Michigan Bird Family

[Lemic]

Hello everyone,

My wife and I used to help our local Humane Society by taking in their some of their birds that have either been rehomed multiple times or that no one else seems to want. It was mostly smaller birds like cockatiels and budgies but than one day they called and asked us if we wanted a Greenwing Macaw. I was never that interested in the birds until we got our macaw. My Daisy really opened my eyes to birds. She was 15 at the time and had been living in a small dog crate for 5 years. She was unable to open her wings and what feathers she did have were rotting and damaged. I instantly fell in love with her and she changed my life.
We have been able to work with her and in the 2 years we have had her so can fully open her wings and has actually produced a bit of lift from flapping them. I doubt that she will ever fly again but she is living a much better life now and so am I.
Since then we have taken on a 35 year old goffin, a 25 year old B&G, and another cockatiel. Now that we have so many birds I would really like to be able to work with them better and train them. Taking in rescues is not the easiest thing and learning as you go to get mistreated birds to trust you and do what you want is even harder. I have already learned a lot from Michael's videos and am hoping to learn even more from these forums. Thank you Michael for all you do for birds and the people who love them.

[liz]

Welcome to the forum.
Rehabbing abused and neglected birds is one of the hardest things to do. They are so intelligent and sensitive. They know where they have been but can't tell you much about it.
Refer to the thread about Mimi. Wolf is still working on getting her to trust. He did have the advantage that she told him what hell she had been through. It is heartbreaking.

Quite a few of us have rescues so we appreciate that you take them in. Some one in this forum has been through whatever problem you have. We care about other's birds as much as we do our own.

[Harpmaker]

Welcome to the forum! And bless you for taking in so many birds that needed you.

[Lemic]

Thank you Liz. I am hoping I can learn from all of you. It took me a month before Daisy would let me touch her and now she loves me. We just got Paco our B&G. We were told there was nothing wrong with him but he spent 5 years in the a few rescues. No one wanted him because he wasn't friendly. I can get him to step up (when he wants to) and I can pet him most of the time but there is something that just flips a switch in him and he will viciously attack. He can be calm and relaxed and then his wings go up and he lashes out from side to side with his beak. We haven't had him long but I can't help but think that there is something there that sets him off. I am hoping to learn how to figure out what it is or just how to avoid it.
I will look up the posts that you are talking about. Thank you for the help.

[liz]

There is also a post in here that describes bird body language. Reading it I found out I had it all wrong. I have been lucky that they have learned to read me.
I had Myrtle 4 years before she would present her head for scritches.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum and thank you for taking in these birds who needed a good home! No, it's not easy rehabilitating parrots and, sometimes, no matter how much we love them, we can't quite 'bring them all the way back' but there is always huge improvement and, people-friendly or not, their lives are much improved so it's ALWAYS rewarding.

B&Gs are actually quite mild-mannered, affectionate and cuddly birds but they do imprint VERY deeply with people and the going from one hand to another (with, usually, most of these hands not been experienced in handling problem birds) breaks something in them... It's like a person who was betrayed every time it tried to give his trust to somebody and ends up been extremely bitter and unforgiving. But, the good news is that parrots are also very forgiving so, if you are very patient and you give them enough time, they will turn around.

PS If she has acquired lift, she might still fly a bit with enough exercise - problem is, you need, at least, 30 ft of linear room without obstacles for them to practice (the reason why I don't take in macaws, I simply do not have a room long enough for them to fly).

[Lemic]

I just want to be able to handle him enough to do daily tasks. Bring him in and out of the cage for playtime and cleaning and things like that. It is fun watching him explore the room and play. He loves to shred things. He ripped apart a whole paper towel roll when I wasn't looking and loves ripping up newspaper.
In the room where I keep them all wouldn't be enough for her to fly but if I bring her out in the main part of the house she could there. My wife actually does her exercises with her and she will raise and lower her wings while my wife counts ONE, TWO. ONE, TWO. Then she will get really excited and start flapping them. She has made a ton of progress.

[Wolf]

Sorry that I haven't replied sooner, I wanted to see what was going on in more detail, any way welcome to the forum and we will do all we can to assist you in developing a good relationship with your birds.
Please understand that there are no experts on parrots here other than the parrots themselves. With almost no research having been done on parrot until transportation caused a huge boom in the exotic and wild bird trade a little more than 25 years ago, how could there be any experts? Even the nutrition information that the vets study is based on chickens and more recently on cockatiels and even then it is pretty skimpy. This places everyone who loves and cares for these birds right on the forefront of learning about them and we are often forced to sort out old and outdated information as well as out and out myths concerning them.
I have been very lucky, in that I came to this forum and a couple of others that the members are looking at and for actual scientific documentation on their birds for information instead of a lot of backpatting and praise for nothing. Of course I recognize that a part of this is just my nature as I tend to be rather practical in nature and really have to work hard at handing out praise and encouragement and Know that I am somewhat lax in this area and am working to correct it.
Thank you for taking in these more difficult birds as they have had a rough road as shown by their behaviors, hopefully they can heal from the abuses that they have suffered and be able to trust enough to let their true gentle nature surface once again.
The more detailed you are with information concerning your birds surrounding your questions the more accurate we can be in our answers.

[Pajarita]

I just want to be able to handle him enough to do daily tasks. Bring him in and out of the cage for playtime and cleaning and things like that. It is fun watching him explore the room and play. He loves to shred things. He ripped apart a whole paper towel roll when I wasn't looking and loves ripping up newspaper.

Well, I have birds that I cannot handle at all and they do great on their own because, in reality, the 'handling' thing is just for our benefit. It makes them no never mind if we can get them to step up or not. Of course, the fact that these birds don't live in cages makes all the difference because although I've taught them to go back into one (my husband will not go into the birdroom to do repairs unless the 'mean' ones are in cages ), I only need them to do this every now and then. Couldn't you just leave his cage door open? At least for now until he begins to trust you? Personally, I have found that not presuming or insisting on a relationship they have no interest in is always best. It tells them you respect them and respect is the foundation of trust which, in turn, is the basis of any good long term relationship between a parrot and a human.

Mind you, this doesn't mean I am telling you to forget about the bird! I am just saying that allowing him to take the first step when and if he feels ready works best.

[Lemic]

I would love to be able to leave him out of his cage all day. That is what we did with Daisy when he got her. We would let her out in the morning and then she was out all day until we lured her back into her cage at night. The problem is that Paco and Daisy do not get along right now. I have been working with them and I can get them to take treats when their beaks are less than 6" away from each other but as soon as they get a chance one or the other will lunge at the other one. If it is just posturing then I try to let them do their thing but once the beaks start hitting each other I break them up.
They are in a room with our Goffin and Noble Macaw. We have that room sealed off from the rest of the birds, cats and dogs that we have. Daisy never bothered the Goffin when it was just the 2 of them but now that the others are there she seems more curious and tries to get on Paco's cage all of the time. This has caused us to have to put her in the cage when we can't be in there to supervise things.
My goal is to get Paco and Daisy to be civil to each other and hopefully we can leave them out together. It is still early. We have only had him for a month or so. I know that it will take time and I am hoping that clicker training them both will help some.