Senegal parrot behaviour - happy/excited?

[SenegalNovice]

Jewel

iphone March 2015 039 (150x150).jpg (42.02 KiB) Viewed 3710 times

Thank you for your feedback! I have acted on some of your suggestions and already I see improvement. She doesn't bite me, but still growls at times. I only pet her head and discourage any mating rituals. She is allowing me to put her in the cage again. Also, I changed all her cage toys and included more foraging opportunities, she loves it, although she seems much less interested in eating her pellets now. Is it ok for her to munch on millet spray (hidden in a foraging box) and seed sticks (hanging inside a toy) all day long? I do give her fresh fruit and vegetables in the evening, but I worry that she's not meeting her nutritional requirements.

To answer some of your questions, there are four of us in the household. Myself, my husband, and my two daughters ages 6 and 8. I am the only one who can handle Jewel because she viciously bites everyone else. There are no other pets.

Jewel's cage is uncovered at 7:30am when we have breakfast. When we leave for work, she says, "see you later". While I prepare dinner, Jewel (still in the cage) starts this piercing chirping sound that grates on all of our nerves. My husband shushes her, and lately she's started shushing him back(hilarious!) In an attempt to curb the chirping, I've been able to coax Jewel to converse with me. I will ask her, "Who's my bird?" and she responds, "me". Then she asks me, "Who's my bird?" and I respond, "me". I say, "Sexy girl!" and she whistles... She has a few other phrases that we repeat a few times, and then she goes back to the annoying chirping. How can we get her to stop that?

I open the cage for her after the girls go to bed (7:30pm) so I can give Jewel my undivided attention. She usually comes out on her own and flies to my shoulder. I sometimes put my hand in the cage and invite her to step up, which she does without hesitation. I have trained her to fly to the perch atop her cage to "go to the bathroom". There is a toy arch, ladders, a water bowl and food bowl up there. When out of the cage she goes between hanging out at the perch, munching and playing, and then flying back to me (I'm sitting on the couch next to my husband). She likes to sit on my shoulder (between my husband and I) and groom herself, then walk down to my chest and get lots of scratches on her head. If my husband gets too close or attempts to touch her, she growls, grinds her beak, and bites him. Around 11:00pm, I return Jewel to her cage, say goodnight, and cover the cage until morning.

I can't remember what else you needed to know. I hope that gives a bit more insight into what's going on. Any advice?