Sunni is an odd one lol

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SunniDai
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Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by SunniDai »

My little weird Sunni Dai LOVES to play with rags. She will fluff it up and slip under it and then run out from under and do it all over again. She will literally do this for HOURS off and on during the day. We have to change the rag all the time since she has a tendency to fray the fibers with her claws. She doesn't chew on it or anything; just fluffs and fluffs and fluffs. It's quite amusing to watch :)
Just wanted to share with y'all :)


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~Dana

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Donovan
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by Donovan »

fun thing about birds is they all have that one weird thing they do
SunniDai
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by SunniDai »

Yes they do :lol:
~Dana

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AJPeter
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by AJPeter »

Maybe Sunni will grow our of it, my Alex hen would dunk her cornflake in her water bowl, but she stopped doing that but still enjoys the cornflake wet so muggins has to dunk it for her.
InTheAir
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by InTheAir »

That's so cute! Sapphire likes to hide in boxes and curtains. I think it is girl play.
MissK
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by MissK »

Tonight Lynnie was perching under the jute "mop". It was hanging around his head like bed curtains!
-MissK
ellieelectrons
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by ellieelectrons »

Sunni is indulging in some nesting play. How old is she?

Ellie.
SunniDai
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by SunniDai »

That's kind of what I figured, Ellie. She will be two at the end of June.
~Dana

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GeveZe
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by GeveZe »

so cute =)
sanjays mummi
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by sanjays mummi »

That made me chuckle!,
ErnieisAwesome
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by ErnieisAwesome »

So adorable ! Erie likes to hide under his blanket and my shirt sometimes ! Super cute but his claws are like tiny razors ! Haha
I love these birds xox
Donovan
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by Donovan »

I guess the weird thing my bird likes to do is take a bath in my hair. When I get out of the shower, sometimes he wants to land on my head and flap around in my hair. I wouldn't let him do it except his little claws kinda feel nice on my scalp
ellieelectrons
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by ellieelectrons »

Are you up on what to expect if Sunni goes into breeding mode? I doubt she'd do it this year but it is good for you to be prepared for possible behaviour changes. My Janey gets very aggressive during breeding season and when it first happened I was shocked and hurt. I understand a lot more about these behaviours now and have more knowledge on how to deal with them. I see you have other IRNs, so maybe you're across this already?

Ellie.
sanjays mummi
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by sanjays mummi »

Donovan, that sounds like Indian Head Massage!, what a clever birdie.
InTheAir
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by InTheAir »

Donovan wrote:I guess the weird thing my bird likes to do is take a bath in my hair. When I get out of the shower, sometimes he wants to land on my head and flap around in my hair. I wouldn't let him do it except his little claws kinda on my scalp
:lol:

That is so funny!
Sapphire likes to play in my hair when it's dry, especially if I've just tied it up nicely to go out. She restyles it while making really cute squeaking noises. She also destroys hairtyes while she is there. Today she was sitting on my head alternating between preening herself and my hair. I looked great when she had finished... if you like the mad scientist look.. :lol:
SunniDai
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by SunniDai »

Ellie, I don't think I am ready lol. If I had my way she would stay my baby girl forever :lol:
I do know that she is going to become crabby and aggressive and I THINK I'm preparing myself a bit for that. I guess we will see :)
~Dana

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ellieelectrons
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by ellieelectrons »

Have you seen my thread on Janey's breeding behaviour? Might provide some help. I gave a talk on female breeding behaviours recently. Hopefully she won't be too bad for you when the time comes. :)

Janey has a mate so it's probably a little different.

Ellie.
SunniDai
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by SunniDai »

I will go read your post. Sunni isn't mated to any one of them. In fact, she's somewhat of a loner amongst the other three. Unless Luna is dive bombing her in a blitz attack, she pretty well stays to herself. She will sit up on perches in their close proximity IF Luna is caged and be fine with it, but she doesn't seem to seek them out. Luna and Oscar are very much paired. Oliver? Still juvenile enough to float along the fringes lol. And we are beginning to suspect that Oliver could actually be an Olive or Olivia.
Anyway, I digress. I will read up more on this dreaded mating behavior lol
~Dana

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ellieelectrons
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by ellieelectrons »

The thread is titled "what to do with Janey?"

I was a little bit blindsided when it happened to me so I like people to be prepared although I don't think everyone necessarily has the same problems.

Ellie.
SunniDai
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by SunniDai »

Soooo. Ellie, I just read the entire thread. :shock:
I think I may have an idea that my usually feisty but lovable fid might pull and Exorcist and become something entirely different. I had no illusions with Luna. She was pretty aggressive when we rescued her, and I'd heard that breeding season could turn an otherwise angelic bird into a little monster. And I have noticed with Sunni lately that cuddling is on her terms and her terms only. I get no more say. I figured it was just an "I've become fully flighted and don't need you as much" thing. Which I'm fine with. It's breath taking to see them fly freely around the house.
Ok. ***deep breath*** I can do this. :)
~Dana

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ellieelectrons
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by ellieelectrons »

I'm sure you can do this... and hopefully she won't get as bad as Janey did. Glad to know you're prepared. If you notice any problems you can try to manipulate diet and their environment to try to counteract it. You can also give them a nest if you like so that they can get it done and over with. I did a presentation last month on breeding behaviours so I'd be happy to share what I've learned with you in the future if you'd like some more information, just let me know.

