Strange behavior with Betty

[Lori L]

Well first Betty has this habit of leaping off her playstand or top of her cage only to come crashing down. Now her wings are clipped but not so she should crash like that and I'm afraid she will eventually break her keel bone or at least bruise it. She was fledged VERY well...by me so she knows how to fly and should be able to coast down but she is a very clumsy bird in general. She never grips very hard when perching on me so it's hard to have her on my shoulder and walk around.

Then when she crashes she starts laughing and then does the wolf whistle. So of course I pick her up and put her on my chest. I'm teaching her peekaboo. I cover her head lightly and say, "where's Betty?" then open my hands and say, "there she is" She replies "ohhhhhhh". Then she shakes her head from side to side fast and over and over. What does this mean?

[tielfan]

It sounds to me like she's figured out that crashing is a good way to get your attention! You can try to extinguish this behavior by giving her lots of attention when she hasn't started out with a crash, and not paying attention when she does the crash (apart from maybe picking her up off the floor and putting her back on her play stand).

It'll be hard to get rid of the crashing if she thinks it's fun even if it doesn't lead to attention. But if she's just doing it to get the peekaboo game, then changing your reaction will help to reduce the crashing.

[Lisa B]

it does sound like an attention thing...she's enjoying it, but will end up hurt, so you have to try to break her of it. Chest wounds dont heal well. Place towels or pillows where she is landing for padding. chances are she will be weary of the pillows and opt not to jump!

[Quito's Qage]

What a silly girl! It sure sounds like she's manipulating you, in a very cute way. I like Lisa's padding idea, combined with Tielfan's idea of ignoring it other than just picking her up and putting her back on the stand. That worked for me when trying to teach Quito to stay on the stand. Once she figured out that she got more attention by staying on the stand than flying off, she got tired of the game. I imagine she'll try it again sometime though!

You mentioned Betty being kinda clumsy, I wonder if that's a Poi thing in general? Tausi seems incapable of gliding as well, and though he flutters, its pretty ineffective in slowing his descent. They are quite chunky birds though. He's not all that nimble when climbing around either, but he seems to be getting more confident with that. Course he's only five months old, and Betty is quite a bit older, right?

[Miro The Macaw]

I wondered about the attention thing myself when I first read this- Seems like you are kind of rewarding her for jumping off the stand by giving her attention... Probably better to just put her back on the stand and walk away when she does that... She could hurt herself!

-Andrew

[Tiki]

I agree with the others, but in reality it would be hard NOT to go to her if she crashes just to be sure she isn't hurt.