Moody Cockatiel

Question
I have a ~ 2yr old male cockatiel which I have had for ~ 8 months. He has always been a sweetheart and very affectionate, however for the last few days he has become extremely aggressive (bipolar really). When I am standing and he is on the floor he attacks my feet constantly, but usually is fine when I kneel down and talk to him. He has also always loved sitting on my shoulder or chest and just being scratched, however now the second I stop scratching he starts biting my hands (pretty hard, not the soft love tap) and rubs his head against my hand, demanding that I continue. Also he is becoming extremely vocal, hes always sung and talked to me but now he just screams and screams, he doesn't stop when I pick him up or when I leave the room, once he gets started he will do it for at least 20-30 minutes straight. I'm assuming this has something to do with becoming sexually active or something??? He masturbates a lot in his cage but hes done that for a few weeks, my vet says its normal, we have a female but he doesn't seem interested and we don't really want to breed, also she is only ~ 8mos old. I'm just upset because he has always been my lovable baby and now hes attacking me. Any advice???

Answer
Hello Catherine,

It sounds like your bird is currently in breeding mode. Since breeding hormones are triggered by the environment you can have a lot of control over these hormones.

Before I talk about changes you can make, I need to emphasize how important it is to understand your bird as just that - a bird. His behaviors are very normal and appropriate for a parrot that has been given signals that it is time to breed. To apply human terms such as bipolar I find is detrimental to the parrot-human relationship.

1. Increase his dark uninterrupted sleep time from 10-12 hours to 12-14 hours. Light availability is the strongest trigger for breeding hormones.
2. Don't allow him access to perceived nest sites or nesting material. This would include the floor which has lots of good enclosed spaces. And it would include your shoulder - hair makes a great nest.
3. Don't pet him. For a bird any pressure and sustained contact beyond the head is sexual and tells him that you are a mated pair. Since he is taking this further with head scritches, simply don't participate in this activity.
4. Make sure he spends as much time away from his cage (perceived nest) as possible. Instead provide as many bird safe playgyms, window perches, shower perches etc as you can.
5. Work to establish a friendly flockmate relationship with your bird instead of the current breeding relationship that you have. You can do this through fun training session. I've included a link to get you started on basic training.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Parrots-1638/PLEASE-HELP-2.htm

Jennifer
www.feathersandscales.com