IndianRingNeck.com

Hey, im new here, and seek alittle advise on my female indian ringneck.

We got her at the age of 10 weeks. she is about 2 and a half years now. she grew up with us pretty much outside of her cage. her cage is always open, and she is always outside. only time i lock her up is when we are going out, or going to bed.

we were originaaly looking for a couple of love birds, but when we got to the breeder, who were also breeding ringnecks, we just fell in love.
I had read up on ringnecks and knew what i was getting into. I am also aware of the bluffering stage which is the main reason why people get rid of their bird after as little as one year after they got it. i guess it becuase when you raise a baby bird, you become good friends with him, and once he hit muturity the bird flips out alittle and bites and test you, and you are left feeling sad and anger and dont know how to handle it properly. Yes, that happened to me too. my little baby bird was around the house with me all the time. i have taken on seriers of seriouse blood bites to teach her not to bite. i was quite strong toword her bites then. i would let her bite as hard as she would without letting out any sound of discomfort, and would find ways to make her stop.. like blowing gently on her face.. and it was all good and happy days till the bluffering hit in. I didnt handle it as good as i thought it would. i caved in with the bites, they became more intense and my finger would swell up and be soar for days. i got alittle frigthend of her, she became so territorial.
Is hasned change a bit now.. im simply stuck at knowing what to do. Im scared of her.

Let me just add that she wants to mate everything. all my sunglasses, my shaver, my toothbrush, the dogs ball, basketball, my phone, hell even my videocamera, my lighter.. icecream on a stick, melon when its round and so on.. its strange, and i bet is driving her alittle crazy too.

I also want to let you know that after a couple of months living with us, and was a stable flyer, we clipped her wings.
i had an insident coming in from walking the dog, and not closing the door properly, and got busy in the kitchen. coming back in to the room, thinking that bird was just too quiet, looking around for her, discovers that the door was opened and she gotten out. i immediatly went out looking for her, and heard her screaming in the distent, but not too far away.
i went back home to find the squeaky ball, cause i knew she would respond to the ball. after a while we found her sitting hig up in the tallest tree there is, all blended in with the green leafes. we could she that she wanted to come down, and that this outdoor life was stressign her out. i think we clipped her wins too early and didnt give her enought time to practice her landing, cause it seemed like that was the problem. she would come flying down to us several time, but she had a great speed and decided that this landing was a bad idea and flew up again. it was a 3 day experience for her, she always kept in the erea around the property, on the second day she was out, we thought she was lost, she flew of behind some houses, heading towards town, and we just coudnt find her again. i got dark and we went back inside. got up the next day to keep seaching, to find her sitting abouve our door all exhausted. i went up to the neigbhours and ask them if i could just get my bird that is sitting outside their window abouve our door, and she stepped up on my finger.
we made a huge fruit feast for her returning and after a few hours she was back to normal.

- i think this experience made this bird ablot thougher. shes not scared of anything!

Now back to the problem.
She is very territorial. its becoming a huge problem. im not going to write down every corner of the house she had claimed, but ill talk about the current problem now.
The dog food is what she is currently guarding. if the dog walks by, she will charge the dog, if we get too close, she will charge us. That is not cool. i can see some behavior changes in my dog. she is very stressed out, and will snap at strangers if they want to say hi to the dog. Now my dog has always loved people, and always wanted to lick everyone she came across. so i am working hard on the dog aswell, so we dont have any serious bites.
I must admit that there has been a few shouts to the bird in this behavior, and that is bad. it might have even made it worse, but we usually make a whisteling shound if she gets too crazy with the screaming. but the charging is the main problem here. you have to walk by her terretory in order to get aroun dthe house, and its a pain. if i am collecting plates, and glasses, knives and forks from the living room, and have to walk by her, she will charge me. its risky, considering im walking around with knives, and i have no choice but to hug everything close to my body and doge so i font break anything, or hurt myself, or anyone els. i have had 2 insidents here the bird has charged my face, and my reaction to that is to cover my face, and ended up hitting her to the ground. Its the most terrible feeling i have ever felt. i wish her no harm, or any animal. I cried and felt so quitly, seeing how shoched she was. i would pick her up and inspect her, and make sure that she was ok, and spend the time with her, taling softy and stroking her head gently till she recovered from the shock.. after a day she went back to normal with charging and all that.

