|
|
Post by julianna on Nov 24, 2016 14:29:47 GMT -5
Yes... most days we have cute little Quakers who keep us smiling but these last two days I have seen the monster inside Oscar. OMG the screaming is unreal and his actions are even more strange.
I would always bring Oscar to his condo in the bathroom for his afternoon fun but yesterday when I would bring him... he would literally jump out of my hands (when we were close enough) land in his condo head first (good thing there are soft facecloths in there). Half the time I thought for sure he would hurt himself. Then once inside he will turn around very quickly and try and attack me. Before he would just turn around and wait for me to give him some tissue to tear up. Once inside his screaming is unbearable. Constant .... and not just squawking... but high pitched screams over and over. It never stopped so I took him out and put him back in the living room. He would beg to go back in... so I tried again... and this time upon his attack of me... he got my finger and drew blood. I was not happy.
Even when he is in his cage in the kitchen he is acting strange. He usually does not go in this cage but will just play on it or sit there and watch me if I am in the kitchen. For two days now, he gets inside and climbs around the inside of the cage (even with all the doors open) and will go to the bottom and tear up the newspaper. He even dragged two of his tie-wraps into this cage to build a house.
There is no resting in this house because as soon as you try... he will start calling and unless I get up and move around... it does not stop.
Since I notice the house building in the kitchen cage I am presuming his hormones are at full force. Sometimes I really wish he had a girlfriend.
It is odd but I can really see it in his eyes. He is not the same little guy who snuggles up and wants to play. I hope this only lasts a few days... I miss my little guy.
|
|
|
|
Post by easttex on Nov 24, 2016 18:32:46 GMT -5
It's not impossible, of course, but it's kind of an odd time of year for his hormones to be spiking, in this part of the world. Has he been getting more "daylight" hours lately? I hope he calms down for you soon.  I know it's hard to deal with. |
|
|
|
Post by Caseysmom on Nov 24, 2016 20:58:25 GMT -5
Poor Oscar, I am glad Casey isn't a nest builder. I hope he settles for you. It gets dark so early these days, Though sometimes I don't turn the lights off too early for Casey. Most days she is inside her cage between 930-10
|
|
|
|
Post by siobhan on Nov 25, 2016 16:39:22 GMT -5
Indoor birds are subject to odd hormone attacks because they don't have the natural rhythms of the seasons to trigger them. Clyde had his worst hormone attack ever in November a few years ago. He would literally attack me every time he could get to me. It lasted a couple of weeks and then one day, boom, he was back to normal. It's no fun, but it IS temporary. Try putting him to bed earlier and letting him sleep later and don't pet him at all. They say don't pet a parrot except on its head so you don't trigger hormones, but when hormones are already raging, any touching seems to make things worse.
|
|
|
|
Post by biteybird on Nov 25, 2016 21:54:20 GMT -5
Bonnie is like this, on and off, all year...  Some days she is hell-bent on being aggressive (mostly to hubby) and other days she's all sweetness and light. Go figure. (?) |
|
|
|
Post by beccilouise on Nov 26, 2016 6:23:42 GMT -5
Maya is still young, so we've not experienced the full madness of hormones in an adult bird yet, but she does have days where she 'wakes up on the wrong side of the perch' and is mad and slightly aggressive all day. Then, the next day, she can be absolutely gorgeous again. I guess experiment with the amount of light Oscar gets, and make sure he has plenty of protein and not too much soft food. I'm sure he will be back to normal soon!
|
|
|
|
Post by aaron on Nov 26, 2016 13:18:52 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about your struggles with Oscar. Ugh! I agree with the others, it sounds like temporary hormones.
This tends to manifest itself in Cupcake as craziness rather than aggression, but if she gets too many daylight hours for too many days in a row, she gets nutty. Obsessive nest seeking behavior, constant mating call sorts of vocalization, obsessive grooming behavior (of us), and just generally not as fun or pleasant. Can't be trusted to stay in one place for even a few minutes. No increased aggression though, unless we allow her to spend too much time in a nest-like location, in which case she gets more defensive of that location, although still, not really aggressive. It takes almost a week of 12 hours of darkness a day to get her back to normal. Doesn't matter what time of year it is, this can happen at any time of year.
|
|
|
|
Post by julianna on Nov 26, 2016 16:04:48 GMT -5
Thank you all for your feedback. Yes the sun rises later and sets earlier here so that could be part of it. I have not changed his habits of being out of the cage all day long and the lights go on when it gets dark around 3:00 p.m. He usually goes to bed around 7:00 pm. and is up around 6:00 a.m.
Yesterday he bit me again and drew blood from the center of my thumb. Again it got infected and I had to drain it. Today he drew blood from the side of my finger. Both times is when he was going into his condo so I have stopped bringing him to the bathroom unless I think he wants a bath. Today he had a bath so that might quiet him down for a few hours.
I am going to have to invent something new to amuse him with and hopefully this will get his mind off his private parts... lol.
Thanks once again.
|
|
|
|
Post by beccilouise on Nov 26, 2016 17:48:02 GMT -5
Maybe he is just being unnecessarily hormonal around his condo. Silly Oscar and your poor fingers! I hope you're ok. I'm sure it will pass, but I think you're right, maybe it's time for a new amusement park! Best of luck, julianna. xx
|
|
|
|
Post by Crickets mom on Sept 6, 2017 22:00:59 GMT -5
I visited this site to ask of all you fellow Quaker parents: how often do they typically go throughthis hormonal distress? Cricket has been DNA tested so confirmed a female. 5 years old. Usually, I see the signs and make sure I'm regulating sleep hours and such. But sometimes it surprises us, typically with an attack out of nowhere! Varies according to human flock member. I call her a 3 year old with perpetual PMS when she's like this. She goes through this much more than twice a year. What's "normal"?
|
|
|
|
Post by biteybird on Sept 7, 2017 3:20:41 GMT -5
Hi Crickets mom, welcome to the forum. We have had Bonnie for just over 3.5 years (she was an 8-w-o baby when we got her) and we haven't figured out what is "normal" yet. Just now I went to let her out of the cage and she rushed up the door as I was holding it and tried to attack my hand. So I closed the door again and waited 5 minutes, then tried again, with the same result. So she didn't get to come out, as we know for sure when she is like that someone will get badly bitten. Funnily enough, she protested just a bit, but seems happy in there. The only clue I had prior was - this morning she was squawking non-stop for half an hour after my husband took her from her sleeping cage to her day cage. So I'm wondering if the noise is indicative of the mood/aggressiveness she's been showing later in the day. Bonnie generally has 1 or 2 "good" days followed by 1 or 2 "feral" days...but we still can't predict which one is coming. I've heard it said many times that all quakers are bi-polar. Sorry I can't be of more help. We've just learnt to live with it, but I would love to figure it out. We had a hormone implant put in by the vet, but the 6-month one really only lasts 4 months and she is due for a new one. We did notice quite an improvement after the implant and I will take her back to get another. This time I'll get the 12-month one (although it will probably only last 8). We'll see. |
|
I know it's hard to deal with. 
