Six Month Old Senegal Skirt Dancing?

[Danni]

Hi everyone. Quick question for Senegal owners...

My Senegal, Jasper, is about six months old. She has definitely bonded closely to me as opposed to the other members of my family. As a result, she seems to be demonstrating the 'skirt dancing' behavior. While I understand that this is a mating behavior in mature Senegals, isn't she considered a little too young to be doing this? Could this behavior mean anything else? I read somewhere that it could be her just begging for food?

I do not encourage it. Usually she does it in the morning when I have her out before I head off to work. She'll be walking around on my bed or on my shoulder and as soon as I ask her to step up, she'll start the 'squeaking' noise and her wings will droop. When she starts I simply put her down on her cage and walk to a different part of my room for a while until she calms down. Then I'll go back over and resume normal head scritches.

[Pajarita]

I don't know if I am not understanding your description correctly but, if I am, that's not the Senegal display called 'dancing'. The dancing looks like dancing, they go round and round in circles while holding their wings a bit out with their feathers fluffed up. I don't know what you mean by the 'squeak' and the 'drooping' wings but if what she does is kind of squat a bit and flutter her wings real fast, it's begging and, as far as I know, they only do it when they are hungry and/or were incorrectly weaned.

[Wolf]

This does not sound to me like a mating dance it does sound as if your bird is begging for food and probably warn soft food at that. I would think that this is a result of improper or incomplete weaning.

[Danni]

I'm not sure what she's doing then.

The best way I can describe it is;
Her wings droop down past her sides and she holds them out a little bit, showing the feathers on her back.
She does do little circles every once in a while. While she's not constantly spinning, she does pace and turn around every once in a while.
She clicks her beak then makes these small squeaking noises.
Her eyes pin as well.

Pretty much exactly like the Meyer's in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvkFvdUaXp8

I do not think she was weaned improperly. The breeder I got her from let Jasper decide when she didn't want formula anymore. When she rejected it for three days straight, they decided that she could finally come home with me. After a week of watching and monitoring her weight, I was able to take her. She certainly took much longer to wean than any of her other siblings.

(I apologize for taking a while to respond. I haven't been able to get on the computer)

[Wolf]

Well if your Senegal is doing the same thing as in the video, then it is the mating dance. And yes it is a lot early for a Senegal, they don't go through puberty until they are two to five years old. The male is usually right on time and goes through puberty at two but the female has a tendency to wait until they are three but not mating until they are five, but that is in the wild. I am pretty sure that Kiki was three when she went through puberty.
Letting the bird wean at its own pace and time is a good thing, but with it only being three days then it is also likely that she could have regressed with all the stresses from moving.

[Pajarita]

Well, what the Meyer's is doing is not the Senegal's mating dance but this poor bird is certainly a VERY broody female - and she looks quite uncomfortable, the poor thing! But what Wolf said is correct. There is no way that a 6 month old baby Senegal could be so broody - as a matter of fact, at that age, it shouldn't even be producing any sexual hormones whatsoever so something else is going on. Are you feeding soft and warm foods served fresh twice a day? Because regardless of what the bird did or did not do at the breeder's, all baby birds regress when moved to a strange home (they become scared and insecure) and need the comfort and re-assurance of soft food and I think yours is asking for it.