holly
Hatchling
Posts: 25 
|
Post by holly on Aug 16, 2015 2:26:48 GMT -5
Hello! I had actually got on here for a wee update on her food diet, she's on hard food  ! But now I noticed some odd behaviors from the past few days.. Actually just put 2 and 2 together..
After she's been out for a spell following my around, she sits in the middle of the cage floor. Which is odd by itself since if the door is open she's chasing me, and if its closed she usually jumps from perch to perch(unless shredding some toy).
She then puffs up all cute like, all over her body, and starts gathering toys and toy pieces and pulls them into a circle around her.. She fusses over this circle while chattering to herself, no squawks, chirps, or whistles of any kind. All the while shaking her lil' tail to and fro.
Now for the past few days its been business as usual, she let me change her food, her water, she let me switch out her daily toys, and she let me pet her anytime(even during this odd ritual).
Today I had to remove her from the cage(I just put her on my shoulder) so I could unscrew the water bowl. I had to talk her into backing away from the food bowl, and continue telling her to back up while I filled it. Now she's trying to joust at my hand when I go for the toys... I'm also having to move towards the cage slow, and even slower trying to enter the cage to pet her. Even when she doesn't try to bite me, she's avoiding my hand....
I don't have anything that promotes nesting.. The only thing I have is a perch with fleece shaped like a tent above it. my room is rather cold for her so I got this for her to sleep on. It's got no bottom, it's just a perch.
Other than that I have different perchs all different sizes and made of different things. A small ladder. A hanging wooden block toy with a bell. a medium plastic chain. her cuttle bone. And then her lil' foraging toys: a cinnamon stick wrapped in a coffee filter, a toilet paper roll with holes that are stuffed with beads and food, then some different arrays of hanging toys made of stuff around the house. The hanging foraging toy gets hung in the middle of the cage, and is removed at night due to the bell, but she isn't letting any of these kind of toy in the door anymore.
I'm afraid she's nesting, but I've only had her 2-3 months, is that even possible!? (She is 8 by the way.)
~~~Holly~~~ |
|
|
|
Post by easttex on Aug 16, 2015 6:51:41 GMT -5
It does sound like nesting behavior, and I don't think the fact that she couldn't actually build a nest on the perch really matters. Just having that tented area may be enough. I would try removing it right away and seeing what happens. You can buy or make something like this www.amazon.com/Prevue-Products-BPV1161-8-Inch-Blanket/dp/B005FTNVJI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439725408&sr=8-1&keywords=Bird+cozy+corner if you want to give her something to snuggle up to. Peppy loves his.  I don't use it in the corner, but just tie it where he can lean into it on his preferred sleeping perch. I would cover Bandit's cage, in any case. Cool temps are not really much of a problem, but drafts can be. You also may want to add some moisture to the air if the a/c is running all the time. Mine sure is. |
|
|
|
Post by julianna on Aug 16, 2015 14:17:10 GMT -5
I agree with easttex... but if your little one is a girl and she is going to lay an egg regardless if it is fertile.. you may want to give her something comfy to perch or sit on. Torn pieces of cardboard would not only keep her warm but also be soft enough to lay an egg in.
My quaker is 6 years old and fortunately is a male however, he has been building nests for about 3 years now and they are very extravagant. You can see one of them in my profile picture. He loves doing this and although many people feel that they would get more aggressive having a nest, I do not see that in my quaker. Sure he still hates my husband but many birds bond to one person... nesting or not.
I think the jury is still out on this one.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jan and Shah on Aug 16, 2015 17:54:39 GMT -5
Julianna you made me laugh out loud - "sure he still hates my husband .....". Love it - although not much fun for your husband.
|
|
|
|
Post by biteybird on Aug 17, 2015 3:25:24 GMT -5
And not much fun for MY husband either...same problem as Julianna. 
Holly, I think you are experiencing 'normal' behaviour - whatever that is.
Bonnie attacks our hands when we go near the food & water dishes and sometimes when our hands are not near the dishes. For a while I even used oven gloves when changing her food, just to avoid getting pecked. More recently I stopped using the gloves and simply stood near the dish openings whilst saying "go on"/"off you go"/"out of the way". Then I would wait until she moved away slightly (she's not dumb; I am sure she understood what I said) before trying to proceed further with taking the dishes, etc. etc...this took at least 10 minutes, but I was able to change her food and water without getting pecked.
