I'd love a little help here...

[BelletheAlex]

G'day fellow bird owners

I am at a loss... My gorgeous alexandrine, Belle has become progressively more moody towards me and any other human that even walks to her cage.

Before you post suggestions take this into account, please:
I have done prior research on why she could be pissed off. 1-I have forced her to do what she doesn't want to do, that she's hungry, that she's tired, that she sees me only as a threat...
Only the last one seems to be something I can pinpoint, and thats why I'm here... I have no clue as to why she's so mad at me when I bought her from another owner, she was roughly two years old, and had been somewhat neglected and wasn't hand tame, but wasn't completely wild either. I assumed that with a bit of love and time she would open up to me and not be so scared.
She never bit or got aggressive when I got her, but over the last two to three months she is so aggressive towards me and anyone who goes by its ridiculous. I am at my wits end and unfortunately considering that she's a lost cause to train and that she will never be friendly towards humans.

Can someone try and help me with ways of dealing with her? I cant change her water or food without her trying to lunge and bite me, can't walk within a metre of the cage without her doing the same at the cage...

Please, this is upsetting me that I can't seem to fix this problem...


Sorry for a gloomy introductory post...

Will

 

[strudel]

Welcome to the forum, sorry you're having a rough time.

How long since you've adopted Belle? She's become aggressive over the last few months, had you had her long prior to that? Where is her cage, what other people are there, other pets? Anything changed around the time when she started getting upset?

 

[Taw5106]

Welcome! I had a cockatiel named Sam. He was super sweet, but one day he started lunging, and hissing at me when I was pass by him. He also started panting, I thought he was sick and dying because he wouldn't get on his perch, he was on the bottom of the cage in the corner, all kinds of possessed and ugly behavior. No internet at the time like we have now. I covered his cage hoping to calm him down and let him rest.

Next morning I uncovered the cage expecting the worse. Well the devil was still there and tried to get me but when lunged, there was an egg. Me, "Sam you're a girl!" Sam, "hiss, spit, hiss some more....". I left Sam with her egg, went to work and after went to the library to read up on how she laid an egg when she was the only bird I had.

I've seen other posts saying birds get broody when they want to mate too. I took sam's egg on the third day..... So she laid another and kept doing this. That's my experience on why my bird went crazy but she was back to her normal self after the second day that she laid the egg.

 

[Anansi]

Hello, and welcome to the forum! Sounds to me like your alexandrine has become cage territorial. You should start giving her more time away from her cage, preferably in another room. Anywhere out of sight of her cage. If she has playstands, great. To get her away from the cage, you'll want to use a perch. That'll help keep your hands from being shredded. And then, once she's away from her cage, you can likely interact more normally.

Also, she might be hormonal. I don't know anything about the hormonal seasons of alexandrines, so I'll leave it to other members more experienced with them to get into specifics on that. But it might be a situation where you just have to patiently ride out those hormone fueled mood swings. Remember that she's acting on instinct, if hormones are indeed the root cause, not anger. She likely loves you just as much as she always did. But, in the end, she is still a parrot. With all of the instincts and urges that nature saw fit to give her.

Oh, something else that might help is to get her a sleeping cage to break up the amount of time she spends in one cage. And feed her in multiple locations, so that she doesn't narrow her focus on one place as her dwelling.

Hope all that helps!

 

[songlake]

Don't quote me but I think the breeding season for the Indian parakeets is Jan-April. I know around December time my mustache parakeet went into full blown courting the post and rope and anything he could convince himself looked like a female. He was pole dancing several times a day but lately he's been doing it rarely so hopefully season is nearly over for him..so, saying that yours is a female and I've read they are more aggressive during mating season, which would explain a lot of what is happening.

Also she does sound a little cage aggressive. Skipper was this way and would bite hard when we reached in. He will still lunge at us and his eyes do the woo woo thing showing he's upset but he will step up. I noticed if you aren't committed when you reach in, he knows it and will really lunge.

I'm not a expert just a newbie bird lover who has a similar parrot as yours.

 

[MonicaMc]

You might try moving Belle's cage into a corner. Make sure she gets 10-12 hours of sleep. Try changing the way you approach the cage. Try moving slower. Try talking to her when you are within her vicinity but not quite within eyesight of her. When she isn't lunging, give her a reward.


Here are some pages that may help.

Working with Fearful Parrots: A Study in Videos | Learning Parrots
Part II: R+ needs a strong supporting cast | Learning Parrots

Putting Behaviors on Cue?Knowingly or Unknowingly | Lara Joseph (this one in particular talks about parrots lunging within their cage and how to try and stop that behavior)

 

[BelletheAlex]

Thank you so much! All of you guys for that matter.
I have had her for about 4 and a half months, got her pre X-mas. and really this last month and a little has been the worst, she was fine for about two months of having her (up to end of feb) and then march she became moor moody and whatnot.

I had a feeling it may have been hormones or she was going to lay an egg, but again, as she's by herself i wouldn't have thought that she would lay without a mate.

The only other animals i have are other birds which are in a semi outdoor aviary (built onto/into the house) which she can see the other birds from, from her cage.


The thing about the egg will be the main thing to look out for, i'll report back in a few days once i see any signs of change in her mood or if something (like an egg) pops up (or out)

Thanks to you all!

 

[MonicaMc]

Many people can attest that single hens will lay eggs without a mate, let alone another bird, around. I have three (four?) birds that have all laid eggs with or without other birds around, and with no mates!


Definitely see what you can do to reduce her lunging behavior, maybe even stop it if you can. The longer that you "allow" it to continue, the more it becomes enforced (to her), thus potentially leading to worse behavior.

 

[tlfisher]

Maybe she wants to play with the other birds?

 

[BelletheAlex]

@MonicaMc How do you suggest i go about stopping her lunging behaviour? I have read various things, ranging from things to do with classical conditioning, operant condition, and others who say growling or saying NO! aggressively can stop birds from repeating this behaviour...

 

[MonicaMc]

Have you tried approaching her cage differently? Have you tried going slower? Have you tried talking to her? Have you tried offering her a treat when you go by? Have you tried moving the cage to another location?


What have you done to try and change the behavior?

 

[BelletheAlex]

Hello fellow parrot lovers...
So some GOOD NEWS (Yes! Holy S**t, didn't think you'd be hearing this, hey haha)
So Belle is behaving much more politely... still hates hands, but my family has worked out ways to stop this. We wrap a tea towel around our hands and enter her cage that way, she doesn't bite our hands, and is much more comfortable with being with us.

So, I knew this in purchasing her, she has a very heavy territorial nature of her cage. When around it, she gets very angry and nasty so the problem is resolved when we take her away from her cage - the result; she opens up and is actually quite a lovely bird.

She did not lay an egg, or show any sign of change. But as we implemented the cloth she steadily became more open to us and we were able to make progress with her.

Thanks again for all your help, and I will hopefully be posting some more happy posts from this point forward

Cheers,
Will

 

[Taw5106]

YAY fantastic news!