Help! My caique is afraid of hands after boarding.

[Aboswe1]

Hello. I'm new on here and desperate for some encouragement or advice. I have a female caique, Lilo. She is a year old. We are in the process of moving. I reluctantly had to board her for 5 nights because I couldn't give her the proper attention and care while we were transitioning to the new house.

I had boarded her once before when I went on my honeymoon and she did "okay." When I picked her up she immediately flew into my shoulder and was so happy. She was a little grudgy at home, but returned to normal after a day or so.

We are very close so I was devastated when I went to pick her up from boarding this time and she was afraid of me!!! Especially my hands. I drove her home, played her some calming classical music, gave her favorite treats, and tried to let her rest. I'm so worried about her fear of my hands though! We are in a new house so that is also not going to help. She offered me her head and let me scratch her through the bars... But I'm afraid to push it. I was so looking forward to showing her around the new house and letting her explore but I'm afraid I blew it.

Has this happened to anyone else???!

 

[Sunni Tiel]

Welcome to the avenue! Do you think she was mistreated in the place you boarded her? If it's only been a day I would just give her time to adjust and realize he's home. Don't overwhelm her with the new house, just keep her in the room and let her rest. She'll come around!
Congrats on the new house!

 

[TheBirds]

I had a similar experience with Lyric (in avatar). Not boarding, but a vet visit! Due to COVID I couldn't accompany him inside for his wellness exam shortly after we brought him home. When he was brought back out to me, I had a chance to speak briefly with the vet who said something about him being difficult to catch. Criiiiinge!

We get home, and he has obviously been chased around the cage and grabbed by the vet for his exam and is now terrified of hands. With lots of positive reinforcement we were able to get past this fear. Having said that, I never reach in to my birds cages, I'll wait for them to come to the door before I offer my hand but they do let me pick them up and things have improved significantly with Lyric .. you wouldn't ever know he'd had the unfortunate incident at the vet.

Sounds like perhaps the person that boarded your bird could have done something similar, by reaching in to grab her..?