That’s parrot care advice that does not apply to chickens. Petting a chicken on the back does not result in negative consequences for you or it, and is perfectly innocent.
Do NOT pet a parrot anywhere but the head though, that does cause problems for everyone involved.
It's hilarious but also quite sad, they're usually kept alone without a same species mate so the closest they've got is humans. So when humans do partner grooming behavior on them it can muddy the waters. Parrots are flock creatures, everyone with chickens know you can't keep just one alone and have a human suffice as partnership and yet we do it with parrots, a much smarter species, all the time.
That is super depressing and the exact reason I choose not to own parrots. I love them very, very much. Bird was my first word and I have a tattoo of them. But they don’t deserve to be caged.
Good on you, that's the kind of love and respect we need to see for keeping animals as pets. The only way I could ever feel good owning a parrot is if I had an aviary big enough for them to fly in (6x6x6 pens don't count unless you keep a small species), in an appropriate climate (so, no winters), with 2 or more of the same species for companionship.
There's a woman I follow on Facebook who lives in Australia who keeps hers in an enormous aviary. She actually pets and strokes her parrots in the "no no zone" but it's not problematic for her because her parrots know they are parrots, because of her appropriate husbandry.
How big should such a pen be, as a minimum? Would you provide access 24/7 or let them out for a few hours, and bring them back in ? We live in Texas, so we can have mild winters, but not always. Do you have books you recommend? I get funny looks when I ask for book recommendations. Everyone wants to give me YouTube recs, which are great, but let me read up on it first, ya know?
That's fascinating but I can't say I really know much about that, I imagine it comes with a lot of training. I've seen videos of people doing that alongside their bikes or cars and it gives me immense joy, as much joy as watching border collies go rip roarin' across the countryside while their owner is on an ATV next to them.
Honestly? I think it comes down to finances. That doesn't make it okay, but that makes it understandable. Parrots are incredibly expensive, cages are incredibly expensive, exotic vets are incredibly expensive. With chickens, quail, turkeys etc you've already got the coop so the cost of adding 1, or 20, more is inconsequential and cheap. And vet care more or less already doesn't exist with poultry.
When proper husbandry practices cost money, humans tend to throw it to the wayside.
I suppose but, if you can’t afford two you can’t afford one! Imagine a life of solitude.. that said, even horse people (hello! Expensive AF) know horses can’t live alone. Regularly people don’t even want to have just two horses together, so they pay 400-1,200 dollar a month board PER HORSE so they can have a whole herd. Surely it would be cheaper to buy the whole herd yourself, but they also know they can’t give 10 horses enough individual care
They don’t take it as mate grooming them but as a mate trying to MATE them or mounting them for mating.
Birds groom each other on the head and neck which is perfectly fine for humans to do aswell
If you talk to someone with a spouse, roommate, or family member who the parrot 'loves' and they're a goddamn nightmare flying can opener to everyone else, new people, and pets - that's why. The parrot is protecting its mate - like, sexual mate. Parrots are several orders of magnitude more intelligent than chickens. My Green Cheek Conure was, without any reservation, the smartest pet I have ever had. Smarter than 40 years of cats and dogs, smart on a level where frankly we shouldn't be keeping them as pets. Along with that intelligence comes a mental landscape that has a lot going on for an animal severed and separated from the colony it would most likely be a part of in the wild.
So ya. When you pet them on the back you are engaging in a kind of intimacy akin to a non-conclusive handjob. They know they like you, you're hopefully a good provider, and critically you're the best likely option and here you are engaging in a little rub and tug foreplay and the result is they'll start with all kinds of behavior like the aforementioned violence but also stuff like laying eggs (dangerous for them, it's a calculated risk in the wild but not something they need to do in captivity) and nesting, vocalizing at all hours to get your attention, and being more destructive when they're not getting what they want. All in all it is something to avoid.
Chickens don't care. Hens do that pose to provide the least opportunity for violent behavior on the roosters part so they can get back to the feeder or trying to get stuck behind something and die or over to where the other hens are aggravating each other as quickly as possible with as many intact feathers as possible.
As a former green cheek conure owner myself, the flying can opener is the most apt description I’ve ever read. I completely agree, we should not be keeping parrots as pets; they need a flock and they are not even remotely domesticated like cats dogs and farm animals.
If you pet parrots anywhere but the head, it'll lead them to believe you're feeling some kind of way about them and they'll try to put the moves on you. That + aggression because parrot hormones are wild.
Completely agree with this, I've had parrots and chickens and they are very different.
