Advice for my bird's new aggression

[mslade]

Hi,

I've had my bird for many years. He's a rescue and has always been tenuous with physical interaction, but he was always generally friendly with me. I made the mistake of changing several things in a short period of time (some outside of my control) and now I can't determine what has made him so aggressive. Can anyone give any tips?

When I give him his breakfast in the morning, he always sprints towards the food dish and attacks the food in it for a few seconds before settling down and eating. He never used to do that. He also generally acts defensive any time I'm around him - whether he's on his cage or in neutral areas like helping me cook in the kitchen. He'll find a corner to stay in and any move I make towards him gets hisses or he may even try to chase me off.

I used to spend almost all of my days with him but had to take a new job recently so now I only see him a few hours a day. This has been the case for many months. I also flight trained him this past year; previously he didn't fly at all, whereas now he flies comfortably around the house. At first it seemed like he was having fun with flight training, but now it only seems to make him aggressive. He'll fly to me, but instead of taking his treat he'll immediately act like he's holding down a bunker. The past few days it's gotten worse, where he flies at me without being queued and while he doesn't attack me directly, he gets defensive as soon as I set him down on a surface.

It seems like he generally wants to "get me" now almost any time I'm around him and this has been going on for too long to write it off as a phase. It's causing a lot of stress on our relationship as I no longer know how to socialize with him; he almost always acts like he'd rather I not be around.

Two other things I changed around the same time that are probably important:

- I put a ledge in his cage; just a surface for him to hang out on, but over time he made it his new sleeping spot and now he hangs out there all the time.

- I moved his cage to a new location so I could let him look out the window while I was gone. I later concluded that this was a bad idea for a few reasons, but I can't move him back to his old place. The last time I tried he panicked like I'd never seen and I had to towel him just to get him back to his cage - something I've never had to do before.

Did my flight training make him more aggressive? Is he mad because I'm not around as much? Is he "nesting" because of the ledge I gave him? Did putting him in front of the window rile up his territorial instinct?

Any tips would be appreciated. The trend has gone on too long for me to think it will pass, and I don't know what to do. I'm 90% of the social interaction he gets so I can't stand to have him act like I'm an enemy at all times.

Mark

[Pajarita]

We need more information: what species are we talking about? If he hisses, it must be a tiel but please confirm. Age? How many years have you had him? Do you know for a fact it's a him? Diet? Light schedule? Daily routines?

[Wolf]

The first thing that I am going to say is that cooking with a bird in the kitchen is not good, it is too dangerous for them and if you use any non stick type of pots and pans there is the issue of toxic fumes that will kill your bird in doses too small for you to detect. Please don't do this.
Now as to the birds aggression, I do have an ideas as to what is causing it but need some more information to be sure. I understand that it is a rescue but do you have an idea as to his age? What do you feed him and when do you give it to him? What is the birds daily schedule starting with what time he gets up and ending with when he goes to bed? Is he covered at night? How long have you had him?

[mslade]

Thanks for the responses.

Cook was the wrong word to use; he helps me prep. I don't have him around kitchen fumes or hot stoves. I don't own Teflon or chemical cleaners or candles or a toaster.

He's a brown-headed parrot that I adopted 7 years ago from a rescue who didn't know his history for certain, but felt that he was a year or so old. I've had him sexed and he is male. His daily routine is awake at 8:30AM, alone time with the radio from 9-5, he hangs out with me for a few hours, and in bed by 9. I let him out of his cage when I'm with him, otherwise he stays in. It's a very large cage for his size with a variety of toys and perches that I don't change out as often as I should. At night he's completely covered. I'll also mention that I don't have any kids or other pets; I do have an SO that comes around pretty often and he seems to like her. I occasionally leave town for business and have my parents watch him, whom he also seems to like.

His diet is Harrison's adult coarse and power treats, fresh fruit and veggies, nuts as treats. He gets a lump sum in the morning and then in the evening when I'm prepping dinner he gets more food depending on what I'm cooking. It varies a lot but I'm careful not to feed him anything that isn't parrot-safe, and I haven't made any significant changes to his diet lately.

[Wolf]

Based on your answer you bird must be really nice bird and normally very gentle with you., because he is overly hormonal and is in so much pain that it is difficult to be touched. The treatment takes time and is the same as the preventative. Your bird needs to be changed to a low protein diet and needs exposure to the twilight periods that occur just before dawn and at dusk without the interference of artificial light.
We provide all the different triggers to send them into their reproductive cycle by providing a steady temperature and a nesting space, we provide an abundance of food, mostly with too much protein which will eventually destroy their liver and is also used to manufacture the reproductive hormones. The light at twilight has properties that set and reset the birds internal clock which tell the pituitary gland to signal that it is breeding season and it is no longer running on time due to the bird living under a human light schedule. This causes their internal sexual organs to grow from about the size of a pea to over 100 times larger and this continues because the hormones don't shut down like they are supposed to and the overly enlarged organs start putting pressure on all of the birds internal organs and not just on themselves. It get extremely painful.
The light schedule that the wild birds living outside all year are on what we refer to as a solar light schedule and is the exact lighting schedule that your bird needs to be exposed to and he needs a low protein diet.

