Tame but Extremely Flighty GCC

I love GCCs. They are my personal favorite - I have 7 of them. One of them is having some trouble. Cache, my yellow-sided GCC came to me from a family who claimed that the children were no longer interested, so they were selling him. They bought him at Petco (which houses its conures individually, not in groups) and I know from the band that he came from a well known and respected breeder - the same breeder as 4 of my other GCCs. He hatched in 2013.

Cache is VERY tame. He practically runs to step up - for anyone who isn't wearing blue nail polish. He stepped right up for me the first time I saw him, and has done so every time I have ever seen someone try, no matter who they were or if he had seen them before.

However, he is very flighty. He seems to be in a constant state of fear. Whenever anything happens, ANYTHING that he wasn't expecting, he hurls himself off your hand, and since he has a very severe clip (still hasn't molted, and the previous owners were told to clip him every 6 weeks. And they did.) he basically throws himself to the ground - hard. We do our best to keep him on the couch and such so that he will land on something soft, but it doesn't always work.

He throws himself down, he runs away, he ducks, he hides, he flinches. Not from people, but from LIFE and other birds. I wish I could figure out how to describe what I am seeing. He flinches at every noise, he ducks at every movement, and if put near another bird he goes into all-out panic! The longer I have him the less I believe that they just didnt have time, and the more I believe something must have been going on that they didn't tell me. My birds come from all different backgrounds, many were not tame when I got them, some were pet store birds, some came from breeders, some were rescued, etc. I have never seen a tame bird act like this. Again, he seems to feel safest when being held, but even then he shows no signs of relaxing.

Has anyone dealt with this kind of thing before? We are wondering if letting him be flighted will help or hurt things. Maybe he will feel more confident that he can escape if he wants, so he may not try so often? Or maybe he will just be able to panic and fly instead of panic and fall...

Can you get in touch with the previous owners at all? Maybe try and find out some more about his old environment in a round about kind of way that doesn't directly sound like you're accusing them of something. Unless maybe the kids were doing something to scare the dickens out of him all the time that the parents didn't know about. I'd hate for that to be the case and I have a feeling they may just give you the runaround, but you never know. You might get some insight then you'll be able to assess the situation better.

I noticed it a little when I initially talked to her and met him. I went to pet him and he flung himself on the floor. She just said "oh I have never seen him do that before!" The kids held him while I was there, and he didn't seem afraid of them. I wonder if maybe their 3 little dogs barked at him? Or maybe I am completely wrong and he is frightened because he lived in a house where NOTHING happened and things happen here? I mean, we are not a crazy house by any means. Things are pretty quiet here, even the birds don't make that much noise. The lady cried when we left with him, I am really not sure it would be wise to contact her about him.

How long have you had him?

The GCCs I've had have usually brave to a fault, trying to follow me, chasing the cat, etc. But I've had some super fearful cockatiels in the past. At one point I had small snakes kept in the same room as the birds and had to move them because they scared one bird in particular. All the others weren't phased.

Is there anything you can think of, no matter how weird, that might put him in the mode to be hyper-vigilant for predators? Maybe even a painting of a hawk or something?

Exactly - my others are bold as brass. We have had him for about a month. We have a dog, but he stays away from Cache and Cache doesn't seem to fear him in particular, or at least not more than he fears other things - like shoes that are just sitting on the floor. We don't have any pets besides birds and the dog, we don't have kids. We don't have any art on the walls (we just moved here and our things have not arrived - the Army doesn't hurry.) and his fear does not seem to be any worse in any room in particular. He seems just as easily spooked by things above as things below, to either side, front, back, whatever. He was quarantined for 2 weeks. It was shorter because he had been recently vetted and has been vaccinated, was on a one-bird household, and appeared in top health (the home was immaculate as well). Though he does fear being out of his cage with other birds, his fear does not seem to be better or worse when other birds are in the room. I really appreciate the ideas - I am wracking my brain here! He is so sweet, very cuddly with people, but I think a little bit of that is fear driven as well, now that I am looking at it closely.

