Galah Preparations!

[kagan1042]

Hi All!!

Adding to our flock is a teenager-ish galah, male, goes by the name of Pinky (manly huh!).

Pinky's background is a bit sad. He was rescued 25 yr ago from the wild and his daddy parront passed away 12 months ago. His mumma has been moved into a aged care home 6 month ago and the peoples kids have been farming poor Pinky around between them.

So the poor bugger hasn't had a stable home for a while and I dare say is mourning his parronts.

I've offered to take Pinky from them and give him a home. They are giving me his aviary and have told me he's a screamer....but I figure heck I would be too after the last 18 months of stuff!! Guy also said he's a "old bird"...pfftt...was shocked when I said how long 'toos can last in captivity!

Anyhoo!! I haven't had an older galah before, just a freshly weaned bubba who sadly had to get PTS at 16 wks...so please give me some pointers!

I figure I'll set him up in his home tonight and cover him up and tomorrow we'l un cover him and he can stay in there checking out the comings and goings of the house and get used to our routine. And I'll be sitting next to him chattering away so he gets used to me as well.

After couple days I think I'll be aiming to be able to open cage and give scritches etc, following step ups etc.

Ok plan??

 

[strudel]

Yes, I think so. Is he already trained to step up and is he tame? If so, he might want "out" sooner than you think. When I adopted my girl, she was completely "normal" and didn't need any adjustment time. She just moved in. I was apprehensive that she'd be all homesick for her previous home, but she didn't seem to have any problems being somewhere "strange".

 

[RavensGryf]

Congratulations . I think Pinky will eventually come around and thrive once again, once he gets used to your place and gets the feeling that he's loved and well cared for. The people who had Pinky right before you (the older couple's kids) were obviously not bird people, so I'm thinking once he knows he's in a place where he'll stay and be loved, he'll sense that. Best of luck.

My mom has a Bourke's parakeet male named Pinky, so you can tell him he's not the only boy with the name lol.

 

[strudel]

so you can tell him he's not the only boy with the name lol.

Tell him about Pinky Beecroft, he's called Pinky and he's a human.

 

[Betrisher]

My Dominic came from a very similar background to Pinky (you could rename him 'Mr Pinkerton' and just call him 'Pinky' for short, y'know). I don't know how much socialisation and interaction Pinky has had, but Dommie had been virtually left alone in a cage and was fed and watered whenever my Mum (Alzheimer's/Dementia) thought of it. Dommie was nearly thirty when I adopted him and he would sit in just one spot on his perch and refused to touch anything except his seed dish. He was fed exclusively on sunflower seeds and had the most enormous fatty tumours hanging from his front. they were so bad, he was pretty much unable to move. While my husband was able to get Dom out of his cage, Dom hated me passionately and I have shed a fair amount of blood on his behalf! LOL!

Fast forward two years and Dom is now a slim, well-behaved bird-about-town with his own playgym and rummage basket and free access to our house. He is learning to fly and can make it quite decent distances now, so long as he doesn't have to land quickly. He still tends to plummet a bit as his undercarriage is a bit creaky. It took a couple of weeks to teach him to eat pellets and fresh food. He was encouraged to move around as much as he could on flat surfaces (kitchen table) every day and was given a variety of toys to play with. A cargo net and a wooden ladder were his main exercise tools, though, and he still loves clambering around on those when left to his own devices. Dom has very specific tastes in terms of what he'll do and what he'll permit to be done to him. But that's OK. After nearly two years, we understand each other pretty well. I have promised Dommie he'll never live in jail again and will always be right in the middle of his family. That's the way he likes it. He lets me know when he wants to go home to his cage and he chomps on me when I put him away too early. Simple!

If you really want to make a friend of Pinky, you can! Just be very, very patient and watch everything he does. Learn how to tell when he doesn't like something and don't push him to do things he'd rather not. That's how you earn his trust. If he bites, just try to avoid making situations where you're likely to get bitten. If you offer the back of your tightly-closed fist to Pinky, he'll have a hard time latching on to it, but may be willing to step up after a moment. Or, use a long stick to pick him up if you have to (ie. encourage him to step up onto it) and reward, reward, reward! Dom likes bits of dry ramen noodle for his rewards, but your Pinky might prefer sunflower seeds. Just don't ever feed a lot of those because the result can be deadly weight gain!

Your idea of just sitting with him and waiting calmly for him to settle in is the very best plan. If he's skittish, be careful to limit noise and bustle around him. Some birds get upset by that and prefer quiet, at least in the beginning. Go slowly and be prepared to spend lots of time just holding him and talking in a low voice. Always be sure to praise his looks because Galahs are very vain birds and like to think their great Beauty is appreciated. If you're lucky, he'll raise his hat to you and puff out his face. This is the epitome of Galah approval. When you get to that stage, you've made a friend for life!

Please don't hesitate to ask questions: we're all here to help and will gladly answer if we can! Best of luck with Pinky. Dominic sends a jolly squawk of welcome and hopes his new friend will settle in quickly.

 

[kagan1042]

Hi all - thanks for the tips!!

