Scared bird???

[Rebecca]

Has anyone else had their bird become scared after their cage is moved? I brought my major inside as we have had really bad storms. Wheeled her cage into the laundry. She now refuses to come out of it!!! She's fine in every other way, will come up to the bars to see me but goes nuts if I try get her out. Will put her cage back outside once the weather improves but very lost by her strange behaviour

[Wolf]

It is not uncommon for parrots to get scared when confronted by new circumstances.
Could you tell us about an average day for your bird? You know things like what does it do all day, how much out of cage time it has, how much of the time is spent with someone, how much alone time, is it clipped or not? You know pretty much whatever it would normally encounter on any given day.
It would make it easier for us to make suggestions to benefit your bird and to help prevent future fearful episodes.

[Pajarita]

Yes, more info is needed because, I'll be honest with you, I do not think a bird left outside by itself in a cage is a good idea... It's certainly not good for the bird to be alone all day long.

[Rebecca]

She is outside on the patio and under cover. She comes in and sits with me for at least an hour each day. I am at uni and have 2 special needs kids so am not home much during the day, I think it's nicer for her to be out on the patio in the fresh air than staring at 4 walls in the house. She likes watching the wild birds too. I think the problem is a combination of the fact that I brought her cage into the laundry which is an end of the house she never goes down and the fact that the last time she was moved was to my mums when we went on holiday for 3 weeks. I've put her back on the patio this morning and she's back to her old self

[Wolf]

I understand the difficulties that you must face with special needs children. But I must say that this is not fair to the parrot either, 1 hour a day out of its cage is simply not even close to adequate. It really need a minimum of 4 hours out of cage time with one hour with you. If during the hour that you spend with your bird you took him walking through the house then you might be able to eliminate the fear that this movement caused him. I know that it is hard but hopefully you will be able to find a way to give him some more time.

[Rebecca]

You make it sound like she's neglected which is so far from the truth:-( I wonder how many people seriously have 4 hours in a day spare. I am aiming to get a perch for her for inside (she's only 8 months old) but she i doubt she'll sit as she likes to follow me around the house which is just asking for her to end up hurt:-(

[Wolf]

Well, Idon't mean to offend you but given that she is hardwired to never be alone at anytimwe from birth to death, then yes that is what I am saying. Do I think that it is intentionally done ? NO, I don't. But, regardless of what I think or you think being alone for a parrot is the worst form of punishment that you can ever deliver. Please ask your Avian vet about this. Call an avain rescue and ask them. Please don't take my word for this. Ask some bird professionals abput this or research it for yourself.
I don't know you and all I know about you is what you have said which isn't much. You are in school and have 2 special needs children and that is very hard to cope with . I t is a task that I don't know many people could handle at all. I wish you nothing but the best, you already have more than enough difficulty before you without me having to say that your bird is being neglected. But this bird has an intelligience like that of a 4 or 5 year old child, so it understand that it is not being treated right and unless it is corrected it will quit forgiving and resort to biting and attacking you and everyone in the house. For all practical purposes it is also a special needs child too. And it will be so for the remainder of its life.
A dog or a cat would do fine with the conditions that you are requiring this bird to live with, but this bird will not do well with it at all. Please by all means get mad at me, cuss me out, but check out what I am saying, please. You can come back and tell me what the vet , or breeder, or bird sanctuary or rescue says. Please don't take my word find out for yourself. You cannot fix something that is broke until you know how it is broken, or if you deny that it is broken.

[Rebecca]

I'm not going to curse at you, you're entitled to your opinion whether I agree with you or not and I neither have the time or the energy to launch into a full blown debate about what you have said. With regards to asking people. I had her inside as a baby and she used to lose the plot screaming every time I walked out the room. It was the breeder who told me she needed to be relocated away from me. In fact the breeder told me to shut her in the laundry which I outright refuse to do. I put her outside during the day so she has interaction with wild birds (we get plenty of wild cockatoos) instead of being stuck in the house while I'm not home.

[Wolf]

That was a terrible thing for the breeder to say to do and should not be allowed near a bird. there are both good and bad breeders. In regards to what I said about your bird, I really and honestly wish that it were just my opinion. It is good that there are wild cockatoos for your bird to at least talk to. I wish that I had wild parrots for mine to talk too as well but I don't.
I wish that you would try to answer this question. Why would a complete stranger to you say that you are neglecting your bird if there were nothing to it? Why would he want to say something so hurtful to someone like you without good reason?
The wild cockatoos are the reason that this has worked for you this long. Please look into this matter in more depth. I have nothing but respect for you and would not try to push my opinion on you for any reason, but this is not opinion and my reason is to prevent serious harm, a cockatoo can do a lot of damage in a very short time. Please listen and ask the vet or at least the people at a bird rescue, please.

[Pajarita]

Oh, geez! Please understand that we are not here to make you feel bad. We are here for the birds and, although I really and truly feel in my heart for your situation, I can't help but think that your home is not the right place for a parrot, my dear. You simply do not have the time or energy for it and the bird is suffering because of it. You speak of 'when she was a baby' but what you fail to realize that, at 8 months of age, she is still a baby. A baby that, for all purposes and effect, has been abandoned to its own fate. Imagine a 3 year old child left in a cage all day long, somebody brings it food and immediately leaves and, sometimes, when this person has time and energy, spends a little time but, the rest of the day and day after day, the child can see and hear people in the distance but can't reach them. It's all alone, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month... It's not only traumatic, it's sheer torture. Parrots, especially cockatoos, are incredibly affectionate animals that literally NEED to have a loving companion and yours doesn't have anybody. Geez, my Freddie is not even satisfied with seeing me (which yours can't), he needs to be on me and he doesn't even live in a cage or spends his days alone. You speak of the wild cockatoos so you must have observed that they are never alone when adults and much less when they are babies.

Keeping a parrot in a cage by itself was an acceptable practice until very recently and, unfortunately, still is in some countries so it's not as if you are alone - but we have learned a lot about parrots in the last 15 to 20 years and one thing we have learned is that this kind of life is not only unhealthy but also incredibly sad for them. Please don't take our word for it, do some research but don't go to your avian vet because, for one thing, they don't really study avian behavior and, for another, you are his/her client so there is a conflict of interest (he/she will not tell you that you are giving your bird a miserable life because if he/she does, you won't use his/her services any longer). Go to Nature, to ornithologists, to avian behaviorists and you will see that this is not our opinion, it's a fact. Don't get mad at us, give us the benefit of the doubt and do some research instead.