16 yo DYH Zon with issues

[Ambee]

Hello All,

I am new to this forum and a new Amazon owner. Tony is a double yellow headed Amazon. He is 16 years old (or that is what I was told). He was owned previously by people who neglected him and beat him with sticks (so I was told). He was given only table scraps, thus is now slightly over-weight. He is slightly aggressive, but will allow me to pet him through the cage bars and has just recently allowed me to start preening his head. The major issue is that he is a feather picker and mutilator. The tops of his wings are bare and he makes himself bleed. We took him to the AV where she prescribed clotrimazole spray and hydroxyzine to put in his water. The issue was, to spray him we had to capture him with a towel (he won't step-up unless he is on the floor) and spray him down twice a day. This made his skin and feathers look better, but then he was picking his chest I think out of anxiety (so we stopped doing that everyday). I don't care that he is not as "pretty" as he could be, I just don't want him to hurt himself. Sometimes he makes this awful noise when he plucks so I know it hurts him. He has toys in his cage which he mostly ignores, I have tried giving him paper, cardboard rolls, etc., which he likes for about 2 minutes. He also doesn't preen like normal birds, it seems like he just itches and bites at his feathers. Even when I mist him (which i do about every other day because the AV told me to) he just sits there, shakes off, and drys. Ne preening or anything. Thank you in advance for any advice. I am trying to be patient but every time I see him plucking out his feathers it hurts my heart. I know he will be a sweet boy in time, I just hope he has some feathers left... Thanks again!

 

[Julianna]

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your new amazon, even if he has some issues. You can try doing some trick training to help him get used to you and get used to being touched. I don't know much about how to stop feather plucking, but if he has a favorite food or treat you could try some foraging toys with that food inside. Even just a treat wrapped up in a paper ball can entertain them for a few minutes. Good luck and enjoy the forum!

 

[torrap]

Hello and welcome,
You are a wonderful person to try to work with a difficult bird. It's not his fault, poor thing. He looks so cute, just like my DYHA but without few feathers.
DYH Zons like music a lot, you can try to let him listen to the music when you are not home or sing to him. Sometimes singing and dancing is the thing they enjoy the most. I know my DYH preffers to dance and sing with me to any treat or food.
Good luck with your new pet.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Welcome to the forum Ambee & Tony.

He is SUCH a pretty boy, THANK YOU for taking him in and loving him!!

I truly hope with lots of TLC he will stop his habit. I honestly rarely hear of Amazons plucking/mutilating. The poor bub must have had it pretty rough.

 

[Ambee]

I do sing to him and he seems to like that a lot. He talks as well, like if I am on the phone he will say, "hello, are you still there (mumble mumble)". I am just trying to gain his trust by talking, singing, and preening him. As far as I know I am the only one that has even touched him in the last year. For some reason he took a liking to me I have only had him for a month and a half, so I think I am doing okay, I just wish he would stop picking his feathers.

 

[SandyBee]

What a cutie, I'm so glad your giving it a go at helping him. Trust takes time and with him he may need extra time. How's his diet? Good quality food can do a lot for skin conditions. Also can you get him in the bathroom while a hot steamy shower is going, the steam and humidity would be good for his skin.
Keep working with him and the bond will grow stronger.

 

[MonicaMc]

What's his current diet?

A diet change, full spectrum lighting and/or a cage outside where he could get some sun, daily bathes, foraging toys, maybe even some natural, safe tree branches with green leaves may help with his FDB!

 

[Ambee]

Right now he is on a mixed diet. I bought one of those combo bags from the box pet store. It has a mixture of seeds, pellets, dried fruit, etc. Because of his former diet of table scraps, he wouldn't even eat that when we first got him. I was thinking about switching him to a pellet diet. I try to feed him veggies and fruits, but the only thing he will eat are apples and small pieces of carrot so far. The vet told us to try cooking baby food into pancake mix so that he would get his veggies while thinking he was eating table scraps (what he was used to). Does that sound like a good idea? What is the best way to give new foods? Thanks again everyone for all the advice and help.

 

[melibelly]

just do what you can do Rome wasn't built in a day! My re homed zon hasn't been with me over 2 months and he was neglected too. Im just starting to break some ground with him. Ive lost patience a lot all you can do is walk away and come back later after you calm down. Thankfully Zons are great at adapting im sure he will be glad hes not getting hit with sticks anymore!

