Hormones

[marie83]

Right I'm at my wits end with Ollie atm.

Usually he goes into hormonal nesty land end of November and comes out again late jan/early feb time depending on how clear/dull the weather is.

This year he is not coming back out the other side- Its june now obviously, The weather was pretty dull and rubbish at the start of the year so I made a bit of an allowance for that but now there is a massive difference between winter/summer daylight hours for weeks now and nothings changed. In fact this year he is worse than I've ever known any of my birds to be, ever.

The only things that are different this year is their solar schedule is stricter (although still not perfect because of mine and my partners working hours- occasionally we have to disturb them in the evening but not too often).
I've started making changes to their diets-I haven't finished with this yet, they have a frozen chop mix in the morning with additional fresh fruits/veg. They have pellet or seeds in the evening. In the day they have the odd bit of food in foraging toys for them to find.
Also due to relationship problems I've not been here as much as I was when I lived here.

So those are the 3 differences between this and previous years. Any ideas as to where I'm going wrong? I've gone more in depth this time- removed his happy hut even though he just treats that as a place to sleep, removed newspaper as he was nesting underneath it, I've altered how often he can have a bath, how many head scratches he is allowed, don't feed him anything warm and mushy, don't overfeed him (he could actually do with putting a little weight back on atm). I'm rotating his toys more frequently as he is just using them constantly for masturbation if they are in more than a couple of days. There is probably more things I've neglected to mention.


To top it off Harlie has just come into breeding season and this year seems much worse than normal too- spending all day with tail in the air whilst calling, usually she just has 2-3 little spurts in the day and her behaviours no different the rest of the year.

So before I just scrap all the work I've done and change things right back to how they were, does anyone have any ideas?

[Wolf]

I am really not the best qualified on this as I am still researching the effects of light on our birds. I am thinking that if he is getting exposure to both dawn and dusk that his biological clock is in the middle of being reset, which should change the breeding cycle to one where his cycle is in the spring now instead of being in the winter. So please don't scrap your work just yet, as these changes take time to produce the desired effects.

[marie83]

Thank wolf, I get that totally which is why I've left it a while before posting. They have been on this diet schedule for just over 6 months now and the solar schedule for about 10-12 months, I guess it could take as much as year or more? longer especially as I will be making further changes eventually.
Thing is I've heard that others have seen improvements in their birds with lots of issues really quickly, yet mine who had no real issue with hormones have gone mad, maybe it is just because I'm making gradual changes rather than just jumping in at the deep end lol.

[Pajarita]

It has taken me up to four entire seasons to get a bird back in tune with the sun but I think that, if your not been there means they spend too many hours in the cage, there's your answer. Flight is the only exercise that can dissipate hormones from the bloodstream in birds. It's as simple as that. Not enough flight = more hormones for a longer period of time. This is true of all hormones, both sexual and stress (and the stress ones would be because, again, you are not there as much as before) so this unusually hard breeding season could very well be a combination of age (they get more hormonal as they get older when they cannot 'satisfy' their needs) and an inordinately large amount of 'bad' hormones flowing without relief in sight.

[marie83]

No he is out as much as he always is most days. Theyve never had a strict out of cage time as such as our work patterns differ each day but they usually get a rock bottom minimum of 2 hours very very rarely, 4 hours usually once per week, 6 hours 4 days a week but it can be as many as 8-12 depending on daylight hours.

[Pajarita]

Then increase flight time. We are approaching the end of the breeding season so it should be OK in a matter of a few weeks.

[marie83]

Then increase flight time. We are approaching the end of the breeding season so it should be OK in a matter of a few weeks.

Your country might be, the breeding season in the UK is around late nov-jan, early feb at latest, for the green cheek conure and around now for the 'tiel.

6 days a week they get a minimum of 6 hours, I work, my partner works. How exactly are we supposed to increase that?

[cml]

Then increase flight time. We are approaching the end of the breeding season so it should be OK in a matter of a few weeks.

Your country might be, the breeding season in the UK is around late nov-jan, early feb at latest, for the green cheek conure and around now for the 'tiel.

6 days a week they get a minimum of 6 hours, I work, my partner works. How exactly are we supposed to increase that?

You cant Marie, and you are already doing a stellar job with Harlie and Ollie !

The only things that are different this year is their solar schedule is stricter (although still not perfect because of mine and my partners working hours- occasionally we have to disturb them in the evening but not too often).
I've started making changes to their diets-I haven't finished with this yet, they have a frozen chop mix in the morning with additional fresh fruits/veg. They have pellet or seeds in the evening. In the day they have the odd bit of food in foraging toys for them to find.
Also due to relationship problems I've not been here as much as I was when I lived here.

How's the protein part of the new diet? Is it higher than it was before? If so you can try cutting back a little on that, it seems to help with hormones.

Regarding the solar schedule, living in the UK I realise that it must be hard to follow all year around, if not impossible? Do you use blinds etc to control day length? If not, that may be a way forward as well.

Lastly, glad to see that you are back occasionaly on the forums!

[marie83]

Thanks cml, that means a lot, I guess we can all only do our best.

I use a weightloss program which works out nutritional content for you in any recipe you want so I might just run the ingredients through in case ive messed up. I did double check and it works out as less protien. Im rubbish at maths though so wont hurt to check again.


As for solar schedule it is really difficult, winter is when the birds get disturbed occasionally in the evenings and has the knock on effect of reduced out of cage time. We do an artificial sunset a couple od hours after sunset in the winter as its a case of having to. im not overly worried about that though as there is such a big difference in seasonal daylight hours. We dont have blinds as our livingroom overlooks a big field, nobody can see in.

[Wolf]

I am thinking that their is a misunderstanding, but I could be wrong. Here is what I think that I am reading, these are not quotes as I am rewording it a little for clarity.

Pajarita ; your birds need more flight time.

Marie : my birds are out 6 hours for 6 days each week. I work and so does my husband. I don't see a way to increase the time out.

Now that is basically what I am reading. The thing is that time out does not always translate into flying time, which is the misunderstanding, or so I think. Are you Marie saying that your bird is spending 6 hrs. flying or 6 hrs. out 6 days per week.

It does appear to me that you are doing a very good job with your birds and that you are trying to give them the best life that you can. Keep up the good work, I wish more people cared about their birds even half as much as you care about yours.