Ellie.
SunniDai
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by SunniDai »

I will, Ellie. And thank you :)
Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by manipulating diet? The environment part I get, but how would I manipulate her diet to discourage breeding bahviors?
~Dana

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ellieelectrons
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by ellieelectrons »

Hi Dana

Since I've got my presentation here on breeding behaviours, I thought I'd give you an overview. I hope that's okay. It's a summary of a chapter in:
Manual of parrot behavior (2006) by Andrew Luescher.

In the wild reproductive behaviour is triggered or limited by (1) environmental conditions and (2) pair bond enhancers. If environmental conditions or the pair bond enhancers are not right, parrots in the wild may not exhibit reproductive behaviour that year. In a home some of these things can be more stable than the wild so in our homes we can be inadvertently triggering reproductive behaviour.


1. environmental conditions
Environmental conditions that can affect the reproductive behaviour are a) rainfall, b) photo-period (length of day), c) temperature and d) available food supply. Therefore, one way to limit reproductive behaviour is to limit your bird's diet. I'm not saying you should starve your bird. I cut out anything sugary (e.g. fruits) and fatty in their regular diet, and just give them pellets and low-energy veges (these are mostly green veges). My vet gave me a list of low-energy veges that I use. They do get some of the other foods as treats during our training sessions. When they are exhibiting hormonal behaviour after days I've kept them up after dark I start putting them to bed as soon as the sun goes down.

pair bond enhancers
Pair bond enhancers can come from another bird or inadvertently from a person or a toy. Pair bond enhancers are: a) cavity seeking and nest building, b) mutual preening (eg. patting your bird), c) courtship regurgitation, d) copulation, e) other courtship behaviours eg. hopping/strutting, some species have vocalisations signalling sexual readiness.

For some species not having a cavity to nest in will prevent reproductive behaviour. Some species like to collect materials to build nests (eg. a lovebird will put nesting material in their tails to carry it up to the nest. It looks really cute but probably should not be encouraged in the home unless you want your birds to nest.)


reproductive behaviour
Reproductive behaviour in the wild has the following steps: a) territorial aggression, b) egg laying, c) egg incubation, d) rearing young, e) moult, f) sexual organs atrophy until they are needed again (this makes flying easier as the organs get smaller).

Between d) and e) comes an environmental signal to stop reproduction. In our homes they may not get this environmental signal which can lead to problems such as long term hormonal stress and chronic egg production.

Along with clinical problems, breeding behaviours can also cause behaviour problems... and when I say "behaviour problems" I mean that that's how we view them because we don't like our bird displaying territorial aggression, but to our bird this is a natural, innate response to its environment. So if we choose to have birds into our homes we have to do what we can to accommodate/manage this behaviour. I am trying to manage it by minimising the environmental triggers as much as I can. I've had some success but not total success. Each year I keep the option of giving a nestbox or open nest in their cage as a last resort after I've tried everything else.


Sorry for the long post, I hope that's somewhat helpful.

Ellie.
MissK
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by MissK »

Ellie,

1) You call that a long post?? :lol: :lol: :lol:

2) I appreciate this post. Of course, my bird is male, but he *does* have that ongoing regurgitation thing going on. I feel the answer to this puzzle is going to be found within the answer to reducing female nesting behaviour.
-MissK
ellieelectrons
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by ellieelectrons »

Hi MissK
MissK wrote: I feel the answer to this puzzle is going to be found within the answer to reducing female nesting behaviour.
I aree.
MissK wrote:Of course, my bird is male, but he *does* have that ongoing regurgitation thing going on.
There is the odd person who reports problems with male reproductive behaviour (eg. wanting to copulate with a person, aggression towards other humans, regurgitating to people). Of course, all natural behaviours... it's not the bird's fault... but it's not behaviour we want in our homes and we don't want our bird to think we are his mate.

My friend has a male IRN and he has one special toy that he constantly regurgitates to - it has a mirror on it. He doesn't really like it when other people touch it. He's too shy to be aggressive but he gets a bit agitated.

Ellie.
SunniDai
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by SunniDai »

Ellie, thank you for the post. this will come in handy in the future I am sure. We live in Washington state so I believe the actual courtship period is somewhat over. Luna seems to be losing some of her aggression.
On another note, we have seen Oliver displaying as a hen. Looks like we may need to rethink his/her name to Olivia :lol:
~Dana

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ellieelectrons
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by ellieelectrons »

:)

Ellie.
AJPeter
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by AJPeter »

MissK is the mistress of long posts.
SunniDai
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by SunniDai »

But she has a plethora of useful information in her little bag of long posts :)
~Dana

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MissK
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Re: Sunni is an odd one lol

Post by MissK »

:lol:
-MissK
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