Scared little birdy.

[emilykate]

Hi, 

I got a plum headed parrot yesterday and just have a few questions. I haven't owned birds for a few years, and when I did, I had budgies. They were quite tame and I had taught them some basic tricks. Anyway, I had intended to buy another budgie but was talked into getting our little guy. I don't regret this, but am trying to find as much info as I can to ensure he has a happy little life with us! I never had much trouble in initially getting to know my budgies (but then this was a few years ago so my memory may be faltering!) but our little guy Hank is just terrified. I am tempted to just go for it and towel him, but I don't want to make things worse. The last two nights I have been trying a few different treats to feed him through the bars but he has not been interested at all. Odd seeing as everything I have read up on plummies is that they love to eat! I have a very active 4 year old, so all of this has been going on at night when its just me and him. But the poor little dear is so scared, he gets all worked up even if I put my hand near the cage! I was told he had been hand raised as a baby (he still is  a baby, hasn't gone through his first malt yet, but im not sure of his exact age) but that he would need some work. He is quite content to just sit and look at me from a distance, so we just sit and stare at each other, but my aim is to tame him enough to eventually be able to be out of his cage more than he is in it (I realise this will take, especially coming around to my little one) I feel confident in getting him to that stage and the steps to take, however its this initial getting to know you stage I'm concerned about, as I realise trust building in these early stages is absolutely vital. Any suggestions? Thanks! 

Emily. 

[avinet]

Hi Emily, and welcome to the Forum

Plumheads can be tricky birds to have as pets, often quite independent - I have one currently, a 12 year old female, and have had, and hand raised others. I don't have time tonight to answer in full, but do have a question to ask before I can properly reply tomorrow.

What do you know of the history of the bird - how do you know the sex of it, and if it was hand raised, was it kept as a pet and handled between it weaning and you buying the bird? At its youngest it will be around 9 or 10 months old, since they only breed in the spring, and the way it was kept is important to understand its current behaviour. Did you buy it from a shop or a breeder?

cheers,

Mike

[emilykate]

Thank you!

Yes I was told he would not be a 'cuddly' bird, that's fine with me. =) Just so long as he can spend significant time out of his cage and be safe, I don't really have a desire to teach him show stopping tricks, basic commands to make birdie care easier is all I want.

I should specify I don't know his sex exactly, he was due to be dna tested after I got him. We got him from a pet shop, the owner felt he was a boy, but of course has no way of knowing. I've just been calling him him as my son named him Hank and I don't want to refer to him as 'it' lol. He came from a pet shop that specialises in birds, the owner has a female so has some knowledge about them. I don't know much about his background, just that he was hand raised. He was in a flight with another plum when we got him, so I'm not sure if being separated from his friend is contributing to his stress? He seems such a sweet little thing (we are currently having another starring match), just very frightened. =( I was actually trying to find a local birdie behaviouralist but came up with nothing. He did actually allow me to put my hand quite close to him tonight before freaking out, but seemed a bit of a fluke as when I tried again later he wasn't happy with it!

Any information would be so very much appreciated! I realise the limited info (even not knowing his true sex!) makes it difficult to find or give good info though.

Emily.

[avinet]

Hi Emily, and thanks for the extra information

As you are aware Plumheads, like most Asiatic parrots, are not generally cuddly birds that will allow scratches. Getting them to step on a finger, or maybe sit on a shoulder, is about as far as they are willing to go. However they can enjoy being around people - just not touchy birds.

I have currently a female Plumhead about 12 years old, that we hand raised after her parents stopped feeding her. That happened at around 4 weeks old, which was too late for her to be properly hand raised as a pet bird - I would remove chicks before 14 days if I wanted them to be a good pet. The result is that Plummy (original name we have there!) has never been willing to step onto a finger, but will return to her cage (she has always been fully flighted) when told to do so after time out. Incidentally she shares a cage with several elderly cockatiels, and has done all her life. Plummy has an interesting story that I must write up one day - she has had a few problems along the way.

I also had another female Plumhead - Pippi - who sadly dies about a year ago. Pipi was tame, and unusually was quite affectionate to me only - anyone else would be bitten. I could often give her a scratch when she was in the mood, but watching her body language was vital since if she wasn't in the mood a bite would follow. I have never had a male long term, but have hand raised some and have kept in touch with their owners after selling them. Males generally are similar to the females, some won't allow any touching, while an occasional one will allow it with a particular person that they bonded to. I have never heard of one (male or female) that is friendly to more than one person.  Incidentally, males can be reasonable talkers - so that is something to possibly work with when Hank is confident around you.

The big problem you face is that Hank has likely spent several months in the shop basically not getting human interaction apart from being maybe talked to a bit but very unlikely to have had daily physical interaction with the shop owner. Asiatics in general go through an vital period after weaning when constant interaction, including step-ups etc, is essential. An Asiatic can rapidly lose that ability to interact with humans if it isn't constantly being reinforced. To get Hank to regain that trust and willingness to resume human interaction will not be easy or quick, and in fact might never happen.

