Hi from Queensland - blind cockatiel

[coubay]

Hi
I currently have 3 birds, unfortunately all are wing clipped, the budgies were done by the person I bought them from, looking forward to their flight feathers growing back as they are still young (4 months and 3 months approximately) and fly pretty well even with 1 wing clipped.
My other bird arrived Monday Chewie the blind Cockatiel, he is 10months old and had had his wing clipped before but had regrowth, due to the fact he crashes into things, we chose to reclip his wing for his safety.
We read all we could find on caring for blind birds (which wasn't much), tried to find pics of cage set up etc and watched youtube videos to get ideas on cage setup, before picking him up.
We formed a game plan and over the last 68hrs have observed his interaction with his cage set up and made adjustments. I want to have his cage correct by lunch today so he can get used to it.
I have started a blog on our experience so others that are looking for information on caring for a blind bird can learn from our experience and hopefully we can learn from their experience.
http://blindcockatiel.blogspot.com.au/
We have 4 children age 5, 7, 14 & 16 our rule is every bird is a family bird as when you finish school and head off to Uni the birds need to be comfortable with Mum and Dad. I do 90% of the work which I am fine with and love and Mr 7 who loves all animals especially birds helps me feed, water, clean cages. My children get up a hour earlier than they need to so that they are fully ready for school a hour before leaving, this time is spent giving the birds and dog some one on one time, each person handles a different bird or the dog each morning and then when they come home they have afternoon tea and then spend 1.5hrs with the animals.
With kids it is important to teach them from a young age to be gentle. When I was pregnant with my last child we got my then 15month old a baby doll and told him this is your baby we are gentle with babies and we don't touch eyes. He has always been fantastic with babies, animals etc. When it came to teaching the kids about being gentle with animals we started them as toddlers with our sooky, cuddly cat and showed them how to gently pat her (note our house is 2 story and the stairs are outside, the cats live downstairs and the birds upstairs, though my cats visit my neighbours that breed birds (escape artist) and they have commented on the fact my cat never tries to even touch the birds she just curls up and sleeps lol) I trained them as kittens to stay away from bird cages.
My children have never hurt a animal or bird and Mr 7 will cry if he sees any living thing hurt.
We also have a dog and she is crate trained, her crate is in the room with my birds, she submisses to the birds and the birds climb in her crate and on her. Out of cage time is always fully supervised, none of my birds are out of their cage unless someone is in the room with them.
We placed the piano in the animal room and Miss 16 plays piano for the budgies (they love it), Chewie is in quarantine in the office and we play him music and Miss 16 has Skype lessons with her Cello teacher in there he loves this also, so I think he will love the piano when quarantine is over.
Sorry for the long intro, but I figured I would answer the questions I often get when people hear we have a dog, 2 cats and birds. This dog is a rescue dog she was abused before we got her, as was our previous dog, the mother of my cats was a rescue cat her previous owner's husband was going to kill her due to not wanting kittens, I grew up as a only child but in a large extended family and 2 of my Uncles took in rescue animals I guess that is where I get it from.
Coubay
Oh as a child I had budgies, finches and quails.
I am a researcher ie when something comes into my life I read about the best care for that situation etc. eg getting a child diagnosed with Fructose Malabsorption, I spent 18months researching it, before getting our dog I researched crate training as our last dog was a escape artist (could climb a 6foot fence) and I wanted to ensure any new dog we got safety, and so on.
I believe before getting any pet even a fish you must read up on the proper care for said animal as most pet shops will just sell you what makes them $ not necessarily what is best for the pet you are buying. Case in point Beta fish, those tiny tanks are not what is best, while the poor things can live in them they do much better in a bigger tank, same for budgies the narrow tall cage the petshop is telling you to get is completely wrong and is not what is best for your bird, he needs width not height.
I look forward to learning from this forum as I have found locally there isn't much knowledge about companion parrots, and on the internet there is little info about blind bird care.
Cheers again Coubay.

[liz]

Welcome to the forum. You sound like you have it all going on.

One question. Are the birds just clipped on one wing each. If so that is very dangerouse as it can cause accidents. Wings should be even. If one wing is clipped - strim the other wing to match so they will grown out together. Flighted birds are healthier because of the exercise.

[coubay]

Thankyou for that info.
Yes one wing is clipped, both budgies fly really well despite it, ie around corners they get into the kitchen which is around 2 corners and trough 2 rooms lol. They just adapted easily. I will get the hubby to help me clip their other wings this afternoon when he gets home.
Chewie just flutters with the one wing clipped and this was advised as if he has both clipped then he could take off and as he is completely blind the danger of him injuring himself is very high.
At his previous owners all he did was sit on a perch and sleep all day and night, since being here his is very active during the day as I turn bright lights on (he can only see really bright light) and play music, and recordings of birds and talk to him constantly.