im so scared i will hurt her again, and i dont know what to do. i love the bird, and dont want to give her up, but i am also considering it. i feel bad and think maybe she will have a better home somewhere els.
She will still let me cuddle her, and she goes all cute and making the cudlling noises aswell as scratching herself with the foot, while i scratch on the head.

I dont know what to do with the charging. i have tried to remove, and move around everything is claim is hers.. og, we got alot of stuff in that corner, simply cause we dont have anywhere els to put it, and bird always manage to make some kind of cave in tehre aswell.. and sometimes she will spend the whole day in the cave she made.. what is that about?

If the bird manage to claw into you when shes is charging, she will not let go of whatevers in her beak. she got me once, and oh my god, its the most painful bite i have ever gotten, she didnt even bite, she chewed into my skin, and i couldnt get her off. So im in a situation where i dont trust bird.. i cant walk by and not get charged.. the only time i can do anything to her is when i carry around any of her "mating" things.. like sunglasses.

Please help me work on my bird.. would it help to maybe ger her a friend?

Hi missSoe

So sorry to hear all that you guys have been through - I can relate, having had similar problems with my girl. My problems may not be quite so severe, but still very similar.

First thing for you to know is that your bird is most likely exhibiting nesting behaviour and it is seasonal, so, it should eventually die down providing she is triggered by a change of season (days getting shorter). There are a few things you can do in the meantime though. I'm not saying you should do all of them as you need to consider the consequences of each carefully. Here is a the list I can come up with:
1. First on my list is move your dog's food bowl to somewhere he won't be disturbed by your bird - make sure it is somewhere she can't get to, your dog deserves to eat his food in peace.
2. Get her a nest box that attaches to her cage.
3. Make her spend more time in her cage whilst she exhibits this behaviour, perhaps especially when your dog is eating his meal.
4. Reduce/remove sugary and fatty foods (including sugary fruits such as bananas) from her diet until her behaviour changes as this reduces the breeding drive.
5. Do you do any training with her? If so, increase the amount of time training.
6. Completely change her environment - move things around, etc., anything that might unsettle her. This includes moving her cage, food bowls, etc. If she continues to spend large amounts of time in the house, then you could also try moving your furniture, etc.
7. Make her work harder for her food by introducing / increasing foraging.
8. Put her to bed earlier to try to make the days shorter. This may involve having her sleep somewhere where the artificial lights are not turned on.

You could consider getting her a boyfriend, however, she may or may not accept a mate and he may or may not accept her. Some females are known for killing male birds, so if you do go with this option, you will need to introduce them really, really slowly and supervise carefully. She may think that she is a human, so she may not take to a bird mate.... but it's worth a try. I am a believer in providing birds a birdy companion. This, however, is a long term solution, not a short term one.

I think this thread may help you. It outlines what happened to me last year (we're just coming back around to that time of year again here).
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =2&t=14905

Also, if you don't already know about foraging, I think it could really improve her behaviour (it worked with my girl). Here are some links for you on that:
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... 01&p=69400
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =4&t=13466
http://www.parrotenrichment.com/ - this site has some free ebooks to download


I hope something in there helps you.

Best wishes.

Ellie.

Thanks for replying, really appricate that. nad sorry for any spellings, i will blame that on my Norwegian!