One weird thing is, there is ONE time when he seems at ease - when he is on his back in your hand, eyes closed, feet in the air, and you rub his cheeks. My sister lives with us, she is 14, very quiet, very sweet. We have moved Cache into her room because he seems to favor her, and she has the time to just hold him like that, and snuggle him much more than we do, as we have the other birds. I don't want to keep all the other birds who get along fine in their cages all day, nor do I want Cache to spend a life in his cage, so he is with her, and she holds him on his back and rubs his cheeks. It really seems to be the only thing that will help him relax, but as soon as it stops he is once again on high alert!

Maybe he's still adjusting? I don't really have a whole lot of insight since Ducati has been my one and only bird. He was pretty easy as far as adjusting. Noises still scare him (the dog sneezing or the beardie next to his cage gets a little fiesty and likes to lunge at the glass) and every once in a while he'll get scared for seemingly no reason. Turning lights off and on make him jump a little bit. I don't know about Cache since it doesn't sound like there's really anything that would scare him. Unless he can hear your other birds and they're making him nervous?

I dont think so, most of my birds are really quiet - for example right now I can't hear a single one. There is a lot to be said for adjustment, but this seems extreme.

Avery is pretty much exactly like that, and I kind of wonder if it's attributed to her never fully fledging as a baby. I got her at 3 months old from Petland and she had a seriously bad clip. Now she's nearly a year and a half and STILL won't fly as a "choice" after having full flight feathers for about 5 months. Sometimes she will, when she's desperate, but 85% of the time it's because she's scared of something. The only time she relaxes is when I'm sitting on the couch with her or in my bed... otherwise she's pretty easily scared.

I've worked on this over time with her... for example she used to flip when the toaster went off if she was upstairs with me and heard it go off. I kept taking her up with me everytime I wanted toast, and now she's used to it. Same with my vacuum and handvac - used to absolutely flip! Now she happily chirps along when I use it. I try to flight recall train her as much as I can to reinforce that flight is a choice, and she's getting a bit better about it but will still prefer me to pick her up to move her around. I've also started taking her out with me in her little carrier that's clear on the top but plastic on the bottom, and this has also helped her out.

I honestly just think some birds are more timid than others if they haven't learned from a very young age how to "control" what happens to them through flight - that, or he's still very, very unsure of his surroundings but trustworthy of the people in it.

My male gcc Monster was super flighty. He would jump or twitch away from hands like he had been hit before...never happened since I've had him and I don't see his breeder doing that. I got him right after he weaned and he was clipped. Never truly learned how to fly. I let him grow/keep his flights in the hopes that he would calm down and stop running at every little thing. He is much more confident. He will actually fly to me now to hang out and since he knows he can get away if need be he is much bolder and less jumpy. I have also caged him with Monkey but I would say being flighted is what truly gave him confidence.

I think Monster learned to fly by watching Monkey fly around. He had flying down a lot faster then Monkey got it down that's for sure and I know he never learned before the breeder clipped him!

So from both of your experience it sounds like I am going the right direction with letting him grow his feathers out. He spends a lot of time out of his cage, but we try to keep each time kind of short unless things are REALLY REALLY calm, because he seems to get overwhelmed. Riddick, yeah, it is almost like he is used to being hit, except that hands are what he runs to for safety?

Another thought we had was getting him a buddy - a baby buddy. Now, I know that you can NEVER guarantee that two animals will get along and I would never get a pet just for the sake of another pet, and I would of course love and cherish the new one for his or her own sake, but I am wondering (after he has had his flight feathers for a while, and if we don't see improvement) if it might help for him to have a cage mate. He is afraid of our other birds, but they are adults and they can tell he is spooked and they take advantage. I am wondering if a curious, young companion might be less threatening, and if having a mate might help. I just want the poor boy to enjoy his life, which is hard to do when you are always afraid (And I imagine he is in pain fairly often from hitting the ground the way he does).

My Larry is not frightened the way you describe your bird, but he does hit the ground HARD when he tries to get to me. I cringe every time he hits the ground. I am afraid he will get hurt, crack his head or crack a tile I am convinced he was clipped too short. I am going to let his flight feathers grow and hopefully he will learn how to fly a bit and land softer. He is very young (16 weeks) so this may take some time.
I wish you well with Cache

Thank you MrsKay, how exciting for you to have Larry! I am really hoping that the wings growing will help, and he is molting right now, so I am hopeful.