My lovie is scratching

[loviesrule]

My lovie has been scratching her face with her foot quite a bit lately. I have been putting her outside on the porch, on nice days. Do you think that something could have bitten her ? :confused: She has not scratched out any feathers or drawn any blood.
Hope someone can help!
Thanks,
loviesrule

[shylevon]

You may be looking at a slight pollen problem, if she is scratching around the nares. Sometimes the nose runs a little and scratching there releases the breathing passages. When you see her scratch, check to see if her nares are moist, and that the moistness goes away fairly quickly. If it does, she is probably only slightly bothered by the airborne irritants. It may also be too dry in the area.

She may also have been bitten by a mosquito or something. Check the area, and a tiny bit of aloe vera gel applied directly should help if the area is truly itchy. Polysporin will help if the skin happens to get broken during the scratching. Apply lightly with a q-tip to the area.

[BarbieH]

Facial scratching can be caused by a number of things, including normal lovie behavior. The males in my flock scratch around their faces as a precursor to clicking, which is how they communicate, well, horniness. :rolleyes: I think some hens do this as well; there are no set rules when it comes to typical male-female lovebird behaviors.

I'm wondering if the calls from outside birds got your birdie feeling a little amorous.

[bellarains]

Yes, Well,

Normal male behavior is something Shy just doesn't have around her these days. She really does need to go get them girlies some boys ;)

Yep, when Bela gets going with the nare/face scratching, most likely followed by the clicking male behaviour, we call it hamboning. Can ya tell we're from the South????? :)

As long as there is no injury, no runny substance from the nares, and all else is alright, I'd say this is what's going on. BTW are you sure she is a she?

[shylevon]

You're right. Shy hasn't had a man around the house scratching his face with his foot in quite some time. I almost forgot about this common mating ritual. :)

[BarbieH]

The day I see Tim scratching around his face with his foot is the day I give it all up! :x