Has anyone else experienced this? My linnie Louie, who I have loved and spoiled for more than a year, suddenly started acting like he hates me. he only wants to be with my husband. He flock calls for him, follows him around and wants nothing to do with me anymore. he used to be my Velcro baby and I couldn't leave his sight. I never did anything but love and spoil him. He's been moulting and miserable and it seems like he's never going to stop moulting. My husband likes him, but doesn't really want him as a constant companion. I don't know what I did or what to do. Nothing I do seems to help and even seems to drive him further away from me. Could this just be temporary due to the hormones and moulting do you think? My heart is just broken and I miss my little boy.

Linnies normally choose one partner.
I can't imagine why Louie changed his mind and chose your hubby.
If he has a bad moult which doesn't seem to stop, does he have a bird lamp?
That was the reason why my linnies' moult wouldn't stop when they were new.
Maybe at the age of about one year he is going through a late puberty which causes his behavior.

If this is not a temporary issue you could think about buying a partner for him.
I'm quite sure he will improve soon with a cagemate.

I have not experienced this in the same way. Mina was very aloof with me for the first 11months and now she is a tiny bit clingy, so quite the change. My birds cannot choose between people. They are all stuck with me because my husband does not interact with them. So they either like me or no one LOL. I think you should resume being his primary caretaker for a bit. If he doesn't want you, then that is fine, he can stay on or in his cage. And then try again a little while later. He will come around. I wouldn't worry at all. It is just a phase. I would be more worried if he is seeing your husband as his mate. That is not natural and that cycle should be broken.

My Stitch sometimes is my clingy, velcro bird and other times he's Pikachu's boy. I don't know what brings about the mood changes, but I don't push it. Sometimes, Pikachu likes to hang out on me and Stitch hangs out on top of the cage.

The point is, with more than one "partner" my birds seem to change who they hang out with and just when I think I am no longer loved, they come back to me. That is my experience with my two linnies.

Our two guys tend to be the same way as Anna's. Comet LOVES my DH, but sometimes he would rather be with me, and when that happens, DH thinks Comet has stopped liking him. I know he (Comet, not DH), has moods and phases that swing much more than Scooter's. I do know they are very keyed to the pressure cycles and either misbehave or don't want either of us when low pressure is around. Moulting sort of makes them crabby, or is it that a moulting bird is vulnerable in the wild, so they avoid others?

I just wait it out and then all of a sudden, they love us again and want to cuddle again. Just be your sweet self with him and he will come around.

Thanks everyone for your replies. Louie is still preferring hubby, but sometimes won't come to him either. Sometimes he's such a brat, he won't come to either of us. My avian vet who has seen him since he was a baby, warned us when I told her we wanted to leave his wings unclipped, that she was okay with and respected my decision, but that he might need an "attitude adjustment" with a slight wing trim so he couldn't fly away from us. His wings have just finally grown in from his original breeder's wing clip and I wanted him to be able to fly and exercise. This was before he started all this kind of rebellion. He's still so moody and hormonal and moulting. Anyway, I have been seriously considering getting another male linnie, but will I be creating more problems waiting this late to get another linnie? I don't want them to fight or hurt each other or make Louie jealous. thanks for all your wisdom!

The wings are probably coincidence. A few weeks ago Stitch was being very difficult. He kept flying away from me and not going in his cage, to the point that I had to grab him ( which he hates and made the problem worse) . Then he would fly to the point of exhaustion, which worried me. I seriously considered clipping his wings, but I can't bring myself to do it. I did clip one feather from each wing, which I don't really think makes any difference, but it might slow him down a teensy bit so he doesn't hurt himself zipping around. Then I really didn't have a lot of time, so I gave them less attention than usual...and now they are back to behaving and sitting on me.

The point of my rambling is that with my linnies, I find if I back off and let them think about things, or just get over their mood, they come back to being their cuddly selves. Linnies like it when you play " hard to get" .

