Are your older birds more cuddly?

[Stasia]

Not that my conure is old by any means (only just over a year actually!) but all the sudden around his first birthday, he seems to have calmed down quite a bit and has become a content snuggler, which I just love :)

He always loved scratches and rides on the shoulder, but just recently he has seemed to be less hyper and will now cuddle on my shoulder and beak grind for as long as I let him. He still has plenty of his super energetic times, but it's nice that he takes to the quiet times now too, especially at night when I want him to calm down and he used to just be on hyper-speed ALL the time.

Is it common for birds to become more like this as they exit their "baby" stage? I had never heard him beak grinding while sitting on me before, used to do that only once in bed. Just curious if your birds "mature" in that way too! :)

Stasia

[Monica]

When birds mature, they often times get hard to handle and very nippy... of course techincally speaking I think you still have a baby!!!

Noel is the oldest bird that I know of in this household right now... being around 16 years old, but she's not really cuddly... she enjoys kisses and maybe the occasional scritch but that's it.

Charlie is 12 years old, and he can't get enough of being around his human (which is me!). He's becoming so bonded to me that he doesn't want to go to anyone else, even though I still force him to. He's gotten to the point also that if I have it, he wants it. Anyone else has it and he could care less! He's content to just be around me, preen himself, take naps, but still enjoys lots of lovin!

There's also Casey who loves to get scritches and normally flies to me to get em. Of course, I think she's been just a tad bit jealous of Charlie lately.... hard to tell for sure. She's nearly 6 years old, although it's hard to believe that!

I have two tiels that are 12 years old at least. Big possibility that they're older, so it wouldn't be surprising if they were older than Noel to be honest. However, they are so wild, they bite with blood. Of course their son Kirby, about a year old than Casey, is like 'Dr Jeckyl and Hide', as he can be sweet one moment, then do a full blown on attack...


Really depends on the birds and how they were brought up! Of course, I don't really care if my birds are tame or not, as it's there choice (more or less) if they want human interaction (least most of the times). Sometimes though it's a must for me to handle them for one reason or another.

[Cindy215]

The beak grinding is at night right? It's a sign he's ready to sleep. The days are getting shorter and they want to sleep from dusk on. Provided they arent kept awake with artificial lighting. Every now and then I see it at maybe 11 am if they havent had enough sleep and take a short cat nap but that's almost never.

[Monica]

Beak grinding is a way to show you that the bird is content, and feels safe enough to take a nap or otherwise. Birds will do this during the day when they are ready for a nap.

[sugarmountainaviary]

Most of my older birds are very cuddly....notice the use of the word most....

My Meyers is about 16 years old. He can be unpredictable in the spring but he loves to cuddle under my hair. He absolutely despises my husband and will bite him every chance he gets. My Greenwing is going on three and she is just a mush. My Blue & Gold will sit in my lap all day if I let him. He will be 11 in December. And, my Palm Cockatoo, who I acquired as a mature adult, is the biggest mush in the house. He was outside in an aviary and unhandled for close to 10 years and he would prefer to be surgically grafted to my skin if I let him. My older birds are much better then my younger ones.....

Jessie

[The Outlaw]

All of my birds are cuddly. In fact, the only time they were ornery was during the famous terrible twos. They weren't really bad, just unpredictable. As they have gotten closer to 5, they are, for the most part, pretty mellow.