BTT | Body Language Series | Aggression!
Added 2021-07-20 13:00:05 +0000 UTCOh boy is this a body language episode!!!
Comments
The raised nape feathers and square head, are exactly what my gcc gave me almost every morning , when I let her out of the cage.
Sofiana Kusuma
2024-08-29 14:20:31 +0000 UTCThis was quite helpful. My sun conure was ticked at me when we had a week of not being able to spend any quality time with the flock. He let me know for sure. but I wasn't sure if it was baby wing flap happy or pissed of wing flap. Now I know. lol
PsyFi40
2023-12-07 01:20:05 +0000 UTCThank you so much for this! It is so helpful and really really helpful to see how you get her out of that mood.
Suzanne Lindelli
2021-08-04 17:42:30 +0000 UTCWow!! Tiki attacks my head EXACTLY like this! It only happens when my husband has him out and I walk into the room without having seen him for a few hours. But just like Dave said, once he gets it out of his system he's usually fine with me after that. When I take him out of his aviary, I always have to mentally misdirect him by cue'ing small tricks to keep his aggression under control. We've noticed a recurring pattern that he only attacks women visitors, so it's interesting to hear that Lily's aggression plays out in a gender-specific way too. Now I am thinking back to what mistake I may have made 15 years ago that may have cause him to harbor resentment against me... Do you think this this propensity to fly-attack people's heads is more common in conures? I am a little terrified of something like this developing with our new macaws. Any way to rectify this behavior, or is it really just about accepting that it will likely always be this way and find strategies to work around it? Super helpful video as always!
Lauren Holder
2021-07-26 06:56:07 +0000 UTCLikewise! It was so helpful to talk about Cody specifically and hear your suggestions. I'm already implementing them. Really insightful information and I look forward to all your content. I'm glad I reached out to you. Thank you so much for your time!
Caitlin Kelley
2021-07-25 16:42:17 +0000 UTCIt was great chatting with you both today! xo
BirdTricks
2021-07-24 23:07:55 +0000 UTCThis video is so timely. The exact reason I’ve booked a consultation with you. I’m hyper vigilant with my conure as he’ll out of the blue attack me, or so I think. I’m sure I’m not catching all his signals! Looking forward to learning more from you.
Caitlin Kelley
2021-07-22 14:45:14 +0000 UTCMostly just Lily. Phoebe minds her own business and Detka is somewhere in the middle. She sometimes sides with Lily, or sometimes sides with Phoebe.
BirdTricks
2021-07-22 14:43:23 +0000 UTCWe are fortunate that pionus are pretty easy to read. If their heads go from small and rounded to big and square, they are pissed. If you suddenly smell musky flowers, watch your fingers. If they are marching around on top of the cage like little military guards, stay far away! We had a problem for a while with our young pionus biting. He's too young to be hormonal, especially at the time. We knew it was our fault, thanks to Dave and Jamie's teachings. Even so it was hard not to get hurt feelings. I bought a little sign from an Etsy artist with a cartoonist portrait of our pionus, Hal. It says,"It has been ___ days since I have bitten anyone." The days blank is a little chalkboard. I told my husband that keeping the numbers high on the sign was a goal for us, not our bird. The sign actually helped a lot. We still get nailed every so often. Most of the time I knew it is going to happen but I still persisted in doing the unwanted behavior because I was in a hurry to do something like moving him to another place. Note I applied "unwanted behavior" to my own actions. 😉
Holden Kendrick
2021-07-21 14:29:49 +0000 UTCThanks for that, I have switched vets and never heard anything from my now vet. It was just something that always sat in the back of my mind. But I know how big sun conjures are, a friend had one and to know Birdtricks weigh in at that just made that little voice stop. I will never wonder again. I have 4 tiels, I know they are healthy happy birds, it was just that thought in my head that would make me question. Now I'm good, and thank you for the reply. I remember that vet recommended clipping as well, so I kind of figured the ones she saw were a bit of couch potatoes 😉
Jodi
2021-07-21 14:19:46 +0000 UTCMy dear departed cockatiel always weighed 73-75 grams. He was a normal grey. His vet commented on my first visit with him that most cockatiels he saw were much larger and more stout. Then he said, "I have to keep reminding myself that this is what a normal cockatiel in the wild would be like. Most that come in here are hybrids bred to be larger." I've heard of hybrid cockatiels weighing well over 100 grams. I guess seeing so many if the hybrids could throw a vet. However it seems like a vet who is very experienced with birds would know that the individual bird must be judged by physical examination, not by standard weight charts. It sounds like your tiels are the healthy and active.