Thanks, Anna. That's how Louie has been lately too. He tries to follow my husband and ends up crashing into windows and countertops. He's still kind of learning to steer when he flies. So I'm not sure clipping his wings would be any safer for him. He is learning gradually and I'm really afraid he would hurt himself worse now that he knows he can fly and then tried to fly after clipping that he would really crash and hurt himself. I just don't really want to have his wings clipped if I can help it. The only other thing that scares me is that he will fly out the door trying to stay with my husband. He's so quick, I'm afraid he would get out and we wouldn't be able to catch him again.

Diane, Louie sounds a lot like our Comet - loves hubby and gets moody. Is a trait liked to their color? Louie could be Comet's twin. We have the same issue with him trying to fly at the last minute to stay with him.

We keep our guys in their room, but it's right by the front and garage doors which always scares me. I remember Comet being really crabby when he couldn't fly and had to depend on me to help him around the room. I think they need their independence. So I stay sweet to them and know the will come back to love me too.

And I do think you are right that clipping him may cause him to get hurt. hth

Thanks Missybird! It's nice to know I'm not alone! I'll try to be patient.

Our Snowball is going through hormones right now. She's eight months old and just Bi*chy right now. Doesn't want to sit by me anymore. I'll be patient with her and she'll come around again.

One thing I've noticed that I don't do, but hubby does. He always moves slow around them, and is very gentle with them. I think I get busy and move too quickly for them (like a Budgie's speed instead of a Linnie's). Last night they flew onto me and I stopped what I was doing and just enjoyed them crawling on me while we watched TV- it was great!

Missybird, I've forgotten, did you get Scooter and Comet together at the same time? I'm thinking about getting another male linnie and I'm not sure how to go about introducing them to each other and what kinds of problems I might be in for. Any advice is most welcome!

Yes, we did get them together and had them selected from Alice when they were DNA'd at about eight weeks. They've been together since then (over a year now). I worry about introducing another if we were to lose one of them.

I think from things I've read, a younger Linnie may work best. I would keep them in separate cages though, until they decide to live together. Our guys do fight sometimes and we have to stop them. We know most of the time it's because Scooter has a longer sharper beak and preens Comet too hard. They preen each other ALL the time (which is something Louie could be crabby about missing out on).

Maybe you should start a thread to ask others about adding a second Linnie.

Thanks Missybird for your help. I did start one, but no one has answered. I'll keep checking.

It's times like this that I really miss the Linnie Forum

Does Louie interact with your Budgies? Chet is in love with Comet, and is driving everyone crazy because she wants to sit by him, but he doesn't like it. She just started this recently.
Hmmm-wish I could think like a bird...

I've never really let them interact because my budgie Sammy died 2 years ago from all the signs and symptoms of megabacteria, so I've always been afraid my other 3 might possibly be carrying the virus and didn't want to expose Louie to that. All my budgies used to regurg and feed each other so I didn't want to take the chance with Louie. None of them have shown any signs of megabacteria virus, but I've read they can carry it for years and sometimes never show signs if it.

I was also wondering about maybe a different bird, like cockatiel instead of a linnie, I'm just not sure how well those two birds get along?

I know, I really miss LF too.

WOW! I sure hope my two are not carrying that! I do think another Linnie is your best bet. They love to cuddle so much (these should have been named "Lovebirds"). Linnie's do move slower than other birds. They can be aggressive, but I've read of many other species picking on them.
There are people who have added one later, I just need to think of them. The local lady who first told me of Linnie's had one (a real sweetie), then added another. They play good together, but she keeps them separate at night in a double smaller cage. Sarah with Cleopatra is one, maybe you could pm her.

Sara's name on here is "Europhrase" and the thread is in general and is called "my new green girl". I just put "Cleopatra" into search and found her thread. If you hold on her name, you should get an option to send a pm to her (goes to her email).

Judy is also in that thread and she started with one Linnie and added others. I think Cindy did too. Hth