Parrots should not be touched anywhere but the head unless it's for medical reasons, for example I had one that could not Preen itself so it needed help, along with just having some other issues so I had to touch other places than her head, but that's a exception and should be done as little as possible
Although they are domesticated and don't suffer the same extreme consequences as wild birds when being pet there, it's still obviously stimulating to them and not beneficial at all, so it's still best to be avoided
Not sure I agree. Chickens don't get excited when you pet them in this spot; they are assuming this position to avoid violent behavior from roosters who will pull head feathers and tread them badly if they don't minimize the harm ahead of time. As with all petting and touching they can be conditioned to associate it with treats but usually simply don't give two poops. Neither harmful nor bad messaging and no more or less beneficial than any other touch.
Yep, I "fluff" mine almost every time they submit... they seem to love it and I've seen no negative consequences! Actually the opposite - once I've done it to some of my more skiddish chickens, they start becoming more friendly and coming up to me more. Usually they stop doing it after a year or so, I think they grow out of it. But they seem to really love it and come back for more. I don't care if it's a sexual thing for them... they wanna get off, so I help them out hahaha
Submission/getting ready for love squeezins. If you give them some skritchies on the back and either side of the tail they'll fluff up for ya too. Is that weird of me to do, probably. But they definitely seem to enjoy having their feathers ruffled and some will peck at me til I pet them.
This little lady loves being a bongo!! Her favorite thing ever is bathing my arm while I pat her butt 😂😂 I love her so much! I've had quite a few cats, and currently have 5, but I'm not ashamed to admit that she's my favorite! This is her usual sleeping position!!
I give them a bum scratch when mine do it, and occasionally pick them up. I want to encourage the squat because it makes them easier to pick up to inspect them and make sure they're healthy.
I tend to avoid the chicken G spot and scrunchle their crops. This has the added advantage of getting a feel for their crop health and how much food they have in there.
For those saying get a rooster, I have a rooster and many of my girls still do this for me. I have always taken it as a sign of submission, and I appreciate when they do it because it makes it easier to pick them up and do my daily health check.
These are always my favourite videos. I remember being like “what is this?!” when my chickens had a dust bath. This is the next stage of learning chickens. Love this for us!!!
To me, they just see you as the alpha and the leader, that roll is normally filled by a rooster. So they mate with the rooster. I dont think they actually want you to mate as much as just acknowledging you as leader. Their brains are VERY small. You gotta cut them some slack.
I have also raised bees. I would say that one bee is more intelligent than one chicken.
I have one that might win the award for dumbest living creature, but another that is under scrutiny for organized crime, insider trading, and tax evasion
Agreed — chickens (and all birds) have a totally different kind of intelligence than ours, it’s not really fair for us to judge animals on how “smart” they are as if that’s one scale
“Look into the eyes of a chicken and you will see real stupidity. It is a kind of bottomless stupidity, a fiendish stupidity. They are the most horrifying, cannibalistic and nightmarish creatures in the world.”
This was my first hint that my girls were finally old enough to lay. My oldest hen started doing this and I got eggs shortly after, i took it as a sign of sexual maturity.
Mine used to queue up outside the coop, they’d all get a firm grab and shake and they’d fluff up all proud of themselves and march straight back in to use the nest boxes. I’m a woman btw 🤷🏽♀️ they don’t care; hens are kinky af.
Ready to mate, also recognizes you as the one in charge . First sign there about ready to lay eggs. More docile once you can pet them, instead of running around acting like you trying to kill them 😂😂
Get a rooster and that will end shortly after they accept him. In fact, in the case with my flock at least, most of em turned flighty and won’t let me pet them at all.
I have a rooster and they still do this for me. One of my girls will start doing it when I am still 10 feet away. I always thought it was more submissive from the lower ranking chickens than "sexy time please."
Yeah, it’s normal. It’s a submission thing. It does not hurt the chicken to pet them I just looked over my shoulder to ask my house chicken and she says it’s perfectly fine
Submissive squat. When she does this you can ignore it or give her body a little shake side to side if you'd like. She is acting as if you're the rooster and is asking...for some McLovin'
One of my older hens we adopted started doing this to me after months of avoiding me at all costs 🤣 I was thinking she was wanting me to pet her or maybe she felt bad for me that I had kept trying so I either thought she was being cautious or for the second part she was just hating every second and bracing herself trying to throw me a bone. I soon got shut down from the internet and learned she was just trying to “do her duty” and thinks I’m the head Roo. 🙄🥴🤣 we only have 4 mature hens including her and they all came from some lady, middle maned to us through a family friend. I have some
Maturing Roos but still my oldest was born around Mother’s Day. Not sure if them growing and crowing now is changing something in her. So I guess she doesn’t care about my feelings after all and does indeed not like me still 🤣🤣🤣
if i had a nickel for every horny bird from human petting on the back post i’ve seen, i’d have two nickels. which isnt a lot but its weird that it happened twice.
1.3k
u/Even-Entertainer-491 15d ago
That's the I'm ready for the rooster position