My 12 year old macaw is 6 weeks into this years hormone thing. The closest thing I can compare it to is a bird crack head. Constant bowing and yelling and non stop nervous movement. This is the worst one ever for her. We live in a small travel trailer and it’s unbearable at times. The best thing for me is to get on this type site and thread and read about others nightmares. At times it’s hard for me to believe that people actually have these birds for pets. It’s that bad. Good luck. They will come out of it sooner or later.

Hello i live in australia, im a longtime pet parrot and macaw mom, living in a 40 feet bus and running a educational show here down under where i go to schools, age care centers, venues etc ( i bought a smaller 7 meter coaster as i need to consider being on the road with my 8 parrots as noice levels might make australian counsil to remove my birds due to noise levels Strict regulations here down under . I have 8 parrots in total My 2 three year old macaws Two 2 1/2 year old amazones 1 galah ( my only girl) 1 eclectus parrot 1 alexandrian parrot 1 sulphur crested cockatoo ( wanted to get a black redtail cockatoo again like in the past ) My two macaws a greenwing and my blue&gold getting on 3 years old and i know in the hormonal stage, My greenwing has bitten me hard within a matter of hours , my sweet boy has gone ?? I cried as im emotionally so sad and took it personally, im happy to read i shouldn’t ! But how can i have them on kids arms eating sunflower seeds from the hand if they are hormonal ?? How long does this last in this country, below the equator?? Your summers are our winters Will they be hormonal year round ? My cat screamed out in her heat period every 6 weeks or so, pls dont tell me my macaws will be hormonal always too Hot humid weather always In winter bit less hot less humid but still hot. Does raining season has an effect too.? HELP Macaws are quite rare here so education about s american birds is so wanted . They are soooo expensive here in oz ($5000 blue& gold $9000 greenwing) I.want to keep my birds .! And educate most parrots do tricks. BUT here in the high north tropics near cairns its always hot , were in winter and its still 28 celcious and 19 over night , I surely want to look forward again to non hormonal birds and sweet hearts they " were" So emotional about it all!! Please help?? Im reading all your material and it helps a bit, But will there be an end to this screaming and biting ??

Showers and naps help mine :)

My problem is that is do not know what is causing my Greenwing to be hormonal so your advice to “eliminating those things in the environment that trigger the production of hormones to begin with”. is hard to follow. How do you know what is the cause?

Thanks for the reminder. I’ve had Greenjeans for 25 years (his whole life) and he’s a big strong Macaw. He’s been in such a horrible mood for a week or two that I have to keep him in his room more than usual. He’s out of his cage, has a large manzanita tree and lots of toys and seems better NOT being around me. Springtime is definitely his cranky time of year :-(

every time i approach my green wings cage he wants to attack me, so tired of this new behavior it has been going on for a few months though, not sure if this is hormonal or not.

Thank you so much for this article! I am bird mom to a very strong willed 10 year old Blue and Gold male, a very strong willed 8 year old Yellow Naped Amazon male, a very loving, easy going 4 year old Panama female and a stubborn 10 year old Cockatiel female. I am not a new bird mom. I’ve had my babies probably 8-9 years. All of my babies are going through this season with different behaviors. Most of which are barely noticeable or very easily ignored. Most, not all. My B&G is trying every ounce of patience I have this year. It has been so frustrating because his screaming, constantly trying to eat my face off and general state of irritation has just about broke my heart! He’s normally such a love bug even though he’s so strong willed. So to protect myself from his desire to eat my face off and to control some of the screaming, I’ve been keeping him in his cage more and partially covering or completely much earlier than usual. I’ve been feeling so guilty!! There aren’t other bird parents near to commiserate with so I totally felt alone and guilty! Your article reminded me this will pass, again! It was such a relief to be reminded I’m not a terrible bird mom and my baby isn’t the only one who has turned into a demon bird and most importantly.. This will pass! Thanks again!

Oh my goodness, you mean that my blue and Gold macaw isn’t the horrible little girl my husband says she is…lol Ok he says she is a spoiled brat and I think she has a crush on him because she is always pulling his hair and running over to get to him. I hope its just hormones because she is screaming now also and the only thing she wants is to be out and on us all the time. We cant do anything without her complaining and I feel so bad for her. I feel even worse for my husband who she is driving crazy, she is my bird and I love her to death but she needs to settle down soon or I think its her or my husband in the loony house. Oh did I mention to top it off we live in our motorhome so very small space and her cage is is huge so that’s not a problem. Ever buy a motorhome and in the conversation its all about if you can fit a huge cage in it? That’s what I did, I bought a motorhome based on the fact her large house cage would fit nicely..lol See she is spoiled with loads of fresh veggies and fruit, and healthy pellets. I just don’t know what to do, any suggestions would be so greatly welcomed. Thanks

