How soon is too soon?

[Kristina]

I know that it's breeding season (but really, isn't it breeding season all the time for these guys? :rofl: ).

The pet store (booo!) that I got Fenway from said he was about 3 months old. When I got him, half his beak was still black.

I am beginning to think that Fenway isn't a he, he's a she. Over the past week or so, he/she has been VERY territorial and cage aggressive. This especially happens while he/she is in his/her tent. I have a video, but I'll have to post it when I get home from work. He really only does it in his favorite tent (the one he sleeps in and that I made), but he will charge my hands if they get near it! He is still not doing so well with the hands (in fact, I think we've gone backwards with the progress). He doesn't care if my face or head is near the tent. Yes, I stuck my head in his cage. LOL.

I've also noticed that he is playing more. I know this could be that he's feeling more comfortable and because he got some new toys. I've found his favorites are toys with rope. LOL.

He also has been finding strange nesting areas. One strange place being my hair. I had my hair up in a messy bun and he wedged himself between the bun and my head. LMAO! My husband had to get him out. Now when he comes out, I keep my hair down so he can nest in it (he also chews my hair a little, is this bad? )

He has become very attached to anything that lies above my shoulders. He absolutely loves my face and head. He gets mad and attacks the hands if they go near my face or above my shoulders.

So my question is: how soon do they start showing sexual signs? I thought I'd read that most don't hit "puberty" until 1-2 years old. He is definitely not that old, we haven't even had him for a month. I do take his tent out during the day to try to prevent some of the aggression (and nesting, LOL).

[linda040899]

A lot depends on the development of the individual bird and species, but with lovebirds, you can begin to see sexually related behavior as early as 6 months. I've seen 7 month old hens sitting on fertile eggs (none are mine!).

Larger parrots do not become sexually mature for several yrs. (some as old as 7...Amazons, Macaws, Greys).

[Tango's_Mom]

at probably 7 months old or so, Tango started showing aggression near his happy hut the way you are describing. I'm still fairly certain he's a male, he's just turned two and I see no indication of him being a hen. (of course in reality I can't know for sure and I'm just crossing my fingers). I solved the problem by removing the hut during the day and hanging a swing in it's place and only putting the hut in at night for him to sleep. This stopped the aggression, and when I went on holiday for a few days, even my parents, who Tango is not particularly comfortable with, and who are a little afraid of him were able to go in the cage and take the hut out and replace it, without too much trouble.

[Kristina]

So do you think he's still adjusting? He is approximately 4 months. I wouldn't estimate anything above 4.5 months.

I also think that he might be angry with me because I got a job. Since we got him, I've been home up until about 2 weeks ago (he was biting before this, but wasn't showing as much aggression). He still has the same (maybe a little less by an hour or so) out of cage time. But I am not here to talk to him during the day like I usually do. We still do his training and every other time he's out, I just do household chores (fold laundry, sweep, etc) while he sits on my shoulder.

Yesterday afternoon, he latched on to my lip and wouldn't let go. It's a little swollen this morning. LOL. I'm not sure if people will believe my bird bit me. It probably looks like someone popped me in the mouth! :rofl

I wish there was a bird whisperer, like a Cesar Milan for birds. LOL. I use his techniques for the dog and it works so well with her! :lol Now, if only there was a bird whisperer.

BTW, whenever Fen bites, I have been blowing on him and telling him "no bite!" It is extremely hard to blow on a bird when it is attached to your lip.:rofl:

[michael]

Hi Tina. I would expect that besides for not knowing Fenways true gender, much of the behavior thats going on is very much in the stages of an early development/experience. Biting will likely increase simply because he/she's still learning how to communicate with you and not only a sign of becoming more aggressive/nesty. Thats not saying down the road should you find Fenway's a girl/hen that you won't be dealing with nesty behavior. The only way to prepare would be a DNA test. While I'm not sure blowing on a bird will do much good but to cause futher aggravation/aggression, or sticking your head in the cage is a good idea either (What if you get stuck? :rofl:) you may want to rely on more conventional methods and try not presenting your lips (ouch!) as part of Fenways learning fun. Really, I have a very tame lovebird who at one time inflicted me with several bites over the course of about a year. Some on the lips (those were the worst :very_sad:) and others being anywhere from the armpits to the toes. Goofy (He's definitetly a he) loves my wifes hair but doesn't care for mine. Probably because I don't have enough (no...I'm not balding yet! :rolleyes:)...Is he nesting? Well, maybe not in a female sense although anythings possible.

