Help! Greenwing doble trouble!

[Lais]

Hi, I'm new over here.
It's a long story but I'll try to make it short.
Two years ago my dad passed away so I inherited, together with his house a beautifull 15 yo female greenwing named Pluma.
Around 5 weeks ago a friend aproached me me ask if I could adopt another greenwing of unknown gender named Pastor. He is a rescuer and he warned me that this bird was "dificult", aparently it was abused in the past.

I accepted, I have the time and money And I was sure that pluma would apreciate the company.
After the looooong process to get them to actually stand each other, it seems that pastor has bonded with Pluma and only with Pluma, it basicaly hates me.
Today they were playing around in the garden and when it came the time to go back to the cage, pastor got really mad and lunged at me but it was Pluma who gave me a really nasty bite in my hand (she was on the stick) and I kind of freaked out ( I know I shouldn't have).
They are now in the cage and my hand looks bad. I'm kind of scared, Pluma had never bited me like this before, not even Pastor had!
Is this how it's going to be now? We had such a good relationship but now I can't even go near the cage without having Pastor screaming and biting his foot, and now this?
What should I do? I know it was mostly my fault.
I can't posibly get rid of Pastor, they really like each other and I feel bad for him, he has been trhou a lot.

 

[noodles123]

Hmm...face-value, sounds like he is protecting his mate, but I don't have much experience with regard to bird-on-bird bonding issues...I am sure other members will make suggestions. My only thought would be to spend more time with them one-on-one (rebuilding your relationship) while possibly reducing the amount of time they spend together solo, but that may be bad advice...Again, just a guess, but I lack knowledge in this area. Can you at least put them in separate cages?

 

[Laurasea]

I think separate cages us a must (in my opinion) even birds that get along need separate cages, your original bird could be a but frustrated having to share. Pastor has been through a big change, even if his past home was perfect (tho sounds not) now he is in a brand new place. Even if his person was terrible he could still be morning the loss of the person. It just plain takes work and time to gain trust. Thank you for taking in this troubled new bird! I think you can end up with two great birds, but it takes time. For the new parrot I would spend time giving treats with out training for anything else, when the bird has better trust of you they will take and eat the treat rather than throwing it, it trying to bite you. When you get there move to the next step treat only when steps up. You can also use Pluma to model behavior to Pastor. I'm sorry you had a nasty bite. I'm glad you joined the forum and hope you find tips that help. I really would have separate cages especially for night, even if they are together during the day.

 

[ChristaNL]

OKe... DNAsexing first plze!
Than you will at least know if you need to worry about other things like fertilized eggs etc..

If your birds are truely bonding...you may be left out.
And a couple of macaws playing house are no fun - at least a part of the year-.

We always hope the new bird will look to the resident one and learn its behaviours, but sometimes the resident bird will look to the new one-- so a bird that had never been bitten can suddenly start to bite as well.
(unrelated if they are pairing off or not!)

You've changed the flock-dynamics and now you have to decide what to do...
Are you still the one that calls the shots?
Or is one of the birds taking over?

I am *so* sympatizing -> being bit by a friend is always a huge shock and the feeling of betrayal is worse than the bite.
I do not know how you reacted, but I am not blaming you for being less than an angel at that moment.


Work with both birds seperately (out of each others sight ) to build a working relationship and trust (again).
Because if they are enforcing each other in "bad" behaviour, you do not want that.
Pick your battles wisely and make them count / winn.


If you can reach him by PM -> contact Birdman666 because he knows heaps about macaws and flockinteraction! (not sure if he reads all these, so go ask him!)

 

[Lais]

Thank you so much everyone!
Yesterday I was really shocked because of everything but after reading your advices I feel much much better.
About my hand, once the sweling went down it doesnt look so bad.
I will start implementing your advices and working on relating to them individualy rigth now.
I already moved Pastor to another cage and spent some time talking and singing to him.

The problem is that as far as I know DNA sexing for pets it's not really available where I live, but I will see what I can do. In the mean time, separate cages.

Thank you so much for your help, I really needed that. I may will be posting photos or videos of my cute birdies soon

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Thank you so much everyone!
Yesterday I was really shocked because of everything but after reading your advices I feel much much better.
About my hand, once the sweling went down it doesnt look so bad.
I will start implementing your advices and working on relating to them individualy rigth now.
I already moved Pastor to another cage and spent some time talking and singing to him.

The problem is that as far as I know DNA sexing for pets it's not really available where I live, but I will see what I can do. In the mean time, separate cages.

