Exercise for a disabled parrot!

Hi everyone,

I posted a while back when I first took on my BFA but haven't posted since, though I still read everyday and soak in all the information.

Basically, Herman had an episode which caused brain damage, resulting in him being very unbalanced and finding it hard to hold himself upright for walking or to stay steady when perching. He manages to sleep fine by keeping two feet on the bars on top of his sleep cage and tucking his head behind his wing. Before it happened, he was a very good flier and was confident in doing so. Since it occurred, whilst in flight his flying is still quite good but he can crash land sometimes. Slowly over the ten months that it occurred he is flying less and less and can go days and days without flight now. If I refuse to pick him up to move him to his main cage in my lounge he won't fly to it from his sleep cage which is only 5 metres away through a door way in my bedroom.

Basically, what I'm worried about is exercising. I've got no idea how old he is (the vet guessed at around 10) and he has a good diet but because he is so sedentary, he doesn't get much exercise from walking and now doesn't get much from flying either. If I try to lower my hand/perch when holding him to flap his wings, he'll fall forward or completely panic and I have to stop. I have a harness for him which he is VERY slowly getting used to (it's hard to have enough hands to keep him steady whilst putting it on!) which hopefully will broaden his horizons and maybe one day get him flying in an open space where he'll be less worried about hitting anything.

So, forgive me for my ramblings, but I wondered if anyone had any ideas on how I can get some exercise into him or enrich his life. If possible, I want to give him as long a life as an able bodied bird, and I know keeping fit is a big part of that. He gets fresh branches, loves his bell, has lots of different natural and stone perches. Has a diet of fresh fruit and veg, Harrisons, different pulses and nibbles at my (healthy) grub at teatime. Toys he tends to ignore - I'm gonna put a few hooks in the ceiling so that I can hang some for him as at the moment they have to be laid across the top of his cage for him to be steady enough to be able to play with them. Hopefully that will get him more interested.

I've done lots of internet searches about birds with similar issues but can't find much at all. Lots of stuff about strokes and paralysis, but with Herman it seems to be only the balance and not being able to mimic anymore (he still screams and croons and for some reason miaows). Has anyone ever came across or heard about anything similar? Vet says he's perfectly healthy otherwise.

Here's a picture of the beauty at his favourite spot watching the rhea outside the window (I live in the zoo that I work at).

How about a cargo type net for him to climb.

My Nimbus is the same, had a bad fall at the start of the year and there is some brain damage, she had trouble perching for a long time. She's getting better and better now though, I just gave her lots of ropes to climb, including an orb from the ceiling.

She used to not more around much at all but now she's playing with her toys, lots of climbing and foraging. She's still severely clipped (done by the breeder which resulted in the accident!) so I don't know what her flying is going to be like, but the feathers are growing in!!

How long ago was Herman's accident? Nimbus' was the start of January, and she's only really become confident in her climbing this past month, she could climb before but only if it was "easy"...

My Dominic is the same, only his problem is from massive fatty tumours hanging from his front. He's only just beginning to fly a bit and then only from A to B (not confident). I smiled when I saw the title of your post because just yesterday we were discussing our plan for a 'special needs' playgym for Dommie.

He won't climb on a cargo net because it swings and he seems to get seasick, so I'm going to make him a sort of stairway. It'll be a longish staircase leading up to a platform and another going down (daidle deedle daidle dee). I reckon if I put treats on the platform, he'll learn to climb up for them. He already uses the three-foot ladder my husband made for him, although he only uses it for going *up*. To go down, he clambers down the bars of his cage, which are vertical and hard to negotiate. Soon, he'll be going into a cage with horizontal bars and I'm hoping that will encourage him to move more.

Another idea I've used with the Beaks is a wire hanging basket (cheap from garden shop) wound with thick rope and filled with shredded paper. I wonder if something like this might suit Dom to play on? For example, I could park it upside-down and let him clamber over it? Or, I could hide treats amongst the shredded paper and make a ladder down into it for him (he can't negotiate chains yet). Swings and anything that moves are completely out of the question, but I notice Dom can handle rope perches, so I'm getting more of these to make his climbing easier. Surprisingly, he sits on his home-made boing to sleep, so I might even make another of those with a smaller diameter (less swingy). A boing made with thick rope and fixed at the top and bottom might make a good toy for Herman?

With the flying, will Herman fly to your hand? You might be able to set up some safe perches that he flies to and from and work on those for ten/fifteen minutes each day. Being a basically lazy person, I've taught the Beaks to 'fly' when I ask them to. That means, I say 'fly' and lower my hand. Then I say it again and toss the bird gently in the direction I want it to go in. This saves me walking back and forth across the room during recall training. If Herman could be gently tossed to fly back to his cage top, then called to your hand, that might be a safe way for him to keep flying? Or, you could put papers on your bed and ask him to fly from the bedhead to the footboard (soft place to land)?

With Dommie, my best successes have been the ones that resulted from me just watching him and working out what he likes to do and what he'll attempt to do. Then, I try to figure out ways to make a toy based on what I've observed. He's on a *strict* pellets/fresh food diet so a seed treat is a great motivator for him.

Best of luck with Herman! I know how dispiriting it can be to see a disabled bird struggling, but don't give up hope: Herman will repay you for your efforts with love and devotion. Do keep us up to date with his progress, won't you? I'd be glad to hear of any ideas you have for activity toys too.

You can always tell when a parrot is sedentary by the lonely pile of poopie beneath where he sits. My aim is to spread the poopie by making Dommie a lot more active!