Hormonal Behaviour in Pet Birds

Well, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to write about this week and I decided to talk about hormonal behaviour in Birds.

Well, I think all bird owners have dealt with some kind of hormonal behaviour in their birds. My first experience with this was when my budgie would rub himself on his ladder. Try to explain that to my friends at the tender age of 17! “He’s playing, isn’t he cute?”

My first experience with hormonal aggression was from my blind female lovebird, Luna. I adopted her at the tender age of 8 weeks. She was the sweetest bird I had ever met. She ate anything I held in my mouth (now I realize that this can be dangerous to your birds because of bacteria in your mouth), she slept on me and she would let me cuddle and touch her anywhere I wanted. And then… She got to be about a year old and all of this changed. She had morphed into this evil, aggressive, nippy, untrustworthy little lovebird. She no longer allowed me to touch her and I wouldn’t dare allow her to get close to my face. This aggressive behaviour came on decently suddenly over a couple weeks. She started biting my neck and ears when she sat on my shoulder and then decided she no longer liked being snuggled.

Luna also decided that she wanted to rip up her cage liner and anything else she could chew, including my mom’s new wicker footstool. She then built her first “nest” and happily laid 2 eggs. She sat on them for a few days then decided it was not for her and returned to her perch. She remained aggressive and still is, 7 years later.

She never laid more than 6 eggs total in her life (2 nests only). This was mainly due to me not removing her eggs from her cage until she had abandoned them. When female birds lose their eggs (their “babies”) they can and sometimes will try to replace the missing eggs by laying more. This can be dangerous as she can become egg-bound and/or become calcium deficient.

If you have a pair of birds and wish to discourage nesting or halt hatching of baby birds, you can push a pin gently into the eggs, making a tiny hole, but not breaking the eggs and place them back into the cage, in the same place they were. This will inhibit any growth within the eggs, but will still allow the “mommy bird” to tend to her eggs until she knows they are not going to hatch. When handling the eggs, please do so with great care and handle minimally, as your scent could make a female bird abandon her nest and start the process all over again!
All female birds, whether laying eggs or not, should be given a calcium supplement. This can be through a mineral/calcium block, a cuttlebone, or a veterinarian recommended powdered calcium supplement. Egg-laying depletes the bird’s own bone calcium and this calcium needs to be promptly replaced to ensure health. You can check out our supplements here: http://shop.featheredaddictions.com/Dietary-Supplements_c20.htm

Please consider other birds in your home when a female bird is experiencing hormonal tendencies, as they can become very territorial and aggressive and will bite or attack other birds without warning and can cause injury or death. I learned this the hard way, after one of our budgies was bit in the foot by Luna and subsequently rushed to the Bird Hospital to have 3 stitches in his foot. To keep her in the bedroom with the budgies we had to double up her cage, where we put her cage into another cage of the same shape so there is at least 1.5” (all the way around) in between her cage and the outside cage, preventing her from having contact with unsuspecting feet or other body parts.

Male hormonal behaviour, although can be embarrassing when your friends come over, is generally not a health issue, and it usually does not manifest into aggressive behaviour.
There are a few things that you can do to decrease hormonal behaviour, especially for the female birds.

• Remove any next boxes or similarly stimulating nesting object
• Ensure your fid does not have access to shredding materials (use a grate at the bottom of the cage
• Choose bells and other noise-making toys instead of shredable toys during these times
• Ensure your fid is getting at least 10-12 hours of sleep, it is healthier for your bird and this can trick your bird into thinking that it is the winter (which it is now) and slow nesting behaviour
• Strip out the cage and set it up differently, include some new perches and/or toys for added stimulation. This can help distract your bird, this worked wonderfully for our hormonal male lovebird. He stopped his hormonal behaviour as soon as we changed his cage around, and has not started again since (this was about 9 months ago).

If you have any stories or experiences to share, please post them. I appreciate any feedback you have.

Converting your Fids to pellets

Well, maybe you've just acquired a bird or maybe you are thinking of changing the current diet of your fid(s). There are many considerations you should investigate prior to embarking on this adventure.
Before changing your bird’s diet, you should consult your avian veterinarian to ensure your bird is healthy and strong enough to go through a diet change.
Consider what your bird currently eating. A bird that already eats more than seed (grains, rice, vegetables, fruit, and pasta) is more likely to try new things. If your bird only eats seeds, don't fret, it is still possible to convert your bird to eating pellets.

