strange behaviour

Question
QUESTION: i have had my orange wing for apporx 4 years now after rescueing her, she is an affectionate bird and has alwasy been on a parrot stand as seemed terrified of cages, for the past few years she has been content to stay on her stand night and day flying to us when she wanted attention or to steal some of our dinner!!, the past week however she seems upset with something and her behaviour is out of caracter, she "clucks " endlessly to herself and follows me round the house contantly flying off every time i place her back on her stand, every time i enter the room she lands on my head and refuses to get down!  has been destuctive within the house chewing everything she comes into contact with including plants, cables and clothing, somthing that she has never done in the past, iam confused but do not want to resort to caging her as she has never been caged and i feel this would only upset her more, but am worried that if left on her own she may well injure herself, or worse, i would be grateful for any advise, many thanks wendy

ANSWER: She may be going through sexual maturity (usually starting at 5-6 years old) which would explain the odd behavior, but she can also be bored. Does she have lots of toys hanging around for her to play with? Do you change these toys often? That really has a huge effect on a bird's destructive behavior. I always use destructive behavior as a warning sign that I need to go toy shopping. You also need to completely bird-proof the room if she's really into chewing cables and plants because this can kill her!
Personally, I would try caging her. Get a HUGE cage (if you want recommendations let me know) so she doesn't really feel caged, or you can get a custom made acrylic cage so she doesn't even see the cage bars-it's just like her own room. These cages are more expensive, but I love them.
Whenever there is a sudden change in behavior, go to the vet! This destructive behavior can be a sign of illness, so you want to rule this out as a cause right away.
So I guess you can try some new toys, go to the vet, or try a large flight cage (again, let me know if you're going to try a cage because I know of where you can get good ones for a fraction of the price)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: if she is staring to enter into sexual maturity, what signs, smptoms do i need to watch out for? is there anything i can do to make the tranistion easier for her, will she settle down again in a few weeks ?many thanks wendy

Answer
Sexual maturity actually lasts almost a year (yikes! I know) and it's almost exactly like PMS. The bird gets moody, randomly aggressive, and just seems like it wants nothing to do with you. It does get better, I promise! You can make this phase a little more tolerable by switching to special pellets which do not contain the ingredient that encourages hormone production-Roudybush and Harrison's are the best on the market for maturing birds. Adding a couple hours of full spectrum light (aviansun 5.0 or featherbright) also help regulate the hormone production. It will not make the symptoms completely go away, but it'll be much better than without it.