 

[SandyBee]

Check out the recipe section birdie breads are often liked. My amazon will eat veggies Like brussel sprouts, squashes, beets, turnips cooked soft and served warm. A scrambled or boiled egg once a week is good for them too. You just have to keep trying things and try them in different ways, cooked,raw, diced, mashed, large chunks etc.Be careful not to give fatty foods or pre packaged foods, they contain to much salt and additives that are no good for birds.

 

[MonicaMc]

I've put together some tips in the following thread... maybe they will be of help to you?

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/23367-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html


My main ideas so far is to provide sprouted seeds over dry seeds, try different brands and sizes of pellets (larger? smaller?), and if he prefers small pieces of food, then dice up vegetables into small pieces to make it more appetizing! In fact, you may want to try a mixture of vegetables (more colorful to the eyes!), maybe add in some healthy grains and legumes (cooked or sprouted - large beans *must* be fully cooked) and top with some foods he's familiar with and feed that?

 

[Gingerchezy]

Hi I don't have a clue about plucking, or birds that are getting over a troubled past, I just thought I'd say how gorgeous he is. Even with his sore spot on his wing, he has such a lovely face! Best of luck to you both!

 

[henpecked]

Hey Ambee , folks are giving you good advice. Is his cage near the center of activity in your home? I assume your the favorite person, Is he tough to put back into his cage? Could he get more time out? He might play with toys outside of his cage. Can you establish a routine of when you interact with him. (Giving him something to look forward to). Can you put him on a playstand away from his cage. Expand his horizons , Wendy's suggestion about "partying" , get him outside of that little cocoon he has around himself. Good luck.Welcome to the forum.

 

[Pajarita]

Amazons hardly ever pluck and, when they do, it's because of extreme abuse or neglect, in my personal opinion. I've only gotten one plucking amazon, my very first rescue back in 1992. She was also very aggressive and a screamer but it only took two weeks to make her stop plucking (and she never did it ever again until the day I had to put her down due to cancer) and screaming. The aggression took longer (she was a real meanie, that one) but she ended up been very affectionate so don't lose hope. Zons are real easy to get to stop FDB and convert to a good diet.

Monica is correct. You need:
- good full spectrum lights with UVA and UVB output or direct sunlight for, at least, 30 minutes a day
- good diet (no pellets, only seeds, only at dinnertime and very little of that)
- 3 to 4 hours of out-of-cage time
- a solar schedule
- baths (twice a day but the second one cannot be late in the afternoon because the bird needs to be completely dry by sunset) - cold water and a good splash of aloe vera juice.

Personally, I would put that bird on a detox treatment because his diet must have been real bad and it went on for too long a time.

I would not worry that he doesn't play with toys. None of my zons do either although they all like to chew on rolled up magazines. But mine have each other, of course.

 

[Ambee]

Thanks again for all the encouragement and advice. I am going to try to switch Tony to pellets and start giving him more fresh fruits and veggies. Hopefully this will help all the itching and improper diet. I am keeping up with his baths and am in the process of purchasing a light for his cage. He is in the center of activity in my apartment which he seems to like. When I am home I leave his cage door open so he can go on the top perch if he so desires. He has been going out more and more, but because he wont let me pick him up i just let him go out on his own will. We are starting to get into a routine that I hope will develop into a more trusting relationship

 

[SandyBee]

When We first got our amazon I would sit beside the couch with my dinner. It made him come down to me.Like you he wouldn't let me pick him up or touch him at first.I let him have dinner with me, was always bird safe but human food, pasta, stew etc. With this method I also got him trying a bunch of new healthy.foods too after a while. Birds like to eat with their flock which is now you.

 

[Pajarita]

Be careful with the bird lamps they sell out there. The light itself is not really good (you need a CRI higher than 93 and a KTemp closest to 5500) and the top of the cage clamp type is dangerous to their eyes. The best and safest light is from fluorescent tubes in a ceiling fixture - it might not look 'pretty' but it's relatively cheap (I use shop lights), safe for their eyes and provides the best light for them.

 

[melibelly]

Would you reccomend the heated perches? I'm a newbie I have no idea what/how to setup anything unless its simplified.