The season is changing, spring has sprung for Amigo!

[Mare Miller]

Amigo has been super busy making his hole in the tree presentable for a mate. Poor guy, I feel bad for him, there are no wild female cockatoos in the area. So...once again, I am the object of his desire, poor me! He has been courting me for about a week now. I quickly change the subject and we get on to more recreational things, like walks, sweeping the deck, working the ground for the garden, etc.

Is anyone else having this problem? If so, how do you handle it?

 

[roxynoodle]

Pete is the first large male bird I've had, so I, too, have had my first experience with being courted. He decided the first week he was here that I would do fine. If he starts doing mating dances or other hormonal behavior, I ignore him. If he was on me, I'd put him on his cage or play gym and ignore him until the mood passed. He was also trying to get me to come nest with him in the bottom corner of his cage. He started using this deep, Don Juan voice and saying, "Hello, dear. Come here." It would have been funny if I wasn't worried about it, lol! The ignoring him seemed to work. He next turned his amours on Merlin, who also ignored him. Now he's coming out of his hormonal season, although last week he did decide to regurgitate and put it in my hand. But, that was all he did so I just wiped my hand off on some tissue and wiped off his beak.

 

[lexx510]

Guava has been attempting to mate with me for the past few months, as well. I've found that petting her in just about any place other than her head seems to "turn her on." Needless to say, I now stick to head rubs and avoid touching her back or belly.

 

[Mare Miller]

Amigo can be hard to ignore, luckily, he has ADD. As I recall...last year we went through this just in the spring through early summer months. Is this something that occurs year round? Do domestic birds breed year round?

 

[roxynoodle]

The answer is yes. Sorry! I thought on the large ones that after age 30 or so it winds down but people on a Grey forum I go on claim they have birds in their 40s that are still very hormonal and even breeding.

 

[luvmytooo]

Oh nooo, that so sad for Amigo But , you are his "sunshine" now Mare Miller , lol.
I shouldnt laugh , I will more then likely be going through such stages with Yoshi soon. But it must be extra hard with a larger bird like Amigo !
Well ,like Roxy mentioned about the regurgitating , all you can do is carry extra tissues around with you and ignore him , lol. ( sorry I'm not helping )

 

[Mare Miller]

Thanks luvmytooo, yeah...you're not helping! When Amigo is in the house he will insist on being right next to me, tucked under an arm and then he makes these noises that sound like question marks! I've never witnessed regurgitation, I guess I have something to look forward to.

 

[MikeyTN]

All Cockatoos have ADD...lol...

Java have been like that towards me BUT he's more aggressive then Amigo is. IF I'm not paying attention, he bites. Paying attention to some other birds or anything else other then him, he screams. I can not trust him being out with another bird cause I seriously think he would kill them if he gets ahold of them. He already did the fly attack towards my partner already so when Java is out, I am in the room alone with him. He didn't do that when I went to visit him the first time, he took onto me right away and started humping my arm, but ever since he came home with me, it's like I am his and only his. No one is allowed to be near me or on me. So I usually leave the room if I have another bird with me just so that he couldn't see me with another bird. So lately I have been ignoring him when he does his crazy thing as I can usually tell if he can be handled or not by his attitude. By me ignoring him when he's being crazy seems to calm him down a bit when he knows he gets no where with me when he's like that. Not screaming as much either. So we'll see how long that last.....

 

[luvmytooo]

Oh joy , this is what I may have to look forward to with Yoshi when he matures ...sigh.

 

[roxynoodle]

Yes, I'm very happy that Pete does not scream. I guess a lot of male amazons scream for hours a day, for months, when they are hormonal. I knew from his previous owner telling me he gave a macaw to a breeder when she got hormonal and he couldn't deal with her that Pete must not be bad at all. He's also rather up there in years so I bet he is not as bad as when he was younger. But, I've dealt with him now for his entire breeding season and nothing was awful. I just didn't make any production over the regurgitating, and calmly wiped it up, and nothing more happened that day. I think all I said was, "Oh, Petey, you need your nutrition, and I'm fine, really."

 

[luvmytooo]

Roxy , you are too funny , lol.

 

[Molcan2]

Lonely male U2 in California meet lonely female M2 in Florida. Breeding season is HORRIBLE. Rome has picked me as her mate and tries to breed with me all the time. I was told the season is from Nov-Mar. Rome has been screaming a lot more (I think half frustrated and half calling for a mate), almost unbearable at times. She will regurge for me sometimes as well. Luckily she isn't aggressive, just loud. Cant wait for it to be over. :11:

 

[luvmytooo]

Oh nooo.....online dating for birds ! lololol.

 

[Mare Miller]

haha, lovemytoo, yes Molcan2 and I need to do skype for our birds! But, alas...that would be a tease.

The first year I set Amigo to free flight he discovered a hole in one of the oaks off the side of our deck. He kicked all the woodpeckers out and spent what seemed like a couple months on modifying the hole to his liking, clipping all small branches, leaves and tree beauty, away from his "nest" till he had some large cockatoo perches around this hole in the tree. To this day it's his favorite tree.

After he was happy with his work, he went hunting for a mate. It was heartbreaking to watch and hear. He flew the valley calling and calling but always came home alone. He finally settled on me, sorry Amigo, so sorry...

 

[luvmytooo]

Oh that is so freakin sad !!! Stop it !!!

 

[Mare Miller]

Yes, very sad for him and me. He has acclimated to what it is. I often think about bringing in more cockatoos to our territory, some day...may be in our future...smile

 

[Luna]

Amigo has been super busy making his hole in the tree presentable for a mate. Poor guy, I feel bad for him, there are no wild female cockatoos in the area. So...once again, I am the object of his desire, poor me! He has been courting me for about a week now. I quickly change the subject and we get on to more recreational things, like walks, sweeping the deck, working the ground for the garden, etc.

Is anyone else having this problem? If so, how do you handle it?

Hi i'm glade they can not become ferral here. I have empathy for his condition and would orobably purchase a parent rais female for his consideration. Enjoy his company. D.D.

 

[Mare Miller]

Thanks Luna, what are your thoughts on this. I feel like Amigo will shun me if he has a mate, I'm thinking, yes..yes he will, and a parent raised bird would probably not accept me, especially if she were to meet Amigo, he is sooo handsome!

But...I am willing to give him that. I am willing to let him be happy.

 

[roxynoodle]

Well, I'm sure all of our parrots would like to have mates. But, yes, they often lose interest in people afterwards. So I guess it's a personal decision: let them stay your companion or let them do what nature intends for them to do.

Also bear in mind if Amigo doesn't choose her, he may not want her. I would take him with me to look at females and let the birds decide if they want to hook up. Like us, they tend to be choosy about their lifetime partner.

As for parent raised, well, I found out my Pete is wild caught. However I don't know at what age. He is very imprinted on people now though. I don't know if that is due to many years in captivity (he's 29) or because he was caught young. I'm sure he was at least pretty young, but I don't know if he was actually removed from a nest.

 

[Mare Miller]

Roxy, you were definitely a wise ol' owl in your past life! I'm not planning on making any sudden changes with Amigo, just daydreaming. Fear is what stops me in my tracks, I would not be able to live with myself if something happened to a bird I brought in and/or if something happened to Amigo because of this radical inclination of mine.

So...for now, I'm still just gonna sleep on it.