I fel like i left out all the positives about the bird aswell.
I dont think she fully hate us. She loves to be around us and follow us everywhere if we leave the room.. Cant even pee without having teh bird follow me!
And shes very cute when she really, really, really want cuddles. she will simply walk all the way to the livingroom, instead of flying.. can hear her tap across the floor
and after a while we will see her climp our feet in order to get to our stomach to sit there and get petted.. If i forget to close her cage at night, i will sometimes wake up to a little ringneck desperatley trying to climp up the duvet in order to get cuddles and breakfast. she is sweet in that way.
I do think she might be a little frustrated cause she cant communicate with us as she would with another ringneck, and it would only be healthy if she had another of her kind. We did plan on getting her a friend when we move. I wanted to build her a large outside cage in the garden and she can scream and do her ringneck things as much as she pleases! and i dont have to wipe up bird poo all around the house!

I do move things around when she clams it hers, and she will only stop for a few hours with the charging, and next thing, even if the corner is empthy, its hers, and she will guard it with her life! it was alittle scarry with the dog food.. she doesnt want the dog food in the dog bowl, but where i keep the stash of dog food.. in the box. She like boxes and loves to make caves in them. so she managed to get the dog food box open, and she jumped in and i swear, i couldnt find her for an hour! i got alittle scread she would sufficate in there, cause it seemed like she couldnt get out. once i opened the box, she popped out gasping for air. i had to remove the box to a different room so she couldnt get there, but the corner is still hers. I try to walk slowly by and give her a piece of apple everytime i walk by when she is sitting on the chair just across the corner, and she responds ok to that. i can still see that she is keeping a good eye on me, and posotisioning herself to charge everytime i walk by, but with slow movements, i might just get across without her flying off towards me. she just flew into the room where i am now, sitting behind me mowing and barking like theres no tomorrow.. with a piece of apple her foot. (:

I will have a look at your links.
I am very interested in ringneck wild behavior, but i cant seem to find too much information about that. That is usually how i help myself to train birds.. I have taken on several birds of different kinds from people who want to actually kill the bird cause they dont want it anymore, and i have worked with them and rehomed them

thanks again

Hi missSoe, I'm MissK!

I think ellie is the good one to advise you about dealing with your bird to help your bird and change her motivations. I would like to remind you, also, not to forget about yourself.

I am sure the reason we're hearing from you is that you are close to the end of your tolerance for this bird behaviour. If I were in your situation, I would gradually increase the amount of time the bird spends in the cage. This would need to be done gently in order that the bird does not perceive a punishment. It would be not to punish the bird, but to provide you some relief in your own home.

Because you have rehabilitated birds in the past I am going to assume you will know how to do that by putting her in the cage for a very short time when you are staying home, and then extending that time in little steps. I fully realize this could be an unwelcome change for the bird, but it is kind compared to sending her on to another home, which is what might happen if the behaviour cannot be changed.

I know what it is to bend over backwards while providing everything wonderful for a pet. Sometimes it can slip past a reasonable level, however, and we must stand up a little straighter and take care of ourselves, lest we fall down completely.

Best wishes for a speedy resolution to your challenge!
-MissK

Hi missSoe


I understand what you are saying because I feel the same way about my girl.

The only other thing I meant to mention is to look for behavioural triggers. For our girl, it's usually opening cupboard doors or drawers.

Ellie.

I agree with Ellie and missK. Female IRN's need boundaries. Otherwise they claim every territory as their own and females are very territorial. Overall, increasing cage time I think is your best option. Especially during breeding and molting time. I'm of the opposite belief that you should never buy a bird for your bird. Sorry Ellie. Increasing training time is a great way to decrease your birds excess energies. And a simple way to keep her occupied for hours is to get a small cardboard box...cut shapes into the outside of the box, and stuff it with all sorts of chewies and foods that she loves. Foraging is a great distraction. Please don't give up on her. I know you're at the end of your rope, but you can do it. Just be patient.

And the nest box, too. If Nature tells her to claim and defend a nesting space, then she should have one. It should be intelligently placed so it works well within the human household.

Skye - You know, I always try to keep my animals so they have at least one other of their own kind. Maybe it's an excuse to have more animals, but I really think all social species benefit from appropriate company. It does have to be good for the human, though, in the end. Rocky has to have Budgies and Canaries for his company until the day may (or may not) come that the "right" same-sex Ringneck crosses our path. I'm not about to just go out and take in a second if it isn't the right individual for me. But I do feel sorry for him, spending his whole life without another creature that speaks his language (so to speak) and shares his culture.

