Blind Cockatiel

[coubay]

Hi we took in a 10month old blind Cockatiel on Monday. I have found it very difficult to find info on cage set up, handling etc.
So I have started a blog, so others needing info can learn from our experience and hopefully we can meet other's caring for blind birds and learn from their experiences. Chewie the blind Cockatiel: Welcome Chewie

I would love to hear from anyone on here that has any experience with blind parrots also.
Cheers Coubay

 

[solobaby]

i dont have experience with bind birds but i would put a towl or something soft under his news paper in case he does fall - i also wouldn't put any thing unstable in the cage
if i think of anything else i will post it
jess

 

[Mayden]

You can get bedding for the bottom of the cage that can be cleaned out (a lot easier than forever washing towels in my experience!) and it just softens the fall but is also decent for messes.
Although since he's a cockatiel, messes shouldn't be too... sloppy(?) I suppose.

I think I mentioned before that a member here had a mostly blind african grey, if you search through roxynoodles posts you should be able to find some info on her. The grey is called Merlin.

For blind birds a wider and lower cage is better suited than a tall and thin one as it means less height for easier falls but still lots of space to explore. You can also get 'platforms' that the bird can rest on instead of perches, which might make things a bit easier. Also get the bird used to a cage setup, and stick to that setup, rotate toys once in a while if he seems okay with it, but things like food/water, keep in the same place so he knows where to go to get to it.

 

[coubay]

So far no falls, just a few attempted flights that resulted in crashes despite being clipped he got up to the roof. I am going to invest in a flight harness for him to wear at all times he is out of the cage I think. The Parrot Rescue Centre has some great ones. In Regional Queensland you can't get substrate/bedding for in cages, the cages have a grate above the bottom pull out tray and every bird owner I know uses newspaper and I change it daily during out of cage time. Unfortunately there is a major lack of decent bird toys locally, so I make some for my birds and source others online or through bird rescue organisations. My daughter is now dating the son of the best local pet store so I have mentioned this need and he is going to talk to his Dad about stocking more foragind, shredding and puzzle toys. and most importantly natural safe toys as those that are stocked locally have unsafe bells on them. We have no avian vets locally, from what I have ascertained the nearest one is 4hrs away. But there are some local older aviculturalists that have more knowledge than our local vets and one lives across the road from me so he health checks my birds, it does mean we can't get bloods or fecal testing done unless we take a 4hr drive with the birds. There are 2 young men currently studying to be avian vets that plan on working in our region when they graduate, so that will be fantastic.

 

[Rio Mom]

PM MySafeBirdStore (Kathie), she has a blind grey also and would be able to give you good advice.

 

[BillsBirds]

A friend had a blind Macaw, and she was fine. Her bowls were low in the cage, and her perches were also. They learn where everything is, and get a sixth sense of their environment. This Macaw lived a long, happy life with very few problems. As Rio Mom said, email Kathie. She's very helpful & friendly.

 

[lene1949]

I think a blind bird would do just as well as a blind person... The blind person learns the layout of the house, and a blind bird would learn the layout of his cage...