Just adopted a 3yr old goffins

[AustinMatties]

Hello, I have been on this forum for a while now and kind of just peek and read mostly but felt like maybe I should make a post about the goffins I just adopted. Found him on Ebay Classifieds and he was being sold for reasons that the owners were flighty about. [Im guessing a tax refund impulse buy]. Over the phone they told me that he plucks some of his feathers (about a half-dollar size on his chest and under both wings) but I drove to get him anyways (2.5hours both ways).

Anywho, I talk to him on the way home and he says some of the words he knows to me and screams a bit but not uncontrollably. I get him home and take him out of the carrier I brought him home in and he immediately flies up to my arm and starts rubbing on me. I go to pet him and he leans into my hand, and begs me to scratch him and pet him. He is a very sweet boy but he has some small "bumps" on his neck and his feathers dont quite feel right. I of course am going to get him a vet checkup as soon as I can get him in, but was just wondering if anyone has any ideas or suggestions?

They gave me a cage which is pretty big, but is not that great of a cage. I am going to put him in a Cal. cage I have in my basement and see how he likest hat. He came with a TON of toys and it makes me wonder why they arent in his cage, especially the preening-friendly toys.

He has also been on seed only for as long as I know, they bought their seed in a bulk bottle at Walmart and that's all theyve been feeding him [gross].

I am mixing in roudybush and ZuPreem in with his seeds in hope that he will take to one of the two pellets, and am going to get him some better quality seed mix on Monday when I get a chance.

I guess my main concern is the strange feeling he has in his feathers, and the little "bumps" I think I feel... They have a Mite killing sphere thingy on the cage and I bought some mite killer a while back but i'm told that he is terrified of any and all spray bottles. The cage I got with him is filthy and I don't think they've cleaned it since they got it but tonight I am not going to have a chance to change out his cages...

Planning on giving him a nice bath tomorrow and returning him to a nice new clean cage and some nice clean preening toys!

Has only grabbed on to my finger once so far and it was just an investigative bite. Other than that so far he is wonderful! I also have a YSGC conure in my home and Im taking extra precautions with the cockatoo to make sure that if he has mites or something of the sort that it does not get passed on to my conure.

Any comments or suggestions would be wonderful!
Will post some pictures as soon as I can

 

[MikeyTN]

Hard to say what those bumps may be. Those mite killing things that hangs on cages are worthless plus they're not good for the birds! IF he's got mites, it should be pretty easy to spot if you look carefully. Thank goodness I never had to deal with that issue with my birds. JUST have an watchful eye, he will test you how far he can go. Dixie came home sweet like that and then she changed. So I had to retrain her and she's been fine ever since and we've had her for 7 years. Java our newest addition still try to test his limit. He has his good days and bad days. Today is a bad day, he nips at me constantly and acting crazy. I know his hormones is kicking right now so I keep my distance when he's like this. And he probably be his sweet self tomorrow and ready to come out and cuddle. Just take him to the vet for a full checkup like your planning on doing so you'll know what those bumps are for sure.

 

[roxynoodle]

Are you sure they are bumps or could you just not be used to the larger feather shafts of a bigger bird? Pete lost a big wing feather the other day that had such a tough shaft it prevented me from sliding the grate out, lol! They are quite a bit different than what I am used to from my conure. Even he looked surprised when it went flying. I showed it to him and said, "Wow, Petey, you made this thing?" And he was looking at it like it was shocking, too.

 

[AustinMatties]

Haha, i think what I was feeling is that he plucks an area by his neck and i was just feeling the raw skin underneath and it is just different from the rest of his body. So i've come to find that he plucks much more than I thought he did. He is almost always messing with his chest/under his wings, and often scratches the back of his neck with his food. He has been grabbing his feathers with his foot and chewing/preening them with his beak. I am definitely going to get him to a vet asap because I dont want there to be anything serious wrong with his skin, maybe it's just irritated and thats why hes constantly picking at himself?

If he has some sort of skin issue and requires medication how much should I expect the vet bill to be? The avian vet i've found charges a $50 checkup fee, + any additional charges of course. And yes I know that the vet is always expensive for animals [I have three horses --> $$$] but am just trying to plan accordingly.

Teka has also been very clingy to my shoulder and I do not want to allow him on my shoulder all the time just based on the fact of the dominance behavior that i've read can develope. His previous owners obviously let him do whatever he wanted because he flies right up on to my shoulder and has tried a couple of times to climb up onto my head [Which i definitely did not allow].

