I have to admit that I chuckle when I read the stories about the weird bird behaviors going on at this time of year. I think I chuckle out of relief that I’m not the only one with strange birds. This year has produced some funny stories. One friend tells me that her greater sulpher crested cockatoo unexpectedly belted out a chorus of “Splish Splash I Was Taking A Bath” at 3am a few nights ago and then quietly went back to sleep. Another friend watch with amusement as her black capped caique carried her pellets, one at a time, to the opposite side of her cage, pushed the pellet through the bars of the cage and joyously watched as it dropped to the floor. She cackled with laughter and repeated this activity until the bowl was empty. Another report tells of a cockatiel’s daily seed baths.
Why do they act so bizarre during this time of year? Because breeding season has begun and your normally level headed parrot is awash with hormones, giving your teenagers a run for their money in the weird department. Since making sense of the strange behavior is never going to happen (it’s hard to call an early morning serenade about cleanliness a breeding behavior), we can only try to understand the fact that there will be oddities come springtime.
My birds, in fact, begin their journey in January. It’s really quite easy to understand the physiological changes that happen to a bird. Birds are able to see lightwave patterns that we mere humans cannot. They are able to tell in advance of the onset of spring that the days are getting longer and that breeding season is approaching. Soon, the weather starts to get warmer and the spring rains arrive. Spring rains stimulate the plant growth telling birds that food will soon be plentiful. All of these circumstances are ideal for raising a family and a bird will become charged with hormones, nests are prepared and breeding begins. When hatched, the chicks will be doted on by their proud parents, feeding them regularly with foods they have gathered and stored in their crops.
Our birds are affected by the same stimuli that promotes breeding in the wild. They inclined to follow the rules that nature sets forth for every bird and will behave accordingly in our homes. Sometimes, though, the behaviors are not just funny and strange. Sometimes, our typically docile parrots will become cage territorial and aggressive. Sometimes the females begin laying clutches of infertile eggs to the point where her health is at risk. To keep everybody safe and sane, we need to look at our bird’s environment and eliminate the obvious triggers that bring on spring behaviors.
When trying to eliminate some breeding behaviors, it helps to take a look at the springtime practices and activities of the wild birds. Here are some things typical in the wild bird’s environment during breeding season, and those things that our parrots might find as equivalent in our homes that act as triggers to breeding behaviors:
- Nesting sites: Parrots are tree cavity dwellers. This means that our birds are going to be heading for any dark, secluded areas they can find. Cabinets and closets, beneath furniture and even a dark corner will do nicely as a nesting site for indoor birds. If your bird enjoys playing in paper bags and boxes, I recommend that you do not offer them at this time of year. Since our birds cages are their homes, and therefore their nests, it is wise to be careful when you are cleaning, feeding or simply reaching in for your bird. Many parrots, some species more than others, are inclined to defend their nests at this time of year.
- Nest lining: When a nesting site is constructed, it is lined with soft materials made from wood and plants. If you are finding your bird to be very hormonal, you might want to limit, or eliminate in some cases, shreddable and wood toys from the cage and play areas and replace them with non-destructible toys for a time. If you see your bird walking behind the drapes with a block of wood, watch out! Expect him to retaliate when you try to remove him.
- Spring rains: I am reluctant to tell someone to avoid bathing their birds, but a warm shower or misting can sometimes further a bird’s breeding mood. If you are noticing particularly hormonal behavior on a given day, put the bath off until the next day.
- Warmer and longer days: Well, to be honest there is a limit to what we can do about this. We can’t control seasonal changes, but we can control the climate in the house to a degree. During the spring, your bird should have 10-12 hours of darkness each day to offset the lengthening daylight hours. Although there isn’t too much discussion on temperature, I tend to think that maintaining a constant temperature in the house might be the best way of keeping an awareness of the rising mercury levels from our indoor birds.
- Breeding: Your bird is in breeding mode, and sexual activity is on his or her mind. Please be very careful where and how you touch your bird at this time. Limit your affection to the head and neck areas only. This is not the time to play tickle games with your bird. You will stimulate him and he will begin to regard you as a potential mate. You don’t want to be around when he finally realizes that you aren’t going to put out.
- Chick feeding: The parenting birds will feed, and then regurgitate their meal to their young. As imagined, it is warm and mushy. Serving these types of foods to hormonal birds is also a trigger for breeding behavior and you will want to provide less mashes and soft cooked foods. Opt, instead, for raw veggies. You may find that your bird tries to regurgitate for you. It means he loves you. Tell him you would prefer jewelry.
Understanding plays a big role in how well we get through these days. Compassion, patience and caution are the key words to keep in mind. Know that some birds respond to breeding stimuli more intensely than others and each year will be different from the last. It is important that you take these seasonal changes in stride and don’t overact to off behavior. While breeding behaviors will pass with time, some unwanted behaviors learned in the process might not.
Patty Jourgensen specializes in avian health, behavior and nutrition and has been working with and caring for rescue birds since 1987.
42 comments
@ Samantha, Please consider clipping your Sunny’s wings this time of the year! This will stop the agressive behavior towards your husband. Sunny feels like the alfa male right now and is trying to drive his competition away from you-his mate. If you clip him he will settle down considerably. It’ll probably solve our problem. Don’t feel sorry for him, he’ll be fine. I have a sun conure named Sunny as well! Good luck and I hope you consider my advice. It will work.
