I think he is a male?

[Therese]

Okay, not to get too graphic here, Billy is very interested in the curtains. He has one spot he always goes to and then does the "you know what". 1. Can I assume this is definetly a male and 2. Is it normal for him to do that for long periods of time and 3. Is this a season thing or will he do this the rest of his life....I hope someone knows what I am refering to. Poor Billy...he gets a lot of laughs.

[LauraO]

While a lot of males display this behavior, there are a lot of females that do it as well. I have one hen who participates right along next to her mate. It's hard to say how long this behavior will last or how much Billy will do it. Some birds enjoy it more than others and will do it constantly while others hardly ever do it. All you can do is wait and see. It's competely normal, I'd just watch the area and make sure it's clean.

[Therese]

Thanks for the response. I found some other posting here so it sounds normal. My husband did not believe me until he saw it for himself. Billy wont even respond while he's doing "the thing". He is about 7 or 8 months old and I did not think he would do this this young. Boy was I wrong. I think the poor thing is going to wear himself out. Oh well, another day in the life of the cutest thing I've ever seen.

[linda040899]

Therese,
Since Billy is an eye-ring species, eye shape will usually tell you the gender of the lovebird. Mind you, I would never guarantee the sex of a bird based on this, but males tend to have round eyes, while females tend to have almond shaped ones. Look only at the eye, not the eye that surrounds the eye.

[Elle]

Therese,

My peach face Phoebe is doing the same thing with every cuddle buddy in the house. Rubbing herself for long periods of time. She laid 4 eggs so far. Not a good thing to assume he's a boy based on that behavior. :lol

[sdgilley]

Hi Therese,
Sounds like Billy is entertaining! :rofl: I have one male that humps his happy hut more than once a day. Lucky he can be interupted for other kinds of attention. I have never seen my other male do this, ever.

My hen doesn't do this exactly... Sometimes when she is inside my shirts (best when I'm wearing two and she gets between them) she gets to rubbing around kinda funny. I usually distract her if she gets too involved. I'd rather just play with her and she's okay with that. It's normal behavior, so I don't get grossed out or anything.

Oh - Peter started at about 8 months, he's the one that loves his happy hut.

[wilkiecoco]

hi therese,

kiwi has been doing the "swishy-swish" for almost 7 months now, daily, often 4 - 5 times. he would do it all the time i think if i didn't distract him once in a while. as i was told by other members when i asked the same questions you did, it is perfectly normal behaviour, and there is no way to tell how long it will go on for. i have come to accept that it is part of who kiwi is, and i love him no matter what :D as you said, they are the absolute cutest thing there is!!!!!!!!:happy: :happy:

[Janie]

I have two DNA'd males that hump, hump, hump......all the day long. :D Their chosen "other" is their birdie buddy. I have 6 so that I can change them out when they need washing and since they both feed their buddy (they don't share, each has his own) that is fairly often. I don't know how long this behavior will last but my older lovie was around 7 when I adopted him and he has not done that since we've had him. Guess he out grew it! ;)

[ottermom]

Bubble will do the 'humpty dance', as I've dubbed it, all day long. He does it with his happy hut and with another toy. Squeak doesn't do this that I've seen.

[Cathy]

Melli did it and then regurgitated on it so I threw it away and he/she hasn't done it again. I'm sorry, but I find it embarassing and if I can stop it by not giving him a birdy buddy, so be it.

[wilkiecoco]

I suppose it can be embarassing if other people, especially non-bird people, see it. Luckily, Kiwi has only done it with our family, and even then, other than me and my youger son, they are a little icked out. The thing is, there is nothing, and I mean nothing that I could do to get Kiwi to stop. He will, and does, find anything to "do" it on, kleenex, his owners fingers :blush: , the couch, toys >o If he wants it bad enough, so be it. :whistle: