Jenday Conure - Strange Behavior
Hello, all.
I have made this account in desparation, seeking other people who know significantly more about birds than I do.
I have recently moved in with my significant other, who has a 17 year old jenday conure named Drib. Drib and I get along very well; she's a sweet girl. Prior to moving in with SO, I read every article and post I could get my hands on about conure behavior and bird-owning in general.
Last week, she laid two eggs. This was not her first go-around with egg laying. But something feels different this time.
Drib spends most of her day sitting on these two eggs, making *very* angry rapid-fire chirps. She sounds SO ticked off. It's not her normal soft, mommy chirps that she's made with clutches in the past. If you approach her, she hops off of them and happily will greet you, and play peek a boo, and give kisses. But only for about five minutes, then she sits back down on the eggs and begins making the angry sounds again. Yesterday I heard the chirps escalate into full out ANGRY alarm calls, like she used to do to me when she first met me. I ran in there, and she was just sitting there on the eggs. Until she saw me, and then hopped up to greet. But I'm not kidding, it's all day that she sounds mad at these eggs.
I don't know. SO is extremely uncomfortable with these new sounds and this behavior. He is terrified that she's egg bound; he feels she still looks like she has one more egg (I disagree, but he knows her better). I have educated myself as much as possible on the signs and symptoms of binding, and never came across anything like this. I've never come across anything matching her current behavior with an explanation. I am reaching out to the birdy community to gain some insight on what might be going on.
Some Drib stats, if they count for anything:
-She has had two strokes in her life. She does not have any adverse physical effects from them, which makes me wary she might have had a mental effect?
-She was on an all seed diet for her entire life, until I started my research and convinced SO that it's terrible for her. She gets a couple drops of vitamins in her water every day, and a 1/4 seed 3/4 Kaytee Complete mix, with some fruits thrown in (she won't touch veggies)
-She was a chronic picker when she was younger, and no longer grows feathers at all on her breast. Her remaining feathers look chewed on and ragged.
-Her poop looks normal, if a bit watery at times.
-She is not, nor ever has been, clipped.
Please have mercy on me, bird owners. I am new to this. SO is not, but I don't think he has been very responsible in the last handful of years. He loves his bird so much, but does a LOT of things I have read that he should not. But this is his bird, and he gets sensitive and shuts down when I try to tell him things. That is a problem with him and with our relationship, something I am aware of.
I am hoping someone can lend some insight.
I have been working on convincing him to take her to a vet. There is something blocking him, I don't know what it is.
Maybe if one of you has a good idea of what might be happening with Drib, I can convince him more thoroughly.
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