Abused Parrots

[Charlee646]

Hello! I need some bird owners help! I would like to do a project on parrots and how they can be abused both physically and mentally by bad owners. So if anyone has a bird who was abused or you suspect of being abused, are there any signs and behaviors that they exhibit in direct relation to their abuse? I have two abused parrots of my own but I want a little more information about different kinds of abuse and the results of this unforgivable behavior. And if anyone has any knowledge about how parrots can be abused please share that also! I want to spread awareness to this issue that is far too common in birds. I would be super thankful and appreciative of any knowledge you can share!
This project may not happen and if it does it isn't going to be big or anything. I just want to help spread awareness and try to stop all the abuse parrots go through with irresponsible owners.

If you would like credit please let me know. You can leave your name if you want. If you don't want to share that then just say and I can use your username. If you would like to stay anonymous please let me know.

Thank you so much to anyone who would like to give their input and knowledge. I am really thankful <3!

 

[BirdyBee]

Hello! I need some bird owners help! I would like to do a project on parrots and how they can be abused both physically and mentally by bad owners. So if anyone has a bird who was abused or you suspect of being abused, are there any signs and behaviors that they exhibit in direct relation to their abuse? I have two abused parrots of my own but I want a little more information about different kinds of abuse and the results of this unforgivable behavior. And if anyone has any knowledge about how parrots can be abused please share that also! I want to spread awareness to this issue that is far too common in birds. I would be super thankful and appreciative of any knowledge you can share!
This project may not happen and if it does it isn't going to be big or anything. I just want to help spread awareness and try to stop all the abuse parrots go through with irresponsible owners.

If you would like credit please let me know. You can leave your name if you want. If you don't want to share that then just say and I can use your username. If you would like to stay anonymous please let me know.

Thank you so much to anyone who would like to give their input and knowledge. I am really thankful <3!

Well, I have a show budgie who was neglected and abused by her breeder.
With her, I noticed she is VERY shy, and scared of any human interaction. Though, it did get better with time and patience

BUT. But.

My budgie, Griffen, has never been abused his whole life, came from a reputable breeder etc. And he is also very shy around humans.
I guess for some birds, it's just a personality thing.

I think @Terry57 might have a better response as she has had many rescue birds and still own some

 

[hiriki]

Part of the struggle is that abused birds don't often come with a biography of their past life when adopted from a shelter.

Most of my birds are rescues. My lovebird is extremely hand shy and was abandoned outside--but because of the circumstances, it's also possible she escaped and was not abandoned... I have no way of knowing. My dove came to me with a ridiculous number of previously broken bones (as seen on x-ray) but I don't know if they were related to abuse, or if he's simply prone to injury. My late cockatiel Bitty was technically a pet store bird but she was being kept in absolutely deplorable conditions (hence I bought her to get her away from that place)... she was an adult at time of purchase and I have no idea about her previous life, though I suspect she had been cage bound for a long time. My jenday is a rescue and the shelter I got her from told me a terrible tale of abuse and neglect that supposedly caused her foot disability, but vets have consistently told me it looks like it is either congenital or happened in the nest, and she's far and away my friendliest and most confident bird....

Anyway, my point is I think you'll struggle getting the data you need for this project.

The only bird whose story I think might be relevant in my flock is Bitty since I personally witnessed the terrible condition she was being kept in before I brought her home. Bitty was afraid of me and my hands for a long time. She did eventually start stepping up, and would eat millet while perched on my finger. She even sought out my company, although she usually perched near me, not on me. Even after years with her though I had to move extremely slowly around her and when she was perched on my hand. Sudden movements caused her to panic. Generally, she preferred the companionship of my jenday to me or other people.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

I have two budgies who I rescued, one of which was definitely abused. One budgie I rescued was 8 months old and had had four different owners, I'm not sure if that's classed as abuse but he settled in very quickly to the routine of everything and then suddenly when I had him for three months he began to misbehave. He suddenly wouldn't listen anymore, would panic and fly around randomly, wouldn't come anywhere near me, hated being in his cage and wouldn't do things he did before (recall mainly and go into the cage when it was time).

My other budgie was abused fairly badly. I got her from my sisters boyfriends best friend, and it was his sisters budgie but he was able to tell me a lot about her. He rehomed her because of the care she was receiving. She had a cagemate that starved to death because they weren't being fed enough, and the budgie I got (Pina Colada) didn't let him eat the little food they got. She was kept in a tiny cage and I was told she was never let out because it was too hard to get her back in and they had to use a towel to throw over her so they didn't bother to let her out. She was on an all seed diet and had no toys, only a dowel perch which was nearly chewed through and a swing which she loved. I was told that they put a towel over her cage because she was too loud as well.

