5 year old pulled tailfeathers....

Tallen234

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Oct 2, 2017
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We recently acquired a Bourke Parakeet who landed in our backyard about a month ago. We tried to find the owner without any luck, so we thought this would be our family's first pet. We have two kids, ages 5 and 7. We told them that they had to be gentle and treat her with respect. Our five year old really likes the Parakeet and, the bird has been willing to go on her hand and shoulder. The bird is a sweet heart. Today, when I was gone and the kids were being watched by Grandma, apparently the bird was in the 5 year olds hand and tried to fly away, my daughter grabbed her tail and all of her tailfeathers came out. Other than a bunch of feathers on the ground, the bird seems ok. There is no blood and she was able to fly around the room and back to her cage. Right now, she is on the floor of her cage, rather than her perch, but she seems ok. So, two general questions:

1. How concerned should I be about the loss of her tailfeathers. From what i've read, this is mainly a balance issue and that the tailfeathers are meant to be shedded as a response to a predator. What should I be on the look for and is there anything I can do to make the little girl's life easier.

2. Of course, I had a long conversation with my daughter about the proper treatment of her and I will limit her contact with the bird for the near future. Does anyone have any advice on navigating the kid/bird connection?

Thanks!
 

SailBoat

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Jul 10, 2015
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See in the body of your Thread, my answers.


We recently acquired a Bourke Parakeet who landed in our backyard about a month ago. We tried to find the owner without any luck, so we thought this would be our family's first pet. We have two kids, ages 5 and 7. We told them that they had to be gentle and treat her with respect. Our five year old really likes the Parakeet and, the bird has been willing to go on her hand and shoulder. The bird is a sweet heart. Today, when I was gone and the kids were being watched by Grandma, apparently the bird was in the 5 year olds hand and tried to fly away, my daughter grabbed her tail and all of her tailfeathers came out. Other than a bunch of feathers on the ground, the bird seems ok. There is no blood and she was able to fly around the room and back to her cage. Right now, she is on the floor of her cage, rather than her perch, but she seems ok. So, two general questions:

1. How concerned should I be about the loss of her tailfeathers. From what i've read, this is mainly a balance issue and that the tailfeathers are meant to be shedded as a response to a predator. What should I be on the look for and is there anything I can do to make the little girl's life easier.

Your Bourke Parakeet has just transferred from a precise flier to a far less precise Flying Wing. Yes, they can fly, but with more effort and far less precision.

Not surprised that you little girl is on the bottom of the cage. A loss of that many feathers is to say the least, very painful and it could be a couple of days before she begins acting normal.

Making life easier falls along the line of education for your kids. Birds are tiny and break easily!

2. Of course, I had a long conversation with my daughter about the proper treatment of her and I will limit her contact with the bird for the near future. Does anyone have any advice on navigating the kid/bird connection?

With larger Parrots this process is much easier, since larger Parrots have larger Beaks and a willingness to use them! After the first bite, the message is set in stone! Miss-treat the Parrot and pain will be your reward. With smaller Parrots, they can also bite, and they tend to twist as they bite, which is painful. But, the small bird tends to flee rather fight because of the fear of being crushed.

With 'Pets' the biggest goal is to teach kindness and to be gentle! It is a serious problem with kids, since the World around them is normally designed to support Adults and everything that could be broken had be moved to much higher and safer positions a few years earlier.


Thanks!


Hope that this provides you some basics.
 

plumsmum2005

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Nov 18, 2015
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Lou, Ruby, and Sonu.
Fly free Plum, my gorgeous boy.
https://www.thespruce.com/bourkes-parakeets-as-pets-390918 FYI

Hi ah what a shame, the relationship between your daughter and this little feathered one could have been fantastic. Looks like your daughter has some growing to do yet? As per the above info these birds are sweet and gentle so an excellent first time bird. Until your daughter has matured and understands better then only supervised (by you) handling from her IMO if the bird will accept it. I am sure with guidance with you both of your offspring will come to love and cherish this little one. If you notice anything 'odd' with the parakeet because of this then please do seek help from a qualified avian vet. I am sure it has give her a shock as your daughter who was friendly behaved as a predator and take that one day at a time regards the birds behaviour to your daughter.

Please continue for a while longer to find her lost home, it has only been a short time and maybe you just have not found where she has been listed. I would be devastated to lose my RB2 and we all here would hope that human kindness would kick in to help us be reunited. :)
 
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Teddscau

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Sep 25, 2015
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Agree with the others.

Well, parrotlets have almost no tail feathers (then again, they evolved that way). When she starts regrowing her tail feathers, you have to make sure she doesn't injure them. By "injure" them, I mean you have to make sure she doesn't have any crash landings or bump her bum off of anything. If she does, it will be very painful and she'll likely start bleeding a lot (and their blood sucks at coagulating). It's one thing to lose some random body feathers, but to lose all your tail feathers...well, it's better than losing your flight feathers.

I've accidentally had the same thing happen with Pollo. I was catching him in order to do some minor medical things with him, but he slipped through my hand and half his tail feathers came out o_O.

As for kids and birds, all I can say is that I wouldn't let anyone under ten handle birds. Well, I doubt I'd even let a ten year old handle a bird. Anyways, kids can be impulsive and often do things without thinking. They also tend to be clumsy, and they often make sudden movements and loud scary sounds. Your kids should only be allowed to handle her while you personally are supervising. And before handling her, you need to remind them exactly how to handle her.

In my experience, birds don't like children (at least mine don't). Noah, who's tough as nails, hates children and is terrified of them. He came to live with me two summers ago because his old family didn't want him anymore, and that family had kids.

I don't want to sound harsh, but you have to be really careful with kids around birds. Worst case scenario, the bird ends up severely injured. And even if your kids are on their best behaviour, your bird could easily become sensitized to child-related stimuli (children, their voices, hands, the sound of them walking, etc.). I don't want to discourage you from letting them be a part of her life, but you need to make sure they're calm around her, make slow and deliberate movements, and she only associates them with good things. I'm going to school for animal behaviour, training, enrichment, rehabilitation, etc., so I know how easily animals can develop fears and phobias.
 

LordTriggs

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May 11, 2017
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Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
is a shame but hopefully can be rectified. I would definitely make a rule that the bird is out when you're around only. Maybe put a little padlock on the cage to stop prying hands.

Really your daughter just needs to be taught how to be around the bird, she didn't do it on purpose and I'm sure she's sorry for scaring the little thing. I would agree that 99.9999999% of children shouldn't ever touch a bird (and 99.999% of adults) but there are ones out there who are better with birds than many of us adults. I've seen stuff of a 7 year old who frequently handles a large scarlet macaw which you wouldn't catch me doing any time soon
 
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Tallen234

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Oct 2, 2017
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Thanks everyone. The funny thing is that Pinkie Pie (our Bourke) seems to like my five year old. She "steps up" to her while she doesn't allow my 7 year old (who is very cautious and responsible). I'm not sure this will continue with the recent events, but hopefully the lesson is learned. From Grandma, she said that my daughter was distraught and wanted to take her to the Vet. Over the past two days I've been limiting contact and only letting Pinkie out of the cage when they are in school. Pinkie seems to be ok, she is "singing" and eating just find.
 

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