I'd greatly appreciate your feedback on this. Our 17-year-old dusky headed conure, Pickle, has always been a highly "interactive" bird - wanting to be around us, playing and snuggling. She has also enjoyed enjoyed hiding out in her dresser drawer (we call it her "Precious". But normally she preferred to be with her humans. In the past few weeks, however, she wants to spend all her time in her Precious, sitting in a nestlike pile of torn-up clothes. We took her to the avian vet last weekend, and the vet said Pickle didn't have any eggs in her. Pickle has never shown such extreme nesting behavior before this. I try to keep her out of her "nest" for 30 minutes to an hour at a time, but she doesn't like that. The avian did not think we should put a fake egg in the "nest."

Hi Arlene,

I think that Pickle is doing what comes naturally - but it has just taken a long time to do this. Obviously, hen parrots love dark places like drawers because they are like nests and having her develop a great fondness for being in the drawer with the nesting material of ripped up clothes definitely brought out this breeding behavior. At some point she may produce an egg or two. As long as she has been on a good diet with a proper amount of calcium and she has gotten a good amount of exercise, she should not have trouble with any eggs.

It is not unusual for companion parrots to show this kind of intense behavior at this age. I know about quite a few parrots of various species who have become sexual in this manner at an older age. There are, of course, other situations that can increase this behavior - including temperature change duration and angle of light and so on. A lot of people are surprised when they develop this behavior in winter. Actually it is fairly logical since we often increase the temperature in our homes to stay warm and we keep the artificial light on longer because it gets dark so early.

The only problem I see with Pickle is if she gets stuck in this sexual behavior and doesn't get past it. Sometimes this happens, particularly with such a strong stimulus as a perceived nest and a mate bond with a caregiver. Your idea of gradual reducing the amount of time in the drawer makes sense but not for right now because she is very fixated on the drawer and probably needs to complete her cycle from a biological perspective. Once she gets past it, then I would start gradually decreasing her time in the drawer and even cut it out completely by her next breeding cycle.

Of course, it is important to state that just because she is in this strong breeding mode at this point that this is pretty much based on biology and environmental stimulation to breed. In no way does it mean that you should provide her with a mate.

I highly recommend that you read the articles on sexual behavior at the Member Article pages. I would be happy to discuss some of these points with you because they can be complex and of different opinions.

Hi, Sally,
Thanks so much for your thorough response. I have always greatly respected your insights. I will definitely look into the articles re parrot sexual behavior.
You referred to Pickle completing her cycle. How would I know when the cycle is completed? Would she start spending less time in the drawer? And generally, can this nesting behavior go on for several weeks before it (hopefully) goes away?
And here's an even weirder question: My partner Dave is considering a short road trip. At this point, do you think it would be traumatic for Pickle to be without her male "provider" for a few days, or might it help her get unstuck from her behavior?
I wish you and your animal companions the very best (and I just might be interested in ordering one of your great parrot artworks!).