by EllenD » Sun Oct 23, 2016 10:16 am
I agree that the bird store in Huntington is awful, and I'm very sorry you had to go through losing birds the way you did just because that woman breeds in unsanitary, filthy conditions with total disregard for her birds. It's a small world, but you know that she must be very bad if two of us on this forum have first hand experience with her trading/selling sick birds to breed. It's nice to have someone else here in this forum that lives in the same area, but too bad it's under such awful circumstances. I wish there was a way we could call attention locally to that shop.
Your cockatiels are very beautiful, and I'm glad you were able to give them a good home when their prior owner didn't want them. I'm guessing you haven't had them long, so it's very possible that the other bird that is being a bit hostile will come around to you in time, especially if she does let you pet her sometimes already. It always takes time when taking in adult birds.
The fact that she's molting and has pin feathers all over is probably a big part of why she is being hostile and doesn't want touched most of the time. If you touch pin feathers the wrong way it causes the bird extreme discomfort and pain, and pin feathers just make them grumpy anyway. My yellow-sided green cheek conure is molting right now and he looks like a scruffy little homeless bird, lol. This is his first molt as he's just under a year old, and he's not handling it well at all. He's a hand-raised bird and normally he's a sweetheart, always has been, but since the molting started he's being a bit of a jerk! He's coming to me for his normal scratches all the time, but when i scratch him he squawks, gives me dirty looks, and runs away!
Sometimes, if the feather is mature enough and the sheath is ready to come off, you can help them (if she'll let you) by rolling the white sheath of the pin feather between two fingers until it either falls apart completely, or until it cracks in half and then either you or the bird can pull it off. Does she like to take baths or showers? If so this will help her immensely. A warm bath or shower once a day during a molt will speed up the process by getting rid of old feathers, helping the keratin sheath around pin feathers to break down, and the water and heat itself will make your bird feel a lot better by stopping the itching and soothing their skin. The warm water will soften up the hard, prickly pin feathers.
I would try putting a dish of warm water in your bird's cage or near it's play area if it's out of it's cage and see if she'll go in voluntarily and give herself a bath. Only leave the dish of water in her cage or out for an hour at the very most. If she won't give herself a bath voluntarily you can try to take her in the shower with you, sometimes they like that better because you're doing it with them. I have a perch that sticks to the wall inside my shower that is out of the way of the water, so they get in when I get in, but they sit and watch me, enjoy the steam, and stay out of the hot water and soap/shampoo that I use. Then when I'm completely finished I'll make the water a little cooler than I use (I love really hot water and birds need the water warm at most) and I'll make sure all the soap, shampoo, and any other products are closed up and washed away so the birds don't get any on them or potentially drink any soapy water. Then I'll get one bird at a time on my finger and put them under the shower, right at the edge of the shower stream. Some birds like a full stream of water, like my Quaker, and will go completely under the shower stream, actually bathing themselves. My Quaker loves water and he goes head first under the shower, completely drenching himself while singing and talking. He has complete conversations with himself while he's under the shower bathing himself. My green cheek conure on the other hand will stand on my finger and very quickly stick his head under, then his tail, back, foot, etc. all one at a time. He actually prefers a bath, and during this first molt he's going through now he's been giving himself a bath in the large metal water bowls I attached to his PVC T-Stands and the huge PVC bird gym/playland I built them. He baths multiple times a day in each bowl he goes to. It seems to be helping him a lot.
The other thing that may help your cockatiel, if she won't let you touch her to get the sheaths off the pin feathers and she won't take a bath is to go to the pet store (I know Petco has this) and buy a molt-ease spray or a bird-safe aloe vera spray. As I stated I know Petco sells a molt-ease spray made by Ecotrition that I have used on my Quaker, my green cheek, my cockatiel (she won't bathe at all), and my budgies when they're molting, and it definitely does make them more comfortable. It also seems to speed up the molt and help with dry skin because I can notice the difference on their feet. You can spray them with it gently from a bit of a distance, being extremely careful not to get it in their eyes, and using it sparingly, like one spray per area of feathers. I think the Ecotrition molt ease spray costs around $10 a bottle (which lasts forever), and it's on the shelf in the bird section next to the bath tubs that hook to cages, the bedding for birds made out of walnut shells and corn cobs, the cage and fabric cleaners for bird poop (right next to the Poop-Off!), and next to the bird toe-nail scissors and qwik stop.
I hope that helps a bit, and if there is anything you ever need or that I can help with don't hesitate to send me a message. Like I said I'm in State College, so I'm close, and I have 30 years of bird owning and breeding experience, so if you ever have a problem with your bird's I am more than willing to help. I also have a really great certified avian vet here in State College that I would highly recommend, we're very lucky to have him here. We also have a 24-hour, 7-day a week animal hospital with an emergency room. They are wonderful as well, they are on Martin Street in State College and they have multiple vets on call at all times that specialize in dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, small animals like hamsters, guinea pigs, ferrets, etc. and farm animals and horses. I have unfortunately been there twice, once for my 13 year old pug who went into kidney failure on Christmas day, and once for my green cheek conure who fell off of my shower curtain rod while I was taking a shower and broke his wing. They saved my dog's life by immediately giving him IV fluids and medications and by running the right tests (they have a full lab on site), and I got another two years with him. They had to anesthetize my green cheek, did x-rays, diagnosed the broken wing and ruled out other injuries, put him in a special wing splint/sling and an E-Collar, and they made sure he was well medicated and not in any pain for the weeks he had to wear the splint and collar. Today he flies without any issues at all.
) and I doubt their owner handled them, so they'll probably be more difficult to tame. I just hope they don't have any health issues. I'll be taking them to the vet for a check up when I get them. To be honest, giving them a better life is more important to me than taming them. I'm very excited to get them! I should be bringing them home this week!
