When I got Alex, he was somewhat weary of anyone other that me and my mom, so I decided to start socializing him before he was weaned.

I let him sit on my dad's finger about three times in total, and now he decides that my dad is his best friend. If something freaks out and he flies off the cage, he goes to my dad. If my dad's at the table, he's trying to get into whatever my dad is doing.

Heck yesterday, he flew to my dad's head at least four times, with him flying back as soon as I get him off the head in the first place. Then today, my mom told me how he got Alex out for this girl my sister is babysitting, and all he wanted to do was be on my dad.

I guess it's good that he likes everyone in the house, but I can't help but wonder. What the heck has gotten into Alex, lately? He was only fed by my mom and I, and the breeder who was taking care of her beforehand was also a woman. I find it odd that he gravitates towards the one man in the house.

Is it possible that Alex is actually female, and experiencing some REALLY early hormones, so he/she naturally goes for the one of the opposite sex?

Oh gosh, I hope not.

I don't think that birds can actually tell which humans are male or female, or that they would care. They can't mate with us after all. Maybe he simply likes the sound of your dad's voice.

It might be because he's maturing. When babies grow up they stop clinging to their parents and find new friends. Don't worry, he'll figure out that you're still a lot of fun to be with and relate to you as a friend and flockmate. But for now he wants to check out the rest of the flock.

Well he still does fly to me, and will cling to me when he can. I just find it weird that he just all of a sudden likes dad, meanwhile Lucy wants nothing to do with either of my parents. Guess Lucy isn't at the point of seeing them as flock mates, yet.

It's not that I'm worried about him replacing me or anything, but I'm pretty sure it would be too early for him to get hormonal. He did hatch in early December I think, so he's almost 3 months. I would think experiencing hormones would be bad for his health at this young.

Though he does have his moods sometimes, where he just kinda gets mad at everything. He would get really excited over something, and then become aggressive, since excitement and aggressiveness are apparently connected somehow (read about it somewhere, but can't remember where). Not sure why he has these kinds of moods, but sometimes he just does. He doesn't experience any other hormonal behavior, so I'm not sure if it's actually hormones.

Awwe! I wished my family members would get along with my birds.

My dad is the person who least wants anything to do with the birds, but he does tolerate it. I think he's probably used to it, considering my mom bred all kinds of birds in the past. Cockatiels, budgies, finches... She told me she had a pair of lovebirds in her aviary at some point, but I don't know how that turned out.

At three months he probably isn't seriously hormonal. I've heard of babies mating that young but it's unusual. The earliest mine did it was 5 months lol. This age is more like the terrible twos, or early adolescence. He's saying "I'm a big boy now and I'll do what I want".

Terrible twos sounds about right. and since he's starting to get pretty confident about his flight ability, he's not afraid to use it. He still has a little trouble with his aim as well as flying downwards, but he's getting better.

You know, I wonder if he likes flying to my dad's heard because he's the tallest person in the house?

That could very well be the reason.

One of the characteristics of the terrible twos in my flock is that the chicks do NOT want to go in the cage. So don't be surprised if he starts leading you on a long chase when you want to put him away. Just keep going after him gently and patiently until he gets tired and decides to cooperate. The phase will pass.

In that case, Lucy must be repeating the terrible twos. She flies back and forth from the table and the top of Joey's cage for a while, until I can get her in the cage.

They've both been off the walls about things lately. I don't know if it's just because there's two of them, or they're actually becoming a handful.