My Grey wants to mate with me! What do I do?

[amiraweston]

Hi everyone,

I have a grey that recently has started his mating ritual with me, usually happens in the early morning. He makes little noises, tries to feed me, rubs his beak on my hand. What should I do? Do I allow him to do that or walk away? He is not an affectionate bird and I don't get to touch him very often so I enjoy the attention But am I doing something wrong by allowing him to try to mate with me? He is a male and is 4.5 years old. Thank you for any advice you can give me.

[Dave007]

Hi everyone,

I have a grey that recently has started his mating ritual with me, usually happens in the early morning. He makes little noises, tries to feed me, rubs his beak on my hand. What should I do? Do I allow him to do that or walk away? He is not an affectionate bird and I don't get to touch him very often so I enjoy the attention But am I doing something wrong by allowing him to try to mate with me? He is a male and is 4.5 years old. Thank you for any advice you can give me.

 

Yes, you should walk away from your bird when he does that. There's also areas that should never be touched even if no mating behavior is going on.

1---lower and middle breast area

2---Tail and surrounding feathers where the vent is ----upper and lower feathers. Both areas are exciting to a grey and will cause the grey to go through the situation you describe. The reason that it shouldn't be done is because when you wanna stop, your bird may not want you to stop and you can be bitten if you stop sexually exciting the bird--your bird is reaching that age where he will be sexually mature ( 5 to 6 yrs old) which is the more reason to walk away. That behavior usually lessens in approx. 2 weeks.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Excellent advice from Dave. I'm lucky that Sophie just gives us a little more " down", during molting. Even from the age of two-fifteen... the only sexual excitement was with my son's feet if he fell asleep in family room. Sophie has a foot fetish with my two boys. Oldest Ryan, is definitely sexual, youngest son's feet is to get him to play hide n seek! It hasn't changed in a decade. Nancy

[chezron]

Brutus gets excited if you touch ANYTHING other than his head, and even that is questionable. I ignore him and keep my hands above his neck during those times. I certainly do not want to confuse or anger him. I feel bad sometimes because he obviously wants to mate and raise a family, and he cannot do that with me.

[amiraweston]

Hi Dave,

Thanks again for your advice. I have been walking away from my parrot, Boo, after I give him his fruits and veggies in the morning. The morning time is when he wants to mate with me. Now he has attacked me a few times. He will step-up and then bite down on my hand. He has flown onto my head and attacked me. I understand he is probably angry with me. Now I am afraid to have him step-up and I know he can sense my apprehension. I can not use a perch or dowel to pick him up with because he is terrified of them, he screams and flies off his cage. I hand fed Boo and he is 4 yrs old. I give him a lot of attention, take him RVing with us, play the guitar for him, give him fresh food everyday. He is becoming more and more aggressive with me and I am becoming more afraid of him. This is very sad for me because I have wanted a Grey since I was in my twenties. I love him very much. I have read books and looked up info on the internet. I am unable to find helpful info about aggressive birds. I understand his body language and know when to back away but his new attacks are out of the blue while he is on my hand. I'm not sure about the internet bird training video's offered. The training video's on You Tube stress the importance of "stick training". Boo is afraid of sticks! Do you have helpful info for me? I want a confident parrot. What can I do? Thanks.

 

Arlene

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Arlene... I am soooo sorry! I hope Dave responds soon. We have always joked about Sophie not being hormonal, but can see it can be a serious issue! Nancy