially raspberry leaves. I give my birds the hormone tea from TheBestBIrdFood, it's called Bird E LIcious Balancing Act avian tea.
Reducing sugar intake altogether is the best thing.
Petting should be limited to the head and neck, unless petting doesn't make your bird hormonal.
Hope this helps

 

[PamnJay]

Thank you, we are in the process of getting him off of pellets, we cold turkeyed him and that was a bad idea. He gets mostly veggies with some apple and a piece of banana. I hadn't heard of the tea but will look into it for sure. Ozzy doesn't really have a place to nest, he likes to sit on his boing more than anywhere else, he likes the movement I think. He doesn't like head petting, he may one day but he is still fairly new to us and to allot of attention. Taz, our cockatiel makes up for Ozzy's lack of head petting


J

 

[PamnJay]

Certain foods can help reduce hormones, especially raspberry leaves. I give my birds the hormone tea from TheBestBIrdFood, it's called Bird E LIcious Balancing Act avian tea.

Hi,
I looked for this but all searches came up with zero results, thoughts?

Thanks,
J

 

[Ria.345]

Hi,
I looked for this but all searches came up with zero results, thoughts?

Thanks,
J

Personally I agree with previous poster. You want to focus on adding in more leafy greens (which idk if you mentioned this too) and vitamin A rich foods will help with hormone surges too. I'm sure you've heard this a billion times already. But it's really important to keep the diet portion of his care maintained at optimal levels during this time around. Spring is a nuisance to bird owners all around. And avian teas are a great idea as mentioned above, chamomile is another accessible option since it also contains calming agents to soothe your birds raging hormones.

 

[PamnJay]

Thanks Ria,

J

 

[zERo]

Hi,
I looked for this but all searches came up with zero results, thoughts?

Thanks,
J

Oh sorry, it might come up if you search Origins Wild Diet at providence sanctuary

 

[WingDing]

PamnJay, one day this week I gave our 4yo male eclectus a few pomegranate arils in his chop and it sent him into a hormonal spiral. He bit my wife whom he loves more than anything in this world. He and has been crazy about humping his toys and screaming at the window for a potential mate.

It happens every time I give him apples, blueberries, pomegranate, etc. I have had to remove all fruits from his diet to keep him from exploding/imploding

Beware the hormonal eclectus!

 

[WingDing]

You know, I see a few eclectus owners on Youtube with seemly sweet little boys. They seem so happy and well adjusted to life with humans.

Our guy has a sweet side and a unique, wonderful personality. OTOH, his hormones and behavior make him hard to manage. Very hard to manage at times. So, @PamnJay, I just wanted to say that my thoughts and prayers are with your flock tonight.

 

[tacocaTEclectus]

You know, I see a few eclectus owners on Youtube with seemly sweet little boys. They seem so happy and well adjusted to life with humans.

Our guy has a sweet side and a unique, wonderful personality. OTOH, his hormones and behavior make him hard to manage. Very hard to manage at times. So, @PamnJay, I just wanted to say that my thoughts and prayers are with your flock tonight.

Make sure he has a full 12 hours of darkness and quiet to sleep and drastically reduce sugar by changing his diet to mainly vegetables and lower sugar fruits like small amounts of blackberries.

 

[chris-md]

I’m so sorry he is proving to be a little frustrating for you. Believe me, I know how frustrating this is. And so do you many of the other eclectus owners here.

First and foremost, as well intentioned as the advice may be, please be wary about receiving and accepting advice from anyone who does not have an eclectus parrot. It’s simply a fact that ekkies are very unique to other birds in their physiology and diet. Those who have not had to deal with eclectus husbandry are ill-equipped to give you any advice of value. I’m seeing some stuff here that is simply incorrect for eclectus.

I don’t recall if your boy has been constantly hormonal or if this is really the first time he’s manifesting it. When eclectus enter puberty around the age of one and a half to two years, that can last until about the age of six or seven. So it’s possible you’re simply experiencing the throes of continued puberty. But I also see that you’re from nova Scotia, and we are coming up on spring, so it is the season!

