Bea on the ride home from the sanctuary
Bea Bird (previously called Baby Bird), a 16-year old Blue-fronted Amazon
We adopted Bea from a parrot sanctuary nearby. Her history is a bit
loose. She might have been purchased at a bird show. She then lived with the same woman for 14-15 years. That woman was already elderly and made arrangements so that her daughter and son-in-law would care for the bird once she was no longer able. When that time came, the daughter took the bird but then immediately decided she couldn't care for it. They gave her to the rescue.
[This story makes me wonder how many other bird people have arranged for a family member to take their bird...only to have their bird given to a sanctuary shortly thereafter. We should all think carefully about who will replace us when that time comes.]
She lived at the rescue for roughly one year. She was housed outside alongside many other birds. Big cage, pretty bad seed/junk diet. Probably no bath for that whole year (or longer). She loved the park manager and loved attention.
I visited her several times in her outdoor cage and then again after she had been moved into the office. I knew from that transition that she might *forget* she knew and liked me when it came time to switch cages again.
Summary of our first week
Diet
My goal was to get her onto Harrison's coarse pellets and veggies.
There was no mention of sending her home with the diet she had been eating, so I followed the Birdtricks method - use the disruption of moving as an opportunity to change her diet. New space, new cage, new routine, new people ....oh and look, new food.
Breakfast - I used a small amount of egg and made her a veggie scramble. While she barely picked at it on days one and two, by day three, she was finishing the whole thing.
I left a small amount (5 or 6) coarse Harrison's pellets in her bowl during the day and checked regularly. Because she refused to use her perches, she was clinging to the cage over her dishes and pooping into her food. For this reason, I kept the amount small and just checked on her supply regularly throughout the day.
Dinner - If she hadn't eaten the pellets by the evening, I used some ground Harrison's (coarse, pepper) and mixed it into some sweet potato. I formed this into small balls. She initially would just waste them. Then day 5 or 6, she was eating half of them. By day 7, she was mostly eating them. Note that as soon as I noticed she was eating them, I began to slightly increase the pellet dust and decrease the sweet potato.
[She really hadn't eaten much by day 3/4, so we bought some Roudybush, Zupreem, and Higgins from the bulk bins of our local parrot shop. My thought was to offer Harrison's throughout the day and then give her these other three in the evening if she still wasn't eating. While she did pick at these options, she didn't eat anything enthusiastically. Since she
was eating her sweet potato balls, I began to lean away from offering these alternatives.]
Other foods - I knew from the sanctuary manager that she also enjoyed corn on the cob. I gave her one piece, about an inch long, most days, but not every day. I didn't want her counting on it, and after she started eating reliably, I wanted it to become more in the category of treat/foraging object. Once we were at day 5ish, I started hanging it from the deadly scaring perches so that she had to approach them to get it. That worked great.
Fun observation: My conure 'tastes' foods from a distance by opening her mouth and leaning forward slightly (and then immediately rejecting 95% of offers while the food is still 6 inches away). Bea takes everything that is offered, considers it thoughtfully, and then throws it away if she doesn't want it.
Setting - We had much more success with food, behavior, and everything once we moved her cage out of isolation and located her centrally (next to the kitchen).
Takeaway:
I like the Birdtricks philosophy of changing many things at once. The first three days had me really anxious that I was going to starve her, but she came around within the first week.
Sweet potato balls for the win!
Quarantine / Cage location
Soooo...I wanted to do this by the book. I prepped my husband with the rules. Washing, isolation, etc etc. Conure (resident) in bird room and Amazon (new bird) in our bedroom. It started that way with her arrival on Sunday, was disrupted the following Friday, and then greatly modified by Sunday (one week post move-in).
There is no difference in air, and both doors were routinely left open. This is probably an immediate breach of protocol, but it is how I keep in touch with my conure throughout the day when I'm not with her and the thought of closing the new bird's door didn't seem right given the level of stress the bird was exhibiting.
During the first few days, Bea made quiet sounds from her room. By day 4, she was making stress calls for hours each morning. When I'd visit, she'd climb endlessly around her cage. She couldn't calm herself down to enjoy my presence and company. All she wanted to do was cling to the side of the cage nearest the door and look out the opening.
By Friday, her desperate sounds (screams, words, phrases, etc - all said with a tone of stress) were driving me bonkers and making it nearly impossible to converse with my students (whom I see in my house). We decided to change protocol and roll her cage out to the main room during the day (where I teach).
It took her 30ish minutes to relax, but then she became the most peaceful she had been since she moved in. She was so quiet and still, my students asked if she ever said anything. This was after days of her making climbing noises and screaming, and I'm afraid my responding guffaw/laugh/choking sound probably made me seem like a crazy lady. YES, she says things. This is the first time she has stopped.
She remained out in the main room until halfway through dinner when it was time to let the conure come out for her normal flock eating time. Bea got rolled back and her shades drawn. She went right to sleep.
Saturday, we put both birds out on the porch together. Their cages were positioned 15-20 feet apart. I sat near each bird for a period of time. Neither gave a hoot about the other bird, and they both focused primarily on whether or not I was sitting with them.
I imagine this was a major breach of quarantine protocol, but again, the internal airspace is shared and viruses are unlikely to be transmitted outdoors.
