Why do people think it's okay to touch my birds..

[Flyte]

This just boggles my mind.
My father had a party the other day and a bunch of people were going in/out of his wood shop which is right by the bird room window. A few people had asked to see the birds who kept yelling hello out to them and since I was feeling ok I said sure and brought them up. I gave them my usual 'huge beak loss of fingers' speech before opening the door.
Madison gets nervous about new people, as usual, and runs to me. One of these people actually comes over and just tries to pat her on the head, like she's a dog or something!!
Thank god I saw it coming. I twisted away with her and saved them from what would probably have been a well deserved nasty bite.
I've had people try to pick her up, poke her, even pull her tail, for God's sake! What the heck could they be thinking. Would you go up to a large, potentially dangerous dog, or any strange dog for that matter, and pull it's tail? NO! I have been around birds all my life and I would NEVER just touch or pick up a strange bird, unless it was an emergency! Even when the owner encourages me, there is just a certain way to do these things.
People gravitate towards Madison, I guess because she's the largest. I can almost always tell, right off, who would be able to pick her up just from her body language. That doesn't mean I'm going to allow it to happen, since it only tells me her initial reaction, not her reaction when they do something stupid. (which they usually do)
People react very strange, jerking an arm away at the last second, screeching with joy at holding a large bird, whirling around fast to show someone, not holding the bird away from your face..
I just don't understand. Some folks don't even notice a ridiculously obvious sign, feathers all hackled out, eyes flashing and actually GROWLING. They just keep on trying to feed her a finger.

This has happened SO many times.. and the excuses!

"Oh don't worry, I had a parakeet when I was a kid" -Thats nice, but does that have something to do with my Macaw?
"I'm really good with animals" Well then you should know better than to spook a strange animal that doesn't know you.
"I'm not afraid of a little bite" She saves her little bites for me, strangers get the big ones.
"How come you get to hold her and I can't" Uhm.. do I really need to answer this one? Actually I think maybe you should just go home and never come back to my house.


My boyfriend and I have been going out for over a year and he's only held Madison once, when she came to him. On her own. While that's obviously taking it a little slow, I think it's great that she's being allowed to choose when to become friends with the 'NONONO' that comes and gets her mom and takes her away all day.
Anyways, yah, some people sure are dumb..

 

[Peta]

I agree with ya 100%, I know I've had people round who will insist on trying to touch mine, the number of times I've told them, I've even had someone insist that he could read Bucc's body language and would not move when I asked them to resulting in a very nasy bite. I did secretly have to laugh. They couldn't understand why I wouldn't put him back in his cage. He'd done nothing wrong and he had given plenty of warning, ruffled feathers, eye flashing, and growling so why should I put my bird who was frightened back in his cage for something that comes naturally to a scared bird.

It makes me angry when people will not be told. I wouldn't dream of picking anyones fid up, unless that fid came to me and I had the owners okay.

I don't think people really realise just how quickly a bird can get freaked and certainly don't think that a bird is capable of doing as much damage as they can do.

Grrrrrrrrrrr why won't people just be told instead of thinking they know our birds better than we do.

 

[pheobus]

That's what we were talking about with Peta, in the other post, some people just are not Bird People, some not even for any pet, some don't have a clue what a pet bird really is about and that it has nothing but nothing at all to do with a kitty or a puppy...
This has happened to me with kids, adults seemed to be more thoughtfull
especially for the amazon, some aren't, they have to face her first charge and then they back off....
Oh, I forgot to mention the incident with Phoebus and my brother's girlfriend!
Needless to say that I saw Phoebus for the first time not liking someone that much....She was ready to fly and dive beak her, after a while she got so angry that was close to attacking my brother as well...She relaxed when she sent both out of the room....

 

[Flyte]

I find that most kids listen better about animals than adults. Most people will just not admit they maybe.. possibly.. might not know everything.
I had one kid that I had to remove from the room because he just would NOT listen but thats because he saw his grown brother trying to pat the bird and thought he could too. So I blame the adult in that situation as well.

 

[pheobus]

You are right Sarah it's the adult's fault of course, I meant that usually kids do not have the sense of fear in the level of a grown up..But yes you are right on that one!

 

[Flyte]

Oh gosh, Pheobus, wasn't trying to say you were wrong
Kids come in all shapes and sizes and I've met some mighty bratty ones.. As luck has it, whenever THOSE children come over, the birds are taking a nap.

 

[darkchi]

Haha... yeah i dont have much issue with peole being able to hold cricket, as long as I put him on there arm my self. and thats AFTER I deside that this person can handle it and will understand the rules of holding my baby.
I have to say he is a very good boy when it comes to getting "messed" with but that usually comes from the people who live in the house with him everyday and know when not to mess with him. I think I might be upset some one who doesn't know my bird did that, but you know what I really dont mind because if I am going to tell you your going to get bit and your go a head and stick a finger in there anyways... you get what you get, and if your lucky he will just go to the other side of the cage.

I was in my bird store this weekend and there was pretty little fids EVERYWHERE with their parents (think it was a meeting) and there was this beautiful (what looked like a) catalina macaw... and I felt that erge to just grab him right up and snuggle my face into those pretty feathers... I am sure if I did that I would of lost some sort of body part but I knew better, and told my bf,before we had gone in, to not touch any of the birds

 

[Minzer84]

My mom has always had the family Christmas parties at her house, so Iggy was always there when the relatives were. I would leave him on his stand and tell everyone not to touch or startle him, and for the most part, everyone listened (no, I didn't supervise him the whole time, shame on me). However, my schizophrenic uncle decided to try to pet him anyway, and he got bit (luckily not too badly)...he acted surprised! People who aren't around birds definitely don't understand them.