Well today my Tiel sneaked out of his cage as I was putting a treat in. He bit me on the lip when he saw mail in my hand, which sets him off terribly. There is no way lately that he allows me to interact with him in play. He knows that when he bites I place him back in cage immediately and he attacks my hand and bites down hard. He refused to perch, so I allow him to leave his cage at will. But getting him back into cage after hours (when he should be starving to eat) of playing becomes a bloody show down for me. I love my little guy, but don’t know how to win him over again. Please help. I don’t want to cry every time this tift between Vinny and me happens. I get so depressed I just don’t know which way to turn. Thank you in advance for your much needed and kind advice. Sincerely, Denise L Valentini

I have a few bent fork tines now!

Thanks Patty….. I really needed to read this now. My girl Alexandrine Taki, is driving me nuts with her screaming, destructive behaviour and bad temper. When I find my patience running low, I just calmly put her back in her cage. She yells for a few minutes and quietens down…. has her food and chews up a toy! Bless you for these encouraging points….<3

Jennifer Yen, its funny you mention your Alexandrine, because mine seems to be losing her mind lately too. Im really hoping its a seasonal thing and will subside shortly, some days she is borderline CRAZY!

Thanks for the reassurance. I guess I can stay home now instead of going to the looney bin ;)

Our Too’ s are new to us. Just under two months. One Coffin about 2 yrs old and one Umbrella about 11 yrs old. I thought things were going pretty well unroll this week. Spring has really hit my U2 now! But we will get through it. I already adore them. But…… how long does this usually last!?!

We have just inherited my mother’s muloccan cockatoo. I am an experienced parrot owner but have never encountered this hormonal behavior before. Its a bit daunting to be sure. Our biggest problem is that we live in a mobile home park. Luckily we only have a neighbor on one side and another across the street. However we can’t let the screaming continue,but need to stop it immediately. I have been squirting him with water, or at times, just holding up the bottle and he stop. Your article is very informative and I will start to make some changes. Removing the paper from his cage will be the first and easiest step! Thank you for your valuable lessons!!

Hi all, does this go for African Grey females as well, as I am the slave (willingly of course ) of two female African Greys aged two (almost three) years and they are driving me nuts… The moodswings I cannot always keep up with and the worst of all is that they are making turns on behaving like lunatics, they are normally very well behaved, well spoken and very good girls, but boy, oh boy! When the mood strikes, it strikes well! Any advice on this… Anyone please? Greetings from desparate mummy.

Thank you for your post…I really needed this…my cockatiel has attacked me three times now and drawn blood from my ear…this happens every time his wings have grown bk and I find getting him clipped stops this. I do agree with u that it is hormonal but it’s left me feeling frightened of him.so for now he’s in his cage until the vets appointment.

Hi Jamie, we have a beautiful gallah named spencer, he is 7 months old and seems to learn pretty quick, however he has recently taken to sitting on the shoulder or upper arm and flipping himself over, as he does this he then goes nuts and bites and hangs on biting for dear life. he seems to do this mainly with 1 of us, how do we stop this biting, initially it doesnt seem intentional but my partner has loads of nip bruisings on her arms from spencer abuse lol. Another small trait he has is if he knows he’s going back to his cage, he will hide himself behind my head and if you put your hand up he will make a hissing sound and will lunge nip, he doesnt do this all the time, but we dont want it to become something he does regularly. Thanks in advance bettina.

Thanks for all your good articles and snippets guys!!

I have a U2 and he is a hand full when he gets like this. This helped me to understand what they are going through and how I can handle this a little better. I had figured some of this out on my own but you did give me some more helpfull ideas also and understanding Thank You

My DYH Amazon male has terrible hormone issues. He is 12 yrs now. I was hoping he would retire the yearly hormone problem. He will out of nowhere bite the forearm by quickly ducking his head low between his legs and nails you. Bam no reason. Deep deep punctures . He got me at the skin between the thumb and index finger his beaks went right through. He was not showing any bad behavior that day. All it took was for him to be perched on my left hand and suddenly did not like what I reached for with my right hand and he reached down and took a chunk out of me. He was always so good in the past. I had him in an educational mobile pet show I ran. He performed tricks and talked a comedy routine as I presented educational information about parrots. As I would be talking to the audience he be saying things cracker, what are you doing, truck ride. He was funny. Maybe he misses the shows. We had to stop after I had a car wreck and could no longer run the pet shows.