My Bird and Paper

[jaystizo]

Our bird always loved to rip pieces of paper to shreds but lately we noticed something ... odd. She (we're assuming she's a she) would tear off a small strip and then store it in her feathers towards her back. At first we thought she was preening but then we noticed little pieces of paper sticking out from her feathers. Is this normal?

[Angelwing]

Well, I believe that she's getting ready to a build a nest. When collecting nesting materials, the females will tuck the bits under their wing feathers. Is she in a cage by herself? Do you have a nestbox? Do you even want eggs? And how old is she?

[mjm8321]

What type of lovie is your bird? Generally, peachface hens are the ones that are expert shredders and tuckers. ;) It's very normal and definitely a part of being a hen. Like Angelwing stated, if you do not want your lovie to get nesty and potentially lay eggs, you should stop offering any shreddable materials or anything for making a nest. Younger hens (under a year old) should definitely be discouraged from laying eggs.

[Buy A Paper Doll]

Yep, very normal. Mine is shredding and tucking my mail in her rump feathers as I type this. She's 10 months old - I don't generally give her paper but in this case she kind of found it on my desk.

***takes paper away from bird***

[jaystizo]

My bird is about a year and 1 month old. She's an Orange-faced lovebird. She's alone in her cage without a nestbox. I don't want her to lay eggs because I remember when was I was growing up, we had a fischer who kept laying eggs. She'd sit on those eggs for days on end but nothing would hatch so at some point in time every egg she hatched, she'd just tear it to shreds out of frustration.

[shylevon]

I have a hen that will tuck long long strips in her rumpus then sit atop her play gym. The long strips stream down to the floor from her rump, and she looks like a little green peacock.

[acardz]

They are great for shredding your papers. I have a female peachface and she has chewed on my blinds(and tuck them) also ate the leather off a small tape box i had. When she is ready to lay and i dont leave her paper to shred she just finds anything. If you dont want yur lovie to lay make sure she doesnt see too much light.

[Mummieeva]

You can stop a hen for a certain amount of time but they will not be put off forever. Not all hens will do that either. My hen laid 4 eggs and one hatched. She has not laid or wanted to in over 5 months. Just keep papers away and watch her just incase of egg binding.


Steph