Grey hates right side

[GeorgiesDad]

Hi all,

My wife and I just today adopted a 16-year-old male Timneh Grey. I previously had owned an Eclectus and therefore have some familiarity and experience with parrot behavior.

This Grey, we were told by the rescue agency, will only step up onto your left arm. The foster mom, who appeared to have lots of bird experience, couldn't figure out why that would be the case and didn't have any success at trying to correct it.

Once we got him home, I realized that the problem appeared to go beyond just an affinity for the left arm. It appeared the bird only wanted to be on the left side of his cage. I had his food and water bowl on the right side of his cage, and he didn't appear to want to have anything to do with going over to get them, even though he clearly saw me load up his bowl with chopped fresh fruit and veggies, and a few seeds. On a whim, I rotated his cage on its wheels, so that now the food and water dish were on the left. Well, he went right to them immediately.

I can't figure out why this might be. He appears to be completely healthy. He's bright-eyed and curious, vocalizes, preens, dances at times. Droppings appear perfectly normal. I do not see any sign of hemiparesis or any physical limitation that would cause him to favor one side over the other. He will move to the right side when needed, i.e., he is being forced that way by an arm, but he seems highly reluctant to do so on his own. He wouldn't even move across his cage perch that way. When I tried to coax him to the other side of the cage with some nuts and seeds, he elected to climb across the bars of the cage rather than simply scoot down the perch.

I will likely take him to a vet soon to be checked out, but I was wondering if anyone here had an opinion on if this could be a wacky behavioral issue and, if it is, how to go about correcting it.

Thanks.

 

[Mizzely]

To me it sounds like maybe an eyesight issue on that side?

 

[EllaMay]

Ella is a CAG and will only step up with her left foot, try with her right she will not whatsoever and complains what are you doing. She will only step up on my right hand not my left at all, they are smart babes and have the reasoning why they do everything a certain way. All her toys go on the Left side of the cage where she puts them on the bottom of her cage, strange girlie.

 

[Lady Jane]

Welcome. Could the vision be impaired in the right eye?

 

[GeorgiesDad]

Thank you all for your replies. I greatly appreciate your contributions.

Impaired eyesight was the first thing I thought of when we first met him and found out about this peculiarity. The foster mom didn't believe that to be the case, and I can't find evidence to support it. I've tried waving hands on each side of his head, and he responds to the movement on each. When I move to the right side, his eye tracks my movements. His pupils are equal, round and reactive to light. I'm not ruling out the possibility of a lazy eye though, but I don't think that in and of itself is the cause.

I also made sure to assess his legs for any sign of hemispheric muscle atrophy, and could not see any. He uses both legs at times when he stands on one, and he has used them both to grip treats. He also does quite well climbing about his cage, so I don't see a clear physiological dysfunction.

Last night, I peeked under the cover of his cage and found him sleeping on the right side of the cage. Today, I moved the cage back to its original state with the food and water on the right, and he accessed them with seemingly no problem. Progress there.

Tonight, with some effort, I was able to get him out of the cage and had him step up onto my left arm. I kept him there for a good few minutes, plying with treats. I decided to give the right arm a shot. I DID manage to get him onto my right arm...for about 4 seconds. He freaked out and flew to a nearby table.

I'm going with the working theory that this is some odd behavioral issue. We don't know much about the person who raised him for the first 16 years, other than that she was an elderly lady with a heavy smoking habit and a deep, raspy voice. As I type this, my wife makes the brilliant guess that maybe the original owner held the bird on her left arm, while she held her lit cigarette on the right. That would make a lot of sense. She's pretty smart, that wife of mine.

I suppose this may be a matter of trust and learned behavior that we will have to learn to correct. I'd love to hear any suggestions on how to go about correcting this behavior.

Thanks very much.

 

[Lady Jane]

Sounds like you are on the road to gaining trust and helping your TAG feel more confident in his new home. We know birds don't like change very much so I would be subtle with any changes. Establishing routines with a companion birds helps with the trust factor. Working with him same time of day should be good. I am glad it's not a vision problem.

Hint- we love pictures and videos. Do you call him Georgie?

