Weird behavior.. I'm worried

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kowhai
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 5:50 am

Weird behavior.. I'm worried

Post by kowhai »

Hey,

About 3 months ago I bought my second IRN (Kowhai) from my local bird store. I fell in love with her as soon as I saw her, she is vey tame and has such a loving personality..

Before I bought her, I already had a IRN (Kakariki) who is the complete opposite of her. He/she is not tame at all, the people I bought my first IRN off obviously lied to me, they told me it will be very easy to tame and will be a loving bird, nope I've had no luck what-so-ever. I have a large cage that they both sleep in, but open it up during the day so they can have that freedom. When I bought Kowhai I asked the guy at the shop if the two birds will be alright together, considering one is tame and the other is pretty much wild, he said that the tame one would help me tame the 'wild' one. But i have caught Kakariki chasing Kowhai around the cage trying to bite her.

A week ago Kowhai suddenly changed.. She started lunging at me when I put my finger out for her to step up, she's bitten me a few times but I ignored the bites, kept talking calmly and kept trying to get her to step up. She did not step up at all, instead she had pinned eyes and looked evil :( after getting a treat in sight she stepped up with no hesitation. I've also noticed her feathers are either falling out or she's plucking? It's the feathers on the ground I'm more worried about. she has no visible signs on her body that she's plucking in one area, but the amount of feathers around the cage and a large perch I have for them is worrying.

I feed them pallets, fresh fruit and veg. They get millet spray, nuts and sun flower seeds as treats.

Kowhai is about 3 years old, I'm not sure how old Kakariki is I bought him/her in August 2011 and I was told its adolescence.

I tried to provide as much information as I could think of :) thank you so much for your help! :)
Molossus2
Posts: 353
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:01 am

Re: Weird behavior.. I'm worried

Post by Molossus2 »

It could be molting season where you are. Here in south Africa it's that time. Feathers falling and birds looking a little scruffy.
Sixty Fiver
Posts: 113
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 4:39 pm

Re: Weird behavior.. I'm worried

Post by Sixty Fiver »

Birds can get a little grumpy when they are moulting and may avoid contact and touching although this is not true in every case... my male just finished moulting and he was his usual cheerful self throughout the process... nothng fazes him.

Had to separate him from my female during this as she was picking at him but now that the moult is done they are hack to their loving selves and she has stopped bothering him.

Plus here is that he can fly and she has her wings clipped so he could escape to the day cage at the other end of the house where she could not easily follow him and then she would mope.
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