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5 year female Senegal and a new baby - help!

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5 year female Senegal and a new baby - help!

Postby ali-zee » Sun Apr 02, 2017 6:09 am

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone has some advice on how to get my 4 (turning 5 before baby is born) year old Senegal parrot used to the idea of a new baby?? I am pregnant and really worried about Zee's hormones during nesting season and how she will adapt to a new member of the family.

During nesting season i have always been the target for Zee and have to be careful with managing her behaviour during this time to reduce the numbers of bites I receive. She has bonded very strongly with my partner and I am fine with that as at least it means they get along! However this is the first season she has started to bite him and is fine with me! (I am presuming it is out of sexual frustration!)

So I am a bit worried about what she will do when we have a new baby and are exhausted and she is getting less attention than normal.

(FYI. We have had her since she was a baby. She is well socialised to others coming into the house and loves strange men. she is a flighted bird and we have lots of routines in place about where she can and cant go in the house etc. We also have some key commands that she follows etc, come here, bed, perch etc. Other routines include how long she has out of the cage in the mornings and evenings. She also has her own play stand with toys and her cage is filled with things that she can play with)

Any advice would be much appreciated! :senegal:

Alison and Zee
ali-zee
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 4
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Female Senegal Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: 5 year female Senegal and a new baby - help!

Postby Bird woman » Sun Apr 02, 2017 6:37 am

Good morning Ali-zee, unfortunately this is all too common of a problem with birds and new young family members . I would suggest that you make sure you have your bird on a proper solar schedule to lesson the duration of the hormonal cycle and address the diet part as well . A lot of protein keeps them hormonal for longer periods as well. If you can tell us about her sleeping habits , lighting provided and foods fed another member will come on and explain in greater detail things you can do. Also what area are you in as that makes a difference with the solar schedule. Be complete as you can about cage placement , lighting , when put to bed , if covered , foods fed and when etc. as all of it will make a difference. All my birds are very hormonal right now and quite nippy or lovey :lol: I don't have a lot of experience with your particular species but there are some rules we must all follow for the well being of our beloved birds. :thumbsup: BW
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Re: 5 year female Senegal and a new baby - help!

Postby liz » Sun Apr 02, 2017 7:10 am

BirdWoman has you headed in the right direction. All of what she said is very important.

My suggestion is to get a baby monitor so you can close the door and your bird not get in where the baby is. For all you know the baby may become the most important human to your bird.

Other than that stop stressing before you need to. I got Rainbow when a woman got pregnant after 11 years of marriage and was going to sell her and give away her furry animals. Needless to say I could not see those little being leaving a loving home and have to start over. I didn't know anything about birds so Rainbow had to give me a crash course. If I hadn't stepped in who knows what his fate would be. They are like little kids too.
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liz
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Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
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Re: 5 year female Senegal and a new baby - help!

Postby Pajarita » Sun Apr 02, 2017 3:19 pm

Welcome to the forum, Alison and Zee! I understand your concern, it's a very common one either before or after the baby is born because parrots that bond deeply to their humans do get jealous of their displaying affection for other beings (and I say beings because, as far as they are concerned, other birds, spouses, dogs, cats, etc. are all competition). My female Senegal, Zoey, used to bite my husband when she first came to me (all my birds came to me as adults, I don't buy babies) and she would not allow any other bird to perch on my person. But, as time went by, she stopped biting him (he never even tried to interact with her, she would fly to his shoulder just to bite him :shock: )and became more independent in that she started flying around and perching on other places besides my shoulder (she would not move from it for a couple of years after she came) so other birds took her place when she wasn't there. But she never, ever, ever bit my grandkids. She bit my grown children but only if they tried to interact with her but never the grandkids. Of course, I never allow children to interact with my birds but that wouldn't have stopped her if she had wanted to bite them (it never did with any adult :D ).

