Great Article this month in Bird Talk

[lemonypickett]

Hi gang,

Just finished reading this month's magazine and found a great article about sexual petting. I didn't realize that petting your bird could cause sexual stimulation.

I tried to find the article on birdchanel.com, but it is not up yet. So, if you have the magazine at home, read it! I learned about a few things I have been doing wrong. Eddie has displayed some "pleasure" from my petting sometimes, so now I know why and can avoid it.

I will update this with the link once I find it.

[linda040899]

Once a bird reaches sexual maturity, the way we pet/stroke our birds can very definitely have a pleasurable effect on them. I have to be very careful with several of my larger parrots, as it's not hard to get them excited just by stroking/petting. For instance, I always thought Alex (BFA) was a male until she reached age 7 and reacted to the way I was petting her one evening. Needless to say, I'm very careful about handling her now, as I don't want her to think that I can satisfy her as an Amazon mate could do.

Each bird is different so you pretty much have to learn the signs from your own bird to know what to avoid.

[LauraO]

I read that article and thought it was great. I have such a problem with my grey Mijo. He is very flirty and thinks I'm his mate, and it takes absolutely nothing to get him sexually excited and wimpering. I try and not even go there, but he's very tricky and it's very tempting. I don't want him to get excited but I can pet his back, legs, under his feathers, grab his feet and do all kinds of stuff when he's in these moods. I do not do this often cause it's tough for Mijo to get his hormones all charged up for nothing:roll: .

[wilkiecoco]

i have posted many times about this subject, because we were having difficulty with kiwi regarding his seeing both my son and me as his mates, and was swishy swishing all the time. We now know, (he is over 3 years old) what gets him excited, what signs to watch for, and when all that fails, cause sometimes he just can't be dissuaded :blush: :( , sometimes a kleenex provides him some relief :omg: . (do i really need to provide a pic guys - just use your imaginations!!! :blush: :omg: :( :confused: )

[lemonypickett]

Eddie has been spreading his wings a little trying to get me to pet him it seems. Is this a hen behavior?

[linda040899]

When a hen solicits, she spreads her wings almost full span and uplifts her tail feathers in invitation to the male. This is one of the few female behaviors that I've not seen a male duplicate as precisely as a female can do it!

[butterfly1061]

I read that article Saturday and found out some pretty interesting things! For one, I never knew about the spot under a birds wing. We do "scratchy-scratchy" with Bosco (our Blue & Gold), but we won't be anymore :omg: Now I know why he tries to put his rear-end in your face sometimes too. Sounds funny, but I know it's not anymore. Thank goodness he's young (3 yrs old) enough we can change our petting patterns. What an eye opener!

[lemonypickett]

uh oh..... hope Eddie isn't a hen!

He doesn't spread them all they way, just a little. He is still young though. We'll see!

[Eliza]

Eddie has been spreading his wings a little trying to get me to pet him it seems. Is this a hen behavior?

Here's a link that shows what Linda described:

http://www.parrot-and-conure-world.com/my-new-pet-lovebird.html

[lemonypickett]

He doesn't spread them that far wide, just opens and closes them quickly and only out about an inch.

He does make a clicking noise when he seems to be doing this little dance thing. Does anyone know what that is?