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Julie White
Flier
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 421
Location: Staines, England |
| Mischief acting a bit strange |
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Mischief is acting a little bit odd when she sits on my shoulder. Sometimes she's started to lean her body on my head and sit with her tail pointing up a bit and when I turn my head round all I can see is her underneath, I try turning her round but she resists, she's always liked to make a lot of fuss preening my hair and being kissy kissy and regurgitating shes about 6 years old now. I wondered if it could be the season and her age and if she could be getting a nesting instinct. Do you think I should distance her a bit for a few weeks, perhaps I should stop her sitting on my shoulder for a while. I know she's female as she's been DNA tested. Usually I love her sitting on my shoulder as she chats away imitating my laughter and saying what a good girl she is. She's the smallest Hahns Macaw I've ever seen and she's had rickets in the past due to poor feeding before I got her. I worry about her a lot, she wasn't hand tame when I got her 5 years ago so I think she was parent reared. Any advice would be appreciated. |
Wednesday May 10, 2006 4:08 am |
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Fluffy Sue
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 10088
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| Re: Mischief acting a bit strange |
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Hi Julie, I have no clue what you mean.. I have tried imagining how she must be sitting.. But I can't. 
Perhaps you can distract her when she is trying to feed you? I think it's easier to do when she's not on your shoulder.  |
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Wednesday May 10, 2006 9:55 am |
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Julie White
Flier
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 421
Location: Staines, England |
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Hi Sue, it's difficult to explain but when she normally sits on my shoulder she usually faces forward and looks round at my face. She likes to talk a lot and copy my laugh. What's happening quite a lot lately is instead of facing forward she's mostly turned toward my back and pointing her tail up in the air a bit and when I turn my head all I can see is her vent, also she seems to be leaning backwards towards my head. She is normally very loving to me and I wonder if she could be carrying things a step further and my instinct says I should gently put her away from me at these times to discourage this. Is it possible she could be showing mating behaviour? I know male parrots can do this but I didn't know if females could do it too. When I first got her 6 years ago she was quite young about 9 months I think, and I think she was parent reared as she was terrified of hands being near her although she didn't mind people being around. She'd been at the place where I buy bird food for several weeks and in the end she looked so lonely with no toys I had to buy her. I managed to tame her although I had the scars for a while and now she's very tame for me. She does interact with other people but she will only step up for me and she will preen my hair and groom me. I've always discouraged her regurgitating for me although she tries to often. She's fit and well and eating normally and living up to her name. I've tried to find information about when Hahns Macaws become sexually mature but can't seem to find much information about it although there is a lot of information about the bigger macaws. I don't have any intention of breeding from her, as she's had rickets I would worry too much about whether she would be able to lay eggs or whether her pelvis would be too small, she is the smallest Hahns I've ever seen and I have seen quite a lot. Sorry to have gone on so long, bye for now. |
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Wednesday May 10, 2006 5:34 pm |
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Cathy
Kamikaze pilot
Joined: 02 Apr 2005
Posts: 6673
Location: Omaha, NE USA |
Julie, I'm not the most experienced with the mating behaviour in birds, but it does sound to me like it's a mating thing she's doing.
I guess what I would suggest is to keep her off your shoulder, at least for awhile.
