New baby lovebird, fearful of humans - how to proceed?

[Pajarita]

Yes, it would be VERY helpful. Please do. Now, Fischer's and peachfronts look differently so the plumage and beak colors should leave no doubt as to which species he is - and this is something that is making me worry more about him.

[thesilversakura]

Darn, I left it too late - it's 9 in the evening where I am now and he's gone to bed (making contented noises before we covered him up and sat with him so progress, perhaps?), but I will take photos first thing tomorrow. Until then I'll try and describe him - he has a light grey face and a darker grey turquoise head and top of his belly, with light turquoise on his wings, slightly darker on his back and dark turquoise/blue on his rump. There is no peachy colour or difference on his forehead (is that even the word? Haha), all a grey or off white, palest right around his eyes.

His beak is light apart from a darkening gradient at the very top and two black lines on either side, both on the top. All the photos of turquoise lovebirds I can see on Google images for reference are either too pale in the face or black masked - he's a definite grey with a hint of blue as you go further down his body. I have no idea where to place the little man!

[thesilversakura]

Here we go, I finally have photos of him. I didn't describe him as well as I could have, haha. It's the feather condition on his back I'm concerned about, I tried to get a good photo of them. He's a better poser than Peach!







Are those black marks on his beak just part of his colouring, or are they the ones used to age him? I can see no peach either, so I'm placing my bets he's a Fischer's....poor little scruffy guy. He was sitting there chirping back to my mother when she whistled at him and making contented noises, we're making progress!

[Pajarita]

He seems to be a white-face seafoam mutation but 'seems' is the operative word here because they change colors as they mature. Now, the black on his beak is not part of his coloration. Baby lovies are born with an all black beak and, as they get older, the black recedes until there is just a little something all the way at the base (next to where the cere is). I don't remember seeing one with just a very thin streak of black on one side (does he have another one on the left side? I can't see it on the pix) but it's entirely possible as I am not expert on babies. Normally, the black disappears around the 4 to 5th month so I would say that, if the black is indeed what's left from when he was a tiny baby, he is definitely older than 11 weeks. But they don't molt until they are, at least, 6 months old and there is something going on with his plumage... It's not only that it's ratty looking, it's also that he has holes in it and that doesn't happen during a normal molt. What I am trying to say is that the lack of front color and the plumage problem could be both be caused by malnutrition and, unfortunately, malnutrition in babies is much more serious than malnutrition in an adult that is already completely developed.

I noticed the bowl of seeds in his cage and, if I were you, I would switch him to a healthier diet immediately because an all seed diet is the main cause of malnutrition in parrots. Not that I am against seeds because I am not! I don't believe that pellets are the best dietary option for parrots so I feed my birds seeds for dinner - but they get cooked whole grains with veggies and raw produce for breakfast so they are getting a wide range of vitamins and minerals every day.

[thesilversakura]

Yes, he does have another line on the other side of his beak, it's the same on both sides pretty much. We do give them both fruit and veg mash every day, he does have a pretty tall cage so the other pot wasn't in the shot - they always have unlimited access to seed though, since Peach scoffs throughout the day or she starts begging because she's hungry, haha. I will start adding whole grains though, we're big oatmeal eaters in this house

I'd take him straight to the vet on Monday if I could, just to find out what's wrong with him, but I'm worried the amount of stress he's already been under combined with us putting him in a travel cage and being manhandled at the vets will put us back to square one with him and/or make him worse health wise. Should we wait for a few days, boosting him up with healthy mash and vitamin drops, or take him as soon as we can?

[Wolf]

Personally, I would not wait. Birds hide any illness as long as they can so waiting is not usually a good idea with them.
Despite looking pretty scruffy, he is very cute and adorable.

[Pajarita]

Well, oatmeal is good but oat groats are hugely better. Lovies are great eaters of gloop, why don't you try making some for him? It's not hard at all and it's very nutritious once you get them to eat all the veggies in it. Look in the diet section, there are several recipes for it there, including a very quick one made with Kashi's 7 whole grain pilaf which can be cooked in the microwave.

I would not use vitamin drops. They are practically useless because vitamins start degrading as soon they 'touch' liquid so any vitamin supplement that is already liquid is not really very effective. The powder ones that go on soft food (gloop been soft food) are the best but, if you cannot feed soft food, then get the powder one that dissolves in water and take the water bowl out of his cage the night before and put the fresh one with the supplement in it first thing in the morning -he will be thirsty and take 3 or 4 big gulps of it while there still hasn't been enough time for the vitamins to degrade too much.

[thesilversakura]

I'll get on the soft food immediately - oat groats are hard to come by in the UK but we have a few health food stores around here. I get almond meal for my diet so why can't he have oat groats?

The vitamin drops is interesting, I had no idea. I wish things like that weren't so readily available if they don't work *sigh* oh well, I'll order some powder vitamins, do these look okay? It doesn't give any proper instructions as to how much to use, just a 'small pinch' - I don't want to give too much to such a tiny bird, what with Peach being even tinier, I'll probably ask the vet to make sure. http://www.northernparrots.com/avimix-powdered-vitamin-and-mineral-supplement-prod6350a/

Oh, and we're going to make an appointment for him to see the vet either tomorrow or the day after. I'm assuming the most stress free way of getting him in his travel cage would be calm but quick, I just don't want to scare him any more than necessary He sat on my head for a minute today after having a fly around the bedroom, we're making progress. Don't want to mess it up now, he's doing so well! Thank you all so much for your help so far, it's definitely proving to be a steep learning curve.

[Wolf]

When Kiki, my Senegal arrived and I knew nothing, I learned about how much there was to learn as well as how much there was to sort out as false or out dated. It is a lot more than one would begin to believe.

[thesilversakura]

It sure is. Before I got Peach I did my fair share of reading and I thought I was going to be fine....but my god there is so much to learn. Parrots are a massive, massive undertaking if you're going to treat them with fairness and compassion, and it's completely unlike any other animal I've owned...and there have been a lot. People who compare them to dogs have no idea, I confess I used to think the same a few years ago. With dogs you have a few training methods, you repeat and offer treats and they learn. I've never had a dog who hasn't responded well to positive reinforcement training and love, even those who were horribly abused.

But birds...it's a two way street. There is no unconditional love, no automatic trust with you as the pack leader. It all has to be earned over a long period of time, every bird is different. Just being on this forum has taught me that. They have a personality, they have feelings....I feel more like an equal, or the parent of a child. Peach lets me pick her up from anywhere in my room, but absolutely will not step up on her sisal spring where she sleeps. She loves her blue Nelly, a baby's toy elephant she snuggles up to when she's tired during the day. She gives me kisses, but only when I give her scratches. She nips me when I don't let her eat my earphones, but she's very well behaved with everything else. She clings to my long hair like a swing when I'm wandering round, even when I do my physio exercises and get on the floor. She falls asleep in there too, making a little nest in my neck and tickling me.

I'm just so excited to see how Houdini's personality flourishes - he let my mother pick him up and put him back in his cage when he fell asleep today, after being so afraid of hands the entire time we've had him, he was dozing in her arms! He's constantly fitting himself in the smallest of spaces and falling asleep, behind the photo frame on the bedside table, behind the teddy bears, the corner of the shelf, inside an empty food bowl, in his soft toy, actually IN the bed....hence the name. *gushes* I just really love birds, okay?