Takeaway:
We were not concerned with virus/illness transmission, and our primary reason to quarantine had been to give our conure time to adjust to the interloper. Said interloper had lived for 14/15 years with another bird (an amazon), and then a year at the sanctuary with tons of birds. Her immediately neighbor had been, in fact, the same species as our conure, so that was cool.
The isolation was clearly driving her to extreme stress. When I was reading about bird illness, I saw it mentioned time and again that X illness usually didn't manifest unless the bird was stressed. Thus, my main priority was getting her happy, safe feeling and eating.
I feel very fortunate that my hothead, bully of a conure is so far not pissy about the competition.
Resident Bird Reaction
Cord was curious about the calls during the first few days. She is a gold-capped conure and has an extremely loud, very annoying scream. She basically didn't say anything during the first week. It was almost like she was being quiet so she could listen to the sounds coming from the other room.
When she did catch a sight of the new bird, she did not fly into her room or off my finger. She didn't seem to care when they were on the porch together.
The only reaction I can say I've noticed (aside from her monk-like quiet) is that she has been extra clingy and well-behaved. Her target training and trick training have been awesome. Her recalls great. I let her out whenever I'm in the bird room/office, and she wants nothing more than to have me scratch her head or hold her. She is also on the tail-end of a molt, however, and her behavior might be entirely attributable to that.
Behavior - Hand fear
Okay, so there is a lot to unpack and so much that I'm guessing at. At the sanctuary, she enjoyed hand-play through the cage bars. The manager could touch her and wrestle. After our courtship, she allowed me the same, which is what ultimately led us to thinking she might have chosen me.
By day 5ish at my house, she was once again seeking physical interaction through the bars, but only in the evening when we rolled her back to the room for bedtime. By the end of the week, she let me do it whenever I wanted.
Other than that play, she has shown extreme stress about hands. She'll take snacks from your fingertips, but with great concern and wariness. A snack on the palm has had a 50% chance of being ignored or fled from like it was an active blowtorch.
I tried target training from day 1, expecting her to be hungry, motivated, and curious. She was a little confused, but played the game a couple of times each day. By 'couple of times', I mean, literally, one repetition in the morning and one in the evening. Otherwise, she ignored or fled from the stick (which I approached with slowly and gently). I had no expectations of wild success, but wanted to give her an option to communicate.
On day 3, we decided to open the cage door and see if she'd come out. (We had tried this at the sanctuary and after 40 minutes, she never came out.) She came out after ten minutes and hung out on the top. I tried target training again to incredible success. Several great repetitions with her moving several inches to target. She understood the game and was happy to play for 3-4 times each session.
Since we can't handle her, getting her back in the cage was an upsetting ordeal. She startled at some point and flew/drifted/glided into the window (only a couple of feet away) and slid down to the window ledge. Eventually, she ran back to the cage and climbed in.
Now, we knew she happy to target train and happy to engage, but In The Cage was a different mental space than Out Of The Cage.
She came out a few more times in the main room and glided once again into another window. She really, really struggled with getting back into the cage from on top of the cage, probably due to lack of experience and poor athleticism. We've had to lure her down the front and then try to herd her or lure her in.
We've ordered a heavy ceramic dish to put her food in and will begin feeding her at the bottom of the cage. That way, she is used to being down there, has to climb more, and is more familiar with the bottom of the doorway (where we hope she will enter and exit going forward)
Takeaway
I don't really know how to optimally work with a bird that can't be easily handled and who isn't yet target trained.. It needs to be on their own time, but at some point, I have to start laying the groundwork to teach them the process. We decided not to let her out again unless we have hours to get her back in. That way we aren't stressed and can lure her on her own schedule. We don't want to scare her.
Behavior - Hormones!
By the end of the week, she was happy to have my hands on her, either inside the cage or through the bars. She doesn't merely want her head scratched, however, and will immediately crouch, quiver and 'moan'. I keep my scritches to the head and give her a few despite her behavior, because I want to promote ease with hands. But I wish she'd relax with the mating efforts and just get a head scratch!
Behavior - cage
She used her perches with luring by Day 5/6 and used them on her own by Day 7. She clung to the side to sleep for the first 5 nights, but started perching on her food dish by Day 6. It was around that time that she perched there during the day as well (she previously climbed restlessly or clung to the side). She has yet to be seen sitting on a
perch for more than a nano-second.
The toys might as well be invisible. HOWEVER, I took one out on Day 7 to give my hand better access for training. Once it was out of the cage, she stuck her beak through the bars to mess with it.
She rarely took advantage of the open cage door. We suspect her difficulty in getting back inside has contributed to her hesitation to exit.
My closing thoughts
Everything is going great. She is eating so much better. She is no longer screaming. She is visibly content most of the time and sits still during my lessons and preens or naps. She understands target training and is willing to participate. She isn't afraid of the dog that is now glued to her cage and who eats all of the scraps she throws out. Because she is perching more, her poop is less often found dripping down the bars and inside her bowls.
She stinks and needs a bath, but we'll get there. She no longer freaks out and runs from my hands inside the cage. She isn't thrilled by them, but she isn't scared out of her mind.
