Female "Display" and screeching

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Hi everyone

This is my 3rd day of owning an Indian Ringneck. The previous owners told me they didn't know how old she was, but estimated her at about 12 months. She was extremely tame with their family members, but mainly interacting with only the parents and letting only the father handle her fully.

She will take sunflower seeds from me through the bars of the cage and is generally calm. However, at other times she will lunge towards me, even with seed in hand. I find this behaviour really unpredictable and she really shows no different signs when shes snappy.

I have a few points of interest, that I hope someone on the boards could explain to me? I know there are alot of "same questions" that I can find answers to in other threads, however I feel that I want more specific information...

1. Screeching - on the first day I got her, she was extremely quiet and only made sweet noises. Now, she screeches randomly, along with those sweet noises. At first I thought it was for attention, so I would try to ignore her when shes screeching and interact with her only when she's calm. However, sometimes when I'm talking to her she will screech as well. It's an extremely high pitched and unpleasant, so I have to put in my earphones because it is that loud... I can't figure out why she's screeching, but is the best thing to ignore it?

2. Female "display" - so I googled this a bit and figured out that the way she moves her head back, pins her eyes and clucks is some sort of mating display? Can someone confirm this? Sometimes I'll come up to her cage and say "hello? hello!" over and over again and she'll start exhibiting this behaviour. At the end of her clucking, she appears to try to imitate what I've said. Like "coo coo coo coo.. haha" or "coo coo coo coo... hello?" When she does this, she actually allows me to touch her and I've been taking every opportunity to just pet her neck because this is the only time she will let me. However sometimes she will "snap out of it" early and just lunge at my hand. When she snaps out of it, she'll climb around the cage or walk around the cage really excitedly.

She will also come up and rub her beak in between the bars and maybe bob her head from side-to-side really quickly.

Now that I've read that its a mating thing, I'm a bit reluctant to touch her during these times. What do you guys think?

3. Handling and flying - I've only had her for 3 days, so I know it's too early, but I'm just wondering when do you think it's okay to begin trying to handle her and let her fly around out of her cage? Her previous owners let her fly around their house normally, however of course they were extremely well-acquainted with her. As she has already bonded with them, how long do you think it'll take her to get used to me? I have her in my room so she really is with me 24/7, because I am usually studying and don't get out very often. However she seems to really like my brother-in-law, even though he's never seen her and her previous owner who she had bonded to was also a male... and well, I am a female. Will this have any impact on her behaviour towards me or is it all just in my head? And what should be the first step I take in attempting to handle her? Again, I know it's only been 3 days, but I just want to know my limits haha

4. My room is also quite small, so would it still be okay to let her out of the cage to fly around here? Or should I relocate her to outside my room, where she can fly around the house? Her wings aren't clipped so I'd imagine she'd bump into all sorts of things as I haven't actually seen her fly yet... so I'm not sure if I will keep in her my room permanently. Just, at the moment, I'd like her to get used to me and spend as much time beside me as possible, which of course is only going to happen if she's in my room

5. Diet - I have a little stick (as can be seen in the picture) which she has been picking at quite frequently since I got her. I also have a small tub of safflower and another small tub of some "premium seed mix", all of which the previous owners provided to me. However she only really eats the stick and never eats from the tubs of seeds. Is this normal/healthy? I've given her grapes and strawberries at night as well, which she loves to eat, as well as sunflower seeds. My concern is that she's eating all the "treats" only?

Thank you

[ellieelectrons]

Hi Blurr

Welcome.

She will take sunflower seeds from me through the bars of the cage and is generally calm. However, at other times she will lunge towards me, even with seed in hand. I find this behaviour really unpredictable and she really shows no different signs when shes snappy.

My girl would sometimes lunge when I offered her a seed to. Since I introduced foraging, she rarely does it. See these posts for more details on foraging:
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

The previous owners told me they didn't know how old she was, but estimated her at about 12 months. She was extremely tame with their family members, but mainly interacting with only the parents and letting only the father handle her fully.

Given how tame she was, I'm surprised they wanted to give her up. Did she have some bad behaviours? It's good to know this so you can look out for it.

2. Female "display" - so I googled this a bit and figured out that the way she moves her head back, pins her eyes and clucks is some sort of mating display? Can someone confirm this? Sometimes I'll come up to her cage and say "hello? hello!" over and over again and she'll start exhibiting this behaviour. At the end of her clucking, she appears to try to imitate what I've said. Like "coo coo coo coo.. haha" or "coo coo coo coo... hello?" When she does this, she actually allows me to touch her and I've been taking every opportunity to just pet her neck because this is the only time she will let me. However sometimes she will "snap out of it" early and just lunge at my hand. When she snaps out of it, she'll climb around the cage or walk around the cage really excitedly.

She will also come up and rub her beak in between the bars and maybe bob her head from side-to-side really quickly.

Now that I've read that its a mating thing, I'm a bit reluctant to touch her during these times. What do you guys think?

Yes it is a mating behaviour but it also means that she feels comfortable with you. We have two IRNs, a male and a female and the female does do this to me and my husband. I do pat her but only on the head (as this is not a sexual place) and I watch for signs that she may be trying to get more out of it than just a pat (eg. rubbing up against my hand). When I spoke to our avian vet about it, he didn't seem to think this was a problem unless she was rubbing her vent area on me.