 

[GeorgiesDad]

He calls himself Georgie, so we follow suit. Here he is moments after arriving at his new home.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

He's very handsome!

 

[Lady Jane]

Oh he is a big boy for a Timmie. Years ago I had a female TAG. They are really great birds that will enrich your life if you do the same for them.

 

[JLcribber]

I'm going with the working theory that this is some odd behavioral issue.

It is a behavioural thing but it's not that odd. I have seen/heard of a number of birds that had similar type odd behaviour. They just develop a preference for certain things. I would not consider it an "issue". History is a big contributing factor because we don't know what may have happened in the past. It has all the characteristics of a past brain trauma and a way of coping.

I suppose this may be a matter of trust and learned behavior that we will have to learn to correct. I'd love to hear any suggestions on how to go about correcting this behavior.

When you have a bum knee there are certain things you just don't do because you know better. If this is a neurological problem (for whatever reason) then there is nothing to correct.

My philosophy is deal with what you're presented with. Adapt the situation if it needs to be in order to give the bird what it wants/needs. In time things may change but one should not expect change.

 

[Shinobi]

The bird could prefer the left side because he might have stepped up onto the right side and got burnt by a lit cigarette.

 

[DQTimnehs]

Stepping up on one side becomes a habit which the owner creates.
Tiki my rescue non-flighted pi is used to stepping onto my left hand because that's what I usually present her. I have a way of holding her right front toes with my thumb and her left back toes with my middle finger to secure her from falling. So it feels comfortable for both of us. But sometimes I want her to step on my right hand. I was noticing she was hesitant with my right hand. She will do it now but it's a bit more awkward and I immediately switch her to my left hand.

Because I hold her this way, I got into the habit of holding all the birds' feet this way. Quack prefers my right hand because she has a dislocated front toe on her right foot. So I suspect that when I rest my thumb on it it's not comfortable and she has pecked at my hand when holding her with my left. Pick her up with the right hand, no problem.

Does Georgie only step on your arm, not your hand? If so, there could be some baggage there related to hands.

The cage does not have a left or right side. It depends which way you are facing. The bird is inside moving around in different directions so I highly doubt it is a left-right issue. It is more likely what is on that side of the cage that is scary or new or what is outside that side of the cage. I'm glad to hear that problem is resolved.

Your Timneh is absolutely adorable btw!

 

[jmfleish]

Congratulations on your new addition! Georgie is indeed beautiful and looks very healthy. The only thing I can add is that I'm severely right handed and all of my birds feel more comfortable stepping up on my right hand rather than my left hand. I would guess that my right hand is a bit stronger and they might be able to pick up on that subtlety? Maybe Georgie lived with someone who was left handed and has kind of taken it to an extreme? It does seem a bit odd but it does sound a like it's probably just behavioral. Talk to the vet about it when you take him in but I don't think it's anything to worry too much about.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Has he been to an avian vet just to make sure he is healthy? They'll check his eyes there. Sometimes an eye can be fine but once light is shun in it you can see other issues.

 

[GeorgiesDad]

Georgie will be seeing the vet this Saturday, so we'll see if they find anything. I'm less concerned about it now. He appears to be settling in here just fine. He still will have absolutely nothing to do with a right arm, but this is something we can deal with. He's an otherwise happy, hungry, chatty TAG.

 

[Shinobi]

I agree with John, it's not a issue, just have to adapt, improvise and overcome to suit the bird. John has the ability to put these things into perspective.
Henry doesn't have a preference to either left or right. if he flies to us he will land on the whatever shoulder or hand is facing him.

 

[DQTimnehs]

@GeorgiesDad are you still with us?

He just posted a few hours ago above.

 

[GeorgiesDad]

I just wanted to pass on an update to you folks.

Georgie has settled in very nicely with us in his new home. He's a talkative, curious and HUNGRY bird. Oner the past two days, he's even stepped up onto my right arm a few times! So we are making progress with what was once thought to be a potentially worrisome issue.

Thanks again for all the advice.

 

[Lady Jane]

We really appreciate updates. So few do this. Thanks. So glad he has settled in.