IndianRingNeck.com

So we rescued Oliver back in December. Didn't know anything about him except that we could tell he was younger (Still not sure if male or female). He was clumsy the same way Sunni was when she was about six months old, so we pegged his age at around six months. Freaked if we approached the cage. LOUD voice. Huge. Kind of a buffoon. We call him our oaf
Fast forward to today, six months later. He has a routine now. First out of bed in the morning, he clicks down the hallway (his previous owner did a hack job on his wings and we are still waiting to see if they grow back in). Comes out, eats a little and calls to the others. When it's time to go to bed at night, he rides a stick down the hall to the sleeping cage (he does NOT do well on a sleep perch so he gets a cage with the door left open). More of a follower, really. Does whatever Luna does. She seems to be the flock leader, if there is such a thing. Fits in with all the others even though we have to keep a close eye on Luna with Sunni.
Ok, to my point. He paces. When he gets out to the perch/cage/play stand for the day, he paces across the top for about 30-45 minutes. Nonstop pacing, sometimes accompanied with LOUD screeches. The others used to be concerned we could tell but now they just let him do his thing. As he paces, he will stop and grab a piece of food and carry it with him. Stop and dink with a toy.
Sould I be concerned? He has toys, he has foraging opportunities all day every day. Is this just him working off some pent up energy from being in the cage all night? He doesn't pluck. He just seems to have an excess of energy in the morning. After about 30-45 minutes he settles in.
Thoughts?
Thank you

I just read this http://www.birdtricks.com/blog/does-a-g ... -behavior/ and while it does seem rather lightweight, as articles may go, it did mention pacing as a way to burn off excess energy from excess carb/calorie intake. I don't know how you feed the flock, but it could make sense that your nonflighted bird should get less fuel to burn, since he can't burn it off as well as the others? I've struggled for over a decade with the concept that my pups, littermates, just don't need the same size serving of food. When I try to be all fair and equal with it, either one drops weight or the other gains. Different animals, different needs. I also had a great read back through this http://www.parrothouse.com/pamelaclark/ ... anion.html which is not exactly new, and does not directly address pacing, but is well worth rereading. I'm actually going to print it out and follow the instruction for converting the hard core junk food junkie. (There's someone new in my life - photos coming, maybe.....)

Kennel dogs tend to pace when they are bored, and under excercised. sanjay did it when his cage was too small and confining, and he could not stretch his wings.

Thanks for the replies. I'm gonna try switching up the diet. Space isn't an issue since they all pretty much have run of the house. I was also wondering if maybe its because he used to be in a smaller cage and now he's got all this room?

I know hardly anything about it, but a smaller cage could have bred a stereotypic behaviour that is lingering?

hi

my bird paces and shouts and eats just like yours, she never used to do it till i brought my 2cnd IRN home, so i think it maybe a territorial thing, i think shes telling my blue that this is her cage, he can go on it but this is her domain.

My Fats does this too. often when we are hanging out in the same room as him and he's in the cage. he paces in a triangle around the cage and stops in the same corner, lifts his head, and "Pew Pew" makes his IRN noise. He also does this in the morning. Now you have me worried that his cage truely is too small. Maybe he needs another tissue paper toy.

Maybe it means that he wants to come out because you are so groovy......

well just in case it was that my cages was too small i went out and bought 2 decent size cages that make my babies look as big as budgies in them, pennie still does the same thing, they are both booked in for a health check this morning so i will ask if they know why they pace in this manner, on a lighter note my pennie has started talking over the last few days, i thought she wud start with a single word but she blew me away when it was.... what you doing followed by peek-a-boo another new word this morning was tweet tweet, not sure how much of her talking is down to me or blue tho lol.

Well, bigger cages are a good idea anyway right?, and because the pacing had become a habit, it may take a few days to finally stop altogether. Sanjay has the biggest corner cage available, and he doesn't look small in it. Someone donated a very nice cage to the charity shop where I work, but it was the same size his nursery cage was, I couldn't believe just how much he has grown!, he couldn't fit one wing in there now.