Urgent Hit a Mirror!

[Zelphaba]

I have a green cheek conure, his* name is Beijos and he's my best little buddy. Last night I had him out and he was hanging out on his cage, I dunno what spooked him but he started flying all over the room - actually a pretty common thing for him to do anyway.

He hit my mirror and managed to land a few feet away from it, on the ground. He's usually a very graceful flier, so I got up and scooped him figuring he'd be upset like a toddler that tripped, but I knew something was off as soon as he started moving away from me as I approached. I managed to get him anyway and saw he was bleeding. He's gonna be four this year and I've had him for nearly three years now, and he's never had any injuries before, so naturally I freaked out a bit.

The bleeding only lasted about a minute, but there was a fairly decent bit. After a while he seemed okay, I wiped off the blood that was on his beak, and today he's breathing fine. I won't be able to contact a vet until Monday, but there's an issue: I'm not a legal resident of my current state yet, due to family drama involved with moving I have none of his medical records, and also I'm so poor I can't even feed myself because I have no job. (Living in my dads house.) Today he seems totally fine; I've mostly kept him near me since it's comforting to both of us I think, and because then I can more easily monitor him.

He's not showing any obvious signs of distress; despite my attempts to meet all his travel needs he's gone on a few flights back and forth between me at my desk and his cage as well as a few laps around various parts of the house as I move room to room to do my thing. He still seems rather subdued, but he's not showing any outward signs of distress or discomfort. He's eating and preening and cuddling and despite my efforts to make it so he doesn't need to he's climbing on things and overall seems perfectly fine.

I was already told to take all his perches and put his food and water at the bottom of his cage, and I'm checking on him constantly when he's not out with me.

mostly I just want some advice on how to keep him comfy and safe while I wait. Even if he turns out to be physically fine, I think maybe it's time for a wing trim, at least enough to slow him down if that's possible. (I've never gotten him clipped before so I honestly don't know.)

(*I call him a he, but his actual sex is unknown.)

 

[Garet]

Poor little guy.

Even if he turns out to be physically fine, I think maybe it's time for a wing trim, at least enough to slow him down if that's possible.

Getting his feathers trimmed may not help, unfortunately. I've had trimmed birds, and it just makes them more prone to hitting things harder, as they can't turn as easily. It might also be very stressful and upset his balance until he molts.

What you can do for the meanwhile is line the bottom of his cage with something soft (put your paper over it) and give him some lower perches.

Does he have places he can land outside of the cage? I noticed that when my birds spook, they tend to zoom around until they find a good place to perch that they feel comfortable on. It could be that he couldn't find anything he felt was high enough to be safe from the scary squirrel.

 

[Zelphaba]

That's a good point, I hadn't thought about a trim possibly stressing him since he hasn't been clipped since I got him... he's actually mid molt right now.

There's not a whole lot of places in my room, normally I don't have him out in here. (Last thing I want is to go to crawl into bed at night and find a bunch of little 'presents' all over it, again) but I'll be sure to try and make a few places for him to go and feel safe.

I'll make sure to but a soft thing in the bottom, and maybe add a perch or two back in at a low height. Thank you for the advice!

 

[Garet]

It's nothing!

You don't have to set up anything too crazy. I have a few small branches from my pear and lilacs set up in my room If they panic, they generally seem to gravitate to those (or the ceiling fan, but it can be difficult to get birds off of fans once they discover them).

They also have perches that attach to glass things with suction cups, but it might be better to encourage him to go to a perch on the opposite side of the mirror.

If a perch would be a problem, either a tall or a hanging plant might also give him somewhere to go.

Does he let you touch his head at all, or is it still sensitive from his collision?

 

[Zelphaba]

He hasn't shown any signs of sensitivity after the collision, actually. I was even able to wipe excess blood off his beak with his only fuss being that he wanted shoulder time not table time. I've even felt up under his wings, pressing veeeeeeeery very lightly and he was confused, as I don't touch those areas, but still let me do it. He did get a little testy when I tried to massage a pin, but he's never liked me touching those. His beak is moving normal, everything seems to have its normal range of movement. I'll see if I can find somewhere to attach a perch; I've got some metal plant hanger things up around my room (I'm actually in the sunroom, not a real room; three of my four walls are just giant screens with metal supports and some weird plastic tinting things lol)
Maybe I can cover one of those with something for him, or hang something he can land on comfortable.

I used to have a suction cup perch, but it got lost in the move - I kept it in my shower. He loved it. UuU I should get more of those sometime

 

[rocky'smom]

Might be a good idea to cover the mirror when you fid is out of the cage.

 

[Zelphaba]

yeah, it's covered now with a nice thick blanket.