She's also displaying general cage territoriality (although we've introduced a 'sleeping' cage and a 'day' cage and removed any nesting-type materials plus her happy hut from the day cage). This has not completely eliminated her weird behaviour, though. You'll need a LOT of patience here...some days Bonnie seems happy to be left in her cage and other days not. If I think of anything to help I'll edit this post.
Bonnie is under 2 years old. |
|
|
|
Post by julianna on Aug 20, 2015 16:29:13 GMT -5
Oscar attacks my hands every single day when I change his food and water. I follow the exact same routine with feeding and clean up on a daily basis and no matter what... he does not want me near his food. I am the one who gives him the fresh stuff... but he does not put two and two together. I have realized that this will be a forever thing.
Don't feel disappointed... it is what they do.
|
|
|
|
Post by aaron on Aug 21, 2015 8:53:35 GMT -5
This definitely sounds like nesting behavior. I would agree with Easttex that the tent should probably be removed, sadly.
Cupcake (4 years old) is not very aggressive about her food nor her cage, and I am not entirely sure why. If I try to change her toys around she will occasionally tell me not to with a bite, but generally it seems like she doesn't really care about them, nor really care if I mess with her food. I'm sure some of it is just her personality, but she definitely used to be more aggressive when she had nest-like areas she could access. We keep her environment completely devoid of anything of that nature.
|
|
holly
Hatchling
Posts: 25
|
Post by holly on Aug 22, 2015 3:52:28 GMT -5
Thank you guys so much! I've been bad sick, plus these crazy storms, so I just got back to my 2-in-1! Thanks again, I'm nervous about removing the perch because her cage has been covered up since day 2.. This was bought a week or two later since she was still really cold when I got her out in the morning. But I will try it, heck I'm not sure if she's even been sleeping in it for the past week, she is really cuddly and shivering when I get her out again... That's why I tried the perch even though it might promote nesting, I'll see what happens though. And the reason I was worried about her coming at me for the food bowl and stuffs, is because she hasn't done this since the beginning of week 2 together. She was sitting on a perch I had settled in front of the food, and watched me change out her food all the while whistling at me! She is letting me get her out of the cage without much problem, and she still hangs out with me when I'm out of the room... But unless she is on some part of my body, she flies back to the room.. Unless I have food of course haha! For her food bowl I have to talk her into the back of the cage, and she'll stay there till the food bowl gets about set in place, but she just pushes the food around seeing if I gave her some millet. I've seen what y'all mean about her wanting to stay in the cage some days, and others refusing to go into the cage for very long. She's just so cute when she sits in the middle of her cage.. And today she sat in there with her door open as I sat on my bed making her toys for the next few days... She usually demands to be out so she can go through all the components.. So along with cardboard, is there anything specific I should start giving her to help build her nest? Or should I remove all of it before we go to sleep? Could I travel with her while she's nesting? I can't leave her with my family to bird sit, she nearly ate my mum after 3 days! Is this a normal time period for her to nest?? We are just now into our third month together... I mean I even just got her onto a good balanced diet after her being on full seed for probably a year or more... I'm nervous, does this mean she's going to be a chronic egg layer? I thought I had avoided things that cause behavioral issues pretty good, I hadn't heard about these little tents causing issues... She is still molting also, do I need to give her more of any certain vitamin(or whatever)? We have chickens and we have to feed oyster shells to help them have enough calcium for how much they lay eggs, which is why I'm asking. I think that's about it, thanks again for the information guys and gals!! ~~~Holly~~~ |
|
|
|
Post by easttex on Aug 22, 2015 6:42:57 GMT -5
Your call, of course, but I would not give her anything that might encourage her nesting, even cardboard. If you can head her off from laying eggs, you should. If, in spite of everything, she does lay eggs, give her something comfortable, but until then, I would not. You can travel with her while she's broody. It might be a good distraction. If she actually lays eggs, talk to an avian vet about a calcium supplement. She does not need it for molting. The molt is very protein-intensive, as that's what feathers are primarily made of. I dont think I've ever seen a healthy bird shiver. Their feathers are extremely effective insulators. When it's very cold to them they will fluff out their feathers and cover their feet on the perch. It's hard to imagine cold temperatures that are comfortable enough for you that she can't abide. But you shouldn't expose her to drafts. |
|
|
|
Post by aaron on Aug 22, 2015 10:00:53 GMT -5
I definitely agree that nesting materials of any sort are probably not a great idea for a female bird, especially one displaying behavioral issues. You really want to try to help them forget about the hormonal/reproductive part of themselves as much as possible, as it is generally frustrating for a captive bird to be in touch with such things, and egg laying is hard on them. Obviously this isn't always possible... but Cupcake was a completely different bird when we were letting her build a nest. Not interested in anything but building... definitely more flighty/agitated and somewhat territorial and aggressive... Not all birds are like this, but if you have any behavioral problems, this is a very solid first line of defense.
