Ask Lafeber

Question:

February 15, 2023

My Female Grey


My 1 year old African Grey has started putting her butt in the air. I can’t find an explanation of why. Are you able to help me


Answer:

Hi Medina,

She is definitely too young to be hormonal, but it’s not unheard of. Captive raised parrots do tend to exhibit hormonal behavior when they are much too young. It sounds like a hormonal behavior, so the best thing to do is ignore the behavior and divert her attention to doing something else, such as playing with a toy. Never give her anything she can get inside of such as a box or bird tent. When she is out of the cage, it is also important to keep her from getting inside of cozy places. And since she is a female, it’s best not to let her shred things like paper or cardboard. You should never pet her on her body, especially when she is presenting her tail that way – only pet her head and neck. When you pet her on the body, this triggers hormonal behavior because this is something only a mate would be allowed to do. We actually have a webinar coming up next month discussing hormones and African Greys. The information will be posted soon on our webinar page. All webinars are free, and are available to watch later on our YouTube channel.

https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/category/webinar/

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda

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