Your approach of offering food treats through the bars is the right one, but I would let him settle into your home for a while before even trying that approach - give him a week or two with just talking quietly to him, and experiment a bit to see what he really likes as a treat food that you will be able to use as the reward when it is time to progress. Do this by placing something you are trying in a little dish in the cage and seeing what he seems to enjoy the most - then that food is only given when you are trying to get him to take it from your finger or step into a finger.

All my Asiatics absolutely love raw cashews (Aldi has the cheapest raw - not salted or roasted - cashews) so that might be something to try - just break then up into bite sized pieces. Passsionfruit is also a favorite - our 22 year old male Ringneck has just started learning tricks using a passionfruit seed on a finger tip as the reward. Slivers of almonds is also a reward possibility, and if you are giving him pellets rather than seed, sunflower seed is another.

Patience is a virtue with a Plumhead such as you have bought - and I'm afraid given his likely history, all the patience in the world may not achieve what you desire.  However there is a good chance of success, at least to the step up level.    

One thing I forgot to ask initially last night was whether the bird is clipped or flighted?  To stand any chance of taming Hank I would strongly suggest he be clipped.  Otherwise he will fly away whenever he is out of the cage, and be almost impossible to get back into the cage without possibly traumatizing him.  He will moult in new flight feathers this summer and so can then resume flight if that is how you wish to keep him and he has become step-up tame.  Good instructions on wing clipping (I wrote them!) are at scas.org.au/html/wing_clipping.html  It is amazing how readily a clipped bird will be to step up if they find themselves on the floor!

cheers,

Mike

[emilykate]

Thanks very much for your awesome response. He has had a bit of turn around this morning, been chirping away quite a bit and is very active in his cage discovering his toys and climbing around, he almost seems a bit excited. He's also been eating quite a bit! Sunflower seeds (he has been selecting them individually from his seed mix) and apple appear to be his favourites so far, no interest in celery lol, so celery scraps will continue to go to our bunny! But will continue trying to find other treats for him, with your advice of the little dish. He is currently eating a seed mix and he does have his wings clipped. He is really coming out of his shell today, even let me stroke his feet through the cage as he was climbing around, I'm very happy with that progress!

Will continue to work with him over the next few months, perhaps consider getting him a friend if we have no progress as my main priority is a happy life for him.

Thank you again for your informative reply.

[avinet]

Jul 27, 2013 13:13:20 GMT 10 emilykate said:

Thanks very much for your awesome response. He has had a bit of turn around this morning, been chirping away quite a bit and is very active in his cage discovering his toys and climbing around, he almost seems a bit excited. He's also been eating quite a bit! Sunflower seeds (he has been selecting them individually from his seed mix) and apple appear to be his favourites so far, no interest in celery lol, so celery scraps will continue to go to our bunny! But will continue trying to find other treats for him, with your advice of the little dish. He is currently eating a seed mix and he does have his wings clipped. He is really coming out of his shell today, even let me stroke his feet through the cage as he was climbing around, I'm very happy with that progress!

Will continue to work with him over the next few months, perhaps consider getting him a friend if we have no progress as my main priority is a happy life for him.

Thank you again for your informative reply.

Good to see progress, sounds like he is settling in and decided that there isn't anything to be scared of in your house. Celery leaves are a good food for a Plumhead, and all other parrots, so keep trying them - it is likely he hasn't seen them before so it can take a while to try new foods. An article I wrote at scas.org.au/html/pet_parrot_care.html includes a list of possible fresh foods to try.

Make sure he doesn't eat too much sunflower - he should be getting a small parrot seed mix - often sold as cockatiel mix - and the sunflower should ideally be no more than 5% of the mix. That might mean also getting some budgie seed mix and mixing the two together to dilute out the sunflower since most commercial mixes include too much sunflower seed. Sunflower seed is normally one of the cheapest seeds to buy which gives a clue why most commercial mixes have too much. When we had our pet shop we specified to the seed merchant we used what our mixes had to contain so we got a mix we were happy to sell.

If necessary in the future you might consider giving him a budgie seed mix as standard and using sunflower as the reward - that is a strategy that many professional bird trainers use.

Keep us informed of progress, and photos are always welcome.

cheers,

Mike

[emilykate]

Will do, sounds like feeding parrots is like feeding fussy toddlers.. luckily I have plenty of experience in that =) At present he hasn't shown any interest in anything apart from his seed and apple. Have tried him with celery, capsicum (both the flesh and the seed core), millet spray and he has some almonds in with him to try atm.

He is on the seed they gave me at the pet shop, its not labelled or anything but looks to me to be a mix of budgie seed, dried fruit, the grey striped sunflower seeds you mention in the article and a couple of nuts (very few though).

That sounds like something I may have to consider in the future if he continues with his pickiness in eating! lol.

Thank again =)

[emilykate]

Just thought I'd report back on progress!! Tonight he ate some apple from me through the bars! I am so excited!! He got a bit frightened when i put it in as usual, but then he calmed down and spotted the apple.. took one step forward and two back, which went on a while, but eventually he came over and started eating his apple! yay! That's also a nice easy training treat for me too =D Thanks again for all your advice. my little man is coming around. I will try and attach a picture, but please note he is maulting and i havnt been able to get the best pic of him as yet with him still being so flighty

[emilykate]

My pretty boy/girl? Hank.