Female Parrotlet Sexual Behavior

Question
Hi. I have a female parrotlet that I swear is masturbating with a toy in her cage that has a little protrusion on it.  She is only 7 months old, but yesterday she was making this sweet little peaceful cooing type noise that I have never heard before.  I was busy working on my computer and she was behind me on the counter in her cage.  I turn to look at her and she was sort of perched in an odd manor on this twirling toy.  When I turned to look at her I asked, hey there, and sort of quizzically asked, what are you doing.  Then she turned and sort of showed me her "private" area by lifting her tail feathers and it seemed more open than usual.  At first I though, oh my gosh, is she trying to lay and egg and it is stuck?  Anyway, she has done this three times now.  Twice yesterday afternoon and once this morning.  It is really kind of strange.  I have owned many types of birds, but have never noticed any type of sexual behavior before and I am pretty sure that this is....or what else could it be?  What should I do/not do?

Answer
Your instincts are right on!  With the change in daylight, both at the start of the year and end of the year (spring and fall), birds that are sexually mature are driven to mate.  At 7 months, she's young, but in smaller birds, they tend to mature faster than the larger, longer-lived parrots.

You are also right that it's not 'right'.  She may end up laying eggs and this can turn into a health problem, both in depleting her nutrients and bones, plus egg binding is always a possibility - again as you suspect.

Try regulating her daylight hours more.  12 hours day, 12 hours night. If you're up every morning at 7 a.m., then put her to bed at 7 p.m. and make her the first thing you do when you awake.  You can cover her cage with an opaque (dark, light-blocking) material and keep the noise level down while she's 'at rest', or better yet, provide a nighttime cage in a separate room (still cover at least 3/4 of it).

The nighttime cage doesn't need anything but a single, comfortable perch (ie: rope perch), a small food and water dish and single 'toy' in case she wakes up early or doesn't go to sleep right away.

 Also be certain to have a fresh cuttle bone and mineral block in both cages (if you use a nighttime cage).  We recommend a diet of mostly pellets (any brand) with seeds offered a couple times a week (no sunflower) and fresh foods daily.

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