When I got her she adapted really well to everything, I let her out of the cage the first day I had her as she was very excited to see my other birds and wanted to come out immediately. I was told she wasn't tame but she landed on my head the second day I got her and I was able to get her on my hand eating millet that day too. She desperately wanted to be friends with my conure and cockatiel and would just sit near them and stare at them even though they wanted nothing to do with her. She was very food aggressive (and still is now, but not as bad) and would guard the food bowl, especially when I rescued my other budgie and introduced them. She wouldn't let him near any food so I had to make sure they had loads of bowls. Nowadays she's calmed down so much and will eat from the same food bowl as another bird and not try and guard it, though sometimes she does still. She had babies and I thought she would be a bad mum but she was brilliant and fed them so much, and remained friendly with her mate. She wouldn't let her mate preen her for about six months either and he would try all the time. He would sing to her and get close and then suddenly she'd attack him and fly away. You wouldn't know she was abused now as she's very friendly and gets on well with the flock and with people.

My other birds which are rescues only have problems due to not being let out of the cage enough and being on poor diets. They're my friendlier and happier ones, because I think they appreciate how bad their lives were before and now that they're in a better place they're just happy.

I forgot to put as well, my first cockatiel was clipped very badly and I consider that abuse as she spent a year unable to fly and she hurt herself so may times because of it. They clipped just one wing but it was so bad the feathers would just break when they grew back in and because they were blood feathers there would be blood everywhere and she was in pain a lot since she squealed when she touched her wing. Her confidence dropped so much and she would just sit and do nothing all day since she couldn't fly. I tried to engage her but she would just sit and not bother. It took a year for enough feathers to grow back and not break for her to be able to fly and the difference in her is amazing. She's so much happier now and flies around for the fun of it, making sharp turns and drops just because she can. I've never had normally clipped birds, only her with the awful job they did but just seeing what she went through I would never clip any birds.

 

[texsize]

My best example of an abused parrot has to be Bella my CAG.
Her main story introduction can be found here https://www.parrotforums.com/threads/bellas-story.66692/

That was written back in 2018, The biggest change in Bella since that was when Bella hit Puberty.
I think the age we had been told at the time of sale may have been correct after all.
When she went through puberty my wife became Bella's chosen person. She is still friendly with the rest of the household but.

I don't know how Bella might be different if she had not been abused (scared by new dog and psychological verbal abuse "I am sick of you"). But I would like to think her feather destruction would be a lot less.
Bella is a very fearful bird but that could be more a matter of her species than Bella as a rescue.

I will include some pics and a video link to her saying "I am sick of you".
You're going to have to take my word on this but she would repeat that phrase with different.... emphasis/ tone of voice.
It would frequently come across as if the person saying it was up close her in her cage and whispering it to her in a menacing way.

This was the first picture of Bella at the pet shop we found her in.

This was a picture of her in her hormonal nest building jag but you can see considerable feather regrowth on her chest.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

My best example of an abused parrot has to be Bella my CAG.
Her main story introduction can be found here https://www.parrotforums.com/threads/bellas-story.66692/

That was written back in 2018, The biggest change in Bella since that was when Bella hit Puberty.
I think the age we had been told at the time of sale may have been correct after all.
When she went through puberty my wife became Bella's chosen person. She is still friendly with the rest of the household but.

I don't know how Bella might be different if she had not been abused (scared by new dog and psychological verbal abuse "I am sick of you"). But I would like to think her feather destruction would be a lot less.
Bella is a very fearful bird but that could be more a matter of her species than Bella as a rescue.

I will include some pics and a video link to her saying "I am sick of you".
You're going to have to take my word on this but she would repeat that phrase with different.... emphasis/ tone of voice.
It would frequently come across as if the person saying it was up close her in her cage and whispering it to her in a menacing way.

View attachment 53423
This was the first picture of Bella at the pet shop we found her in.
View attachment 53424
This was a picture of her in her hormonal nest building jag but you can see considerable feather regrowth on her chest.