On the other hand, people who have a natural knack for animals are amazing! We had a chimney cleaner guy come to my mom's house a couple years ago, and I was holding Iggy when he came in. Iggy is usually very nervous around men, but this guy said "Oh, it's ok, kids and animals love me." I assured him this particular animal would not, and as I said this, Iggy is REACHING to try to get closer to him...so I gave in and let the chimney guy hold him...Iggy LOVED him! It was so strange, but amazing at the same time. Just thought I would add this in

 

[Peta]

Yeah you know what, I think we should all look to our fids to know if a human is worthy of their attention, it seems they know better than we who will be okay and who will not.

 

[TexDot33]

I would say go ahead and them try to touch, hopefully after their first mistake they wouldn't do it again ... the only problem with this approach is the litigious society that we live in here in the US ... for some reason the Courts think that you should always be in control of your animal, no matter what the "stupid people" do

My aunt has a boxer dog who is the sweetest thing ever ... she was out walking him one day (on a leash, doing everything by the book) and a postman stepped out of the truck as they were walking by and scared poor Wally, who in turn nipped at the postman (because that was his natural instinct) and opened a little gash in the guys hand that took like 5 stitches to close.

Wally was thrown into "doggy jail" for two weeks while the postman's hand healed, and had his hand become infected for ANY reason (even if it was the mailman's fault) Wally would have been put down! My aunt was sued for the hospital bills and luckily her Home Owner's Insurance covered the accident ... it's just horrible what COULD happen to our fiddes and furbies because of accidents and stupidity!

 

[TexDot33]

However, my schizophrenic uncle decided to try to pet him anyway, and he got bit .. he acted surprised!

I have two words for "crazy uncle Charlie" .... um, DUH!!:respect::headwall:

I too agree with Peta, we should let our fids determine who they want to go to ... they do seem to know, don't they!

 

[Peta]

OMG, Your aunt must have been worried sick, Not for the postman, but for her poor dog.

Our postmen wear these bright coats in the winter, and when Jess was younger she was scared stiff of these coats and whenever she saw the postman come by she went hell for leather trying to get him. One day she got out, and boy she had the postman pinned up against my neighbours garage, The postman luckily laughed about it, saying he knew what she was like, and knew if he took the coat off she would have been fine, but he didn't think. (well you wouldn't when you have a dog hanging off your b*** would you)

 

[Redballoon]

I haven't read this whole thread,..I came in late.
But going on the title and nothing else,... I encourage everyone to touch and hold Skippah. Its good for their fear of him and good for him to be handled by lots of different people. Is this ok?

 

[meghanxx4]

I haven't read this whole thread,..I came in late.
But going on the title and nothing else,... I encourage everyone to touch and hold Skippah. Its good for their fear of him and good for him to be handled by lots of different people. Is this ok?

I agree with this. Though obviously have common sense. If someone doesn't look 'bird material' to you, don't let them hold Skippah.
I definitely do think it's good for a bird to be handled by different people though. I was in a bird store, and the owners son, who works there who is like in his 20s has a female ekkie, and i'm sure other birds too. But anyway he had the ekkie in the store because he was moving, anway so i go in there with my mom and i look in the cage room and i see this female ekkie and i was so like amazed like wow what a beauty, i didn't touch the bird or anything just watched it, then this other lady comes in and ask if theres any birds in the store and the guy says, yet i have my ekkie in the other room over thre, so she comes in, and i guess the guys sensed that the woman had no freakin clue with birds, so he takes her out for us and shows us. The woman then reaches over and the man goes uhh i'm sorrey but she only likes to be petted by me... and she got all mad and then me and my mom just kind of left the fight and and went into the other room and looked at the rest of the cages and toys.

 

[Flyte]

lol. Well. does Skippah like to remove fingers? I worry that Madison just might, if given the right incentive. (Some strange dude poking at her)
Not sure if your kidding or not.. the thread isn't THAT long.. *cough*

 

[Redballoon]

Yeah I know.
I am reading back now
I was on my out the door to the hospital and wanted to add my incredibly important opinion. I am caught up now.
Skippah did used to bite 1st (read nip) then decide if he liked the person or not.
Now if people come close to him, if He likes the look of them, he will lower his head for a free scratch. If he is not sure of them or can sense fear or tension and I will instruct them on what to do next.
So far so good.
He is getting better each day.
My son has never touched him and probably never will. They both just scope each other out and Skippah puffs out his muscle chest and sorta dares Dan to get close enough. So of course Dan wont go near him. His partner just walks straight up to him and does as she pleases.

 

[Peta]

I haven't read this whole thread,..I came in late.
But going on the title and nothing else,... I encourage everyone to touch and hold Skippah. Its good for their fear of him and good for him to be handled by lots of different people. Is this ok?

Yes it is important for our fids to be handled by a lot of people, but they have to know the rules of what to and what not to be doing, for their sake more than anything else. Our fids can do a lot of damage if they get frightened

 

[Keupi]

Regarding Keupi, I don't force him into being handled. I don't expect any animal to just be handled. I taught Keupi the command, 'Nicely now' which is a reminder to behave yourself (my vet was amazed). It's an 'out' command that prevents him from biting but he also knows he'll be rescued or can walk away from the situation.

As I wouldn't want any newcomer to just start touching me, I respect any animal's right to allow it on their terms in social situations. I would emphasize the do's and don'ts in terms of 'manners' but wouldn't force it.

 

[Redballoon]

I encourage new people to touch me all the time.
It upsets Debbie a little when I do it at parties though.

 

[Flyte]

I agree with you 100% Keupi, really nicely said.
Redballoon.... stop making me laugh it hurts!