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Post by biteybird on Jul 25, 2014 23:03:53 GMT -5
Suddenly, just in the last couple of weeks, our 7-8 month-old quaker parrot (Bonnie) has started wiping her beak really hard on my husband's jeans. She also tries to do it on his neck and arms, but she likes to do it on denim the most. I wonder if she is trying to sharpen her beak. I put a calcium perch in her cage and showed it to her, but she just looked at it dismissively and seemed unimpressed. She's continuing to swipe her beak really hard all over us and our clothes. Any advice, anyone? |
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Post by Caseysmom on Jul 26, 2014 8:14:24 GMT -5
It might be just a thing they do, after she eats Casey likes to wipe her beak on the bars or perches. Maybe others will have other ideas
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Post by Sharyn and Mr P on Jul 26, 2014 8:21:45 GMT -5
Mr P wipes his beak on my arm if I'm holding his treat for him, especially banana. For whatever reason he HATES to have a dirty beak!
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Post by cnyguy on Jul 26, 2014 19:57:44 GMT -5
Ralph is much like Mr. P.-- he doesn't like a messy beak either, and will wipe it on his rope perch, or on my shirt when he's out of his cage. Parrots' beaks are very sensitive, so there's a chance that rubbing her beak on denim may just feel good to Bonnie.  |
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Post by biteybird on Jul 26, 2014 21:12:19 GMT -5
My sister was sitting with Her Rudeness last night. She moved up my sister's trousers going WIPE WIPE, then jumped on her arm and went WIPE WIPE, then jumped up to her hair...well, you get the idea. It is kind of cute, though! My sister got the calcium perch out of the cage and Bonnie did actually look at it and tried an experimental beak wipe. Then she got distracted and started nibbling and playing with it like a toy. Oh well, at least she is now noticing it. Thanks all!  |
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Post by biteybird on Jul 29, 2014 4:20:00 GMT -5
Ok, Bonnie is actually SCRAPING her beak on us, not just wiping the food off it. It's quite different to what she does just after eating a sticky food. I've put a piece of cuttlefish in her cage but she ignores it. I've got calcium perches in there and she's not that interested. I think she's trying to sharpen her beak but doesn't know what to use...the plot thickens!
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Post by easttex on Jul 29, 2014 4:36:29 GMT -5
You mentioned giving her a calcium perch, but I wonder if she might prefer something more solid to use. One of the perches in both of my birds' cages is a kind of nubbly concrete. Some people don't like them, fearing it will be too hard on their feet, and I wouldn't use them as the only perching option, but I've had no problem with them. In my opinion, a little on the large side is better than too small, so they can balance without wrapping too tightly. Both birds hone their beaks on them.
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Post by biteybird on Jul 29, 2014 6:43:23 GMT -5
Thanks easttex, I'll trot off to Big W and/or some pet supply shops to locate some! We'll see what happens...hopefully impending beak-honing |
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Post by Sharyn and Mr P on Jul 29, 2014 7:04:59 GMT -5
We have the type of perch that Easttex uses, nubby kinda concrete. I keep one perch like that in Mr P's cage, the rest are natural wood. I keep it close to Mr P's food dish so that is the one he uses to access his food. I've had it in his cage since day 1 and have not noticed any ill affects from it. He does use it to wipe his beak and it seems to keep his nails from growing overlong.
Mr P's is overly large rather than quaker sized
Good idea!
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Post by benegesserit on Jul 29, 2014 20:46:57 GMT -5
Happy does this to test the texture and noise making properties of fabrics and surfaces. Our coathooks are very close to her cage, and she's discovered that my children's winter coats make wonderful 'zip zip zip' noises. Our couch sounds like "scruch scruch scruch." She then mimics the noises that her beak makes on the fabric. She does it with the tip of her beak, opening and closing it against the fabric, much like a human teen uses their thumbnail against their top teeth to make noise.
You can do the same thing with your fingernail, for instance, on denim. Denim has very large weave and makes great noise!
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Post by biteybird on Aug 2, 2014 0:00:16 GMT -5
I've noticed that when she is getting food off her beak she swipes it sideways, but with the scraping she cranes her head forward and puts the tip of her beak down on the surface (usually our clothes , then drags her beak straight backwards quickly. So the two techniques are really different. They are very interesting creatures, these quakers! |
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Post by siobhan on Aug 2, 2014 16:03:55 GMT -5
All my birds do this, including my starling. My tiel Greta likes to have her beak rubbed and that's the only touching Jade will allow, is beak stroking. So they do just like the sensation, on top of wiping it off after eating.
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