We have 4 parrots, all males. This time of the year I uncover them late and turn their lights on late (9:00 am). I also turn them off early like it was still winter (4:00 pm). I still cover them at 7:00 pm like I do all winter. Though my green cheek is cage agressive this time of the year, it’s not bad, the others are fairly calm. Our Goffins is a little more nippy but really not much. He is a rescue and barbers this time of the year. It could be the season, but we don’t know since this behavior was already established. We just feed him more calcium and protien so he’ll be better able to grow his feathers back around June. I don’t notice any more noise, though my two conures love to shred the news paper on the bottom of their cages. I think the lighting control works pretty well for us.
My male yellow naped Amazon- normally a loving bird – turns into an aggressive unpredictable fiend!!! I have endured many severe bites as a result. Nowadays when he starts his attacks I put on the safety specs, mask, and baseball cap when he is let out of his cage. It dosen’t look pretty but it does offer a degree of protection!!
question I have a male military mccaw, and shortly will have an umbrella cockatoo,sex unknow right now. Both have their own cages of course. Will they become friends? thanks for your help….Marge
My goffin has a ring made of fabric. He has been chewing up all the wood he can in his cage and placing it in this ring and anything else he can put there. We really believe he is a male. Do the males make the nests? Is this what he is doing?
Patty, Thanks so much for all the info you put out. I am a rookie when it comes to my blue and gold Ozzie. I don’t get to spend much time with him. Actually he is not mine, but I have been Babysitting for months now. Your posts are really helping. I don’ t think he eats enough and lately he has been very aggressives. This could explain that behavior. Thanks again.
I am the owner of a blue and gold macaw (he is 4 years old and I am his 3rd owner), he was very aggressive when I first had him, but I have prided myself on how well his aggression hasdiminished in the year that I have had him. That was until the clocks went forward last week, he has become very aggressive again and took a massive chunk out of my hand a couple of days ago and adopting the naughty behaviour he original had when I first had him. That will teach me to be smug, roll on summer !!!!
I use Pluck No More from Kings Cages on a regular basis. When I stop using it, my bird screams, so I have him on a capful daily. I change his water right before he goes to bed, and it stays clean through the night. He soaks all his dried fruits in his water, and it is very messy by that evening, but he goes through a lot of water. My husband can tell when I quit using this miracle formula, and begs me to order more quickly. I know I sound like an ad for the stuff, but I SWEAR if you use it EVERYDAY, it will make a difference. Buy a three month supply, and see if it doesn’t help! My blue and gold used to scream all day long, and now I seldom hear a scream at all!
i have 8 caiques sooooo it should be interesting .so far it just playing and preening.my one little guy has always thought that i was his mate and the others were our children.he has not gone totally hormonly yet but who can say.
My 30-year old LSCC acted seasonal for the first time that I am aware of this year. He began to make it his mission, rather than merely a hobby, to try to bite me, and to challenge me when I approached his playstand. This only started after we returned from a 2-week vacation, during which he was boarded with several other birds. The difference this year was that our vacation was a month later than usual, so I am surmising that he got stirred up hormonally by being with other birds during the spring season—though the boarding room has no windows… Anyway, after about 2 weeks, he seems to have decided to return grab-at-the-finger to hobby status. I have noticed this year that whenever I move the cage into the sunshine for a change of scene, he begins to shred paper, no doubt also a hormonal behaviour. Birds is fun!
I inherit a pair of Yellow Crown Amazons. They have already done their thing, she laid her four eggs, and all were healthy babies. These two birds are fairly young, I was wondering how many years can they produced fertile eggs? I know these birds can live a long life, but I can’t imagine they are able to produce fertile eggs the entire time.
My male sulphur crested cockatoo gets very protective of me (his female owner) in Spring – so much so that he attacks my husband whenever he comes near….
My Sun Conure – Sunny – attacks my husband if he enters the room with me and Sunny. We’ve tried various methods to stop this behaviour but to no avail. Sunny flies at my husband’s face, especially his eyes, and also drags his claws over my husband’s head when flying over him. We hope the end of the breeding season comes soon!!!!!!
Make sure your females get lots and lots of calcium in the spring!!! Our lovebird uses a cuttle bone, but we get an extra rx supplement from the vet when she gets in breeding mode. She lays an egg pretty much every year, and no amount of the above advice has kept her from doing it. I do everything suggested above and I intervene in any vent rubbing I see, but to no avail. Having extra calcium ensures she can lay an egg safely, and then we just leave it in her cage for awhile after she has it. She gets to have her one egg for awhile and then she is over it. But having extra calcium in the diet is key for safe egg laying, Without it, the egg will bind and that is very life threatening.
I now have 2 green cheek conures. They fight when they are near each other, but respect me enough to let be break up the fights with bare hands. Spring has not inspired these two to get along any better, I agree completely with how the birds will protect their cages at this time of the year. I now let them decide if they want out of the cage, and have place a perch on the outside of the cage. I wait until they go to that outside perch before asking them to “step up”. This eliminates the potential for a bite if I had to put my hand in the cage. I find that avoiding the bite by understanding the bird’s behaviour is a great way to get along with my little friends, Beans and Marly. Thank you for the insight as to “why” the behaviour is different.
I have rehomed a blue fronted amazon last year but had greys before. This blue fronted amazon is tempramental at the best of times but is even worse now. He just cant be trusted and so he has to spend alot of time in his cage even though he has a big play gym and stand. I wish I could do something about this have been doing what you suggest but has not mellowed him out yet.
Hi Shaunna, Ignore the bite and after a minute put the bird in the cage if you feel it’s necessary. You don’t want to pick the bird up directly after the bite because it will be perceived as a reward (your physical attention) for the bite. Telling a bird “no” is verbal attention and holding the beak is a form of punishment and will earn you another bite! Punishment does not work with birds, it just leads to mistrust and further issues. Try to ignore the bite, especially during this time of year. It’s really best not to make a big deal of the misbehavior because it will pass when the breeding season ends. Patty
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