I have adopted several budgies from our amazing local bird rescue. One in particular, a beautiful male named Stormy, who had been kept caged with other budgies that abused him. Sadly, his owners didn't intervene and break up the situation until poor Stormy had been relentlessly bullied, suffered broken toes and permanent psychological harm. When I saw Stormy sitting alone in a cage at the rescue I was first drawn to how beautiful he was. He was a deep blue grey opaline with snow white wings and tail and the brightest blue cere I had ever seen on his snow white face. The rescue told me Stormy was very sad, quiet and shy and intimidated by other budgies because of being bullied so badly. I am very sensitive to bullying behavior and I knew I had to have Stormy and try to give him a good life. I had another male budgie I had adopted from them a year earlier, Charlie, who loved all people and all other budgies so I figured Charlie would be a perfect gentle new friend for Stormy. I I produced the two and Charlie loved Stormy. He would follow Stormy around the cage wanting to be friends and play but Stormy just wanted to be left alone. I kept them together because Charlie was very gentle and I believed Stormy would benefit from Charlie's kindness. Stormy's health was unknown and his health questionable. Vet said he was healthy but Stormy slept a lot in the 18 months we had him. I often thought he was pretending to be asleep because Charlie was courteous enough not to bother him when he was napping. One day Stormy went to the bottom of his cage and passed over the rainbow bridge. I loved Stormy and was happy to give him the opportunity for a peaceful life with a nice cagemate after all he had been through.
The villain in this story is the previous owner that kept Stormy in a cage with other birds who were bullying him. It would have been so easy to separate them so Stormy didn't suffer and that was their responsibility when keeping birds in cages where they can't escape from the abuse. In nature the bullied bird could just fly away and find better flockmates to associate with.

 

[kme3388]

This is Nico. He was rehomed several times, and was in multiple shelters. I adopted him 2 years ago. He has a lot of behavioral issues. When I finally got him to a vet about a week or so after adopting him (avian vets aren’t easy to come by) he also had quite a few medical issues.

Nico is a one person bird. He tends to infatuate over one person, and isn’t exactly nice to others (he will bite). He wouldn’t be a good family pet by any means. This could have played a factor as to why he was rehomed many times. I myself wished there was more education on parrots before someone buys one, or adopts one. That way people know up front that this can, and does take place a lot with birds. There is no way to predict it.

Nico is an Eclectus parrot which has their own specific needs. They aren’t popular here where I am in the world in comparison to other parts. It was challenging to find others with experience with this specific bird. I’m not sure that anyone intended to abuse Nico by a poor diet but it had more to do with inexperienced pet owners.

Nico I would say is quiet 98% of the time. However his screams are extremely loud. It only happens maybe twice a day, but when it does it’s extremely loud. This is another reason why I’d assume he was rehomed a lot. This is another thing I wished people understood before buying, or adopting a bird. Birds contact call. It’s in their nature. There is nothing that will get rid of a birds call entirely.

I don’t know if I could say Nico was entirely abused as much as I could say that a lack of education took place. Nico definitely paid the consequence to it.

 

[Libbi24]

Hello! I need some bird owners help! I would like to do a project on parrots and how they can be abused both physically and mentally by bad owners. So if anyone has a bird who was abused or you suspect of being abused, are there any signs and behaviors that they exhibit in direct relation to their abuse? I have two abused parrots of my own but I want a little more information about different kinds of abuse and the results of this unforgivable behavior. And if anyone has any knowledge about how parrots can be abused please share that also! I want to spread awareness to this issue that is far too common in birds. I would be super thankful and appreciative of any knowledge you can share!
This project may not happen and if it does it isn't going to be big or anything. I just want to help spread awareness and try to stop all the abuse parrots go through with irresponsible owners.

If you would like credit please let me know. You can leave your name if you want. If you don't want to share that then just say and I can use your username. If you would like to stay anonymous please let me know.

Thank you so much to anyone who would like to give their input and knowledge. I am really thankful <3!

Hi!
I actually wanted to do a separate post on this myself with my cockatiels past.
It’s very upsetting so please read this with caution!

Pearly is two years old approximately. I saw an ad for her on Facebook and they were selling her for free. In the photo she looked disheveled and her cage was filthy and covered in poop and rust, plus it was tiny. I had previous experience with budgies and an alexandrine parrot and I missed the companionship of birds so I decided to message the people and they said I could collect her right away.

Upon arrival I come to find that the guy who had her wasn’t actually her owner. He was hired to do maintenance work at her owners house and saw the abuse she went through and stole her, never to look back. The owners didn’t care that much as they never chased him up on getting her back.

