Update and a couple of questions.

[Talven]

So it's been a few days and Ngayuk (Nayook) is starting to settle in a bit. I can sit about 2 feet away and he's relaxed enough to eat. If I get too close he stands his ground and hisses rather than running away now so the levels of confidence are increasing quite rapidly. Unfortunately due to lack of space he is in the middle of the lounge where it is the most active and noisiest. Trying to take it slow but it's very hard to do given where he is.

We were told he was around 4 months old but no real idea. He's been losing down feathers so he is certainly young. We've had friends who have previously owned a SC visit and comment on how large he is for a SC. He's about as large as the average house cat minus tail maybe a touch larger. Seems about right to me.

We were also told he was trapped from a wild flock. If that was the case it was illegal. No tags on his leg which, as far as I am aware, legal trappers have to put on birds that they plan to sell. No leg rings so not from a decent breeder.

His health seems to be reasonably good. Neat, clean feathers. Bright eyes with no discharge nor from his nares. Droppings are firm and what you would expect of a bird on his diet.

All he seems to do is eat and sleep. When he sleeps there are times that he wobbles and appears like he is about to fall off the perch. Is this his youth and learning to perch or a potential health issue?

He is eating far more than I would have expected. It's pretty much all he does. Worms or he's bored and it's all he knows how to do to entertain himself?

He seems to have a vitamin or mineral deficiency given the way his beak looks. He has vitamin d and calcium added to his water. I doubt he has had anything more than seed so I thought better to add it. He gets fresh chop daily but won't touch it. Only interested in seed. All of my birds are going to be changed over to pellets in the near future as I have finally found a local supplier of Paswell Parrot Pellets. Aside from adding a multivite to his water does anyone have any suggestions on how I can help in the interim?

 

[Betrisher]

Has Ngayuk seen a vet at all? At the very least, that would answer questions about his age, his diet, whether he has worms or some deficiency disease etc etc. I'd worry a bit about the wobbling on his perch while sleeping. That's certainly nothing I've ever seen in my flock. It could be due to worms depleting his system, a mineral deficiency or a neurological disorder. Worth checking, anyway!

Apparently, there exists a thing in America called a 'Certified Avian Vet'. I dunno about Vic, but there's only one truly specialist avian vet in NSW (that I'm aware of) and he costs a bomb and is perpetually booked out (Dr Rob Marshall).

I'm lucky enough to have a fairly local vet who happens to be a birdwatcher and who happens to have gone into avian health a bit more deeply. He was the only one brave enough to even think about operating on my galah when he developed cancer. So, yeah, I'm lucky! You might or might not be able to find someone who 'does' birds, but do try, as you'll get a much better picture of Ngayuk's true health than with a general vet. Having said that, a vet's a vet and they do study avian anatomy, so any vet's better than none. You will pay a lot for a consultation, but it will truly be worth it here at the beginning so you have that complete health picture.

I think the lounge is probably the best place for Ngayuk right now. He needs to settle into the pace of life at your place and relax into it. Having said that, don't be subjecting him to riotous parties or head-banger music just yet. Once you make a friend of him, he'll probably fixate on Rammstein, but give him a while.

My Dad was given four baby galahs taken from the wild when dogs destroyed their nest. Two of the four tamed easily and two never did. I think it all depends on how patient you can be and how often you're willing to sit quietly for long periods doing pretty much nothing. You could read aloud to him. I started working with Rosetta (corella) by reciting my Latin verbs to her. Sadly, she never did repeat 'amo amas amat', but she did calm down a lot and grew quiet enough to take a treat from my hand, so that time was well spent.

Ideally, Ngayuk would live in a large cage or aviary in which he could extend and flap his wings or even fly. In the absence of that, he needs enough space to move up and down his cage and to occupy his mind with busyness. The best answer to that is timber. Can you get out to collect some native branches for him to chomp on? Any of the natives will do: gum trees, bottlebrush, banksia, grevillea, melaleuca. If you can, try to get some sprays of gum blossoms and/or nuts.

