Ask Lafeber

African grey suddenly turned hostile

Hi,

My female African grey suddenly showed aggression when I approached it, flapping her wings and beak half opened. It’s like she suddenly sees me as a threat but I love her and have never abused her in any way, at least not that I know of. This has been going on for 4-5 days and she has not been talking since then, just making chirping every now and then. She still eats normally as her appetite is still good, in fact eating faster than normal. She’s usually caged and come out a couple of hours everyday but now I’m afraid to let her out as I wouldn’t want to be attacked by her. What seem to be the problem and what would you suggest?

Thank you for your time to read and sorry for my bad English.

Hi Benney,

It sounds like she is hormonal. This is normal and usually doesn’t last for too long. Make sure she is only getting 8-10 hours of light each day by covering the cage early each evening. Do not let her have anything to snuggle with or get inside of – no bird huts or tents, no boxes. If she is sitting on the cage floor in one corner, hang some toys in that area to discourage her from trying to nest. Try moving her cage to another spot in the room. We have two good webinars about hormonal greys, so I would recommend that you watch them.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda