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Post by Scratchpost on Sept 17, 2022 2:30:07 GMT -7
Hi all,
So Aka is ten months now and for the past month or two, when he is on my shoulder (although not every time) he flaps his wings vigorously and pants. Is this a mating thing or is he just happy to be on my shoulder? This continues for about half a minute.
I don't encourage the panting but I encourage the flapping his wings because he is clipped and needs the wing exercises. He can fly a little bit with his clipped wings, but its more "fly-plop-fly-plop" if you know what I mean.
At what age did your parrot/s start exhibiting mating behaviour? Most of the parrot websites and vets I have spoken to say that African Grey's (both types I'm assuming) reach sexual maturity between three-five years. He isn't even a year yet. Does this sound like mating behaviour? He doesn't do it when he is on my husband's shoulder. Should I discourage this by not making a big deal about the flapping his wings at all?
Thanks.
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Post by Jane on Sept 17, 2022 3:31:23 GMT -7
It doesn't sound like mating behaviour, it sounds as if he is just wanting to flap his wings and then panting because of the exertion. I wouldn't discourage him from flapping his wings.
Mating behaviour is more slowly holding the wings out - similar to the way swans sometimes do when they are swimming along. Then there are the squeaky huffing sounds and sometimes regurgitating.
Jane
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Post by Scratchpost on Sept 17, 2022 9:49:03 GMT -7
Hi Jane,
Thanks for your reply. Ok great, I will look out for holding the wings put and huffing, etc. I don't want to discourage the flapping, he enjoys it and he gets excited when I make a big deal about it which is cool.
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Post by Haz on Sept 17, 2022 13:19:53 GMT -7
It is not as much a problem when males exhibit mating behaviour. It is a problem with females because we don't want them to lay eggs which is bad for their health. If a male makes love to your hand, just move your hand away. In any case, Aka is too young.
Haz
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Post by Adele on Sept 17, 2022 17:11:08 GMT -7
My female loves doing the flapping wings thing too. She'll often grab on my hand/fingers especially tight so she can flap away without worry about flying/falling. She definitely gets out of breath after doing that.
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Post by Scratchpost on Sept 18, 2022 10:56:09 GMT -7
Hi Haz,
Thanks for your reply. I will do that if/when he starts, I still have to get used to the fact that he might/will do that lol.
Hi Adele,
Thanks for that, I have a sneaky suspicion that my landlord was wrong (we didn't do genetic testing because it is expensive and unless I plan to turn Aka into a breeding bird, it isn't necessary). I think Aka is a female, from the pictures and video's I;ve seen of female parrots, their eye area looks a bit different (can't really explain it), and his/her new tail feathers are coming out in the baby moult and they don't have the dark marks like I've seen on males. Do the tail markings come later or should there be the dark/silver markings from the start?
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Post by Jane on Sept 18, 2022 11:15:20 GMT -7
The black or dark grey tips to the red tail feathers are those of a young bird. In the adult bird the females have a delicate silver edging to the shorter feathers on the underside of the tail while males tail feathers are solid red.
Jane
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Post by Adele on Sept 19, 2022 7:49:30 GMT -7
In the U.S. gender testing is $19 with test kits. The vets charge way more, but you can just send in a feather yourself and results are really fast.
I had both a male and a female. There are gender head shape analysis, but my two were always categorized incorrectly based on head shape. The tail feathers that Jane mentions did work correctly with my two. A DNA test is so cheap and easy though, I would go with that to be sure.
I didn't DNA test my female, only my male, but that was because a couple days before I planned the DNA test, my female laid an egg. So then I was 100% sure she was female.
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Post by Scratchpost on Sept 25, 2022 10:31:21 GMT -7
I replied to this thread but then the power went out so my message didn't send haha.
Hi Jane, thanks for that, I will keep an eye out. He has about two new (adult) tail feathers and some of the underside feathers close to his tail and they are solid red, no silver lining at all but he hasn't finished his moult yet so I'll have to see. Maybe Aka is a boy after all haha. That's what we all thought but the new feathers and around the eyes made me think.
Hi Adele, that is really cool. I just checked for testing kits online.... They are $50 give or take (R800 in our currency). Maybe when I get paid next time. Compared to the US, Canada, Europe, and the UK, the options for parrots regarding testing and toys/trees are very minimal and extremely expensive. Even the parrot shops sell toys/paraphernalia that have been imported, with the exception of a few SA companies who make toys. These toys are still no-where near what I see online though. I am going to start making my own toys as soon as I can, but that doesn't help with the gender testing haha. Testing at the vet is super expensive and pet insurance doesn't cover it unless your bird is a breeding bird (which Aka isn't).
So remember what I said about Aka being too young to exhibit mating behaviour? Well it turns out, he is actually a month older that we thought. When I asked our landlord (the breeder) about his age, he said his birthday was in November but there was a miscommunication because he meant when my husband and I adopted him, which was November. His birthday is actually in October hahaha.
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