How can I keep loving on my sweetest male Amazon while his hormones are raging? Do I need to stop petting him and scratching his feathered head?
I’ve tried to see how long the hormonal
urge lasts. Seems he tries to show me what’s beneath his tail forever.
Thank you for any help you can offer.
Hi Patti,
Pet birds tend to get hormonal when the weather warms up and days get longer. However, in captivity, they can get hormonal year round based on his environment and how you handle him. The need to reduce hormonal behavior is greater with female birds, because of the risk of chronic egg laying. But it can also be a serious behavior and health issue with males. If they remain in a constant state of heightened hormones, a male bird can get dangerous because of territorial behavior. Amazons in particular ca be fearless and relentless when attacking. There is also a risk of cloacal prolapse in male and female birds. There are ways to try to prevent or reduce hormonal behavior. You can limit his daylight to 8-10 hours per day by covering his cage early in the evening. If you offer a lot of fresh foods, it can help to cut back on those to a few days a week. Sometimes it helps to stop offering these foods for a couple of weeks, and then offer them in smaller amounts, a few days a week. When you handle him, it is best to avoid petting him on his body, and limit contact to head and neck scratches. I know some Amazons enjoy their cuddle time. It really comes down to whether the hormonal behavior is causing problems with you. If he is just presenting his vent, and can be distracted by a toy when he does this, it isn’t really serious. If this is constant, and includes mating attempts, this can lead to frustration and aggressive behavior. If he hasn’t displayed any territorial behavior by attacking, this is good. It isn’t so much that the behavior is bad, but whether it is affecting his quality of life. If he gets extremely frustrated and starts to feather pluck, this of course is a problem. If he gets aggressive and unpredictable, then you are going to handle him less or even get to the point that you are afraid of him. So it’s good to be aware of hormonal behavior and try some of the changes to see if he stops. Ideally this is just a seasonal behavior. We have had several webinars on this subject, because hormonal behavior is a top reason why pet birds are given up to a rescue or another home. I’ll post the link to these webinars, plus we have one more coming up this month which will cover the science of avian reproduction.
Webinar: Where do Baby Parrots Come From? A Veterinary View of Avian Reproduction
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
