Hormonal new bird

SarahY

New member
Dec 9, 2021
4
2
Parrots
Peach faced Lovebird
Hey there,I've recently found a peach faced lovebird,knowing that it won't survive in the city I had to take it in...I've provided him(I don't know the birds sex therfore I refer to it as he/him) with fruits (apples,oranges), corn and pellets( which he did not show any interest in so I had to put seeds for him) and did my best to make him feel welcomed at our household.
he takes food from hand and isn't scared of humans in general.
It's been a week or so since he has joined us, knowing that lovebirds are companion birds I let him out of the cage a couple of times (I had his nails and wings clipped) but he has been very aggressive and showing hormonal behavior since day one and tends to bite my hands and when he gets bored(which is all the time) he gets on my shoulder and starts bitting my neck and he even went for my ear twice...I have no experience what so ever with birds and I'm confused whether I should leave him in the cage until this phase passes or let him out?and for how long?
Ps1. he also has got a wooden toy which he has destroyed in this short period of time
Ps2.he is very smart and had no problem with stick training I would be devastated if I couldn't take good care of him and I did as much research as I could but am still very confused so pleaseeee help me out :`(
 

wrench13

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So ways to reduce ( NOT eliminate) hormonal behavior:
No dark hiding space
No shreddy type toys or cage material, like rope, string , shredded paper, etc
Reduce the amount of sugars in the diet ( less or no fruits or stuff like corn- more leafy veggies)
No touching below the neck. None!
12 solid hours of sleep, in a dark, quiet place
Ignore butt rubbing and other signs of self pleasuring

During puberty and the first several mating seasons, parrots literally loose their minds. They have huge surges of hormones cascading thru their little bodies and no way to take out the very natural urges those bring. They can go from I love you to I hate you in seconds and then back and look at you like "WTF was that??!!??" . Hormones and mating season is a part of parrot ownership we ALL deal with. The object is to not let unwanted behavior become permanent.

And remember ALWAYS: This Too Shall Pass.
 

Emeral

Well-known member
Sep 16, 2021
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628
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Hanhs Macaw
Hormonal is definitely very common issue in Lovebirds. Hope this works out for you. If not, there are also so many solutions to try just like the saying....so many roads to choose. But to get to the most effective route asap, more information will point us to the right direction.

So, do tell us anything you can think of. how about....

.....some up close photos...it woll be nice yo see or sex and age may be apparent.
.....cage size, location (some aggressiveness is associated with the cage placement at higher than eye level height. As discussed in this thread below)

Thread 'Nanday conure aggressive' https://www.parrotforums.com/threads/nanday-conure-aggressive.91849/

.....do you have other pets? Jealous birds call for attention and bite to ask you to love only him. Pressure bite training will be helpful here.

Previous rough handling may also have caused misconduct. I mean loud household find themselves shouting birds. And hence quiet household, a more gentle talking bird. In the same way, previous owner playing roughly with a small lovebird, result is bitter bitey bird.

In this case, we give training with simple commands a priority. Such that he learn new behaviors asap. Here, we gently talk to him in simple short words and give him time to remember simple commands.


If he doesn't transform into a sweet baby in a week, we go back to the very beginning. And call for a close observation of his body language as described in details on this link.


Hope to hear from you soon
 
OP
SarahY

SarahY

New member
Dec 9, 2021
4
2
Parrots
Peach faced Lovebird
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #4
So ways to reduce ( NOT eliminate) hormonal behavior:
No dark hiding space
No shreddy type toys or cage material, like rope, string , shredded paper, etc
Reduce the amount of sugars in the diet ( less or no fruits or stuff like corn- more leafy veggies)
No touching below the neck. None!
12 solid hours of sleep, in a dark, quiet place
Ignore butt rubbing and other signs of self pleasuring

During puberty and the first several mating seasons, parrots literally loose their minds. They have huge surges of hormones cascading thru their little bodies and no way to take out the very natural urges those bring. They can go from I love you to I hate you in seconds and then back and look at you like "WTF was that??!!??" . Hormones and mating season is a part of parrot ownership we ALL deal with. The object is to not let unwanted behavior become permanent.

And remember ALWAYS: This Too Shall Pass.
Thank you for your kind and informative reply,although I'm still confused whether I should let him out of the cage or not considering that he hasn't bonded with me
 

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