She was terrified, and whenever I stepped near the cage she’d hiss and back away, but never ever has she bitten me.
I immediately took her to the vets as I saw that her feet looked sore and deformed which is when I got the heart breaking news. The guy had said the past owners would throw things at the cage, bang on it to shut her up and a lot of other things. He thought her feet were deformed due from hatching or from the lack of perches she had in her cage. But the vet said that each of her toes had been broken, and so had her feet. Obviously the owner hadn’t taken her to the vet so they had healed the way that they have.

It was heartbreaking to see her struggle so much with her feet, her nails if they get too long start to cut into her feet, and on certain perches she cannot stand up straight. But with some hard work she was able to build her strength up with fresh veggies, and lots of baths and love.
I taught her how to fly, and she was terrible at first but now she can fly wherever she wants to.

I rub some cream the vet gave me on her feet and every day for 8 months now I have worked with her to build a bond.
I don’t think she’ll ever allow me to touch her or step up onto my hands. But it was literally only a week ago that she decided to trust me enough that she flew over to where I work at home and sat with me for the majority of the day. She now does this every day and flies after me and lands on my head when I leave the room.
(I’m getting emotional writing this lol) but it took a lot of work. I didn’t even necessarily try and tame her I just kept my distance and let her do what she wanted, when she wanted.

The thing I’ve noticed with her is that she’s always watching where my hands are going. Even if I’m next to her and they move too quickly or get too close she’ll scream and run away. Then realise I’m not actually coming after her and come back and sit next to me. Due to how her owners treated her as well she never ever makes a noise, I’ve only heard her chirp a handful of times and each time she kind of shied away as if she was expecting something to happen.

I hope her story can help you out in any way. If you want more info please let me know. Im honestly so grateful to have earnt her trust and it’s proof that even though she’s been through so so much, she is so loving and capable of facing her own fears. It 100% wasn’t me that pushed her to step out of her comfort zone it was definitely all her! <3

 

[onamom]

Hi!
I actually wanted to do a separate post on this myself with my cockatiels past.
It’s very upsetting so please read this with caution!

Pearly is two years old approximately. I saw an ad for her on Facebook and they were selling her for free. In the photo she looked disheveled and her cage was filthy and covered in poop and rust, plus it was tiny. I had previous experience with budgies and an alexandrine parrot and I missed the companionship of birds so I decided to message the people and they said I could collect her right away.

Upon arrival I come to find that the guy who had her wasn’t actually her owner. He was hired to do maintenance work at her owners house and saw the abuse she went through and stole her, never to look back. The owners didn’t care that much as they never chased him up on getting her back.

She was terrified, and whenever I stepped near the cage she’d hiss and back away, but never ever has she bitten me.
I immediately took her to the vets as I saw that her feet looked sore and deformed which is when I got the heart breaking news. The guy had said the past owners would throw things at the cage, bang on it to shut her up and a lot of other things. He thought her feet were deformed due from hatching or from the lack of perches she had in her cage. But the vet said that each of her toes had been broken, and so had her feet. Obviously the owner hadn’t taken her to the vet so they had healed the way that they have.

It was heartbreaking to see her struggle so much with her feet, her nails if they get too long start to cut into her feet, and on certain perches she cannot stand up straight. But with some hard work she was able to build her strength up with fresh veggies, and lots of baths and love.
I taught her how to fly, and she was terrible at first but now she can fly wherever she wants to.

I rub some cream the vet gave me on her feet and every day for 8 months now I have worked with her to build a bond.
I don’t think she’ll ever allow me to touch her or step up onto my hands. But it was literally only a week ago that she decided to trust me enough that she flew over to where I work at home and sat with me for the majority of the day. She now does this every day and flies after me and lands on my head when I leave the room.
(I’m getting emotional writing this lol) but it took a lot of work. I didn’t even necessarily try and tame her I just kept my distance and let her do what she wanted, when she wanted.

The thing I’ve noticed with her is that she’s always watching where my hands are going. Even if I’m next to her and they move too quickly or get too close she’ll scream and run away. Then realise I’m not actually coming after her and come back and sit next to me. Due to how her owners treated her as well she never ever makes a noise, I’ve only heard her chirp a handful of times and each time she kind of shied away as if she was expecting something to happen.

I hope her story can help you out in any way. If you want more info please let me know. Im honestly so grateful to have earnt her trust and it’s proof that even though she’s been through so so much, she is so loving and capable of facing her own fears. It 100% wasn’t me that pushed her to step out of her comfort zone it was definitely all her! <3

You are an inspiration. Thank you for giving this girl the life she deserves and rescuing her. Thank you for being patient with her and showing her the love she needs. I am so happy she found you!