Nesting instincts kicking in

[5bird7]

We've been letting our Patty loose for about 6 weeks now. During that time she has been perfecting her paper stripping but keeping that just to paper we gave her such as the paper on the floor of her cage and under her cage.

Scenario: her cage is on the floor during the day with door open, next to the patio doors so she can watch the birds come in to feed. She uses the cage as her home base and ventures out about 4 feet all around it and also up the rope we put up for her to climb to the top to the curtain rod. Our couch is just a foot away and I've got a pile of papers next to her cage on the floor - papers I need to go thru to figure out if I need them or not. She has not touched those papers in all this time though she knew they were there. She had been content with her own plain paper that we had given her.

Well, today was the day. She decided to investigate those papers and look for some she could tear up. I had to save them. She became quite indignate that I was picking up her new papers! :rotfl Came running at my hand, scolding me at the same time. of course, didn't let her get close enough to bite as I could see she would have if given the chance. So I got them picked up and put them on the couch. she watched the whole time trying to rescue any that she could but to no avail.

Next she watched until I left the room (my husband was sitting on the couch the whole time doing nothing other than let me know she had been into the pile 3 times). and immediately went to the pile of papers on the couch and tried dragging them off one at a time. I came back and she hopped down. I had to move the pile. This time to another chair out of her "territory". She watched where I put them but did not follow this time. I did treat her with a new piece of paper to tear up.

What a kick to watch but she had surprised me coming at my hand like that when I first moved the pile. Normally she ran the other way when my hand got too close.

What's the next stage to watch for?

[linda040899]

Many of my lovebirds LOVE to chew up anything they can get their beaks on, including some of my males! Males are not as good at tucking paper but many can shred with the best of the hens. :lol Shredding is OK but it will eventually lead to nest building. If Patti is a she, she will search out a dark place and fill it with shredded paper so that she has a nest. Her choice of places may not be somewhere you want her to be so keep a careful eye on her. You may have to keep her in her cage or move her cage elsewhere if she won't stay away from where you don't want her.

I'm just going to add one last comment. Floors are not safe places for birds, especially small ones. It only takes one careless step and the damage may be permanent. All my birds are quick and sometimes I feel like I need eyes in the back of my head!

[5bird7]

Will watch out for her looking for a place to nest. Think I can deal with it.

There's just the two of us and we've always had small animals so watching where we step is a given. Anytime there's a chance of a guest arriving, she's put or herded into her cage for the duration. At least she complies to that.

[elijahfan]

i thought shredding paper was a nesting thing, and was gogint o say my bidie is confussed i was worried with him shreding sand paper from the bottom of his cage looked like he was eating it so i removed it, could i have a girl ?? lol

[momo]

Elmo has begun stripping paper and stuffing it under her wings.. but then she forgets she puts them there and goes and plays and then they fall out.. smart smart ;)

Linda if we see a nest begun to build.. what do we do? just demolish it?

[5bird7]

Update on her current behavior. Yesterday, I went thru some of those papers I wouldn't let her have. I sat on the couch where the old pile had been and started ripping into the envelopes and sorting. The next thing I know, she's flying at my leg and squaking -- SHE wanted a paper to shred. As soon as I realized that, she settled down and would take them from my hand. Mind you, she's leary of getting close to me but with that paper in my hand, she forgot about her fears and would even get on the couch next to me to see what paper I would give her. That paper treat was better than any food treat I've tried enticing her with. I get more kick out of her antics than I did of the cockatiel - he was so much more sedate (like a man in a tuxedo) & predictable than she is.

[chromasnake]

Tourmaline is so addicted to paper, even though she is a land shark like Bubbleking's Boo she sucks up to me and puts on her cute face to get some. Especially because I've limited her access to it the past few months!

When I want her to come to me and she is being stubborn, and I need to do is pick up a piece of paper and slooooooowly...rip...

Oh! It almost feels like lovebird torture to do that. You can see the indecision on her face and in her sudden stillness. But her love of the paper overcomes her pride. When she comes to me and steps up, I give her a piece as a reward. (ETA: Sometimes she will even delicately shred while I am holding and not even try to bite me!)

Just a thought: since these lovies are very territorial...if one of your birds is a female and you've had them months already, you might be better off not trying to feed them with your hand inside the cage...maybe try to get them to come out first? Just a thought and I am by no means expert.

[Bubblelady]

When Buddy was younger & I went to pick her up from boarding, the vet tech came out with her & the vet took her for a minute to give her scritches. He then started to put her down on the receptionist's desk. All the girls in the offiece (3) simultaneously yelled, "Don't put her there!" The vet looked surprised & asked why not. "She'll shred the charts!" they told him. I should add that Buddy was never the least bit shy about approaching paper. A feathered cheetah when after paper :) Another time I went to pick her up & the tech had Buddy out, playing with her. She--the tech, not Buddy--had a piece of paper pinned to her shirt with her Xray exposure monitoring badge :rofl:

[5bird7]

I think the next step has been reached though apparently there is no nest building going on.
Several days ago, Patty was stripping paper like mad but not taking it anyplace. She still isn't but does spend a lot of time behind some curtains. I've checked and no paper being stashed there.
Today, she's only done a little bit of paper shredding BUT she climbed to the top of her cage where there is a knot of sissel rope (to keep it from falling in cage or being pulled down). She has sat on that rope knot a number of times during the day as it gives her a good place to perch when she's outside.

Well, today, she started scratching her butt on that rope knot and making little bitty tweeters at the same time - so is she a she or a he? her butt is red & looked slightly swollen and she kept twisting her tail from side to side while doing her little scratching dance on the knot. This went on for about 2 or 3 minutes. I took a video but have not played with loading it to a website or trying to reduce the size of the video so it is loadable to a website. (any hints on doing that?)

I can't handle her yet because she wasn't a hand raised baby and I dont' like to mess with the progress we've made in getting her to even climb on our legs.
oh, and she has gotten bitchier - she won't accept treats from our fingers now outside of her cage, instead she tries to bite the hand that feeds.. and it's been getting worse over the past two days so we've resorted to just feeding her treats thru the cage bars - she will accept those happily.

[Mydoona]

you can set up a youtube account and post there,thats what I did and have had no problem with resizing.

[5bird7]

Thanks Mydoona, I'm signed up and also playing with the movie maker program on my computer. will probably load a video there tomorrow.

Meanwhile, definite news on Patty's behavior: Since she's been spending so much time behind the curtain today, I decided to put a little box with a hole in it (left the top open too so I could peek. Filled it with a bunch of the paper she has stripped, then left the room. My husband said she had gone into the box later, so I checked and she was all snuggled into the "nest". Didn't think anything more about it and put her away for the night when she went into her cage. Finally decided I better check that box and see if she had laid an egg. Sure enough, there was one in there. Definitely Patty's a female.

Have read enough on this forum so will leave her with the eggs when she starts to set and let her go thru the motions of being a wanna be mother.