Help!!!

[parrotqueen]

I need help FAST!

Okay, so Pineapple (one of my tiels) is afraid of just about everything. Whenever he hears a loud noise, notices a sudden movement, or sees a scary object...he goes flying around until he hits a window. This is such a shame, because I really can't go take him to the vet. He has cracked open the dry skin on his cere, causing some bleeding. He hasn't yet injured any blood feathers. I need a diagnosis of the problem, and I need to know how to fix it.

Important note: his cage has been moved to a different room, possibly causing stress. Could this be the problem?

 

[Spiritbird]

You reallly should take him to a vet emergency center if the bleeding does not stop. They do not have much blood in their little bodies. Is this a new bird or have you had him a while? Are the wings clipped? Close all blinds over your windows so he does not fly into them. I would keep him in a very quiet area and talk in a low voice. Is there something in the enviroment that is new? You said he is in a different room. Look around the room to see if anything looks like a predator. You may want to cover the cage partially also. Have you had this bird to a vet in the past

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Did he react like this in the old room? How recently did you move him? Being moved could absolutely be stressful until he gets used to the new environment.

 

[parrotqueen]

Okay, I'm pretty sure I know that its the new bedroom thing. There is literally nothing in the room to scare him, infact, its actually packed up and the bed was moved downstairs (because we're moving soon). The room is completely empty, the only thing I have observed is that he can see the cars passing by, and he can hear neighborhood children at play. This seems to creep him out quite a bit, and he will cling to his cage bars when he sees a car. This is probably causing his stress. I want to clip his wings again, move him to a quieter room, and I will try the advice to shut the blinds

Thank you for all of your help. P.S... SB, he's absolutely fine. the injury he had was extremely minimal. The little spot (not even a puddle) of blood has dried up, and he feels a lot better now.

 

[Spiritbird]

I so glad you figured out what the problem was. A moving car could look like a very big predator to a litle tiel. His injury will heal quickiy. Give him a little tickle for us.

 

[parrotqueen]

He's all healed up now, its just an ugly scab. I can tell he feels a lot better. One thing I took note of though, this stress/nervousness has been going on before he was moved into the new room. I just remembered that yesterday, only because my mom reminded me of one of the worst incidences then...Poor little guy. What could have possibly stressed him out then?

Thanks for all of your help.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

It's really hard to say what's stressing him out. But birds, all birds, do run on a much shorter fuse than we do. Their stress responses are on a hair trigger all day every day.

This is why they need a stable environment, and a routine predictable schedule. This doesn't mean everything happens at precisely the same time every day, but there should be certain 'rituals'. Whenever I need to put Auggie back in his cage so I can go to work there are a series of things we do. I change his water, he drinks some water before I put the bowl back in the cage, I put the bowl in, he climbs in and I hand him a blueberry through the cage bars next to the water dish, he dips it and eats it.... it's all very stereotyped, it all happens exactly the same each day.

Try to make as many routines or 'rituals' as you can so he has plenty of stability in his environment. This way anything odd or new might be a little scary, but he knows that those new things have come into HIS environment.

 

[antoinette]

AD is so correct routine is so so important.

Mishka my AG has been doing the following for about a year now.

Every morning she sits on her feeding perch, waiting for her yummies

I say give me a kiss please, she kisses me
I say turn one and she turns turn two and she turns
I say one more and she turns again
Then I say wave wave, she lifts up her claw and opens and closes it.

This morning I was running late, and forgot the wave wave.
I wanted to start feeding her, she refused to eat, just sat there staring at me.
Mishka TOLD ME WAVE WAVE, then she waved and then started eating.
Just shows us how important it is to have routine
Now I just have to remember all that I have taught her LoL

 

[parrotqueen]

That's precious, your bird is really smart. An excellent memory as well.

Thank you for all of your help everyone, I've moved into my new home now. He seems to be calming down pretty well.