hormone shots or not...

[gigi]

so my lady lovebird, gigi, is exhibiting extremely hormonal behavior lately. ive only had her for about three weeks and was warned of this. her previous owners said that she had a hormone shot on october 8th, about a month ago. well, i was doing some research and was thinking of getting another shot for her but then i read that sometimes allowing her to lay an egg and nest for a few days could take care of the problem, too, but would obviously take longer. does anyone have experience with this?

also, do you find that your lovebird is more attracted to one sex over another, as in humans. gigi seems to really "freak out" around males - spreading her wings and lifting her tail feathers, just asking for it... some think im crazy for thinking that birds could sense sexes in humans but im convinced...

[Kirby]

Some lovies do display more "hen like" behaviour towards a certain gender. Some like the deep male voice and lean towards males, and other prefer females because we can talk softer than males (sometimes ;) )

Having a hen is owning a hen. There's nothing you can do to avoid the nesty behaviour other than watch where you put your hands.
Most of the members here, if they accidentaly have eggs, is let the hen lay her clutch and abandon them herself. The more you take out the eggs, the more she will lay to re-fill the spots.

Once she's done with her hormonal behaviour, periodically re-arrange her cage with her toys, get her some new ones, or put old ones in she hasn't seen in a while. Take out any happy huts or nesting boxes to discourage nestyness and don't offer her any materials such as paper to shred to make a nest.

I have no experience what-so-ever regarding hormone shots. But I do know that if one of my two became nesty little buggers, I would let it take it's course as it will be over soon. Just like when a female PMS's... the guys just go with it and go out with the guys ;)

[LauraO]

The hormone shots they give to birds is generally Lupron, and they are done in a series of three shots every two weeks. You may want to contact the vet your lovies visited and speak with them about the shots as there may have been a reason they were given to her and need to be continued.

Lupron is generally not used just to keep a hen from becoming nesty. The results of Lupron are inconsistent and don't always work so most the time it's used for chronic layers or a bird who has been egg bound or has other issues, making egg layer a danger.