Holden Kendrick
2021-07-21 14:09:41 +0000 UTCThe distant macaw screaming back at Dave imitating the Linus (sp?) screams... definitely gave me a laugh! Such a great episode!
Ashley Symons
2021-07-21 08:40:13 +0000 UTCThis is why I don't introduce Cheeky to people often. Her crest will go up, tail fans out and while it could be excitement, I don't want her heightened around people. People *always* want a pic with the cool cockatoo but I tell them it's not worth the split second mood change or aggressive bite. I need to figure out how to click or cue calm lol.
Catrin Griffiths
2021-07-21 06:22:05 +0000 UTCOmg, I laughed so hard when Lilly went for Dave's face! (sorry Dave!) Pissed off little rainbow rocket 😂 Great discussion afterwards so your sacrifice was worth it! This is one of the things I find very frustrating. One mistake can cause a dramatic and long lasting behavioural changes (thank goodness for the baby bird course!). In horse training we say for each bad experience we need to replace that with 100 good experiences. Is this the same with birds? How does one undo these? Will you always have to be on guard or can you delete these behaviours?
Nyree Williams
2021-07-20 22:13:12 +0000 UTCBoy oh boy was she mad. Lol. My three feathered farts are usually all very quiet. Once they start talking, whistling, or just generally squawking it's one of two things. They're either pissed for some reason, or they want food.
Corey
2021-07-20 19:35:28 +0000 UTCJust like my green cheeks look cute and fluffy. But I tell you what you only need to get bit once to know its NOT cute. 😬☹️☺️
Karol j.
2021-07-20 18:09:43 +0000 UTCVery helpful. Thanks!!
Melonie
2021-07-20 17:32:57 +0000 UTCThank you SOOOO much for these body language episodes! It has been incredibly helpful to see REALITY with issues and how to work through them! It helps so much to see birds NOT being perfect so that we can better understand them, and how we can work with them, on THEIR terms, to help make our relationship with them all the better! Please keep making these!
Mary Owens
2021-07-20 16:30:01 +0000 UTCI'm really glad you mentioned their weights because I went to a vet early on that wasn't as familiar with birds as I'd thought and my tiels all come in at the high 70's and low 80's. She told me that was on the low end and came across as concerned. I explained they were free flighted in the house and all the foods I fed them and have always had available at all times. However, ever since those few interactions with her I've always had it nagging in the back of my head, wondering if I was doing something wrong. They love chop, I always sprout the seed mix and have pellets and pellet berries ( a favorite treat that the doctor recommended and now they won't let me not feed it) available at all times. They are the most active ones in the house. I just remember that vet telling me the tiels that she saw were always over a hundred grams. Now that you said your conjures weight I can't imagine my tiels ever weighing that much! So you've really helped that little voice to just go away, it means so much. Thank you, I knew I was feeding them well and doing all the right things but never forgot that doctor and what was said.
Jodi
2021-07-20 14:25:14 +0000 UTCGood stuff!! I call my conure a piranha. My ringneck I asked about in a Q&A that would growl when I took his food dish finally stopped when I made sure to put a few extra foraging treats in the cage. I think it made him more secure that he could find food other then his dish it seemed to really make a difference.
Wendy Cottingham
2021-07-20 13:45:55 +0000 UTCAwesome! We've 2 sun conures and they display the same behavior with new people in our home. Do all 3 of your conures display the same aggression intensity or is it primarily Lily? Thanks for sharing!
Elizabeth Rowe
2021-07-20 13:40:58 +0000 UTC