You’ve gotten some pretty good advice about managing the diet. Wingdings rightly points out that depending on your situation even the tiniest bit of sugary fruit can cause a hormonal frenzy. We had a member here a couple years ago who similarly noted that even a single grape can cause a hormonal bout.

But take these tidbits of advice with a grain of salt. It’s important to understand your bird will have a base level of hormones, and then there will be hings in the environment can exacerbate that base level, things like too much sunlight, too much sugar, etc. these recommendations are great and are helpful in so far as they are causing the hormonal behavior to begin with. If your boy is simply having a naturally intense hormonal bout becuase he’s had an intense hormone dump, and all these potential environmental triggers simply aren’t contributing to exacerbation, you aren’t going to see any difference when you try to implement.

Just keep this in mind: light and diet only help abate hormones if they were the trigger or making the base level worse in the first place.

As an Eclectus owner you’re going to learn very quickly that, besides the diet, hormone management is the other thing that makes them unique compared to other parents. When you manage the husbandry correctly, As an eclectus owner you will become an expert on hormone management. This is part and parcel of being in an eclectus parront. It’s one of those things you just have to accept.

Sending big hugs for you. This too shall pass. Have patience, and have faith. And vent to us, because we above anyone know what you’re going through and how much of an emotional toll it can definitely take, no matter how often we tell ourselves not to take it personally.

 

[PamnJay]

You know, I see a few eclectus owners on Youtube with seemly sweet little boys. They seem so happy and well adjusted to life with humans.

Our guy has a sweet side and a unique, wonderful personality. OTOH, his hormones and behavior make him hard to manage. Very hard to manage at times. So, @PamnJay, I just wanted to say that my thoughts and prayers are with your flock tonight.

Thank you very much! We are working through things as best we can and we are making progress. First off, we put him in a spare bedroom to sleep, he wasn't getting enough in the living room and that has helped allot. I just made a batch of chop for him, way more veggies than fruit so I think that will help as well. Added some cooked beans and quinoa for protein and are weaning him off of pellets. It doesn't help that a week after Ozzy arrived, the renos started!! So when it gets noisy, he gets unhappy so we put him in the bedroom with a radio and that helps a bit too. He screeches when it's loud but talks and seems happy when it is not. He does NOT like the drill putting in screws! We were playing hide the beak with him and he enjoyed that too. Once he decides we are his flock, I believe things will settle down and we can pretend we are normal

 

[kme3388]

I serve everything to Nico my ekkie cold, or crunchy. I never offer him warm food (or mushy) as I was informed this is a huge trigger for hormonal birds. He mates with perches, anything soft, toys, and hands. Nico appears to be easily triggered into hormonal behaviors, and this is an issue year round. I myself haven't found a good balance, or resolution. If you come across anything that works for you please do let me know. I'm always up for trying new things.

 

[PamnJay]

I’m so sorry he is proving to be a little frustrating for you. Believe me, I know how frustrating this is. And so do you many of the other eclectus owners here.

First and foremost, as well intentioned as the advice may be, please be wary about receiving and accepting advice from anyone who does not have an eclectus parrot. It’s simply a fact that ekkies are very unique to other birds in their physiology and diet. Those who have not had to deal with eclectus husbandry are ill-equipped to give you any advice of value. I’m seeing some stuff here that is simply incorrect for eclectus.

I don’t recall if your boy has been constantly hormonal or if this is really the first time he’s manifesting it. When eclectus enter puberty around the age of one and a half to two years, that can last until about the age of six or seven. So it’s possible you’re simply experiencing the throes of continued puberty. But I also see that you’re from nova Scotia, and we are coming up on spring, so it is the season!

You’ve gotten some pretty good advice about managing the diet. Wingdings rightly points out that depending on your situation even the tiniest bit of sugary fruit can cause a hormonal frenzy. We had a member here a couple years ago who similarly noted that even a single grape can cause a hormonal bout.

