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Chico: A funny little bird

JaclynBin

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My first lovebird's breeder, and the place where I usually board my pair when I'm off on vacation, decided to downsize their flock for good. They decided to ask me if I wanted to house and rehabilitate their parrotlet since I'd interact with him and inquire about him when I was picking up/dropping off Gem and Panda.

He's a bit of a special thing - he was originally owned by someone who had really bad anxiety and could no longer care for him. He came to my breeders place with a really awful clip and either his muscles had severely atrophied or he never properly regrew his flights back so he's currently unable to fly and will drop like a stone.

I was told he was kind of mean and bitey - but I'm not a very handsy person so we'll see what happens once the 'honeymoon' stage is over.

Anywho, I picked him up yesterday morning and he had a little freakout in transport and seems to have twisted a flight feather outwards. It looks uncomfortable and makes his wing droop. I've seen him try to stretch and preen it back into place with minor success, but it seems to have returned to its jutting position. Will this drop off sometime soon or should I look into getting it removed and seeing if that makes him feel better?

Also - he's got this weird habit of trying to preen food into his feathers. He'll take a mouthful then proceed to crunch it while brushing through his wings. Is this a parrotlet thing? Or is he just simulating the act of removing feather sheathes that aren't there?

I'm also going to be looking into a wider yet short cage with horizontal bars for him once he's a bit more settled, if anyone has any suggestions.

Sorry - long post. Here's a fluff potato

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iamwhoiam

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Sometimes it takes a few preening sessions for those to return to normal position but sometimes that doesn't happen. It is possible that this feather is being molted, but if it isn't you can try pulling out the wing and clipping the feather so it doesn't bother him. Just make sure that it is not a blood feather (doesn't look like one).
He is very cute. Thanks for taking him into your home.
 

Dartman

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He's not trying to tear you ear off or bite your neck so looks like a happy gentle soul you have there. I agree see if the feather will pull out or go back in place very gently. Dobby will get one outa place like that and usually it's about to molt out but sometimes he works it back in and we try to help if it looks bad. Many times I just gently grab it and it pulls out easily with no screaming and upset bird is it's ready to drop.
 
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TikiMyn

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Congrats! Thank you for adopting him:) I agree, he looks quite comfortable and like a gentle soul to me as well:)
 

NirAntae

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"Mean and bitey"... :rolleyes: He's a parrotlet, they're all a little "bitey". He looks like a sweetheart to me!

As for the feather, I'd try gently pulling on it and see if it will come out without too much fuss. If not, see if you can tuck it back into place for him. If neither works, a vet or professional groomer visit may be in order.
 

JaclynBin

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Thanks everyone!

It's only day 2 but I think he's pretty sweet too. I'm going to see if he can get that feather out by himself over the next few days - I'd try and pull it out myself but I think the stories about him putting holes in people have left their mark and I might be a bit afraid of having hands too near him (though it's true I would have sacrificed a small portion of my face to clean his cage and add a few rope perches if he did indeed turn out to be mean and bitey ;)).

Otherwise a vet visit's probably a good idea anyway to get some baseline stats at the clinic I got to. It's good to know that they should come out fairly easily - I figured, but my lovies are a bit more graceful and have never had this issue. :p
 

NirAntae

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Otherwise a vet visit's probably a good idea anyway to get some baseline stats at the clinic I got to. It's good to know that they should come out fairly easily - I figured, but my lovies are a bit more graceful and have never had this issue. :p
A baseline vet visit is always a good idea :) With my last parrotlet, when I would help her with the pinfeathers on her head and neck, I actually had to be really careful, because pulling at all, the feather would come out instead of getting the sheathe off :confused: It was actually a bit disturbing how easily they came free, after mostly having larger birds.
 

JaclynBin

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Chico's still trailing his one wing lower than the other and he's still got that one pesky feather that seems to be a problem, though he manages to get it almost back in place every once in a while. I'm thinking that if it's not the feather causing him to keep it lower, it's probably a sprain, since he can still move as stretch it out. I'm worried about transporting him again so soon and having him freak out and damaging it further. :( How long would a sprain take to heal? Regardless of if it's fully better (and most certainly if it's not at all healed) I want to make a vet booking by the end of next week but it's a 25 minute drive and I'm afraid of causing another of panic attack.

Behaviour-wise, I've definitely not seen his mean side. It's sad that he can't fly and occasionally flutters to the floor when he falls off of something but he's very much willing to step into a cupped hand to receive help. He allowed me to give him kisses today and tried to "preen" my lips, I think. He can also say "Pretty bird" in his quiet little muttering voice.
 

javi

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He is adorable. If it were my bird I would cover him in a hand towel and gently pluck that feather out. He may squawk but give him some loving before and after or a nice treat and he will get over it.
 

sunnysmom

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He's so cute!
 

JaclynBin

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He's learning how to 'play' with receipts (or maybe he's just angry at how expensive things are these days)

Chico did eventually end up losing that loose wing feather - though he still carries one of his wings much lower than the other. He's got a vet appointment next Thursday, so hopefully we'll be able to figure out what is happening with that.

