Ask Lafeber

Izzy my cockateil

Hi my cockateil has been hand tamed for over a year and suddenly a few days ago wouldn’t step up and screamed at me and my partner if we went near the cage

Hi,

It’s possible that Izzy is hormonal right now. They can get very cage territorial. If nothing has happened to scare him, then most likely it is hormones. Be patient with him and usually it doesn’t last too long. You can try moving the cage, which can cause him to stop thinking of it as a nesting site. If he has any bird huts, tents, boxes, a nest or anything that he can get inside of, remove it as this is a major hormone trigger.

Another possibility is he could be going through a heavy molt, if you have seen a lot of molted feathers. Some birds get very cranky when they are molting heavily.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda