Parrots and Pregnancy

Shopping

Information

Find Answers

Site Info

Links

[?] Subscribe To This Site

Parrots and Pregnancy

by Daniel
(Colorado)

I was surprised to find little about this online but...

Has anyone observed a change in their parrot's behavior toward a woman after she becomes pregnant? I have a 2 yr old Caique named Kona who is very friendly and calm even with strangers. About 6 months ago my sister-in-law became pregnant, and not long after Kona started being really aggressive toward her. Since then my sis has been bitten several times and Kona lunges at her if she gets closer than a few feet. This is strange because Kona has been with toddlers to grandparents, male and female, with no problems.

I personally think it could be a hormonal thing given the rapid change in behavior but have no previous experience with this strange issue.

Comments for
Parrots and Pregnancy

Click here to add your own comments

Oct 26, 2011

African grey
by: Matt

We've found the same thing happening recently with my partner and her parent's african grey. He (I say he - it could be a she!!) is normally very pleased to see us - dancing and singing whenever we go round. My partner is now 18 weeks pregnant and for the past fornight their parrot's seemed really wary of her. He'll puff his feathers up and if she gets too close to his cage he'll snap at her. She's not yet in maternity wear so the colour of her clothes will be what he's always been used to, and he's been fine up until this past couple of weeks. In fact when my partner had gone out of the room I was stroking and playing with him and he was fine. We were thinking along the same lines with hormonal change - perhaps if the parrot is indeed a female then she feels jealous that my partner will be receiving more attention. It's interesting to read that others are witnessing the same behaviour though.

Jul 23, 2011

Reply
by: Daniel

Yeah...I'm sure the clothes could play a factor as well. I have noticed Kona being scared by specific clothing. In fact I know she doesn't like my class ring or my blue baseball cap...it's almost funny but I just avoid wearing them around her to keep the stress level down. As far as the hormones go I would agree as well. Kona senses alot of "unseens" and I'm sure my sis' hormones are through the roof right now. I'll be interested to see how Kona reacts after the baby is born.

Jul 23, 2011

Parrots and Pregnancy
by: Linda

This one is a real mystery and hopefully someone else will pick this up and answer it better.

Being that I've not been pregnant around my birds nor have I had any friends who were when they came around birds, I cannot speak from experience.

Your bird is either picking up on the pheronomes your sister in law is giving off OR if she is already wearing maternity clothes, it could be that the clothes are larger, brighter, just different. Birds are very sensitive about things like that. If they've never seen you wearing a hat, they will become very upset, so her clothes may be what's setting her off.

Since your bird has actually become aggressive towards her, I'm placing my bet on different clothes, different size and different hormones being given off. Your little bird may perceive her as a total stranger who may hurt her.

As I said, hopefully someone else with some experience with this will step up. You can also call an Avian Vet and discuss this with them. I still think it's the "different" your bird is seeing and feeling. The baby human is sensed but hidden, and this may be causing some stress.

Thanks for writing and let us know how this very interesting story ends up later on.

Linda

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Parrot Questions