He's definitely grown more opinionated now that he's settled in more. I'm going to see about moving him to a bigger cage sometime this week to hopefully diffuse a bit of his cage aggression and so he can have room for some of the toys I've been showing him how to play with. He's the least food motivated bird I've owned, but now that I've reduced the amount of seed he gets throughout the day he's becoming more interested in the millet I'm offering - so I'm going to see if I can teach him a few simple tricks for fun. :p

Despite being smaller than my lovebirds, boy is he way noisier than them. These guys have some shrill and persistant calls, and he freaks out and uses them when I leave his sight o_O
 

NirAntae

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As far as the wing goes, he probably strained it a bit when he did whatever it was that broke the feather. If he isn't showing other signs of discomfort, it's unlikely to be anything worse than that. (I say this to reassure you... it should still most definitely get checked out by the vet!)

A bigger cage isn't likely to help with cage aggression; at most, it may 'help' with his ability to do anything about it. :lol:

With my last parrotlet, who was only 'kinda' hand tamed, for the first couple of months I didn't offer any seed in her cage aside from the occasional bit of millet to 'bribe' her to check out new toys (I would attach them to said toys so she had to get on them to reach the millet.) Then each morning and afternoon, I would offer her a teaspoon or so of seed out of my palm.


And my goodness, he's out-noising lovebirds? You got quite the talkative little guy! For the extra-loud calls when you leave the room, he's just doing contact-calls. Pick a certainly way to 'answer', and always do that in response. It will become like your 'name' for him. Calling back and forth like that is how they keep in touch when out of sight in the wild.
 

JaclynBin

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I appreciate the reassurances! You're most likely right but I'm a bit paranoid and would have hoped it'd have healed by now.

Haha - I like your quote about cage aggression! That sounds about right :D

I might have to steal your trick for teaching your bird to not be afraid of toys. Chico came with a few toys that he favours, but has completely ignored any of the shredding toys I've offered.
I've added a mixture of things to his soon-to-be cage upgrade and will see how things go.

As for noise - I was surprised too. He's definitely got healthy lungs judging by how long he can keep up a sharp screech. :p

Here's his proto-setup (and him currently). I'd attached seagrass mats to the top to try to make him feel safer if the lovies land on it, but I'll have to rethink that since it backfired and just attracted them there. :wacky:

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nu2birds

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He's very cute........it will be interesting to see how the three interact with each other. Even if you don't have them out all together, it will be fun to see how they communicate and what kind of interest they show in each other. Good luck with the vet visit. it would be nice to know why that wing hangs a little lower than the other. I wonder if it had been broken and was never set right, or not at all. Curious.
 

Dartman

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Lurch actually became much less cage aggressive when I got him a much bigger house that he hadn't claimed. I also think it helped that he had plenty of room to stay away from the evil hands reaching in to change things. Also make sure you have feeder doors so you don't have to reach in in the first place. The original cage I had since 78 had guillotine doors and aluminum cups that got nasty easily so I kept trying others cups that wouldn't fit through the original feeder slide doors. I found using a small animal water bottle worked best as they couldn't make primordial soup out of the water before we noticed and I'd keep another water bowl on top for him to play and dunk in. Some birds use them fine, some are stubborn or do not understand what or how they work.
 

Denice

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I have a parrotlet named Kya, she can nip from time to time but it isn't that bad when she does. I am attaching a pic of her cage, and what I use for water, they show it as a feeder but it holds water and keeps it pretty clean, I only have to change it a couple times a week. I feed her Roudybush crumble or nibbles, she gets a tiny amount of seed or millet but not everyday because she can get cranky if she has too much seed. She loves pineapple, and I hang greens in a small bundle for her. I do offer her tiny cut veg and fruit everyday but she is super picky. kya cage.jpg water tube.jpg
 

JaclynBin

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Thanks for all th advice everyone! I particularly like the warnings against "primordial soup". :p

The lovies are curious about Chico but they're rather civil for birds and are mostly interested in trying to nest in my closet when given the opportunity, these past weeks. Panda's probably the most likely to instigate a fight by not abiding by personal space but Chico is largely the most aggressive, which serves well with the fact that he's the only one who can't fly away.

I wouldn't trust him to be out and on a shoulder with the lovebirds out, but they've all come out at the same time for some positive reinforcement snacks a few times.

As for his cage - I probably will upgrade it for something even bigger at some point, on the condition that he learns to fly or proves to be able to get around fairly well. It really worked at curbing the lovies cage territorialism - but I don't want him in anything tall until I'm sure he won't plummet to the bottom and hurt himself.

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JaclynBin

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Chico's appointment went quite well today - I'm told he's got a sprained shoulder but his other wing joints are working fine. The vet even said that he didn't complain too much even when she manipulated his bad side, so it's likely nothing that won't heal by itself since he doesn't use it anyways. We've got some pain meds, and a nice little beak trim - and are off to a good start in getting him to be a happy, friendly pet.
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(Had to make himself pretty for the vet)

Funny story too - as opposed to having to towel him to bring him back from his beak trim, my vet had him on a scale and just covered him with a glass funnel so she could transport him back without getting mauled. He looked so funny in his glass case of emotion. :p

And, I was almost late to the appointment too since I couldn't leave because there was a MASSIVE BUG on the door handle. What a weird day...
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Dartman

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That's a Preying mantis as far as I can tell, cool bugs that generally eat other pest insects but will eat ANYTHING small enough for them to catch. As far as I know they don't bite and hang out waiting for something tasty to wander by.
 

JaclynBin

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That's a Preying mantis as far as I can tell, cool bugs that generally eat other pest insects but will eat ANYTHING small enough for them to catch. As far as I know they don't bite and hang out waiting for something tasty to wander by.
They shall forever be dubbed the 'Gandalf bugs' in my mind ("you shall not pass!). :p
 
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