Thank you so much for your help, I really needed that. I may will be posting photos or videos of my cute birdies soon

I think DNA sexing can even be done by mail now! I think you just mail in a "blood" feather and they can do the sexing thru that. Technology has come a long way!!


Jim

 

[EllenD]

There are many, many labs that do testing through the mail, all you need to do is Google "Parrot DNA Testing" and you'll find dozens and dozens of them. All you have to do is order a test-kit from them (usually they cost between $20-$30 USD, so they're very cheap), and typically they have you pluck a couple of fresh chest feathers, send them in, and in a week or two they mail you the results. It is a very good idea that you know for sure what you need to expect, even though they are now separated, because females still can lay infertile eggs, so regardless of the situation you're in, even if you only have one bird, you should always know their gender so that you're prepared for any of the serious conditions that can result from egg-laying, such as Egg-Binding. Just an FYI.

As far as your situation, I sympathize greatly with you, I know it must be difficult to lose your best friend, and then to also have the new bird you brought into your family seemingly hate you as well. However, this is a great example for anyone who is reading this as to why you should NEVER, EVER, EVER bring home a second bird FOR YOUR FIRST BIRD, because you think "Your bird is lonely" or you think that "Your bird wants a mate", etc. I know that this is not why you brought the second bird into your home, but we see people asking questions about getting their bird "a friend" every single day, and this is exactly why we try to convince them that they should NEVER get another bird unless it is because they want another pet bird for themselves, and unless they are going to immediately keep them separated, and also realize that the outcome may just be that they lose any bond that they have with their current bird.

Birds are very much like people in the way they form bonds/relationships with others. And the fact is that birds will bond extremely closely with their person/people when they are the only option they have, but if and when there is another bird available to bond with, and if they like each other and want to bond closely with each other, then they are naturally going to prefer the bond with one of their own species to the bond they have with their person/people. And a lot of the time people actually end-up with the total opposite result that you have, they bring home a second bird and even after many months to years they either don't like each other, simply tolerate each other, or they just hate each other and are aggressive and violent with each other, and cannot be put together at all, even while supervised. You got the result at the total other end of the spectrum, the new bird and your current bird eventually learned to like each other, and eventually this casual bond turned into an extremely close bond, and they were also allowed to house together, and they then became each other's mates, whether same-sex or opposite sex, that really doesn't matter much, they are extremely closely bonded with each other...And unfortunately as a result, your first bird no longer wants to be boned to you at all, as all of his attention is focused on his new mate, and this also goes for the new bird. So now you've essentially got a pair of Macaws that are intensely bonded with one another and have no room for a bond with a person.

As already stated above, you need to sit down and think about what you want to have happen here in the end, and what your goal for your relationship with both birds is. If you want to try to get that close bond that you had with your first bird back, then you absolutely have to break the bond he has with the new bird, period. This is why when you see people selling "breeding pairs" of birds their ads clearly state that they are "breeding pairs, not pets", because as long as these two birds have this bond, there's not going to be much room for you.

Separating their cages was step one, as they cannot be housed together and then be separated every time you want to try to spend time with one of them, as you'll only cause them to be protective of one another and that's when you're going to get bitten. I'm sure it was quite shocking when your bird, which you once were closely bonded with, bit you hard. I can't even imagine having one of my guys bite me like that, I'd be devastated. But it's a normal reaction from a bird trying to protect it's mate. You have to realize that right now he only cares about protecting his new mate from harm, and that includes you. There's also usually an element of jealousy involved in this type of behavior as well, as they certainly are not creatures who like to share their mates with anyone or anything. You need to work with each of them one-on-one, in a separate room from the other bird and their cages, where the bird has no distractions, no protective behavior, no territoriality, etc.

It's quite possible to get your relationship with your original bird back, it's just going to depend on whether or not you get his bond/relationship with the other bird to be one that is friendly, but not a close, mate type of bond. Sometimes it happens quickly, sometimes it never happens. Sometimes you end-up not being able to allow the two birds to have any contact with each other ever again, sometimes it works out that simply putting them in separate housing works. All of these situations are completely different, and can end-up with all kinds of different outcomes. But regardless, it's going to require you to commit yourself to working with them alone, one-on-one, away from each other and away from their cages, every single day, as well as trying your best to include them in your daily life as much as possible. Hopefully you are going to be able to "hit the reset button" and start over with your bird, and then also form some kind of positive relationship with the newer bird; it doesn't always end-up that way, but it's completely possible...