Thingamagigs
New member
- Oct 13, 2012
- 627
- 1
- Parrots
- Mana the manic female galah; yet to be named male corella
Before I get into my story here, I want to make a few things clear. This is not my first bird, or my first galah. I know whats normal and whats excessive and I am not over-stating anything here.
I am an experienced, dedicated owner who goes above and beyond for her animals. I don't want any inexperienced or basic advice, I don't want any guesses or lectures on basic care. Its just likely to infuriate me further... I am already extremely angry right now. You will see why.
I will start with my story and then get to the current problem.
A girl in the same suburb as me advertised some handreared galahs for sale... so I casually went around to have a look... according to the girl, these were galahs she handreared and had been extensively socialised with children and strangers and everything.... particularly appealing for my situation (being concerned about breeder raised birds who are raised in a bird room with little human contact except for feeding).
When I got there, the birds were out on the lounge. They were all disgustingly filthy, underweight and two of them were obviously injured. One particular guy was very friendly and my heart just couldn't bear to leave him. He held his wing funny, away from his body and down.
(I had washed him in this photo, I wish I got a photo of him prior to being cleaned up!!)
Another one's foot was very swollen and she limped on it, she couldn't balance to perch properly and was clearly in pain. I asked her if she was going to take them to the vet or knock the price down ($350 without DNA sexing or any health testing... very expensive for my area of Aus) so the new owners could. She said no, both accounts (she didn't answer directly but made it clear she wouldn't). I told her I would go home and think about it.
My partner could tell I wanted to take him home... he got the money out and told me to get in the car and we'd go pick him up (God bless his sweet heart!! <3 I love that man!). We went and picked him up, he was in the cage they had been kept in when we got there... a little conure cage with one perch and no toys that all three lived in. I wanted to take the other one which was up for sale as well but I simply did not have the money to purchase and treat both. So with a heavy heart I left her there (I think it will haunt me... you will find out why later in the story).
I looked outside and noticed she had a little cavalier chained up outside... she noticed I had seen her and said "Thats my breeding *****, she has puppies for me, she just weaned her last litter. We should have more puppies available in february... she's usually got babies, thats her thing now, thats just what she does..."
As a long time rescue organiser... I felt my face turning red with anger. I looked at her and said "we have to go", I put the money on her table and walked out the front door. Strangely she followed me chatting all the way. As we were putting our new bird into the car she mentions the injuries...
"I think they got hurt in the crate on the way up here..." I gave her a look so she continues...
"I bought them from an aviary in South Australia for $120 each plus $50 shipping. Its a really good deal so we'll probably be doing that every year for a little bit of money. They were in a crate together on the plane for 5 hours so I think they got freaked out and hurt on the trip."
She hadn't handreared these babies at all. Someone else in south australia did. Whats worse is, in South Australia, it is perfectly legal to take galahs from the wild... you do not even need a permit as they are an exempt species. I don't know if my bird is from a long line of aviary bred stock, or if he or his parents were taken from the wild. The aviary where they came from, does not advertise that they breed galahs and when I asked them if they do, they did not reply. If I was smart, I would have asked for my money back on the spot and taken him back in and forgotten about it... got myself a bird from someone with ethics.
On advice I had him tested for psitticosis & PBFD and got a DNA test at the same time (still waiting on results). His wing is sprained, probably from a conpletely incorrect wing clip prior to fledging. All his wing feathers have been cut straight across on one wing only. We balanced it out by cutting the other so he could at least land properly... we couldn't afford imping.
I am in a way glad I didnt take him back, he deserves a chance. He is such a character, I love him to pieces... and with rest and time and a little TLC his wing should heal up. He is already putting on condition and his feathers look amazing compared to when I picked him up.
However I paid a heck of a lot for him and will end up paying a lot more with time.
I remained in contact with the girl I purchased from initially, I thought she was simply ignorant. I thought I could guide her to a more ethical course of action and get her to take limpy to the vet. At one point she even suggested we take them to the vet together... but she ended up ignoring my efforts to arrange that. And after speaking to her for some time I realised she was malicious and feigning ignorance! And so now I am even more mad than before. She had them DNA tested (online) but did not get them health tested or take them to the vet!!! She claims the limping girl is better now. I got the feeling if she cant sell her, she intends to keep them and breed them!!!!!!!!!! They turned out to be a boy and a girl. She claims she has no money to buy them toys (HELLO I gave you $350 for the bird!!!) so I gave her ideas on how to make some home made toys from safe household or cheap supermarket items... all she said was one word.. "thanks".
So yeah... I'm mad!
And now we get to our problems.
