Why is this lovebird so bad?

[BBry]

We have a pair of lovebird that we've had for over a year now. First we got the female (we call her summer) and a while after we got her a male (his name is PJ). When we first got Summer she was super curious and easily trained. We would take her out of the cage to play and everything was fine. Over time she developed a very bad temper and became more and more aggressive. She isn't afraid of anyone and will launch at you if you get to close to her cage. When we first got PJ she wouldn't leave him alone and would constantly bite his feet and chance him around. Since then she has calmed down with him but occasionally we hear fighting. The other day I took her to my boyfriends house because he has a Quaker and lovebird. Within an hour she had dominated the cage and both birds. I don't know what went wrong and I don't know what to do with her anymore. Why has she become so aggressive?

[lovezebs]

BBry

Oh dear......

I had Lovebirds for close to 20 years, so I know where you're coming from.

I had Lovebird female (Peanut), that I got as a dark- billed youngster, so I know she was young. Exact same scenario. Sweet as a kid, very cuddly and cute, matured into a veritable monster

She began plucking herself at some stage, and I was told she wwas lonely. I got her a boyfriend (as you did for yours) and that poor boy had a miserable life with her. She plucked his tail off completely, ripped off one of his toe nails in a moment of anger (blood bath). It was a marriage filled with abuse and strife, but he wouldn't be parted from her .

When they had children, she killed off several of them. With the last batch, that she was plucking and attempting to starve to death (wouldn't let him feed the infants either) I finally intervened.

I pulled the babies and hand fed the two girls into adult hood. One turned out to be like Dad, one just like her Mother (psycho) , almost killed her own Mom in a fit of rage later in life.

Anyway, the Good daughter out lived all of them (18 years)

What can I tell you? From my experience, I would hesitate to breed such an aggressive female (nothing but heartache).

By the way, watch your hands around her, Lovebirds, have a NASTY bite.

Good luck

[BBry]

lovezebs
Yeah I don't plan on having her have babies. I'm afraid of what she might do to them! I'm always careful when I put my hand in her cage but I keep a glove on or near me just to be safe. I just don't understand where all this aggression came from. We treated her well and gave her plenty of attention.

[lovezebs]

BBry

It was the same story with Peanut. She was great, used to allow her free flight, shower in the sink, ride on my shoulder. Then she went over to the dark side Started biting, put her beak right through the webbing between my thumb and forefinger, almost gave me another earing hole in my ear lobe. Just plain nasty.

I honestly can't explain it . I assume it has something to do with genetics, where some lines, are just more aggressive than others. Even the fact that one of Peanut's daughters, turned out to be just like her, while the other came out as mild as the Father, makes me lean in the genetic direction.

Did you by any chance know your bird's parents? I would be curious to know if the parents had an aggressive streak.

Good luck with your little trouble maker (Peanut, lived to be 10 or 11 years old) .

[BBry]

lovezebs
No we got Summer at a bird store so impossible to say what her parents were like but it seems logical genetics would play a role in this.
I decided to make her a "nesting" box out of a shoe box to see what would happen and oddly enough she has calmed down a bit! The box isn't for them to breed and have babies though it's just to keep her occupied. It seems to be working because she now spends most of her time breaking papers and coming in and out of the box. She doesn't come to fight us or bite anymore she just stays at the hole of the box and "protects" it. I also don't hear as much fighting between her and PJ.

[debbie276]

What are you going to do when she starts laying eggs?

[lovezebs]

BBry

LOL! My dear fellow bird lover...... what do you think she will do once she's finished building a nest????

[BBry]

lovezebs
We've tried letting her nest before but she's very finicky and doesn't incubate them properly so the eggs don't survive. Either way if there are eggs I will check on them to see if they are alive and fertile. If she does have babies I know someone that will take them once they've fledged but both parents are young so they don't have much experience in being parents.
I know someone that has a pair of parrots (I forgot what type) but they gave them a nesting box and though the female lays eggs they are always blank. So I just wanted to try this out and see what happens.

[lovezebs]

BBry

Sounds like you have a plan in place.
I really wish you the very best of luck, and I would strongly recommend, reading up as much information as you can about hand feeding/ rearing baby hookbills (just in case) and having birdie baby food formula on hand.

Good luck and best wishes.

[aeriadne]

I will first say that there is no such thing as a bad bird. She is exhibiting undesirable behaviors, but those are not developed in a vacuum. It could be hormones (which is often why "sweet" babies turn temperamental, just like human teenagers). It could also be that you've inadvertently reinforced her behaviors by your reaction to something she's doing and vice versa. She does a certain behavior because she knows it will elicit a response from you. She can't verbally tell you what's making her angry or agitated but you can observe her behavior and examine what you might be doing - or what might be going on nearby - that is making her lash out. Just as you have boundaries, so does she and by working with her to figure out why she is acting a certain way, you can both set boundaries for each other that will help you get along better and make her a happier bird.

Remember that parrots are wild animals. They have evolved for millennia to be in forests, not our living rooms. She doesn't think as we humans do and sees the world much differently (they can see colors under the UV spectrum we can't, for example!) and though you've treated her well (I've no doubt you do!) there may just be something she doesn't like that causes her to go on the offensive. She is also going to have a lot of highly motivated behaviors that, if not allowed to be expressed, can frustrate her and lead to aggression. Does she have opportunities to exercise her mind with foraging and physically by flying?

Susan Friedman is a favorite behaviorist of mine - she is a psychologist (the field in which I studied animal behavior myself) and so has developed a lot of insight into animal - especially parrot - minds and behavior. This is her main site: http://www.behaviorworks.org This is a lot of reading, but I think some of these a lot of these articles would be of great interest and hopefully helpful when it comes to trying to understand parrot behavior and psychology: http://www.behaviorworks.org/htm/articl ... hange.html It's a never-ending learning process!

Also, I would please encourage you not to breed – a controversial statement, I know, but I say it with all due respect. But parrot sanctuaries all over the country are overwhelmed with relinquished birds in need of homes. Foster Parrots has over 450 parrots at one of their two sanctuaries alone. Parrots are extremely difficult animals to care for with enormous needs that most people, even the most well intentioned, have problems meeting - I'm one of them and my life revolves around my parrot. The more parrots are bred, the fewer good homes are available to those parrots already here and in need of loving people to dote on them.

[aeriadne]

PS: One last thought. When my parrotlet went through his "terrible twos" - teenage years in parrotlet-land - he got extremely aggressive with very random things I would carry or hold and then launch his little blue missile self at me. I would have welts on my neck where he'd try to take a chunk out of me. One of the things that helped was changing my demeanor and reaction from one of annoyance/anger/fear to a lighthearted, buoyant one wherein I turned things into a game. For example, he hated this brush I used to clean his cage but instead of withdrawing from his attacks, I turned it into a chasing game. I would make him chase it around and let him bite at it but used really light, cheerful tones to make it a very positive experience instead of a negative interaction with me. Now the brush is part of a tickle game we play (he hates things that tickle his beak!) and his attacks are mock aggression instead of real aggression. Sometimes changing the way you deal with the situation can shake up the aggression routine for the parrot. And remember positive reinforcement! When she does something you like, praise her. Ignore bad behavior (easier said than done, I know!).

Do you have an avian vet nearby? It might be helpful to see if they might have any advice on how to work with her.