The first step is to purchase a separate dish and the pellets of choice. If possible, purchase a shallow clear dish. (http://shop.featheredaddictions.com/Dishes-and-Feeders_c25.htm) This ensures maximum visability of the new food item. Fill the dish about half way. Place the new dish beside the most frequently used perch or platform (http://shop.featheredaddictions.com/Platforms_c27.htm). Move the normal diet to a lower location in the cage (preferably the lowest and least used perch, but make sure it is still accessible).

Choosing the type of pellets: Well, this can be a tricky one! There are many pellets on the market for pet birds. The best choice is by far Harrison's pelleted diets. The pellets are certified organic and balanced. They come in 3 sizes and 2 varieties. The smallest is Super Fine. This pellet size is suitable for any bird starting out from Finches to Cockatiels. It can be a bit small for some cockatiels, but it is a good place to start, as it is as small as most of the seeds and may be easily accepted. The next size is Fine. This is a great size for any bird up to a large conure. The third and largest size is the Coarse. This size is great for all medium and large sized parrots. Unlike the fine and super fine, it can be purchased in both regular and pepper varieties.

Another great variety (my favorite) is the Mash. The mash is basically a powdered pellet that offers the same nutrients, but, does not contain corn, which is used in all (except rice varieties) of pellets (as far as I know!). Mash is also available in lifetime (regular) and high potency formulas.

If you do choose Harrison’s as your birds main diet, please note that for the first few months, you should purchase the High Potency variety. This variety is higher in nutrients and is needed to get your bird used to Harrison’s diets. It is available in all three sizes as well. (http://shop.featheredaddictions.com/Harrisons-Bird-Food_c14.htm)

Please also note with Harrison’s that once the bag of pellets is opened, it needs to be used up or discarded in 6-8 weeks, as it is organic and does not contain any preservatives.
Roudybush is also a good choice, although not seen as “the best” it is definitely a great alternate choice. Roudybush has many sizes. They have nibbles to large size. Please keep in mind that the large size is as big as a large multi-vitamin (sometimes even bigger). This size should only be used for the very largest macaws or birds that enjoy a huge pellet. You can purchases limited sizes at Feathered Addictions. Special orders for other sizes and quantities gladly accepted. (http://shop.featheredaddictions.com/Roudybush_c15.htm)
Other pellets: Since I started working with birds, I have not had a lot of experience with other pellets. Some of which I have heard of are: Pretty Bird, Zupreem, and Lafeber. Although I have not heard much about these pellet types, generally any pellet is still better than a seed-only based diet. If you are looking for any of these pellet types, please email me for details and pricing, as I can special order them for you. info@featheredaddictions.com
Keep the pellets in the cage at all times. Discard and refill the dish, even if untouched every week to ensure freshness.
While converting your bird(s), always offer their normal diet, if they continue to ignore the pellets, try mixing half and half (normal diet and pellets). Continue to have the main dish for pellets. This may help your bird recognize that the pellets are food.
Don’t give up, many birds take quite a while to take pellets as their main diet. Also note, that some never do learn.

Welcome

Welcome to my first Feathered Addictions blog. I will share my avian stories, tidbits, exciting news and new products available at Feathered Addictions (http://www.featheredaddictions.com/).

The most recent news about my flock is that late in December we lost one of our beloved budgies. He injured his leg and when the wound would not heal, he was bandaged. Shortly after he got pneumonia and then we had to make the tough choice to put him to sleep. Bobby was never a strong bird, purchased at Petcetera about 4 years ago. Sometimes things like this happen, when trauma occurs it triggers underlying health issues. It was Bobby's time to go. We miss him.

Jack, Bobby's mate, was very depressed when Bobby passed. We decided to adopt another male budgie from Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary (http://www.greyhaven.bc.ca/). I took Jack with me to pick out his new mate and off they both went to bond at Night Owl Bird Hospital as "Skeeter" was being quarantined. Soon they both came home. Shockingly, Skeeter and Jack went their separate ways. Skeeter is now in love with Fiona and Jack is still alone, although he does play with a couple other males in our flock. I wish there was some way to bring Bobby back, but there isn't.

On December 24th, we also started to permanently foster a bird from Night Owl. His name is Bishop. He is at least 8 years old and is a very gentle budgie. Although he does not fly, he gets around pretty well and is enjoying being part of our flock. He will be with us until his time in this life is up.

So the current number in our flock is 26, with the passing of Bobby and the addition of Skeeter and Bishop.