Our local funeral director has an avenue of red-flowering ironbark and I have permission to go along and rip off all the (very big) gumnuts (he thinks they look ugly). My birds *love* them! It takes a full five minutes to crack open each nut and another five to gobble up all the seeds in it. Bottlebrush branches (esp. Callistemon viminalis - Weeping Bottlebrush) has great fibrous branches whose bark comes off in strips. It takes my Beaks a day or two to completely strip a branch down to the bare timber and then another week to turn the timber into matchwood.

When I can't get native timber, I have access to used, untreated pallets (for free, thankfully!). I rip off all the timber and drill holes along each length with a hole saw. The resulting 'biscuits' go into a 'rummage basket' (hanging wire planter) along with egg cartons, boxes, plastic bottle lids and other miscellaneous chewy stuff. The leftover 'holey' timber is pushed through the bars of the cage to make an extra perch. The birds take about a week to turn *this* into matchwood as well. Sometimes, I put the 'holey timber' on the cage roof. That makes the birds hang upside-down in order to have their fun. It's good exercise for them.

Rosetta isn't as keen on chewing timber, however she's beginning to show a bit more interest in copying the Beaks. Her thing is Rope! I've threaded rope through the cage roof to make two big, wide swings. There's also a single hanging rope which reaches from ceiling to floor. Rosetta *hurls* herself round the cage, swinging from rope to rope, dangling upside down and climbing up and down. She gets a tremendous amount of exercise from all this, but being a cockatoo it's still not enough: she really loves her time out to fly and takes full advantage of it. This is where target training is useful. It's not hard to target her back home when it's time.

I'm so sorry this post got so long! I hope there's something in it you might find useful and I look forward to more updates on the lovely Ngayuk (love his name, btw).

 

[Scott]

Lovely update on Ngayuk and wonderful advice from Trish. (Betrisher)

Adding supplements/minerals to water can be problematic without the benefit of diagnostic lab tests. I'll admit that is a provincial opinion and not applicable to all regions. If you don't have a nearby avian vet, a more homeopathic approach based on local knowledge is needed.

Quite typical for a seed junkie to dis fresh veggies and fruits, aka "chop." A helpful technique is preparing two bowls, one for Ngayuk, the other for you. Begin to eat from yours, make "mmmm" sounds of delight, bob your head. Parrots are flock eaters, and you are one of the flock!

 

[Talven]

We do have an Avian vet however the consultation cost is well beyond anything I can afford currently. I'm on disability and my wife is on a carers allowance so limited funds. I'm not even sure if they are open at the moment with the Covid-19 closures etc.

I've been keeping a close eye on the wobbling on his perch and it seems he is fine on the thick calci-perch thing we got for him to chew and wear his claws down on. He wobbles on the natural wood perch which has a very smooth bark on it. It will be replaced as soon as I can do so without causing him to panic.

My town is currently suffering from a leaf hopper plague, and has been for a few years now, so every native plant in any of the areas I can get to are being sprayed so unusable. Thankfully I have a collection of native branches that I use for perches that I can raid for "chew" toys.

I have added some toys that I thought would give him something to chew but he has shown zero interest in them. Anything that is on the bottom of his cage is ignored completely. He'll look at it and that's it. Well scratch that he has just gone to the bottom of the cage for the first time as I am writing this.

After a week he no longer just moves to the furthest part of the cage from me. Now he hisses and clicks his beak, occasionally raising his crest at me. I guess this means he is less frightened and feeling confident enough to threaten? Then he'll move as far away as he can, look away from me and say Hello. If we make eye contact the hissing and beak clicking start all over.

I must admit it is a little confusing. I'm not sure if I'm making good progress or if I'm putting Ngayuk under too much pressure and rushing things. There isn't really enough space here to give him the time to take it slowly. I have to admit I'm more than a little intimidated by that beak of his. Up to this point the largest bird I've handled has been an IRN.

