My macaw recently made an egg

[Pajarita]

I don't know about how they grow their food but, when I went to Finland, I did not notice any particular lack in terms of food stuffs. They did have lots of reindeer products (meat, sausages, milk, cheese, etc) but they also had 'normal' cow stuff available.

[SkyBirdie]

Yes, Birdwoman, you are 100% correct but the OP is in Sweden or Finland and the bird has already laid the egg so I figured that the fastest thing would be to use a chicken egg to replace the real one.

Really late response here, but... Norway, not Sweden or Finland. Close enough tho

Luckily, none of the eggs was fertile, so no chicks from them, weird. 1st one seemed to be fertile, whilst the 2 other didn't... no idea how the egg mechanic in birds work xD
So far no new egg, which is good. been a bit lonely without petra in the living room with me and my dad.

Benio hates me for some weird reason, he won't even let me near anything that he is near, not even petra xD

[Wolf]

He probably sees you as a rival for Petra

[Pajarita]

Sorry about the country confusion, I should have checked your profile before putting my foot in my mouth but I am glad you were not offended by my mistake.

Bernio's job is to protect Petra from all danger and potential competition for her love and that's why he hates you, it's not personal against you, he is just doing his job as best he knows how.

The 'egg mechanics' (love the phrase!) are simple. The male and female have sex but the hen decides not only if the male's sperm is going to be used to fertilize the eggs (and that's why we get infertile -aka clear- eggs even when they do mate) but also when it's going to be used (they can store sperm inside their body and keep it viable for over 30 days) AND whether the baby is going to be a female or a male. Talk about 'female empowerment' eh?

[SkyBirdie]

Sorry about the country confusion, I should have checked your profile before putting my foot in my mouth but I am glad you were not offended by my mistake.

Bernio's job is to protect Petra from all danger and potential competition for her love and that's why he hates you, it's not personal against you, he is just doing his job as best he knows how.

The 'egg mechanics' (love the phrase!) are simple. The male and female have sex but the hen decides not only if the male's sperm is going to be used to fertilize the eggs (and that's why we get infertile -aka clear- eggs even when they do mate) but also when it's going to be used (they can store sperm inside their body and keep it viable for over 30 days) AND whether the baby is going to be a female or a male. Talk about 'female empowerment' eh?

Well alrighty then ._.

No way to make his danger/competition level down a bit? D:


I'm not easily offended

[Wolf]

The only way that I know of to reduce this type of aggression effectively is through diet and lighting.

The primary factors, as I understand it, that affect the breeding cycle of parrots are length of day vs. night, availability of an ample supply of high protein foods, proper temperature range and availability of a nesting area. We provide these each and every day so that encourages their system to remain in breeding condition all year long. The only ones of these that is easy for us to manipulate to lower the level of hormones produced by the birds are the light schedule and the amount of protein rich foods. Proper lighting and lower levels of protein rich foods help to limit the hormones produced by the bird to a single season similar to how their body would function in the wild. A lower level of hormones also means less aggressive behavior. The only other things that I know of that will help in this matter are flight time as this is the only form of exercise that has been shown to lower the level of hormones in the blood. And no inappropriate touching or petting. Basically the entire birds body is an erogenous zone with the exception of their head, beak, neck and feet. So these are the only places that I scratch or pet my birds.

I think that focusing more of your attention on Benio instead of Petra. This is so that Benio does not feel that he must constantly defend his rights to his mate from rivals for her attentions. Parrots are very jealous of their mates and defend them from all rivals.

I hope that this will prove useful to you.

[Pajarita]

Yes, kind of ignoring Petra and focusing on Benio will work BUT only when they are not producing sexual hormones. There is very little one can do when they are overly hormonal... Actually, I think the only thing one should do with a breeding pair is leave them alone and avoid all physical contact with them - at least, that the only thing that works for me with the male/female amazon pair these days.

[SkyBirdie]

Yes, kind of ignoring Petra and focusing on Benio will work BUT only when they are not producing sexual hormones. There is very little one can do when they are overly hormonal... Actually, I think the only thing one should do with a breeding pair is leave them alone and avoid all physical contact with them - at least, that the only thing that works for me with the male/female amazon pair these days.

Well then, i wonder, how do we know when they are producing sexuam hormones, or not?

[SkyBirdie]

Yes, kind of ignoring Petra and focusing on Benio will work BUT only when they are not producing sexual hormones. There is very little one can do when they are overly hormonal... Actually, I think the only thing one should do with a breeding pair is leave them alone and avoid all physical contact with them - at least, that the only thing that works for me with the male/female amazon pair these days.

Well then, i wonder, how do we know when they are producing sexuam hormones, or not?

Also, Petra does like to play dentist, sometimes her beak make my lips feel like it burns ;-;
Benio rarely plays dentist, but does mimic petra.
Not coming much further than my lips, unless im yawning, and not on guard xD
Wonder where she went for dentist licence....

[Pajarita]

Yes, kind of ignoring Petra and focusing on Benio will work BUT only when they are not producing sexual hormones. There is very little one can do when they are overly hormonal... Actually, I think the only thing one should do with a breeding pair is leave them alone and avoid all physical contact with them - at least, that the only thing that works for me with the male/female amazon pair these days.

Well then, i wonder, how do we know when they are producing sexuam hormones, or not?

It's easy when you keep them at a strict solar schedule with different diets during resting or breeding season - the behaviors are completely different.