Hello from Boston

[Wolf]

Depending on what is going on for sure, she might be fine with other people, but unless you have someone willing to take the risk then you are right and it is probably not worth the risk. Is it possible that she is hormonal?
If you have been handling Tanya in front of her or if you have cut back significantly on the time that you normally spend with her then it is very possible that she has a strong mad on for you. And it sounds like a really major mad, too! Bummer!

[Navre]

I do handle Tanya in front of her, but I wouldn't say that I'm spending less time with her than before.

My daughter is home. She was like his last time my daughter was home.

She has been been exhibiting mating behavior with her toys. I removed the biggest offender.

There are just so many variables right now, it's hard to isolate what's going on. The kids leave for Europe on Monday, so I can try to get things back on track then.

Not too happy about the kids going to Europe right now. I don't like the idea of my son going anywhere unarmed. They're going to Madrid, Barcelona, and Paris. His High School girlfriend teaches English over there somewhere. I don't know if it was me or my son's Batallion commander, but somebody talked him into taking Morocco off the itinerary.

My daughter is a Russian Lit Major (along with medical anthropology.. Starting Masters in Pulic health next year), and my son is fluent in French, Russian, Spanish, and he can get by in Arabic and Mandarin. That's why they want to travel, I just wish the world were a safer place right now.

[Wolf]

Wonderful, she is mad at you for hanky panky with another bird and this is while she is perfectly hormonal on top of that. She is ally wound up and ready to go and you are playing with the other bird, man oh man are you ever in deep poop, there is just no hope for you! Oh, the blood will flow! ( Humor )

[Navre]

Getting near her cage is also getting near Tanya's cage, so it's hard to say for sure if it's anger at being put in the cage, or jealousy. If I had to bet, I'd bet the latter.

[Wolf]

Well, I really don't know what your set up is, but all 7 of my birds are housed in the same room and I can't get one bird without being next to at least one other bird. Several of my birds are bonded to me and they are jealous of me and each other. I would say that at least this much is the same for both of us. All of my birds are able to fly and I am constantly trying to get them to share me. The biggest difficulty is that Kookooloo, CAG, keeps trying to attack Kiki, Senegal when they are both on me. I never let her attack Kiki although she does manage to chase Kiki off of me once in a while. This happens several times every day as all Kiki wants is to perch on me. Kookooloo is a little more independent and wants to be on me for a while and then she is ready to do some other bird thing. This also leaves an opening for Kiki to perch on me unmolested by Kookooloo. This constant and consistent level of interaction has reduced the amount of aggression between these two birds as well as their aggression towards me for allowing both of them on me at the same time. It was very difficult at first. This might help in your situation and might not as each bird is different and you have to work with what they will allow. It may be that the best way to begin in your case is to take the bird that you are working with into another room until you are ready to switch birds, but I don't know. My experience with animals of all types has me convinced that the consistent exposure to each other including the sharing of me does the most to develop familiarity and with that familiarity comes less aggression and finally acceptance that they are not being neglected and eventually the sharing of me with the other to one degree or another. Hope this will help.

[Pajarita]

I think her aggression is due to an accumulation of things that disgruntle her:
- shorter days (less interaction)
- her age (she is 'freshly' sexually mature so she is full of pepper and vinegar!)
- your daughter (jealousy) coming home
- Tanya (jealousy)


When a parrot bonds to a human being, the responsibility we acquire is humongous because, in their minds, we need to live up to their expectations - and the simple truth is that we can't! We can't be there 24/7/365, we can't satisfy them emotional or sexually, we can't belong to them and nobody else, etc. And it's worse with needy species -GCCs been, in my personal opinion, the second worst! So it's a case of the more they love you, the more they will make you suffer because, you see?, this 'lack' she feels is ALL your fault (in her eyes, of course) - you are not a good parrot husband, Navre . But the good news is that, usually, things do get better as time goes by and they kind of resign themselves to a not so perfect love.

[Navre]

Some on the rescue's adopted birds parronts chat are suggesting that I stop handling Ocean at all until she calms down. My instinct is to spend a normal amount of time with her so there is less, not more reason for her jealousy.

[Wolf]

This is because they are trying to avoid getting bitten, usually by an overly hormonal bird. This is possibly a short term solution, but I try to not use the bird's cage as part of attempting to modify the biting behavior in a bird.
I am with you as you are trying to bring about a long term solution to the biting issue.

[Pajarita]

I have never agreed with the less or no handling at all when a parrot is showing it needs more of you -even if it's in a negative way as Ocean is doing now. It's the same principle that people use when they tell you to ignore the screaming parrot to 'teach' it to be quiet. I am a grandmother and any baby that is asking for my love and/or attention will get it. Period. I might tweak the interaction a bit so as to reduce/redirect/prevent the consequences of the animosity caused by the frustration they are feeling (tire them out with flying before I allow them on my shoulder, wear something as a barrier for their bites, introduce a new activity so as to distract them, give them a good bath to 'switch them off', etc) but I don't think that depriving them of what they want is a solution in the long term.

[Wolf]

That is what I am also saying.