 

[Betrisher]

It can take some weeks for a bird to settle into a new environment, so be patient and be willing to wait for Ngayuk to relax. I know you want to see some positive signs right *now*, but it'll happen in Ngayuk's time. You're doing all the right things, so try not to worry.

Depending on how and where he's been kept in the past, Ngayuk probably doesn't even know what timber is. He'll have to find that out, so keep giving him plenty of things to chew. He'll figure it out in the end. You don't want him to choose his own feathers to chew on when he finally gets round to occupying his beak! So keep offering him wooden objects and hopefully he'll learn what they're for.

I don't blame you being nervous of that beak! SC2s can bite like a bench vise! The thing is, Ngayuk has probably never used his beak in anger and won't, so long as you never put him in a position where he feels forced or threatened. Birds just don't bite as a matter of course: they have to *learn* to bite in anger and they learn from us when we do things too hastily or too impatiently. Worry about the beak when the time comes. For now, just be with him and help him learn to trust you.

 

[Talven]

Unfortunately for me Ngayuk has already learnt to bite in anger. The previous owner only had him for a week and had been bitten by him. She would "hand feed" him by poking him around the face with a carrot or celery stick until he bit the end off. She got him from a friend who had "rescued" him and was keeping him in a cage that was so small I would only have used it for a budgie. I dread to think what he was treated like before these two if that tiny cage was an improvement.

My main concern right now is he is under too much pressure to adapt. His cage is a few inches away from my armchair so whenever I want to sit and watch TV I'm right on top of him. My two dogs, both small breeds, are indoors most of the time and forever hoovering the floor around his cage in the hope of something to eat. There is only about a metre gap to walk past his cage.

Ideally I would have liked to take my time to get him used to me and slowly get him comfortable with me getting closer. Due to space constraints we are all on top of him from the start. I also doubt my ability to develop a bond with him. I have a cockatiel that I am in the process of building a bond with and not getting anywhere and he was hand raised and less poorly treated.

When he was handed over we were told he was semi-tame. From what I am seeing he has no trust of humans at all. He seems to me to be a newly fledged bird that has been trapped out of the wild and caged. Only time will tell so all I can do is wait and see at this point.

 

[Scott]

Ngayuk had endured much in a short life and taming/socialization will prove challenging. May be helpful to attempt a restart with the basics of bonding and building trust. Not sure if you are familiar with this thread: http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html Might also be of benefit with your cockatiel.

Given the propensity of parrots to bite, "Bite Pressure Training" may reduce the severity and pain of such encounters. Of course this presupposes a baseline of trust to begin: http://www.parrotforums.com/training/63988-bite-pressure-training.html

 

[Talven]

Thank you everyone for all your advice so far.

After a lengthy discussion as a household and weighing the pros and cons of keeping Ngayuk we have decided to part with him and are in the process of looking for a more appropriate home for him.

There are many reasons we decided to part with him but the two main ones are my dogs are getting aggressive towards him as he scares them and my son who is ASD can't take the volume on his noise sensitive days.

 

[Betrisher]

I think you've made the right decision, having tried to put everything in place for this bird. Thank you *so* much for trying! So few people would even bother to care as much as you have. My son is ASD too and he finds it very difficult to be in Rosetta's vicinity when she's in full throat. It would be a *huge* adjustment for your son if Ngayuk were to stay, so I understand that part of your decision very well.

Since Ngayuk was wild-caught, your best bet would probably be some sort of sanctuary or zoo. In such a place, he'd be able to fly and live a better life than one confined to a cage. Or, you could contact WIRES and investigate the possibility of him being returned to the wild. Or, you might hit the jackpot and find someone who really wants to work at taming him and making a companion of him. Perhaps your local vet might know of interested parties? Or a petshop proprietor? I don't think it's going to be easy and it may take some time, but I'm sure you'll find a better situation for Ngayuk!

In the meantime, do let us know more about your cockatiel! What's his name and how's he travelling?

 

[Scott]

Deep respect for your efforts, good intent cannot overcome all challenges.

Hoping you can find a safe and satisfying home for Ngayuk.