IndianRingNeck.com

hi everyone,

i have a beautiful grey irn named jwana, i am not sure of her exact age but would say between 2-3 years old and we have had her for just over 4 months now and we have never kept birds before.

she used to be such a good little bird but is now a terror in my eyes and a darling in my husbands eyes.

she will do anything my husband says, kisses him, will not leave her cage untill he tells her to, she even goes toilet on command for him.

when i am on my own with her she is screaming alot even though she is out of the cage and goes to all the places she is not allowed such as on the sofa, on curtains etc which she would never dare do when husband is here.

before she would never leave the front room as she was always to scared but now theres no keeping her out, if im going into the kitchen or bathroom she has to be sat on mine or my husbands shoulder and if we dont let her she will scream until we are back or let her with us.

my husband always keeps her out of the cage from the morning he wakes up until he goes bed and now when we put her in her cage she will rip to shreds any paper in her cage, chuck her food bowl around and when we put her blanket over the cage she rips holes in it and will run up and down the cage until we let her out.

all this behaviour has only happened in the last 6 weeks, is this normal behaviour for a bird or is she just acting spoilt because she cant get her own way all the time?

also my mum mentioned to me that birds will normally only take to a male or female and she has chosen my husband is this true?

thank you

It sounds like your bird has bonded to your husband. Our female has bonded to my husband too. However, I am the one that spends the most time with them... so she is very tame for both of us. When my husband is close-by though she gets noticeably agitated.

Because she is out all day with you guys she probably thinks that she is like you. She probably thinks she is human-ish... so she won't like being made to go in her cage. Do you have an out-of-cage birdie play area for her? Having her own spaces might help?

You will also find that whilst she is going through puberty she is likely to be erratic. With patience, love and a bit of discipline (by discipline I don't mean yelling at or hitting the bird), you will be able to form a stronger bond between you and your bird even though she is more strongly bonded to your husband. Like people, your bird's personality changes and matures... but you may notice big changes for periods of time whilst they are going through puberty.

Ellie.