Yours is at a bad age because, in the wild, she would have started her family right about this age. So I would suggest your keeping her to a super strict solar schedule with, at the very least, 1.5 hours of twilight both in the am and the pm, and reducing her protein intake during the cold weather months to avoid her becoming overly hormonal and making sure she is not out of her cage when you have the baby with you - just in case, you know? I don't think she will go out of her way to bite him/her but better safe than sorry, right? Aside from that, I would recommend you try your very best to keep her routine exactly as it is so as not to make her resent him/her (they are smart and she will put 2+2 together if everything changes after the baby's arrival).
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Re: 5 year female Senegal and a new baby - help!

Postby liz » Mon Apr 03, 2017 6:57 am

Rainbow claims one of the dogs, Riddick, as his own. He calls him "c'mere Riddick c'mere. here boy".

Myrtle claimed Jasmine the dog and Sqeekie the cat. When they got on my lap for attention she would get on my shoulder and travel down my front to pet them too.

We have heard many times of dogs and cats bonding to babies and claiming them as their charges. In the Philippines I took in a tiny kitten who grew up to treat me like prey. She would go to every one but me. With me she would hide in an urn and jump out to attack me after I passed the urn. Since my baby was going to smell like me, my husband put a screen door on the bedroom so I would not have to worry. She was always hanging on the door looking in. One day I forgot to close the door quickly and when I went back the cat that hated me was curled up beside my son. She claimed him and watched every thing I did with him to make sure he was okay.

I read about a parrot that sent up the alarm to the baby sitter that something was wrong with the baby. I think she was flying around yelling "BABY MOMMA BABY MOMMA" to alert the sitter. The baby was choking. I doubt the bird cuddled with the baby but it took charge of the baby when it's mom was not home.

I have bottle fed kittens and sit on the side of the basket for long periods of time watching them.

Prepare ahead of time for the worst but always look for signs of the best. The baby monitor would work until you know what is going on in your birds mind.
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
Flight: Yes

Re: 5 year female Senegal and a new baby - help!

Postby ali-zee » Wed Apr 12, 2017 10:32 am

Hi all

Thanks for the replies! Very helpful.

Zee has a diet of fresh fruit and veg (she eats lots of variety - peas, carrots, grapes apples, sweetcorn, chillis, etc) plus seeds and nuts. We use a black out blanket on her cage and it goes on no later than 9pm and comes off approx 8am in the morning. She usually puts herself to bed and lets us know when she wants the blanket on but the ultimate time frame is 9pm...harder in summer due to how the sun doesnt really go down until 10pm (in the uk) and wants to stay up later but is too cranky the next day if she doesnt get a proper sleep. Her cage is situated beside a window with lots of toys for entertainment, during the summer months we spend lots of time in the garden in her travel cage to get some sun - not really during winter as its too cold. Not sure what you guys mean by the 'twilight' hours? Can you be more specific?

To be honest i dont plan on keeping baby and zee separate as she will just get jealous and figure out how to get more attention for herself through misbehaving! And she is very clued in on how to get the best attention!

thanks!
ali-zee
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 4
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Female Senegal Parrot
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Re: 5 year female Senegal and a new baby - help!

Postby Bird woman » Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:01 am

Dusk then the dark then you cover, important also to uncover at start of light . BW
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Re: 5 year female Senegal and a new baby - help!

Postby ali-zee » Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:10 am

Perfect that is what we try to do in terms of daylight!
ali-zee
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: Female Senegal Parrot
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Re: 5 year female Senegal and a new baby - help!

Postby Pajarita » Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:50 am

No artificial lights whatsoever until the sun is up and rays are coming into the room (I uncover my birds cages at 6 am and turn on the lights at 7:30 - 8 am this time of the year) and no artificial lights after the sun is halfway down to the horizon and covering when night has fallen (this time of the year, I turn off the lights at 5:30 pm, feed them dinner at 6 pm and cover their cages at around 8 pm). A solar schedule implies completely different wake up and to bed times depending on the season so be careful with your schedule because you are giving her 13 hours of daylight every single day of the year and that never happens in nature (never, anywhere on the earth, not even in the tropics) and that means an endocrine system that is not working properly.
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Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: 5 year female Senegal and a new baby - help!

Postby stevesjk » Fri Apr 14, 2017 4:47 am

It gets tricky here in the uk when dawn can start sometimes as early as 3:30am in summer.
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