Pinky boy is now home and he's in a bit of a sad state

He's had a broken wing from day dot and therefore cannot fly (he's a walker, woddler) and his wing is droopy, also a gacky foot - so guessing fallen from a height. I'm yet to see him preen that wing, and doesn't seem to know to "tuck" the flight feathers back into their proper spot - so they stick out until I poke em back in and up.

He's also plucked all his belly feathers out the past "few weeks" - turns out he was left in his parronts house and kids just visited him when they could....not very often.

Apart from those few things - he's a trooper!! Loves his "skitchees" and if I pinch my fingers together on the ground he will woddle over to me with he beak zooming along the ground and come into my hands for scratches on the head/cheeks.

He cannot step up very well because of his gacky foot - but comes out of his cage and then comes over to you - he doesn't like hands IN the cage, but that's ok with me, he's free to wonder around and I'll redecorate and fill up food.

Food wise - looks like sunflower seeds have been his diet - freaked out over fruit this morning and went mental over some wholegrain toast haha!

Cage - he has come with a big garden aviary that needs a bit of work before he can go back in it - so he's currently chilling out in my gcc old cage until tonight.

Needless to say I'm totally in love and completely enamoured by my new little friend.

 

[strudel]

Oh, I'm soooo glad he's got a home with you. It's so sad when you hear about somebody whose life isn't what it should be. Now, he'll thrive with love and happiness. And of course, he's just beautiful.

 

[kagan1042]

with regards to his wing - is this something I should take him to a vet about? maybe they could so *something* to the flight feathers to make it easier for him to get around and not stomp on his wonky wing?

Plucking - I figure once he's settled and a happy boy, he'll stop the plucking and let his feathers grow back???? I've never had a plucker!

 

[strudel]

Given his "issues", I'd take him to the vet for a going-over anyway. I didn't take my galah when I adopted her, but only because her previous owner was a vet, but I took my bunnies when I first got them, to check that they were all the way they should be, even though they didn't have anything obvious wrong with them.

Also, I'd want to be sure he didn't have any cause for the plucking/feather loss.

 

[kagan1042]

thanking you! I've emailed my vet to see when we can get in for a once over, with possibility of a poop/skin test too

 

[Betrisher]

Yeah, I'd take him to see a vet, just in case something might be done to help his wing and foot. If he's been plucking for a long while, be prepared to find his feathers won't grow back. My Dommie's never did because the damage he'd done to the follicles was too severe.

Aside from that, Pinky is absolutely beautiful! Since he's obviously friendly, you might consider target training and/or trick training. You certainly can teach an old bird new tricks, so long as you have the right treat in your pocket!

PS. My daughter, Ellie, has just caught sight of Pinky's pics. She also thinks he's gorgeous and sends him a cheery 'G'day'.

 

[kagan1042]

well, he's definitely a man's bird!! I can't get him out of his cage (we reassembled his aviary last night) but my hubby can no problems!

He's been on just a seed diet, so will try to slowly convert him to pellets and see how we go.

I'm not sure if he's still wigged out, but we have not heard morning or afternoon calls from him....he's super quiet!

 

[kagan1042]

well we're back from the vets and oh my gosh what fun did Pinky bird have!!

LOVED Dr Teddy - soon as we opened the carrier, he poofed up danced around and said HELLO? I was so shocked, we haven't heard more than a squeek!

Anyhoo - Dr Teddy did a little skin scrape, poop test and did some vampire work too.....

Dr Teddy is of the opinion Pinky bird has some sort of zinc poisoning and really needs to move into a proper bird cage and get converted onto some pellets and fresh fruit and veggies, with a "sprinkling" of seed....also said letting him forage in the veggie patch will be good for him and get him some ladders and levels in his new cage which will help with his feet and balance problems.

Wonky wing - he clipped the feathers that Pinky is walking on and assured me that his feathers will grow back and told me to worm him too.

Other than that, he's fit as a fiddle!

So we're googling some cages, and the vet said one like my gcc is in will be quite suitable, even though the bars are smaller, as long as Pinky gets out time when we're home (which he does already).

SO!! (sorry for long post) is this cage ok - what do you have your galahs in?? Large Stand Alone Parrot Aviary Budgie Canary Bird Cage ON Wheels | eBay

 

[strudel]

Oh, that's great. Pinky's going to thrive with you. My girl's inside cage isn't very big, it's a corner cage with a playgym on top, but she tends to stay in one spot in her cages and she comes out to visit with me, and she has a separate playgym as wellso it's not like she's stuck in there. She seems happy with her accommodation.

 

[kagan1042]

Thanks Strudel

I've ordered that cage, and we've dumped his aviary. He's inside in a bar fridge sized cage at the moment and he's so much quieter and no shrieking to be heard - I think coz he's with us and our gcc and the dogs, in the hive of activity.

I've also started to cover him up same time as Frootie Face and started a bed time routine, and he's taken to it very well and seems to be calmer which is nice He's probably also feeling better from his meds at Dr Teddy's too I assume.

We're still scared of broccoli, but cauliflower is fun to hold and scratch our beak with