But take these tidbits of advice with a grain of salt. It’s important to understand your bird will have a base level of hormones, and then there will be hings in the environment can exacerbate that base level, things like too much sunlight, too much sugar, etc. these recommendations are great and are helpful in so far as they are causing the hormonal behavior to begin with. If your boy is simply having a naturally intense hormonal bout becuase he’s had an intense hormone dump, and all these potential environmental triggers simply aren’t contributing to exacerbation, you aren’t going to see any difference when you try to implement.

Just keep this in mind: light and diet only help abate hormones if they were the trigger or making the base level worse in the first place.

As an Eclectus owner you’re going to learn very quickly that, besides the diet, hormone management is the other thing that makes them unique compared to other parents. When you manage the husbandry correctly, As an eclectus owner you will become an expert on hormone management. This is part and parcel of being in an eclectus parront. It’s one of those things you just have to accept.

Sending big hugs for you. This too shall pass. Have patience, and have faith. And vent to us, because we above anyone know what you’re going through and how much of an emotional toll it can definitely take, no matter how often we tell ourselves not to take it personally.

Thank you!! I am not sure how hormonal he was before this spring, he will turn 7 this August. He has most of his frisky times at night and we keep the curtain drawn so he doesn't get allot of direct sun. He doesn't like to look out the window, likely because he has never had a window to look out of before. Olivia ( the woman who rescued him and where we got Ozzy from) told us about the hormones at this time of year so we were expecting some. I think it was the extra aggression that caught us off guard, but Ozzy is cheerful most of the time. I am very happy we found this forum, it is awesome to have so many good people willing to help.

J

 

[PamnJay]

Make sure he has a full 12 hours of darkness and quiet to sleep and drastically reduce sugar by changing his diet to mainly vegetables and lower sugar fruits like small amounts of blackberries.

Thanks you! We have recently began moving his cage to a bedroom for night time, it is dark and quieter there and it have made a noticeable difference in his mood. Before I changed his chop, he would eat all the pieces of apple before touching anything else. He now gets way more veggies, he ain't happy about it but he gets them .

J

 

[PamnJay]

He has most of his frisky times at night and

J

And the little d#%k just made a liar out of me lol...

 

[ginaekkie]

Omg this thread has me wondering about my 3yr old rescue we had for a month now. I’ve been sprinkling pomegranate on his chop every day trying to get him to transition to eat chop. He’s off and on agressieve randomly. Territorial of the female going near stuff outside his cage like the Java tree. And screaming ear piercing for no reason I can tell at random hours of the day. Could this be from the pomegranate?!!! Can just a few of them trigger this sort of hormonal behavior (if this is what it is). Again 4 weeks in so not sure yet if this is his normal behavior or not but tonight he bit my boyfriend because he was on his shoulder and was watching the pic monitor and not the bird (I think jealousy) but it was random

 

[chris-md]

It’s hard to say without more information. That certainly does sound hormonal, and given the age your boy is clearly smack dab in the middle of puberty.

However, the bird is brand new to you and it isn’t at all unheard of for them to act out and test boundaries. His behavior right now could certainly be attributable to adjusting to a new home.

If you suspect this could be a problem simply pull the pomegranate arils out of his diet and see what happens. But do keep in mind that as he adjusts his new environment he will settle down, so there could be a correlation when in fact there is no actual causation there. You would have to test it out a few times remove the fruits and see what happens, add them back in for a little bit and see what happens, etc. do that a few times to verify if it’s actually causing a behavior.

 

[MayMaroa]

I have zero experience with Eclectus sooooooo............
Good luck hope everything goes by fine its sounds hard to have an Eclectus but they seem unique too

 

[chris-md]

I have zero experience with Eclectus sooooooo............
Good luck hope everything goes by fine its sounds hard to have an Eclectus but they seem unique too

Diet and hormones. The two biggest things about owning an Ekkie. That aside they really aren’t too different.