Lost of trust. =(

[marcomm]

A week ago, Armando, my congo grey was behaving a bit moody, not health issues, but he has been moody about not getting his way or being touch(I think is molting what it's making him that way). Anyway I wake up early before work to clean his cage and I was in a sleeveless shirt and while cleaning his cage he bites me in the back. I moved or shook abruptly and he got super scared and flight away(he es partially clipped) when to pick him up and he got even more scared(that never had happened to him) and flight away and scream in terror, to the kitchen, now I was worried, and try to get him to step up and take him to his cage to I followed him and cornered him and he screams in terror but he stepped up and went to his cage(all this happened in a few seconds and I ended up with an ugly bite in my finger).
This left me sad and feeling extremely guilty about cornering him.
The first two days he didn't speak to me and was in shock, now a week after he is a bit relaxed but I'm unable to touch him and he will fly away if he feels I'm getting to get close. I don't know what to do or if he will ever trust me again.
Any advice? or similar experience?

 

[Kiwi & Co.]

@Monica

How old is he?

 

[marcomm]

He is almost 5 years old

 

[macawpower58]

Start all over again. Like he's a new bird that needs time to get used to things.
We often don't know what freaks our birds out, the best we can do is try and alleviate their fears.
If you think it was the following and cornering, then slowly reintroduce yourself as a safe person.
One that is fun to have near, not touching yet, but one that brings good things (treats).
Time is what it will take for you to win the trust back.

Been there and know exactly how heartbreaking it is.
But you will do it....don't despair

 

[Monica]

Being clipped could be causing some of these issues... however, if he was clipped at a very young age, allowing flight wont necessary 'fix' those issues because they could have become ingrained over time.

I know it was not an ideal situation, but going over to him while he's terrified only resulted in him instilling that fear of you. When birds are in a fearful state of mind, anything that's around them could become associated with that fear. If possible and safe to do so, it's best to give them space and allow them to calm down on their own before approaching. The only exception would be for birds who instinctively seek out their humans when afraid.


For now, I would honestly recommend hands off interaction. Slowly approach your bird from the side, don't look at him directly, do drop a favorite treat into a cup when you do go by, announce your presence so as not to startle him. When he's ready, you can do target training through the cage bars, then once he's mastered targeting to any location within the cage, open up the door and target train through the door and around the outside of the cage. Target training an be a fun and easy way to rebuild a relationship as well as to help bridge the communication barrier.

 

[marcomm]

I felt completely sick when I saw his little face macawpower58

Armando is now almost fully recovered. I still feel he is not fully trusting me but he is improving every day. I had a busy week and started just giving him treat every time a went close to his cage and after a few days, he slowly started to return to his usual chattiness and happy-self.

monica He is not fully clipped, he can still fly quite a distance but I´m scared to let him fully feathered since my house is full of windows and once he crashed and had a sored wing fortunately he didnt brake it but I had to speed quite a few bucks on the vet. What do you mean with ingrained?

 

[jzarc17]

Being clipped could be causing some of these issues... however, if he was clipped at a very young age, allowing flight wont necessary 'fix' those issues because they could have become ingrained over time.

I know it was not an ideal situation, but going over to him while he's terrified only resulted in him instilling that fear of you. When birds are in a fearful state of mind, anything that's around them could become associated with that fear. If possible and safe to do so, it's best to give them space and allow them to calm down on their own before approaching. The only exception would be for birds who instinctively seek out their humans when afraid.


For now, I would honestly recommend hands off interaction. Slowly approach your bird from the side, don't look at him directly, do drop a favorite treat into a cup when you do go by, announce your presence so as not to startle him. When he's ready, you can do target training through the cage bars, then once he's mastered targeting to any location within the cage, open up the door and target train through the door and around the outside of the cage. Target training an be a fun and easy way to rebuild a relationship as well as to help bridge the communication barrier.

Can you explain the reason for not looking at the bird in the eyes? Does it scare them?

 

[macawpower58]

It can be considered predatory by a nervous, uncertain bird.
They are prey animals, and stares can equal threats at times

It can also be considered a challenge by a territorial hormonal bird!

You just can't win!

 

[Monica]

monica He is not fully clipped, he can still fly quite a distance but I´m scared to let him fully feathered since my house is full of windows and once he crashed and had a sored wing fortunately he didnt brake it but I had to speed quite a few bucks on the vet. What do you mean with ingrained?

Birds who are allowed flight without being clipped, even at a young age, tend to grow up more confident and boisterous birds. Those that are clipped at a young age, usually before being weaned, especially in african greys, tend to become more phobic birds afraid of change.

Pamela Clark explains it best here. (PDF)

Ethical, Moral & Spiritual Considerations of Companion Parrot Care

Can you explain the reason for not looking at the bird in the eyes? Does it scare them?

Pretty much what macawpower said... to be as least threatening as possible.

 

[marcomm]

Birds who are allowed flight without being clipped, even at a young age, tend to grow up more confident and boisterous birds. Those that are clipped at a young age, usually before being weaned, especially in african greys, tend to become more phobic birds afraid of change.

Pamela Clark explains it best here. (PDF)

Ethical, Moral & Spiritual Considerations of Companion Parrot Care




Pretty much what macawpower said... to be as least threatening as possible.

thanks, Monica, It's a great read. I love the part about the orchids and have a mixed bittersweet feeling (being from a city close to Cancun) about them, I feel grateful for the people that keep them alive even if this means keeping them ex-situ but its also a beautiful way of seeing the forest as a whole.

These past few days and months have been a bit hard on the city and we had a super unusual amount of rain and a hurricane Delta hitting the peninsula in a few days. I´m worried about mold since even papaya on the fruit bowl molded in 12 hours any advice to protect Armando.

BTW he is doing so much better, today was waching TV on the couch with me just like before the incident. I feel much of his temperament is him feeling my stress. Has the pandemic affected you relationship with your birds?

 

[Monica]

He could very well be stressed. In regards to the fruit, may need to only offer it for 1-2 hours and keep the rest in the fridge?


I fall under the "essential worker" bit, so I haven't stopped working under this pandemic at all... and thankfully, my job does not involve dealing with customers! Not to say that I don't see them... but I work in a warehouse that doesn't get a lot of traffic from customers.... instead, most of our business is shipping *TO* the customer! Or our customer's customer! My hours did change for a bit in the beginning, but we couldn't keep up with that and had to switch back to "standard" hours... which aren't exactly standard.... but eh.

So I can't really say my relationship with my animals has changed at all. I do hear about others who are struggling though.... with birds and dogs alike. Worse that many got dogs during the pandemic and now they are going back to work. They aren't giving up their dogs, just struggling to make doggo okay with being home alone. Same with birds - either new or current birds.

 

[Ira]

I don’t think you should worry about it or try too hard to make things better.

He’ll come around again in time.

My dear departed Grey Tonto, who I got when recently weaned and I hand-fed, was clipped as a baby and never flew.

And he was the mellowest guy on earth, so I don’t buy into the theories that clipped versus unclipped dramatically affects personality and behavior. My 18-month YNA...same thing.