Help me, please, with my feather plucker, self mutilator, scared, and aggressive CH Conure

[camelotshadow]

Well, it could be worse... Opie will get along its not the few moments of absence that matter but it's the long haul of love & care you provide.

My poor guys had to be rudely awoken as did I out of a sound sleep at 5AM because a tenant locked himself out.
The phone did not wake me but the pounding at the door did as first I thought it was a earthquake til my brain slowly came back to check my phone & to see 2 messages.

Needless to say it was hard to go back to sleep & I was a zombie today but my guys seemed to have been OK
although I'm sure the banging must have scared & awoken them...

 

[SumitaSinh]

I received a request for photos, so I took these just a few moments ago!

View attachment 394344
View attachment 394345
My dreamy eyed boy!

I'm afraid I've hit quite a plateau with my Opie. I'm so, so busy at work, that our training time is shorter than it has ever been. I really hope that I will eventually be able to encourage him to fly. That is my dream for him.

He is also showing signs of becoming a it hormonal again. I'm hoping this is just because he is molting, and not that I'll have to deal with spring and fall hormones! Time will tell.

For all my birds, I'm just really frustrated because I literally work, eat, take care of birds, and sleep. And the taking care of birds is often the bare-bones minimum of feeding, cleaning cages, and a bit of out of cage time. We are profoundly short staffed at work, and I'm often working until 8 or 9 at night.

Hang in there, Opie! Mom is going to make this better, I promise!!

Same here... Thank god my mom in law keeps Inca busy.

 

[Kassiani]

I received a request for photos, so I took these just a few moments ago!

View attachment 394344
View attachment 394345

Well, it could be worse... Opie will get along its not the few moments of absence that matter but it's the long haul of love & care you provide.

My poor guys had to be rudely awoken as did I out of a sound sleep at 5AM because a tenant locked himself out.
The phone did not wake me but the pounding at the door did as first I thought it was a earthquake til my brain slowly came back to check my phone & to see 2 messages.

Needless to say it was hard to go back to sleep & I was a zombie today but my guys seemed to have been OK
although I'm sure the banging must have scared & awoken them...

I'm so sorry you all had such a day!!

 

[MR. Mango]

What a handsome boy, he always reminds me of pistachio ice cream with a cherry on top

 

[Pat H]

What a handsome boy, he always reminds me of pistachio ice cream with a cherry on top

LOVE IT!@!!

 

[dollfish]

I wish it were actual flapping! It’s more like rapid shaking of the wings but he holds them just slightly away from his body.

I'm sorry if this has already been answered as I didn't read all 12 pages but I'm going to say yes, this could very well be hormonal. In fact it sounds very similar to what Astro does when very hormonal.

May I suggest removing the top tray of Opie's cage to make it more open and less perceivably nest like?

 

[Kassiani]

Hi @dollfish. His hormonal behavior, it turns out, is more vocal, more territorial, and the backing up to any toy on the top of his cage to masturbate on. The wing fluttering for him is more attention-seeking behavior and wanting out of his cage.

I’ve never used the top tray for his cage. When the budgies are out, I cover the top with a sheet of clear polycarbonate to keep him from getting to their toes. When he’s out, he just walks across the cage top. He doesn’t like flat surfaces so far.

 

[Kassiani]

Opie’s new behavior is grabbing the cage bars and trying to pluck them like a guitar string. That is one I don’t understand.

 

[Pat H]

Opie’s new behavior is grabbing the cage bars and trying to pluck them like a guitar string. That is one I don’t understand.

Might not be the same thing, but... Our Cockatoo sometimes 'grinds' on the bars. She enjoys to bang a metal toy against them-- does Opie have any hanging on the bars?

 

[faislaq]

Opie’s new behavior is grabbing the cage bars and trying to pluck them like a guitar string. That is one I don’t understand.

Perhaps he is trying to woo you?

 

[Kassiani]

Ha! Yeah….no. When he’s hormonal, he more often wants to bite the tar out of me!

 

[Kassiani]

Might not be the same thing, but... Our Cockatoo sometimes 'grinds' on the bars. She enjoys to bang a metal toy against them-- does Opie have any hanging on the bars?

When he’s anxious to get my attention, he will hang on the bars with his beak while dangling his feet and squawking! This ‘plucking’ on the bars is something he does on the horizontal bars of the cage (on each end). He will be hanging onto the bars with his feet and just start plucking the nearest bar with his beak. It makes a very unusual sound, lol!

 

[Dartman]

He's probably just discovered he likes the sound and he's also trying to get your attention. Nerd used to grab his favorite tube bell outside his cage and shake the crap outa it then stop and look at me like did you hear that dad.

 

[scrape]

Opie reminds me of when I had my cockatiel. Hormonal and defensive, haha. Can't help loving them, though.

 

[Drakitty]

Looks like you have had your Plucker for about as long as I've had mine, maybe we can compare notes sometime. I haven't read this whole thread but I plan to over the next couple of days, just to see if I can glean and helpful hints.

 

[Kassiani]

Looks like you have had your Plucker for about as long as I've had mine, maybe we can compare notes sometime. I haven't read this whole thread but I plan to over the next couple of days, just to see if I can glean and helpful hints.

If you can learn anything from this thread, that's great! At this point with Opie, if he doesn't mutilate himself again, I'll be ecstatic!

 

[Kassiani]

I’m cautiously happy to report that it has been more than a year since I have had to put a collar in Opie!!

He will step onto a rope perch for me fairly reliably, and I have started ‘touch’ training. Kind of like at the zoo when they train the animals to be touched for when a vet needs to examine them. I can gently stroke the front of his beak, and I am working on gently stroking the very top of his head (which he grudgingly allows sometimes, lol). Progress!

 

[SumitaSinh]

Great achievement, mom!

 

[Greylady1966]

That's wonderful news! You've come a long way in a year.

 

[Kiwi's Dad]

Amazing to hear!