It's nice to be in the company of people who are genuinely concerned and proactive about providing the best for their pets.
-MissK

MissK- I get what you're saying. I can see your point if view. I just don't like when people get their pet a pet to try to fix behaviors. It almost never works. Unless you want two completely anti social birds. I am now the owner of a second IRN so I am all for Having multiples of a species. Although I don't know if Skye will ever give up his best friend nani the cockatiel lol.

Interesting! No problem with disagreeing. Its good to have all opinions voiced.

We got our second bird for 2 reasons. 1) so Janey would have companionship when we weren't at home. 2) so that she would know she was a bird and not a human. I'd also happily fill the house with birds for my own benefit if i could but I've agreed with my husband to stop at two.

We waited until we were happy with the relationship we had with Janey before getting a second bird. We now have two birds and I'm happy with the quality of the relationship I have with them overall. Main thing I'd like to fix is socialization with other people and new places.

At the time, our avian vet and literature I read also recommends the practice.

I agree, though, just getting a bird for your bird is not likely to solve behavioral problems. In fact, it could create new ones.

Ellie.

I can totally feel your pain.

Since 8 weeks old my bird has (mostly) been the sweetest little thing.
Even bluffing was quickly solved by isolating her after a hard bite and training.

She's now about a year and a half and the last three or so weeks has just totally flipped out.

She won't spend barely any time with me (used to not leave my side and enjoy scratches/cuddles as much as she could get) - When i let her out she just tears off to the opposite end of the house and lands with her back to me.

When it's time to return to the cage she refuses to go in.

Worst of all, she's biting me. HARD. If she's in the cage and i put my finger up to the bars near her (i always used to give her a last little beak rub/head pet before i left for the day) she will lunge at me. If she's out, she'll bite me and fly away in one movement to avoid being chastised for it.

Like you, i've swatted her away by accident a couple of times out of sheer frustration, and i've felt horrible about it afterwards as well. You're not alone!

Ellie, I remember reading that post of yours from last year - but re reading it now makes a lot of sense and i think that perhaps my Sammy has now gotten old enough to start acting a little hormonal. She has been climbing on my towels in the bathroom and hiding herself up on the inside of them... And uncannily, that post of yours was from last May.

First thing tonight when i get home i'm going to move her cage (although the way my apartment is i'm not sure how many positions will have a different outlook). I'm also going to clip her.

When she bites me, i usually give her a loud stern "No" and point a finger at her. She knows she's done wrong and kind of cowers/leans back and has a look of "I'm sorry," or if the bite was bad enough she will get a 10 minute time out - what is everybody's opinion of these methods? It has been working well up until now, i just don't want to be doing anything wrong that might impede her from becomming normal again after breeding season....

Yikes - as I was typing, Janey figured out how to get through my "security systems" into the laundry - her favourite nesting place... Looks like I'm in for it again this year too!

She just hopped back into her cage for some water, so I'll let her stay in there for a bit for now, until I can figure out what I am going to do next!

Poor girl - her nesting instincts are just so strong.

Matt - Janey likes to climb into towels like that too. They love hanging out in the bathroom, especially around nesting season (although the laundry is her fav place).

Ellie.

wow, look at all these replies! very helpfull!

MissK: I am already getting her used to be in the cage more. WE starded on that several monts ago, and she can be in the cage up to 5-6 hours.. Tho, i usually only put her back in the cage when i am cleaning the house, or walking the dog..or simply not around. That is going all good. she used to only eat in her cage, and both sleep and steal water from the dog outside of the cage.. even if i werent home. she and the dog all alone in one room.. But not to worry. My dog is not a killer, shes more afirad of the bird if anything nowdays.. they actually used to play with eachother. that was very cute!
She is ok sleeping in her cage at night. When shes tierd, she will go in herself, so all i have to do is to close the door and cover it up.

