Still haven’t quite nailed down my 5yo female ‘tiels ‘cycle’, when it comes to her wanting to nest/breed. And each time, her ‘symptoms’ are different. This one takes the cake;

(A fun little snippet I sent to my discord group)

Part 1 “I honestly don’t fucking know what she wants. She has food. She has water. I open the cage and she screams, so I close it. She screams. I open it again. She climbs out, screams at me and climbs back in. Won’t let me hold her. She’s just. screaming and screaming.”

I then took her to the vets because she began screaming past her normal nap and sleep times, and the vets assured me not only was she 100% healthy, but also:

“Apparently, she’s doing long distance range search calls. Similar to ones baby birds give when hungry and the parents are out....

...or when they’re searching for their mate.

She wants to lay an egg. She hasn’t nested as hard as she usually does, but she cycled early summer last year too. So she’s either A) calling for (redacted name), my ex in Indiana, who she considered her mate or B) listening to the wild bird calls and has been communicating with someone out there and I might have a wild bird smacking into my window soon”

So that’s nice.

Part 2 “I love Keiko. But I’m so DONE WITH HER. Screaming, screaming, screaming. Vet suggested taking her for her walk, exhaust her, make her sleep. She tried to take off, without my cue, 6 times, not even halfway down the block. She’s never done that. She’s highly trained, knows not to move till I tell her to. We didn’t even make it to the damn park. Thank god for her harness.

She screamed and screamed and screamed and is STILL SCREAMING. Didn’t let up at all last night.

I’m so tired. I’m so, so, tired. My allergies are acting up with makes this all worse.”

I’ve never had a bird that continues to scream through the actual night, as well. And normally I can tell when she’s nesting, at least a little. She’s laid eggs for me (well, my ex), before. I’ve followed the vets advice to a T, as far as how to discourage her.

Was honestly uncertain with some of their advice, which is where you, dear reader, come in.

They suggested clipping her wings super short, so she loses confidence in flight (she’s long flight recall trained), which will discourage her from laying eggs. Can’t provide for the chicks if she can’t fly, and apparently she’ll abandon the idea. I’ve cut back on her food a tiny bit, but the wing clipping really bothers me. I know it can cause trust issues, especially since a huge part of our bond is her flight routine.

Anyone have a parrot cycling and causing headaches, stress and heart break? Can any of you PLEASE send me advice on what to do, or even how to get through this. 😭

P.s I cannot afford any treatments for her at this time, and once more, the vets assured me she was healthy. Just horny.