Right now I can NOT have Manu on the couch with me at all, as he really rubs on me immediately & just don't stop until I put him else where. |
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Wednesday May 10, 2006 8:22 pm |
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Julie White
Flier
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 421
Location: Staines, England |
Thanks Cathy, I will stop her sitting on my shoulder for a while, this behaviour has taken me by surprise as I didn't think females would be likely to do it. I worry that if she laid an egg because she's so small she wouldn't be able to pass it easily and because of the rickets would her pelvis be properly formed, her toes are a bit crooked also her lower beak which I have to trim sometimes. I had a little cockatiel that wouldn't stop laying eggs and it shortened her life a lot, but she didn't seem to act like Mischief although I had to take a couple of her toys away because she seemed to make love objects of them, but she was rubbing her head on them. Mischief is such a character and I know we shouldn't have favourites but she just brightens my day with her antics. |
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Thursday May 11, 2006 1:50 am |
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Fluffy Sue
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 10088
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Julie I think I'm not experienced enough to tell you what she's doing at the moment.. I think it could be mating behavior but I can't really tell.. |
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Thursday May 11, 2006 8:19 am |
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Cheeta
Moderator
Joined: 06 Apr 2005
Posts: 7972
Location: Australia |
it does sounds like hormones are kicking in there!! have you had her vet checked? or otherwise you can ring your vet and see what they say to see if she needs to be taken into the vet's office. Good luck |
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Thursday May 11, 2006 9:18 am |
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Julie White
Flier
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 421
Location: Staines, England |
Hi Cheeta, I haven't had her vet checked but she seems in good health, the behaviour seems to coincide with a lot of new feather growth, at all other times she is acting normally, it's just when she sits on my shoulder. |
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Friday May 12, 2006 8:42 am |
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Cheeta
Moderator
Joined: 06 Apr 2005
Posts: 7972
Location: Australia |
oh, may be she's just found a new fav position to be in.. weird one, but she obviously like it if it's not hormones kicking in!! LOL
Is she showing any kind of mating behaviour? |
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Friday May 12, 2006 8:49 am |
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Julie White
Flier
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 421
Location: Staines, England |
Hi Cheeta, I thought that maybe it was mating behaviour the way she kept pointing her tail in the air and every time I turned my head her vent was right in my eyeline, so I kept taking her off my shoulder and putting her on the back of the sofa. She's now between 6 and 7 years old and I can't find information about when Hahns Macaws reach puberty. She's only tame for me and is always very affectionate to me although she will show off for other people she will only let me handle her and I can do anything with her. |
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Friday May 12, 2006 7:59 pm |
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Chaquita's Mom
Experienced flier
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1028
Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
LOL  I could only laugh when I read your post, sorry  Chaquita does the same exact thing  We call it her "Dirty Bird" she also has this quite annoying growl when she does it and when I come closer to her or touch her she gets louder and her wings flutter against her body too. Yep, she turns her little butt around and hunkers down, vent poking out and all You should be flattered  She considers you her mate She really loves you and that's just another way she can show you just how much she does I've noticed that during the breeding season she does it more. You can try to discourage it but I don't know if it will completely go away.
You can see a pic of her doing it in my diary |
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Sunday May 14, 2006 1:03 am |
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Chaquita's Mom
Experienced flier
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1028
Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
The diary is "Silly Bird" |
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Sunday May 14, 2006 1:04 am |
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Julie White
Flier
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 421
Location: Staines, England |
Hi Chaquitas Mom, I've just been looking at your diary and your fids are beautiful. Mischief does exactly that position on my shoulder and when I turn my head my eye is in line with her vent, it's a bit alarming the first time it happens but now I know it's normal I won't worry anymore unless she starts laying infertile eggs and then I'll probably have a nervous breakdown as the little cockatiel I had died because of that. Mischief hasn't done it so much these last 2 days but she is very affectionate with me, I have pictures of her on my homepage, thanks for the advice. |
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Tuesday May 16, 2006 1:54 am |
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Chaquita's Mom
Experienced flier
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1028
Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
Chaquita has never laid an egg.........yet. Let's hope she never does. I'd say, if you don't want her to do that, put her back on/in her cage till she quits then pick her back up. Hopefully she'll quit since it is a new behavior. |
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Wednesday May 17, 2006 3:00 pm |
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Cheeta
Moderator
Joined: 06 Apr 2005
Posts: 7972
Location: Australia |
unfortunately, if this hormonal behaviour, I'm afraid she's not going to actually 'quit it'.. my suggestion is if she does it, straight away put her back in her cage to let her calm down a bit, and she has bring her out again in a none stimulating way.. how? don't ask me... LOL... may be keep her off your shoulder for awhile until the hormones have died down a bit. |
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Wednesday May 17, 2006 3:50 pm |
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