[Pajarita]

Wolf is correct. His diet is too high on protein and his light schedule is a human one so he is overly hormonal and at the 'bad' age. In my personal experience, parrots that are fed a high protein diet and kept at a human light schedule and alone all day long are sometimes able to put up with it for a number of years but, it reaches a point in their life when they kind of realize nothing is going to change and they rebel against it. For medium to large species it usually happens, depending on the severity of the problem and the species, between the ages of 8 and 15 so, as you can see, yours is right on schedule. Parrots are actually quite patient birds, in general, and they put up with a lot from us but they do have their limits and it seems that yours has reached his.

It will take a change in diet and light schedule - and it will take time because the longer the bird has been kept at a bad light schedule the larger the gonads, and the longer it takes for their out of whack endocrine system to get back in tune with the seasons. But the good news is that this is the perfect time of the year to do it because the days are getting naturally shorter so the transition will be entirely natural. The problem is going to be your work schedule during the winter and finding him some type of company for during the day...

[mslade]

Thanks Wolf, Pajarita, for the fantastic responses. I'm crushed to know that I've had him on a harmful schedule for so long. Do you have any recommendations for how I manage a solar light cycle for him?

I've been wondering for a while if I should be covering him up at night. And I'm fairly certain he doesn't like it, either, so I know he wouldn't mind. I've already taken care to make sure that all AC vents near him are closed, and I'm certain that he isn't in the path of any drafts. What is the wisdom on leaving a bird uncovered? Are there other dangers I would need to consider?

If I did that he would get light exposure on a natural rhythm instead of mine. That's light coming through windows, but I also have a UV lamp I can set on a timer. Is the latter preferred?

Edit: I forgot to ask about diet. Are you saying that because of the nuts, or the Harrison's? Harrison's has been his primary food for as long as I've had him, should I look for something else to ween him onto? Or find a new treat that isn't nuts?

[Wolf]

Whether or not you cover your bird at night depends on whether there is still light in the room after all lights are off and whether the bird accepts it or not, Some birds do not like to be covered.
I live out of town and there are no outside security light or any other lights to disturb their sleep so I don't cover my birds. This means less work for me in cleaning and that I don't have to uncover them before dawn. It wouldn't be a problem, because I am already awake before dawn.
I have a full spectrum light that I do use to help them see better as they see into the ultra violet ranges that we can't see and see so many more colors that it is as if we are colorblind in comparison. The full spectrum is no help with the hormonal problem that you are having only the two twilight periods have the right properties to set or reset their internal clock.
As to diet I think that my best response is to let you know what and when I feed my birds.
Shortly after dawn I feed my bird a fresh raw vegetable, a fruit, and a fresh raw leafy green. About an hour later I feed them a homemade cooked food that we call gloop viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13666 I give enough for all day of both of these foods and then about half an hour before dusk I feed them a good seed mix for dinner. You could use the pellets that you are feeding. I don't like pellets and don't use them for my birds. Nuts are fine for treats.

[Pajarita]

The birds in the birdroom do not get covered and neither do the ones in my dining room because, right now, there is no need as the days are still long and we go upstairs when there is still a bit of light in the sky (I do turn off their overhead lights early, of course, and I also used to cover them in the winter but I am trying to see if I can manage not covering them by putting an opaque bamboo shade or something similar covering the opening to the kitchen (where I would be until 8 pm in the winter and way past the time it gets night). But I do cover the cardinals cage in the living room and will continue to do it because they are next to one of my front windows facing the street and there is a lamp out there.

I also feed gloop and raw produce for breakfast and all day picking and a good quality seed/nut mix for dinner. If you want to continue feeding pellets, you would have to feed them just for dinner and, if you do, I suggest you switch to Tops which are the only organic pellets made with human grade materials, no soy and only food-derived vitamins and minerals. The problem with free-feeding high protein food (seeds, pellets, nutriberries, avicakes, nuts, etc) is that because abundant sources of vegetable high protein are not found in nature, they evolved with a hard-wiring that makes them gorge on it when they get it (because it's needed for reproduction) so birds that are free-fed pellets, seeds, etc would fill themselves up with them and not eat enough of the raw produce they need for phytonutrients, right type of fiber, natural vitamins which have a higher bioavailability than man-made, etc. This does not only make them very hormonal (breeding season in nature is always 'timed' to the availability of rich food) it ends up destroying their liver and kidneys, making them obese, etc.

Please, no UV light! There aren't any that were made for birds, they are all reptile or amphibian ones that were re-labeled as avian and they are dangerous to their eyes and skin.

[mslade]

Great tips.

The room he's in stays dark and quiet after he goes to bed so it sounds like he's a good candidate for being uncovered. He's always bit at the cover when I put it on, he definitely doesn't like it, but I never really considered skipping it.

Pajarita - that's crazy about UV lamps. Do you have any links where I can read more about this?

Regarding diet... it sounds like I've been making a lot of mistakes. I'm going to shift him over to veggie-focused diet and reduce the Harrison's he gets to a few pieces at dinner time. He's been eating primarily Harrison's for a long time so it's going to be a slow process.

Thanks again. I'll get Jimmy back on track.