I have been thinking that her behavior is due to mating season or motling, but its just ben constant since the bluffering was over.
I will invest in a nestingbox for her.. even tho i did have a box in her cage, that was my storing box. she pretty much cvhewed it to pieces. thats why i dont let her stay in my bedroom anymore alone. she will destroy everything. she was very insterested in thet box, expecially when it was on the glasstablle in the diningroom(thats her room)
Once i put it in the cage, it wasnt so cool anymore.
I dont want to get a nesting box to keep it outside of the cage, i dont think that will solve anything. i bet she will charge me if i walk by, just as she is doing now, hiding behind my other plastic boxes.

I had two minutes sesions with her yesterday. Got my super thick gloves and went in the room. that gives me strengt, knowing she cant bite off my finger. she still charges, and she aims for the face aswell, hey. I will just put my hand in front of my face and she will fly stright in to the glove, clawing it for better grip and start chweing in to the glove. she would not for the love of god let go.. imagne if that was my face! so what i did was to just touch everything she would protect, and just let her chew the hell out of the glove, and once she stopped charging when i touched.. lets say the chair, i woould give her just a tiiiny bit of grape, and move on to the next thing. Hopefully this will maybe help me calm her down alittle. She would still try to charge me once i turned my back to her tho, then i would stand still and hold my ground.. once i walked away when she was on the floow.. she would do a tiny little jump charge after me.. i must say, that was the cutest charge of frustration ever.

I wouldnt get a bird just to try to solwemy current brids behavior, but i would get a bird for compaionship. they are flock animals, but can do ok for themself aswell. they usually dont live all their life alone.

ellie: behavior trigger.. ive been looking, i just cant find it.. unless its just her being territorial, and me walking in that room is the problem for her. which is what i am working on.

Matt: yeah. my bird will also bite and fly off in the oposite direction. I usually, when she was in the cage, open the cage and stick my finger in front ofthe entrance for her to land on, and i would place her on top of the cage where her frosh veggie/fruit was waiting for her, now she will land on my finger and bite it as soon as she lands.. i just stopped doin gthat now.. I also used to kiss her good night on the beak.. guess why i stopped doing that too! ouch! The only time i kiss her now.. like all over her tiny little body, id when im using sunglasses. she loooves the sunglasses, goes in to this deep trance.. and good! i can cut her little nails now with no problem!

Im not so sure about pointing your finger to her when she bites.. that sounds alittle annoying and maybe even trigger a secon bite.
When she bites me, i just let her bite and try not be botehred.. once you respnd to a bite, she gets what she wants, she wins.

my bird loves to ben the bathroom aswell.. but not to sit on the towels, but to throw my cotton sticks all over the floor, and get in to my makeup bag and throw everything in there out aswell! i only let her in when i shower. she loves to sit on top of the shower and drink hot shower water from my hands, and bathe in the steam. only time, when im not using sunglasses, she will not bite me, even if i stick my finger on her tummy.

That is very, very interesting (to me) about the sunglasses. If I understand correctly, you say this bird is attacking you so much, but never attacks when you are wearing sunglasses? What is special about sunglasses?

When you wear sunglasses the bird sees a friend she won't attack? Does this also protect other parts of you, like your hand?
When you wear sunglasses the bird cannot see your eyes, or, at least, your eyes are hidden?
When you wear sunglasses the bird might be able to see movement (her own) reflected in the lenses?
When you wear sunglasses the shape of your head is changed - does this disguise you and make you seem to be someone else?
Will you get the same effect (bird stops attacking) if you simply hold the sunglasses next to your face, as if a ghost were wearing them and standing cheek to cheek with you?

If you discover what is so special about the magic sunglasses, I hope you'll tell us!