I think Fenways got quite awhile to go before he matures (10 months or so) let alone finally learns to interact/adjust with his/her human family (which is really an unspecified amount of time). Oddly enough, I've recently found out my own lovebird Goofy may in fact be much older than we had recently thought. What I always felt was behavior indicative of a young lovebird may in fact be in part that he was never handled or socialized by humans. His breeder is now back in town and after recently speaking to his wife, she stated that along with his brother "Jones", Goof may have come from an aviary clutch hatched in 2000 or 2001!!! Should this be the case, then its possible that regardless of age, taming is always a possibilty.

[lemonypickett]

Kristina,

Hang in there. Eddie is about the same age as Fenway, and he too seems to be experimenting with biting. He is always going for my lips too.

I think that if they wanted to really hurt us, they would draw blood. Eddie thinks it is fun to hang off my lip. I purse them tightly so he can't get a bite. I also try not to react when he nips my fingers. I have noticed that he is slowly loosing interest. Sometimes when he is acting really bratty I put him back in his cage until he settles down, then I take hm out again.

Hang in there. Eddie was in love with my head and hating my hands for a bit, but now knows they give scritches!

[butterfly1061]

I found out by accident about "swish-swishy". I was holding a kleenex one day and Molly (Molly's a male :rolleyes: ) found it and he started "swishy-swishy". It's been that way ever since. I think he was about 6-9 months old. Now, Olivia was nesty the day I got her at 7 months. I tried EVERYTHING to keep her from laying eggs and it worked. She didn't lay her first cutch until she was about 1 1/2 yrs old. She's like clock work now - every spring and fall she lays a clutch of 6 eggs.

[Kristina]

Michael - I do want him to get tested, I thought of doing one of the tests you send away for, but I don't want him to resent me even more. LOL.

I heard that blowing on them would be more of a distraction. I try not to react when he does bite, but it's very unnatural to me not to pull away. I'm working on it. Most of the time when he does bite, it doesn't hurt too much (the only place he's drawn blood is my lip). But I have to train myself not to pull away and that's been pretty hard. LOL.

LOL. The head in the cage was more of an experience to see if he would be aggressive towards it. He had never bitten my face before (because he has been so in love with it, maybe I said something wrong, LMAO!) I was making kissy kiss noises because he loves kissy kiss noises.

It's hard to see what he's doing while he's on top of my head, so I'm not really sure if he is nesting. My husband says he bobs his head a lot (I haven't seen if he is gacking because usually when he does this, I'm not near a mirror) and moves my hair around a little.

I'll finish this when I get home from work! I lost track of time. LOL.

[michael]

Tina. DNA testing is not at all that dramatic. It would be different if this were a daily or weekly testing event anticipated by your lovie in some negative way. A one time plucking of a few breast feathers or a single toenail will usually be forgotten in a relatively short period of time. Still though, it is not uncommon for poeple to feel uneasy about doing this. Even poeple with plenty of experience won't give their own birds a wing clip. Besides, any species of bird can put up quite a struggle over the most simple of procedures, so if your not sure try to find someone with experience to help you.

Head bobbing signals either caring/feeding of the mate or their young. Some birds will regurgitate food and others nothing at all. If he insists upon perching atop your head though, just be glad anything else you may find besides gack doesn't have a smell to it. A kleenex should do just fine.

You know, I honestly don't know anyone including myself who can't help but move, jump, or jerk when suffering bites from a parrot. You just do the best you can not to react too much so your bird doesn't find your behavior amusing. Along with this the fact that you certainly don't wan't to injure your bird or yourself in the process either. I would love to meet the person who doesn't react to a chunk of missing flesh or an unexpected dose of sudden lip surgery as I really don't think they exsist. This is why we should learn to AVOID getting bit as opposed to having an uncontrolled reaction to it. Even some gentle beaking should be parlayed towards other objects to help sort of pacify his nibbling or chewing needs.

I think you and Fenway are cruising along right on course. Even though he matures at around 10 months he'll still have plenty of room to learn. It will be both interesting and a wonderful experience to see how all this comes together after years of interacting with each other............:)

[Kristina]

Yes, he spent some time on top of my head tonight preening me. LOL. Apparently, I needed a lot of work done along the curly tips of my hair.

The problem I have with pulling away is not during the actual bite, I pull away before he bites (when he opens his mouth when I put my hand near him). It is so hard to get used to! If the dog was to do that, I would pull away. Granted, the dogs mouth is much bigger, but still. LOL. My conure wasn't much of a biter (to me at least, he hated men and would always bite them) and when he did bite, he did not give a warning. LOL.

Tonight, Fenway was sweet as could be. The only time he was moody was while he was on top of the laptop and I stopped him from trying to pull the keys off the keyboard. LOL. Well that and he discovered that I have ears.