3. Handling and flying - I've only had her for 3 days, so I know it's too early, but I'm just wondering when do you think it's okay to begin trying to handle her and let her fly around out of her cage? Her previous owners let her fly around their house normally, however of course they were extremely well-acquainted with her. As she has already bonded with them, how long do you think it'll take her to get used to me? I have her in my room so she really is with me 24/7, because I am usually studying and don't get out very often. However she seems to really like my brother-in-law, even though he's never seen her and her previous owner who she had bonded to was also a male... and well, I am a female. Will this have any impact on her behaviour towards me or is it all just in my head? And what should be the first step I take in attempting to handle her? Again, I know it's only been 3 days, but I just want to know my limits haha

There really is no rule here. Given that she is already tame, it might be okay. You could give it a go and see how it goes.

It sounds like she is already getting somewhat used to you given she is clucking for you and taking food from your hand.

Some birds will develop a liking for a particular person or a particular gender and it can be frustrating. However, generally, if you keep spending time with the bird, offering it treats and being patient, that will help (and no, it's not all your head. Birds can have remarkably different relationships with every person in their life.).

4. My room is also quite small, so would it still be okay to let her out of the cage to fly around here? Or should I relocate her to outside my room, where she can fly around the house? Her wings aren't clipped so I'd imagine she'd bump into all sorts of things as I haven't actually seen her fly yet... so I'm not sure if I will keep in her my room permanently. Just, at the moment, I'd like her to get used to me and spend as much time beside me as possible, which of course is only going to happen if she's in my room

Your room is probably a good starting point for her to fly around in anyway. Regarding the ideal location for your bird, generally they like to be able to observe what's going on around them. Generally a kitchen area isn't recommended because of possible toxic fumes (although I keep mine near the kitchen).

5. Diet - I have a little stick (as can be seen in the picture) which she has been picking at quite frequently since I got her. I also have a small tub of safflower and another small tub of some "premium seed mix", all of which the previous owners provided to me. However she only really eats the stick and never eats from the tubs of seeds. Is this normal/healthy? I've given her grapes and strawberries at night as well, which she loves to eat, as well as sunflower seeds. My concern is that she's eating all the "treats" only?

I give mine fresh veges and fruit every day and pellets and some seed. You can remove sunflower seeds from her normal diet if you want as reserve them for treats. They are definitely a "sometimes" food.

I hope some of what I've written might help and others will answer your other questions.

Ellie.

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Hi Ellie, thanks for your response I will definitely try that foraging thing. I'm not going to be able to spend much time with her in the next few days however...

At the moment I'm having trouble in cleaning and refilling her food/water bowls. Especially with the water bowl, since I was told that they have to be changed everyday, I actually cannot change it without her trying to get out of the cage...

At this point in time, I don't think it's okay to let her out of the cage since she seems to be rather annoyed at me with my attempts to get at the water bowl... And if she does come out, I actually have no idea what I can do to get her back into the cage. What should I do? :S

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The previous owners referred to the bird as "she", however I did not ask how they knew. I noted that they did frequently take the bird to the vet for checkups and so I don't think they would continue calling her a female (and telling me she is) if the vet had not confirmed it from the beginning. Can I just ask is this relevant to my problems? I'm not really fussed about the gender of my bird at the moment unless its important to know for the current care of my bird. :/ Having said that, I do know the only way to tell the gender is via the method you mentioned and the rings that appear around the neck of males at two to three years, which I will keep an eye out for. Yet, my first instinct is to believe the word of the previous owners.

[ellieelectrons]

At the moment I'm having trouble in cleaning and refilling her food/water bowls. Especially with the water bowl, since I was told that they have to be changed everyday, I actually cannot change it without her trying to get out of the cage...

Try offering her a treat through the cage bars at the opposite side of the cage. You could try something different to sunflower seeds or you could just use those. See if you can get her food and water bowls out whilst she is eating the treat.

At this point in time, I don't think it's okay to let her out of the cage since she seems to be rather annoyed at me with my attempts to get at the water bowl... And if she does come out, I actually have no idea what I can do to get her back into the cage. What should I do? :S

Most birds like to sleep in their cage when it's dark. You could try letting her out in the afternoon and hopefully she will go back to her cage when it gets dark (you may need to turn the artificial lights off in that room for a bit until she returns to her cage).

Ellie.

[blurr]

Thanks for your suggestions. I will try those! I am definitely keen to let her out soon, because I'm curious as to how she'll react and yeah... it's all a learning process at the moment!

One more thing... I'm finding a lot of down feathers in her cage and she's not been as receptive to me as normal. Is this normal, since she's probably going through a lot of stress at the moment, or is it something I should be alarmed about? I see about 9 small fluffy down feathers collecting at the bottom of the cage, as of today and her chest is looking scruffy. What has changed, is that she has completely finished her treats stick. However the lady at the pet store told me she shouldn't be eating that as daily food and it should be given as more of a treat, so I have refrained from replacing it. Right now she has a seed mix available to her as food, which I barely see her eat... I just wish I knew what was wrong

But seriously thank you for your help Ellie (=