Hormonal Amazons?

[senegal1]

Hi!

I'm looking for advice/experiences with Amazons and hormonal aggression. My wife and I are seriously considering a double yellow headed amazon as an addition to our family. In doing our research beforehand, I've learned that Amazons can exhibit a prolonged period of hormonal aggression when they first reach sexual maturity.

Have any of the amazon owners out there had any experience with this? The literature I've read is VERY frightening. One source claims that male amazons in this initial hormonal phase can viciously attack handlers and cause multiple, serious injuries - and that this behavior can last as long as 12 months! WOW!! My little senegal bites me now and then if he's in a foul mood or I kept him up too late the night before... so I'm used to nips and bites. But being outright attacked by a bird as big as an amazon is a different story.

I'm pretty comfortable with larger birds and get the opportunity to handle cockatoos, eclectus and other larger parrots on a fairly regular basis. My wife is a little more nervous with larger birds and was mortified when she heard about this hormonal phase of the amazon lifecycle.

Can anyone offer up any personal experiences to set my mind at ease? Or are the horror stories true?

Thanks,
Steve

Louie Cindy (no name yet!)

[DebWhite]

Hi Steve,

My experience with hormonal Amazons is somewhat limited. I do share my home with a Double Yellow Amazon who came into my life when she was already 10 years old. I do notice a dramatic increase in screaming in the spring but haven't observed anything outside the norm as far as aggressiveness. She is in general not a very "touchy feely" kind of bird to begin with and most of our interactions have been of a vocal nature. She at least 20 now and it took 8 years of patience to get her to allow me to scratch her head. There are things you can do to mitigate the hormonal effect. I wrote an article for the Avian Enrichment website on the topic at Once upon a time

Best of luck to you!

[birdiemommy]

We have a 4 year old, male, double yellow head amazon, who we brought home as a baby. We did notice this spring that he did get very loud, especially early in the morning. Bit there were things we could do to help with this. Tigger is not a cuddly bird, but he loves to get head scratches through the bars of the cage when we put him in for bedtime. He is reluctant to step up for others, but is very gentle, and not at all agressive. One of the good things about amazons is their body language tends to be pretty easy to read. If you pay attention to that, it can really help avoid bites. Every bird is going to be different, but there are lots of things you can do to make it go smoother. Good luck with your decision!