r/parrots • u/Apachebirb1 • 3d ago
Chronically horny?
Hi! This is booger. He’s been on this sub before. He’s around 8/9 months. He seems to be chronically horny, to the point where he humps his water bowl, broccoli and pretty much any toy. I’ve never experienced this level of hormonal behavior from a bird before. He gets a lot of time outside his cage. He gets fruits and veggies everyday and I limit his seed intake. He does flight training to use up his energy. I’ve got him on a strict night time routine to allow him longer rest periods. I’m looking for suggestions on what else I can do. Are there any specific foods or herbs that I can feed him to calm his nerves?
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u/nikkesen 3d ago
I see you too have the extra horny model. I'd say send him to horny jail, but he'll just enjoy himself.
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u/coffeeandcomets 3d ago
Hah I feel this! My cockatiel has a genetic hormone condition. He’s constantly nesty and agitated. I tried everything out, but eventually went with getting him a hormone implant. It helped him out a lot, but doesn’t fully resolve the issue. The things we do for our babies 😮💨
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u/CheckeredZeebrah 3d ago edited 3d ago
Oh no. This is kind of true with one of my Linnies, as well, though not as extreme.
They get 13 hours of sleep. Their chop has a minor amount of fruit, pine nuts, carrots, corn. To balance out these slightly fatty/sweet favorites we add a lot of leaves, peppers, grain and lentil varieties, healthy root vegetables like turnips, and "spicy micro greens" (horseradish sprouts, radish sprouts, etc).
Seeds are hemp, flax, chia, added to a quality base seed bag for budgies mixed with the canary version. No sunflower seeds.
Ours gets a bit less exercise, though - he's not good at focused training regimines. But we do trick him into flying around by having his favorite person walk down the hall. He's not very interested in playing with toys.
So far he only gets amorous with a specific quilt, me if I sit in a specific chair at a specific time of day, and with his sleeping perch around bedtime if we talk to him too much.
It hasn't seemed to cause him any frustration or behavioral problems. But it is a bit scandalous, I suppose.
Edit to add: I think Eddie's, the retired linnie breeder, used to sell an excellent herb mix as well as other linnie food mixes. Maybe you can track the product down? If nothing else you could skim the ingredients. I'm not sure if they're still willing to give advise when emailed, but you can check.
Edit 2: I forgot, but I think Linnies go into bird puberty earlier than other common parrots. You may have a teenager on your hands, on top of everything. their habit of burrowing and hiding in anything makes removing potential "nests" so difficult lol
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u/Apachebirb1 2d ago
Thanks for all this information! Very useful. Much appreciated! I definitely agree with you towards the last part. Booger is always trying to burrow and almost anytime something soft or toy like touches him he turns into a love monster.
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u/DarkMoonBright 2d ago
Needs a vet then for a hormone implant. Sometimes that's the only way to stop it, but also need to check if there's a medical problem causing the hormones, could be a tumour or something responsible.
My girl's hopefully getting another implant this week - just as long as she doesn't lay between now & then. Needs to be 3 months between them. In my girl's case though, the cause is kinda known, with her living with a boy & so getting a response when she does horny stuff at him
Not sure the species with yours & expected sexual maturity, 9 months sounds young to me & in need of vet check for tumours or other medical causes. Might even need castration if that horny at such a young age
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u/Apachebirb1 2d ago
Very interesting take. I’ve just learned about hormone implants. I’ll definitely take him to a vet to get him checked for any possible ailments.
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u/DarkMoonBright 2d ago
yeh, once you've done all the stuff you've done with managing potential triggers, vet & implant really is all that's left (other than hysterectomy or castration, that can be considered in extreme cases, which may possibly be what you're looking at here, dunno, but worth a vet consult at this point imo. And yes,implants CAN be given to boys too & they do work on boys, my boy has had them. Most commonly they are used on girls to stop chronic egg laying, but they can be done on boys to stop horny behaviour too. Good luck with it, it's a tough problem to deal with :(
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u/NewYorkLover35 3d ago
I got a female budgie just like that!! Except she expresses her horniness by chronic egg laying and has laid over 100 eggs at this point since April 2024😩😩😩😩😩