by EllenD » Sat Oct 15, 2016 3:35 pm
I have to agree that the huts/hammocks absolutely DO NOT arouse or encourage mating behavior in birds. I have had hammocks in my green cheek's cage for 2 years, he absolutely loves it, and he's never gotten stuck or had any problems at all. My Quaker also got the same hammock when I got him, and he loves his as well. I haven't gotten one for my newer cockatiel yet but I'm going to. When I put the birds to bed they immediately crawl right into their hammocks, lay down on their bellies, and they're out!
I've never seen any mating or nesting behavior in either of my birds that has been related to the hammocks in any way. I put them to bed at sunset and they're up at sunrise, and though I don't think there is any way to completely get rid of hormonal behavior, it certainly is kept to a minimum. Right now my Quaker is being a total ass, but it only lasts about 3 weeks or so (thank God) and then he's back to his sweet heart self. My green cheek gets a bit moody and head Bob's at me a bit, but that's about it. My cockatiel is a 4 month old female, so I have yet to see how she will be, I guess I'll find out this spring. I guess I'm pretty lucky in this respect as I am constantly hearing hormonal nightmare stories. As I said my Quaker is just a jerk and when he first went through this in the spring I was holding my breath that it was not permanent, and it wasn't. But 3 weeks is still too long, Quakers are stubborn to begin with, and when he's hormonal and not getting his way with me his stubbornness escalates to epic proportions. When I tell him no and won't let him ony shoulder or head to have his way with me, he will continually pace back and forth for an hour straight, the entire time yelling "I love you, HELLO, I love you, HELLO, I LOVE YOU"... He's lucky he's still alive at this point...uhg
Anyway, the reason I got them hammocks was because I bought 17" ones, and they're expensive ones but they looked like they would hold up, theres no visible stitching for them to pull at, and it's been over a year with the green cheek's hammock without one problem. I wash his probably once every other week and it's held up. The Quaker likes to poop in his WHILE he's laying down in it... that's the life I guess, must be nice to just poo while you're napping...