# New Parakeet Behavior



## hollydolly

I have had my parakeet a little over a year and a half now, she is a female and probably about 2 to 2.5 years old but that is just a guess as I found her and did not buy her. She is my first parakeet and has started up some odd behaviors lately. She has always been a very curious and active bird so I bought her the largest cage in my budget and her cage is filled with toys. She is still being fed a seed diet unfortunately. I have tried several times to convert her to pellets but all attempts failed. She will not even eat the rainbow Zupreem pellets. About a month ago she started a weird behavior where when I go to the cage to talk to her her pupils will get really small, her tail will go up and she will sometimes wag it while talking really softly. I was wondering if this was some sort of mating ritual or something? I rearranged her cage about two weeks ago and she seems to have become more aggressive since then. She has always had a hatred of hands and fingers, but never this extreme. Any time I put my hand in the cage she rushes over to it and starts biting. She has also been destroying everything, especially her mineral blocks. She has managed to turn her head a mixture of pink and yellow from the blocks in the cage. There are powdery pieces of the blocks all over the bottom of the cage so I think she is destroying them more than eating them. I also put a wood corner perch in the cage when I rearranged it and had to remove the perch because she was destroying the wood and her stool had become rather large making me think she was eating the wood and I was worried she would get a blockage. She has also just started jumping in her food dish and scratching out all her seed like a chicken would. I tried putting her food in a smaller dish and she pulled the dish off the side on the cage, threw it to the bottom, and flew down to continue pushing and throwing it around. I ordered a new food dish I am hoping will solve the dish problem, but any ideas as to why she has become so crazy? I can't imagine her being bored but she has not been playing with much other than her food dish and mineral blocks lately, with the exception of her swings. She has a ton of shreddable toys but is not interested in those. I was wondering if she was just hormonal or something due to age but I wanted youlls opinions. Any advice would be great!

Ps. I was wondering if maybe she was trying to make a nest in her food dish but she does not appear pregnant, just destructive. She is also molting now.

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## Goldenwing

Some of what you described sounds like hormonal behavior, such as the destroying of mineral blocks and toys and biting more than usual. Since she is both in condition and molting, this seems likely. However, there may be something else going on as well. How much time do you spend with her each day? Have you done much in the way of bonding and taming? I am just wondering if she is lonely or in need of more socialization.

I know other members have had trouble with their birds throwing food dishes around and making a mess of their food. As you are doing, they usually find a food dish that works better and is harder to throw around and make a mess. I do encourage you to keep trying with the pellets. There are many helpful suggestions on different ways to try to entice them to eat. This thread has some great suggestions for how to deal with budgies who need to go to Seeds Anonymous: http://www.talkbudgies.com/diet-nutrition/401420-seeds-anonymous.html

Hope that is a little helpful at least. I am sure others have some good advice/experience to add.

Good luck!

Goldenwing (and Lemon Drop) :lutino linnie:


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## hollydolly

Goldenwing said:


> Some of what you described sounds like hormonal behavior, such as the destroying of mineral blocks and toys and biting more than usual. Since she is both in condition and molting, this seems likely. However, there may be something else going on as well. How much time do you spend with her each day? Have you done much in the way of bonding and taming? I am just wondering if she is lonely or in need of more socialization.
> 
> I know other members have had trouble with their birds throwing food dishes around and making a mess of their food. As you are doing, they usually find a food dish that works better and is harder to throw around and make a mess. I do encourage you to keep trying with the pellets. There are many helpful suggestions on different ways to try to entice them to eat. This thread has some great suggestions for how to deal with budgies who need to go to Seeds Anonymous: http://www.talkbudgies.com/diet-nutrition/401420-seeds-anonymous.html
> 
> Hope that is a little helpful at least. I am sure others have some good advice/experience to add.
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> Goldenwing (and Lemon Drop) :lutino linnie:


These last few weeks my time with her has decreased which I hadn't even thought about until you pointed it out. I was working on hand taming her frequently but as progress slowed and my college work increased I'm afraid I got rather discouraged and stopped working with her as much. I do most of my studying in my room where she is and I do talk to her on and off while studying. My family members also talk to her occasionally when I'm gone or at work but like I said earlier, I have not been spending as much time with her as I did in the fall or winter when work was slow, it is possible that has had some effect on her behavior.

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## JRS

Hi HollyDolly

This does sound like hormonal behaviour. 
The pinning eyes, raised tail and gentle chirps are an invitation for you to mate with her. Excessive chewing is also a sign, as is clearing out a nest site.

I imagine that the aggressiveness is due mainly to frustration - she knows what she wants from you, but you can't give it, and on top of all that, you're now rearranging the furniture (a good move :thumbsup: ) when she had it just the way she liked it.

You need to do all you can to get her out of condition:
Cover her cage to reduce her daylight hours to under 10.
Reduce high protein foods (egg). Keep offering pellets and safe vegetables and limit her seed to 2teaspoons daily.
Rearrange the cage every few days.
Be careful not to stimulate your bird by stroking her wings and back; keep scratches confined to around her head.

https://www.cutelittlebirdiesaviary.com/when-we-dont-want-eggs.html


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## hollydolly

JRS said:


> Hi HollyDolly
> 
> This does sound like hormonal behaviour.
> The pinning eyes, raised tail and gentle chirps are an invitation for you to mate with her. Excessive chewing is also a sign, as is clearing out a nest site.
> 
> I imagine that the aggressiveness is due mainly to frustration - she knows what she wants from you, but you can't give it, and on top of all that, you're now rearranging the furniture (a good move  ) when she had it just the way she liked it.
> 
> You need to do all you can to get her out of condition:
> Cover her cage to reduce her daylight hours to under 10.
> Reduce high protein foods (egg). Keep offering pellets and safe vegetables and limit her seed to 2teaspoons daily.
> Rearrange the cage every few days.
> Be careful not to stimulate your bird by stroking her wings and back; keep scratches confined to around her head.
> 
> https://www.cutelittlebirdiesaviary.com/when-we-dont-want-eggs.html


Thank you! I will keep rearranging her cage more often. I did last tike because I had thought I read somewhere that rearranging was a way to make them less likely to try and lay an egg. I will try to reduce light hours as well. I have been staying up later studying these past few weeks so her light hours increased but I will be sure to cover her. Really want to try and avoid her producing an egg, I don't want an egg bound parakeet!

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## FaeryBee

*She is definitely in condition as determined from the pictures you posted and her behavior is consistent with a female wanting to breed.

In addition to rearranging her cage, covering her cage during the longer days is very important. 
Minimize her daylight hours to no more than 8 per day to help throw her out of condition.

The combination of being in condition and molting at the same time are contributing to her over-all aggressive behavior.*


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## iHeartPieds

I thought I might mention that making a mess in the food bowl can also indicate lice or mites. Birds in the wild will take dust baths to try suffocate the parasites. I've had birds that kept hopping in their food bowls and scratching around and well, trying to bathe in them, and this behaviour was gone once they were treated. When she isn't molting, if you notice excessive scratching then I'd say take her to an avian vet.


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## peppertweety

Do you think you could get her a friend, once she has calmed down a little? It sounds like she could be lonely.
We have 1 male and 1 female, but they haven't tried to mate. I heard she probably won't lay eggs without a nesting box in the cage.


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