-MissK

Yes, it does protect my hand. it doesnt matter if im wearing them or not. She knows it me when i am wearing them.
but as i said in my first post, this behavior happends to many objects she has taken a fancy to. Like my dogs favorite ball, or any ball of that matter. she will do alittle matign dance around it, push the ball, and continue her dance for then to bend down ready to mate. same happens to my hairclip, my lighter, my phone, and camera, my toothbrush, and shaver, melon, when we schoop the melon with a melon scoop, basketball.. i feel saver handling her with sunglasses tho, cause i can wear them and have both my hands free, so everynow and then i inspect her wings by spreading them, and have a look at her feet, and clip her nails. To me it seems like she is somewhat confused about who she is, and obv she is ready to mate. she goes into a complete trans. oh, and this happens to regular reading glasses aswell, where she can see the eyes, doesnt even matter if its a person shes never met before.
i can try to make a vid for you too see it once if you like, and if you can posts vids on this forum. i have afew pics of her with the ball, and me kissing her little tummy with the sunglasses on. sometimes when even i am petting her, without sunglasses, she will go in a mating position and kluk

From reading your most recent posts, this is my take on it.

Your baby girl has imprinted on you as her mate. Just like when males see a certain shape, they do their little dance...she has taken a liking to you in the glasses and it puts her "in the mood". Now she wants you as her mate and when a female ringneck doesn't get what she wants, they get aggressive and sometimes violent. She views your house as her mating grounds. Being the dominant sex of the species, she is trying to force you to get her way.

This is just my opinion, but I think you need to set up immediate boundaries. ie..keep certain rooms off limits, increase cage time, and refrain from petting her as that can incite sexual feelings. Decrease her daylight hours so she thinks its winter. And as friendly as your puppy is, leave her in the cage while you are away from the house to decrease her territorial feelings.

Like I said, these are just my opinions and I really just want to see you with your baby back to normal.

Imprinted me.. more like the glasses. I dont have to be around for her to do her little dance. She only 'inprint' me on a rare occation. I guess ringnecks doesnt have partners for live, i cant remember, but i think not. I better pack away everything that triggerrs this behavior then. As far as the charging go, is just a territorial behaviour. She does not dance or show any kind of friendly behaviour beforehand

I think Skyes_crew gives some good advice and I think decreasing her daylight hours may be the key to curbing mating behaviour. I think you possibly have a confused, frustrated bird on your hands. You may need to interact with her less until the worst of this is over. Is there someone else in the household who can look after her for a little while to see if that makes a difference?

Ellie.

Okay, you won't believe this...

After re-reading your post from last year Ellie, last night i gave Sammy's cage a complete overhaul.
I usually change it up about once a week and rotate perches and toys etc - but last night i went completely different.

I went and cut a few good sized bushy bottlebrush branches and mounted them inside her cage (it reduced the "room" but gave her lots of stuff to chew (she chews all of my stuff, and paper when i'm playing with her with it but if i make some shredded paper toys for her in her cage they get ignored!) - which she almost immediately started ripping apart.

I also moved her food and water (first time) and put a bunch of twigs etc on the bottom of the cage, aswell as an open ended cardboard box.

At lunchtime today, she was almost entirely back to her normal self!

WOW!

Time will tell if it lasts, but it was a very quick and dramatic change!

That's great!! I hope it continues to be a happy ending for you both

Well done! I hope it continues too. You may have to keep changing it up and giving lots of wood to chew? It might be time I took some of that advice too! I think it might be time for a cage overhaul for my guys this weekend too!

Ellie.

That's fantastic!

Mattie Sue Athen mentioned in one of her books "packing the cage" with branches and leaves to comfort some bird that was upset. Looks like it works!

-MissK

The change has been remarkeable! Not 100%, she still can be a little hassle to go back to her cage (havent clipped yet) but she really is almost back to her usual sweet self! Here's a shot i snuck in thisafternoon before she went to bed...

Awwwwww, my brother used to carry his teddy bear like that when he was little!

-MissK

I'm so happy you have your lovable girl back. That pic is absolutely adorable. My sun conure sits like that with me. She hates to be alone (very codependent lol)