1. He was clearly not weaned properly... I have no idea how old he is, the aviary he came from no longer get back to me after my question regarding galahs and the stupid girl I purchased him from has been advertising them as 10 weeks old for the past 2 weeks. I asked her specifically how old they are and when they were weaned... she said "They are 10 weeks old and were weaned a few weeks ago". He begs for food, scratches or for a reason I just can not understand. He is eating reliably on his own though I will have to cut peas out of his diet because he will only eat the peas and refuse everything else and screams if there is no peas in his food!!
He does not take handfeeding, he will take a small amount and then just continue his begging behaviour while rejecting food. As you can probably imagine, having a loud begging baby who cant be satisfied is a little frustrating. Having handreared bubs before it seems like a clear sign of a baby who was force weaned. We have had some success with diverting his attention to toys but I am wondering if anyone has any other ideas that may help improve this behaviour?
2. He screams. By that I mean they are especially loud contact calls (the galahs long distance contact call, a high pitched "cheep cheep", which he repeats every 40 seconds to 2 seconds depending on how worked up he is). He already knows I have to leave of a morning to take my daughter to school and from the moment he knows I am awake he will begin screaming. As it gets closer to time to leave, the screaming gets louder and more intense. He literally threw a tantrum today when we left (anyone with a galah will be familiar with their tantrums LOL). He screams every time we talk, whether in his cage, on his play gym or on the floor. He screams when I give him his fresh food and there is no peas in it LOL We are attempting to combat this by answering him only when he makes a noise of an appropriate level. He is already beginning to talk so I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just get the feeling the tunnel is a long one He gets very worked up and I am already thinking he may be a bird that requires the company of another bird. Thats not something to jump into lightly, so I am going to get his behaviour under control as much as I can manage and have a long hard think about getting him some company. I wish I could go pick up that other little one! She has shown no intention to budge on the price. *SIGH*
Is there anything else anyone can suggest for this?
If anyone suggests clicker training, checking his diet, foraging toys, bigger cage, more out time etc I will scream LOL Sorry But he has the largest cage available on this continent that isnt an aviary, he has many foraging toys plus fresh branches regularly, he has destructible toys and perches, heaps of out time and we have already begun clicker training.
Argh my head... screaming has started again. Currently its a contact call every 10 seconds. We are in the same room, we aren't talking, my partner is moving around a bit but I am sitting still. He is in his cage, he was on his play stand but flew to me and started begging so I put him in his cage with some food. He screamed for a while but was talking happily for five minutes until now. Any help greatly appreciated, I have a pretty bad headache and its hard to stay perfectly calm with a pounding head and a screaming bird.
I am an experienced, dedicated owner who goes above and beyond for her animals. I don't want any inexperienced or basic advice, I don't want any guesses or lectures on basic care. Its just likely to infuriate me further... I am already extremely angry right now. You will see why.
I will start with my story and then get to the current problem.
A girl in the same suburb as me advertised some handreared galahs for sale... so I casually went around to have a look... according to the girl, these were galahs she handreared and had been extensively socialised with children and strangers and everything.... particularly appealing for my situation (being concerned about breeder raised birds who are raised in a bird room with little human contact except for feeding).
When I got there, the birds were out on the lounge. They were all disgustingly filthy, underweight and two of them were obviously injured. One particular guy was very friendly and my heart just couldn't bear to leave him. He held his wing funny, away from his body and down.
(I had washed him in this photo, I wish I got a photo of him prior to being cleaned up!!)
Another one's foot was very swollen and she limped on it, she couldn't balance to perch properly and was clearly in pain. I asked her if she was going to take them to the vet or knock the price down ($350 without DNA sexing or any health testing... very expensive for my area of Aus) so the new owners could. She said no, both accounts (she didn't answer directly but made it clear she wouldn't). I told her I would go home and think about it.
My partner could tell I wanted to take him home... he got the money out and told me to get in the car and we'd go pick him up (God bless his sweet heart!! <3 I love that man!). We went and picked him up, he was in the cage they had been kept in when we got there... a little conure cage with one perch and no toys that all three lived in. I wanted to take the other one which was up for sale as well but I simply did not have the money to purchase and treat both. So with a heavy heart I left her there (I think it will haunt me... you will find out why later in the story).
I looked outside and noticed she had a little cavalier chained up outside... she noticed I had seen her and said "Thats my breeding *****, she has puppies for me, she just weaned her last litter. We should have more puppies available in february... she's usually got babies, thats her thing now, thats just what she does..."
As a long time rescue organiser... I felt my face turning red with anger. I looked at her and said "we have to go", I put the money on her table and walked out the front door. Strangely she followed me chatting all the way. As we were putting our new bird into the car she mentions the injuries...
"I think they got hurt in the crate on the way up here..." I gave her a look so she continues...
