What does she want?!?! Advice Please!

[LegendClappitao]

I have an 8 month sun named Phoebe. I’m getting a hang of her behaviors and reading them and figuring out what she wants.

But occasionally I just can’t figure out what to do at all. This morning was one of those times.

All morning Phoebe seemed like she wanted “something”. I could see that she wanted something. She would frantically scream now and then and open and flap her wings occasionally if I walked around with her.

I’m trying not to let her train me to put her in her cage, so I brought her around to all the things I thought she wanted. Food, water, toys, foraging tray, training, I even got her to take a bath. But none of it seemed to be what she wanted.

The whole morning she wasn’t as affectionate as usual, didn’t seem to trust me the same way she usually does every morning. It’s not like she wouldn’t let me pet her or anything, she uncharacteristically avoided me when I put her on a table and refused to listen when she would otherwise always do so. A few times during training she’d ignore and lean away from me while looking like she’s about to jump somewhere, which isn’t something she usually does.

I caved and brought her into the room with her cage, and she started screaming and flapping a ton. I put her on the training perch to maybe get her focus on something else, but she was just freaked out the whole time.

I went to put her in her cage and she flapped for a good 10 seconds on my hand as I brought her closer, then she jumped in and ran to the back corner of her cage and screamed. She’d pace back and forth in the cage and wouldn’t get near my hands.

I haven’t done anything that would make her afraid of my hands.

When she got inside, she bit a toy a couple times, ran/climbed around, and ate food and drank water. She used to eat and drink outside her cage too but she hasn’t in a few days, she has only wanted to eat in her cage for some reason.

I left her alone for a bit and perked back in the room to see her preening.

I only have one idea, I usually have her out for the first 2-3 hours I’m awake, then I’ll put her in her cage for an hour or so and get her out again after that. Today I had her out longer than usual, by this time I’d have put her in her cage again. Is she wanting her cage so badly because the routine was broken?

Or could she be moody because of hormones?

Other than that, I have no clue what she wanted or why.

Any advice is appreciated!!

 

[LegendClappitao]

This is how she keeps hiding in the corner

 

[DonnaBudgie]

She's too young for hormones. I have no idea what Phoebe wanted, and agree that it's frustrating for all when our birds (and other critters) want something but can't speak our language to tell us what it is. I recently read an article about training horses to communicate their needs using symbols (NIBO HorseVoice Project), like one symbol would mean blanket, another food, water, stall, outside, etc. Horses would indicate what they wanted by some head motion at the symbol. It said horses are trainable like this and it makes for happier horses and horse owners. If horses can be trained like this surely parrots can be, too.
I hope someone has better insight than I do about how to figure out what Phoebe was trying to tell you.

 

[LegendClappitao]

She's too young for hormones. I have no idea what Phoebe wanted, and agree that it's frustrating for all when our birds (and other critters) want something but can't speak our language to tell us what it is. I recently read an article about training horses to communicate their needs using symbols (NIBO HorseVoice Project), like one symbol would mean blanket, another food, water, stall, outside, etc. Horses would indicate what they wanted by some head motion at the symbol. It said horses are trainable like this and it makes for happier horses and horse owners. If horses can be trained like this surely parrots can be, too.
I hope someone has better insight than I do about how to figure out what Phoebe was trying to tell you.

Thank you! I’m trying so hard to read her haha

 

[nkrbkr]

It could be a schedule thing, if she’s expecting to be in her cage by that time. If she has a pretty regular schedule of when she does certain things, it wouldn’t surprise me. I know a lot of people say that parrots need a strict schedule, and I agree…sort of. They are creatures of habit. We have a daily schedule that we adhere to, more or less, at our house. That said, I’ve also heard it’s good to switch things up a little bit here and there, so it’s not a total shock and as stressful to them if something happens outside of their daily routine. I personally agree with this, and practice it with my birds. We have a rough daily schedule…wake up time, meal times, out of cage time, training times, bedtime…but I switch things up slightly daily. I think it helps them to be a bit more resilient in the event unexpected changes happen in life.

 

[LegendClappitao]

It could be a schedule thing, if she’s expecting to be in her cage by that time. If she has a pretty regular schedule of when she does certain things, it wouldn’t surprise me. I know a lot of people say that parrots need a strict schedule, and I agree…sort of. They are creatures of habit. We have a daily schedule that we adhere to, more or less, at our house. That said, I’ve also heard it’s good to switch things up a little bit here and there, so it’s not a total shock and as stressful to them if something happens outside of their daily routine. I personally agree with this, and practice it with my birds. We have a rough daily schedule…wake up time, meal times, out of cage time, training times, bedtime…but I switch things up slightly daily. I think it helps them to be a bit more resilient in the event unexpected changes happen in life.

Okay! All this did happen after she’s normally in her cage. I think that’s probably what caused it, I’ll make a schedule and work on it with her! Thank you

 

[nkrbkr]

You’re welcome. I would just try to be a bit relaxed with it. For example, most days I wake my birds at 9am and feed them. Other days, it’s closer to 9:30 or 10. Some days they go to bed a little later than normal. Sometimes, I’ll train two or three times a day vs. one, or they’ll be out of cage for longer. We have our general schedule, but it’s flexible. I find that they’re both pretty easygoing and forgiving, and I think the loose schedule helps. Except bedtime for my lovebird. He gets very bossy at 8pm sharp…he thinks he must go to bed then. Lol