Cupcake lightly shivers whenever she has been sleeping. It's brief, but it's a reliable indicator of recent slumber. I don't think it has anything to do with being cold, really. She also shivers, of course, when wet.
|
|
holly
Hatchling
Posts: 25
|
Post by holly on Aug 23, 2015 2:01:17 GMT -5
Hello again!
I took out that tent perch, if I wasn't sure she wasn't using it before, I am now!
I covered her up for bedtime, but a few minutes in I peeked to see where she was settled down, middle of the cage still.
So I went to get the perch out, waay in the back corner.. She followed me to see what I was going to mess with, then left and laid in her spot again.. Didn't give it a second glance.
I didn't know some birds shivered after sleeping, but I think a lot of hers is a want to cuddle.. She now does it on and off while we roam the house,
The past couple days she hasn't shivered when I get her out of the cage in the morning, rather she acts impatient and if I don't give her something to do, she flies right back into the cage.
And yes I know my temperature is odd, but I'm nearly always hot.. I also have a few injuries that require heat on a regular basis, so that may be a lot of it..
I've been slowly turning down my temperature gauge so I don't have to worry so much, and I swear she shivers now more than she did when I first started! 
Should I not leave her in her cage alone to play with her toys? I've been just lifting a flap to let some light in, and she destroys her foraging toys.
Oh and the toilet paper roll toy! She doesn't really try to nest it? She tears it in these tiny, tiny, pieces that fall through the grate on the floor.. She eats the food as she gets to it, but that's about it, she does what I've heard a lot of people's birds do ; dismantle it.
She does that same with the coffee filter wrapped around a cinnamon stick. And she chases them back and forth through the cage, should I take them out incase they give her an idea...?
Oh! And I was thinking, her cage is pretty cozy wrapped in a couple towels, could she possibly think of the entire cage as a cozy hut..?
I mean, she has chosen the middle of the cage instead of a corner or something.. Just a thought?
Thanks for all the help and support!!
~~~Holly~~~
P.S. Should I try to do a "day cage" and a "sleep cage"?
My family loves her so if I can find a cage I could put it in our living room.. Would be easier than trying to always take her bells down every night, that's for sure! If so, should the day cage be much bigger than the night one? Do you have a play gym like thing right next to it or attached? I'm trying to make one, but I'm not quite sure where it goes/where to start. Oh but that's a different thread! |
|
|
|
Post by aaron on Aug 23, 2015 9:40:14 GMT -5
It is always best to have your bird's main cage in a central location if possible, like a living room for example, if possible. They really like to be in the center of everything. So if you can do that, I would definitely go for it.
Do you always keep her cage wrapped in towels? I would remove them during the day if so. Cupcake has a day cage and a sleep cage, which I definitely recommend. It's really best to find a sleeping location for them that is away from activity and light so they can get solid and uninterrupted rest.
There's always a chance that she is adjusting to the change in temperature if it is a fairly significant change, but if she is shivering for extended periods of time, and she hasn't been sleeping recently, and she isn't damp, then that might be an issue you want to investigate further.
|
|
holly
Hatchling
Posts: 25
|
Post by holly on Aug 23, 2015 10:44:01 GMT -5
Hello! During the day when I am really moving, I do remove her towels.. She stays in my room with me and shares my schedule, was just wondering if two separate cages would help disrupt her brooding. Much of the time I spend in my house is in my room, and she would just freak out when we tried another room. She doesn't cause any problems with my sleep, so she's set up on a large wooden dresser. More feedback is always welcome! ~~~Holly~~~ |
|
|
|
Post by aaron on Aug 23, 2015 11:27:01 GMT -5
I see, that sounds good... I think two separate cages could have a desirable effect... certainly worth a shot.
|
|
|
|
Post by cnyguy on Aug 23, 2015 19:36:13 GMT -5
I have a suspicion that what seems to be shivering might at least sometimes be the feather ruffling done by happy, comfortable parrots, given that Bandit does it when she's in a good mood. Ralph often does that when we're playing or having a conversation.
|
|
!
I don't use it in the corner, but just tie it where he can lean into it on his preferred sleeping perch. I would cover Bandit's cage, in any case. Cool temps are not really much of a problem, but drafts can be. You also may want to add some moisture to the air if the a/c is running all the time. Mine sure is. 
