Special Needs Cinnamon GCC

[beekersmom]

I am currently Fostering what we lovingly call a special needs cinnamon gcc that we named Gizmo. While in the nest his parrents bit off part of a wing. That in itself is not much of a problem he gets around just fine. My problem is I have had him now nearly three months and he still freeks when I go to get him out of the cage. I have tried sitting with the cage door open and my hand inside, letting him investigate the intruding hand, millet, he just freeks. Once I get him out he goes for the shoulder and hides under my hair(he thinks we don't see him) and is content to stay there will cuddle against my neck, groom me, likes walks around the house, will even eventually come out of the hair and sit on my shoulder with that silly conure look but simply can't get him to be comfortable with hands. Is it possible that he has a birdy version of shaken baby syndrum? I believe the owner is going to let me keep him as he gets along with me.

 

[cdog]

It could be his previous owner did something with their hands to him to cause him to be scared of hands. He could just be thinking of what the previous owners did, that's why he is scared of just hands.

 

[Kantia]

It's an idea to continue to sit by the cage door, talk to him, put your hand in a little and he might come around, but it sounds like it could take a while. You could try feeding him treats/food so he associates your hand with something positive. Another method is using a wooden stick (forgot what they’re called now!) and get him use to stepping up on that before moving onto hands. Good luck! :]

 

[beekersmom]

Gizmo simply wasn't handled much if at all. He comes from a large bird farm, and the owner gave him to her friend, who is a friend of mine. She gave him to me so that I might try to get him used to being handled and teach him to step up nice. My husband, Bob and I have fostered quakers, and senegals for my friend, with much success. Her Quakers are split from Blue, so they seem to be more social, but still as loud as there all green cousins. But Gizmo has proved to be a great challenge. He simply jumps off of Bob and runs( we think it is because he has no hair lol ), and boy is he fast. Maybe we should rename him roadrunner lol. I continue to hope that I can manage to win his trust. The fact that he stays on my shoulder is promising, but I would love to see him stay on the playgym, and of course, be comfortable with hands. So, I will continue to offer him treats by hand, touch him gently while he is on the shoulder, and try to get him to trust the hand in the cage. any other suggestions are welcome. I am even trying to use Beeker as a teacher bird. I have their cages next to each other and I put Gizmo's cage next to the playgym so that he can see me playing with beeker.

 

[friedsoup]

The idea of a teacher bird is a good one and I have used it with a few birds, I was hand training a Hawkheaded parrot but she didn't like hands (or men as I came to find out)and would try and bite instead of stepping up so I placed her on a perch and placed my Bogart (a senegal) on the perch next to her and would do step-ups with him then try her if she hesitated even a bit I would have Bogart step-up and praise him for being a good bird and after a few step-ups she got the idea and learned that step-up and step back were just a tool we used to understand each other. We never became best of friends but she would go to anyone who asked her to step-up but still preferred women and is now in a very loving home with a single mother with a daughter .

 

[DebsFlock]

The only thing I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is that you could perhaps allow him to come out on his own for a while, and see if he's more receptive to stepping up once he's outside. He may be used to being grabbed and breaking the cycle of expectation by changing the context may help.