"I bought them from an aviary in South Australia for $120 each plus $50 shipping. Its a really good deal so we'll probably be doing that every year for a little bit of money. They were in a crate together on the plane for 5 hours so I think they got freaked out and hurt on the trip."
She hadn't handreared these babies at all. Someone else in south australia did. Whats worse is, in South Australia, it is perfectly legal to take galahs from the wild... you do not even need a permit as they are an exempt species. I don't know if my bird is from a long line of aviary bred stock, or if he or his parents were taken from the wild. The aviary where they came from, does not advertise that they breed galahs and when I asked them if they do, they did not reply. If I was smart, I would have asked for my money back on the spot and taken him back in and forgotten about it... got myself a bird from someone with ethics.
On advice I had him tested for psitticosis & PBFD and got a DNA test at the same time (still waiting on results). His wing is sprained, probably from a conpletely incorrect wing clip prior to fledging. All his wing feathers have been cut straight across on one wing only. We balanced it out by cutting the other so he could at least land properly... we couldn't afford imping.
I am in a way glad I didnt take him back, he deserves a chance. He is such a character, I love him to pieces... and with rest and time and a little TLC his wing should heal up. He is already putting on condition and his feathers look amazing compared to when I picked him up.
However I paid a heck of a lot for him and will end up paying a lot more with time.
I remained in contact with the girl I purchased from initially, I thought she was simply ignorant. I thought I could guide her to a more ethical course of action and get her to take limpy to the vet. At one point she even suggested we take them to the vet together... but she ended up ignoring my efforts to arrange that. And after speaking to her for some time I realised she was malicious and feigning ignorance! And so now I am even more mad than before. She had them DNA tested (online) but did not get them health tested or take them to the vet!!! She claims the limping girl is better now. I got the feeling if she cant sell her, she intends to keep them and breed them!!!!!!!!!! They turned out to be a boy and a girl. She claims she has no money to buy them toys (HELLO I gave you $350 for the bird!!!) so I gave her ideas on how to make some home made toys from safe household or cheap supermarket items... all she said was one word.. "thanks".
So yeah... I'm mad!
And now we get to our problems.
1. He was clearly not weaned properly... I have no idea how old he is, the aviary he came from no longer get back to me after my question regarding galahs and the stupid girl I purchased him from has been advertising them as 10 weeks old for the past 2 weeks. I asked her specifically how old they are and when they were weaned... she said "They are 10 weeks old and were weaned a few weeks ago". He begs for food, scratches or for a reason I just can not understand. He is eating reliably on his own though I will have to cut peas out of his diet because he will only eat the peas and refuse everything else and screams if there is no peas in his food!!
He does not take handfeeding, he will take a small amount and then just continue his begging behaviour while rejecting food. As you can probably imagine, having a loud begging baby who cant be satisfied is a little frustrating. Having handreared bubs before it seems like a clear sign of a baby who was force weaned. We have had some success with diverting his attention to toys but I am wondering if anyone has any other ideas that may help improve this behaviour?
2. He screams. By that I mean they are especially loud contact calls (the galahs long distance contact call, a high pitched "cheep cheep", which he repeats every 40 seconds to 2 seconds depending on how worked up he is). He already knows I have to leave of a morning to take my daughter to school and from the moment he knows I am awake he will begin screaming. As it gets closer to time to leave, the screaming gets louder and more intense. He literally threw a tantrum today when we left (anyone with a galah will be familiar with their tantrums LOL). He screams every time we talk, whether in his cage, on his play gym or on the floor. He screams when I give him his fresh food and there is no peas in it LOL We are attempting to combat this by answering him only when he makes a noise of an appropriate level. He is already beginning to talk so I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just get the feeling the tunnel is a long one He gets very worked up and I am already thinking he may be a bird that requires the company of another bird. Thats not something to jump into lightly, so I am going to get his behaviour under control as much as I can manage and have a long hard think about getting him some company. I wish I could go pick up that other little one! She has shown no intention to budge on the price. *SIGH*
Is there anything else anyone can suggest for this?
If anyone suggests clicker training, checking his diet, foraging toys, bigger cage, more out time etc I will scream LOL Sorry But he has the largest cage available on this continent that isnt an aviary, he has many foraging toys plus fresh branches regularly, he has destructible toys and perches, heaps of out time and we have already begun clicker training.
Argh my head... screaming has started again. Currently its a contact call every 10 seconds. We are in the same room, we aren't talking, my partner is moving around a bit but I am sitting still. He is in his cage, he was on his play stand but flew to me and started begging so I put him in his cage with some food. He screamed for a while but was talking happily for five minutes until now. Any help greatly appreciated, I have a pretty bad headache and its hard to stay perfectly calm with a pounding head and a screaming bird.
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