Anting Behavior1
Anting Behavior2

Anyone's bird/s engage in this activity??

My Goffin, Bongo did this all the time. He would take pellets, foot toys, pieces of wood, etc and bury them under his wings and rub them on his body. I never really knew why he did this. He was not plucked and is still full feathered today. I checked with my friend who I rehomed him with and he still does this. Very interesting article about this behavior. Thanks for sharing.

Ducky, the G2 I fostered for several weeks tucked everything she could find into her wings. She seemed to do it as a nervous habit and it began to slow down as she settled in. Not sure if it was anting, I have heard since, that tucking toys, food etc into their wings is a common G2 behaviour.

I have seen Mimi, my G2, do it a couple of times but it's rare.

Anting is a very odd phenomenon and it's really fascinating to me.

More info about anting

Both my G2 and M2 put things under thier wings. I told them they don't have any pockets but they still do it.

Indi G2 - used to do this but I haven't seen it in quite some time.

My old vet had a Goffin as well & he mentioned that it was pretty common in G2's. His would put pellets in between feathers & when he bathed the bird they would come out in the wash!
Another reason to not feed colored pellets?

I don`t remember where I learned this, but the ant stings are supposed to help with the pain from Arthritis, even for people.
My 2 cents worth.

LindaK

How interesting. Yes, this might be describing what I have seen Ollie do. And I'm relieved to see this might be "normal". He sometimes crushes a pellet into his shoulder area and chews on it there. He does this in an area of the shoulder where he has been chewing his feathers. Now I'm wondering if this is somehow related to discomfort in the area.

Sydney is BIG on anting behavior...not so much with food (although I have seen her use her pellets occassionally), but with wood. She will take tiny slivers of wood she has chewed from a toy. It is a ceremonious ritual for her, and when she is engaged in this behavior she is oblivious to anything else.

Once she has just the right size sliver of wood she holds it in her beak and takes it to her chest and snaps off tiny little pieces from the end (which go flying) until it's gone, then she rushes back for more. At first I thought/feared she was literally poking her skin, but she isn't. She just
snips the smallest piece off the end until it's gone.

My instincts tell me that previously she used this behavior in conjunction with her feather destruction, but since that has ceased (thank God) I have no real basis for this...just a gut feeling.

I contacted Dr. Susan Friedman, and to her knowledge there is no known association between anting and feather destructive behaviors, but it is an interesting concept (as Karen pointed out with Ollie).

Once I figure out how to do videos w/my new camera I'll capture a session and post it for you guys to watch.

That's a great idea! I should tape Ollie during one of his sessions and post too. This allowes us to compare behaviors. We could start a visual library!

Thank you for posting Dr. Friedman's thoughts on this. I sometimes feel like I'm flying blind with Ollie and alot of my ponderings is just guess work.

I figured out how to do videos w/my new camera and (YEAH!!!!) and as promised here are two videos of what I believe is`Sydney displaying anting behavior.

If I would have thought about it I would have explained what she's doing but wasn't sure the audio portion was on so I kept quiet. But the caiques and Echo provided some backround playing and whistling noises - LOL!!

Here is exactly what she's doing. She bites a sliver of wood (sometimes 2) off a toy, keeps it in her beak and snaps the very end off...that is the clicking sound that you hear. Sometimes she will grab a chest feather and keep it in her mouth as she snaps the tip of the wood off. Other times when the wood is gone she picks up her foot, looks at it and then scratches herself. Noice the poking/jerking motions.

Sydney Anting1

Sydney Anting2 Sometimes this one won't load the 1st time buit if you give it a second try it does...haven't figured out why yet. (ODD!)


So back to my original question. anyone elses birds engage in this behavior? I always want to be clear that I am not positive this IS anting behavior. Just a hunch. Non wood items Sydney will occassionally tuck between her shoulders or in her wings...she only does this w/wood.

This is so interesting and I am so glad you were able to get some video of this behavior. I don't know if it's anting, but it sure looks like a ritualistic type of behavior and I have heard that anting also causes some birds to go into a trance like state.

It's almost as though she can't stop herself, and HAS to do this over and over, an almost neurotic type behavior which seems to be prevalent in Cockatoo's.

I would love to know what is going on inside the birds head and what they're thinking when doing this.

Thanks for sharing this with us!

I watched these clips more than a couple times & think that maybe it's not quite anting per se (at least from the description of anting behavior) but a self comforting behavior that she may do - no reason now, but just because she always has.

Indi, my Goffin girl does a funky thing with her wings - she hugs herself - it's not sexual, it's sad to see because (IMO) at one point she needed physical contact & there was none.
She still does this if frightened & at night when she sleeps she still wraps one wing under her leg.

I would love to read their minds too.

It was this part in the second Anting link I posted that reminds me of what Sydney does:



But it could be a learned, rather than innate behavior??

Oh boy. Know anyone with extensive knowledge of crows?
They seem to do a lot of anting, are pretty darn smart & are proven tool users.
I would say a crow is a s smart as a too, & vice versa.

I've heard that about Crows too Liisa..did you know they can be taught to talk also? I remember chatting with a lady at Upatsix many years ago who had a pet Crow, and it had a huge vocabulary.

Crows are common "pets" here, although they are not caged. I know a family (farmers) who share their land with a flock of crows. The crows come home every night after a day out, and they are very much a part of the family. They tell me crows are the most intelligent animal they have ever seen. The crows play with the kids, are handled by all family members, and (I haven't seen this but was told) that the two young girls in the home have trained the crows to jump rope with them.

It's also common in the city to have crows come to balconies for treats. It's even a part of the language "crow-food" (krumma-matur) which means leftovers. We watch them play outside in the trees all the time.

Well whatever she's doing she sure does seem to enjoy herself.

I'm doing my best to divert her attention when goes into this mode because I am convinced that it is related to some of her previous feather damage. Sometimes she will grab her crest feathers with her foot and hold onto them while she's darting her head around...that and scratching her face. I've also noticed that she doesn't do this when she's wet and since I've been giving her a good misting several times a day that has cut down dramatically on the behavior. But many times in the early morning I hear the "snap" of wood. I guess I could take all her wood toys out and try to extinguish the behavior, but the condition of her feathers is continuing to improve so I'll just continue with time management.

Liisa that's sweet (but SAD) that Indi hugs herself. Sometimes Sydney will hold one of her wings with her foot when she's sleeping.

Karen did you look at the videos - is this anything similar to what Ollie does???

Yes, I looked at them but it doesn't appear to be the same thing. Ollie will just stick his pellets "into" his feathers and chew and then he stores them there. There is no back and forth movement, except for when he goes to get another pellet to chew and he's very calm when he does this. I've tried capturing this on film, but every time I bring the camera, he stops and stikes a pose