When I try to take him off of my shoulder and on to my hand he either climbs to my middle back, or accepts but then jumps right back on to my shoulder

Lots of little things im asking for advice about!
haha any information from other bird owners is greatly appreciated.

 

[MikeyTN]

With the owners allowing them to do whatever they want to is how bad behavior starts. Then the owners don't know what to do with them and end up re-homing them because they can't deal with the issue when they were the cause in the first place.

Our U2 been very aggressive lately cause I think his hormones are kicking in, I believe I've mentioned it to someone else in another post that another friend of mine is having the same issue with hers. He's very nippy to the point I can't handle him without being nipped and he runs the floor and doing sneaky attacks. I think his health is in MUCH better shape since I changed his diet to pellets with fruits and veggies, that his owner couldn't do in 7 years and I did it in two months. I had to place him back into his cage cause he was just acting too aggressive and I sat with him and talked to him by his cage. The moment I left the room, he started screaming. I kept responding back to him by telling him it's ok. He kept getting louder, so the silent treatment it is that your not gonna get my response by screaming. He then quiet down real quick when he knows I'm not responding to his screaming. It's a loud high pitch scream that you need to learn to tolerate with a Cockatoo. A pretty white bird with a ugly scream!!! LoL...All they needed is boundaries being set and being trained properly.

 

[lene1949]

It's very hard to reinforce the flighted bird NOT to land on your shoulder... It's really the only viable perch on you, unless you hold up your arm...

My Max has got shoulder privileges, because he's always been very gentle around my face... I have found most parrots are gentle around faces, if they know what they are....

You can't say you don't want him on your shoulder ALL the time... Either he's allowed on your shoulder or he's not... If he's not you should immediately redirect him to somewhere more appropriate.

I hate Max flying onto my head, and he knows it... He will either go onto my shoulder, or be redirected onto his perch... He prefers the first one.

 

[mnkeastman]

Grats on your new Goffin

 

[oled]

Congrat to your Goffin, Good luck!

 

[AustinMatties]

Thanks! and he is very very sweet. Must have been abused in the past, I think he tolerates so much handling out of general fear. I am going to work with him not doing anything even slightly aggressive towards him,letting him do as he pleases. He gives hugs, and when he wants pet he'll put his head down an put his foot up onto his head pretend scratching himself

 

[luvmytooo]

Hooray , another Goffin owner
Congratulations and thanks for rescuing him He really is a cutie , love the closeup of him , lolol. I just love their faces , I just melt when I see Goffins They are such love bugs arent they ?
Sorry I cant shed any light on those bumps though , but I'm sure a thorough vet exam will help lots. But i can tell you that you have to set boundaries for him. They catch on pretty quickly and will mind them as long as you are vigilant about it.
Enjoy him and let us know how the vet appointment goes
I would love to know what those bumps are all about.

 

[lene1949]

Thanks! and he is very very sweet. Must have been abused in the past, I think he tolerates so much handling out of general fear. I am going to work with him not doing anything even slightly aggressive towards him,letting him do as he pleases. He gives hugs, and when he wants pet he'll put his head down an put his foot up onto his head pretend scratching himself

This may apply to dogs, but it does not apply to birds.... A bird that has been abused, will NOT let you touch him, if he's fearful... He'll move away or BITE.

Good luck with him... He sounds very sweet...

 

[luvmytooo]

I aggree , no bird that has been physically abused would let anbody NEAR him , no less actually get close enough to pet him.

He may just be starving for affection. But if you dont want him onyour shoulder later , dont let him on your shoulder now is what I am trying to say.
I can understand you dont want to tell him no in anyway , but to just prevent him from climbing on your shoulder is a good thing , all you do is use your other hand to block so he hits a detour everytime he tries to get there...
Birds are smart , they learn quickly but are also ones to push their boundaries when they feel like it , lololol.
Just love him lots and I'm sure you will have a awesome friend for life
What a lucky bird , he knows you rescued him

 

[MikeyTN]

I agree with both post above. I know my Dixie was abused in her first home because she was afraid to have her feet touched nor will she step up. But I've taught her to step up to a perch. Her previous family told me what the first owner did to make her step up, that lady grab her by her feet and yank her off her cage. Thats when I asked the previous owners why she was afraid to have her feet touched.

 

[luvmytooo]

I agree with both post above. I know my Dixie was abused in her first home because she was afraid to have her feet touched nor will she step up. But I've taught her to step up to a perch. Her previous family told me what the first owner did to make her step up, that lady grab her by her feet and yank her off her cage. Thats when I asked the previous owners why she was afraid to have her feet touched.

OMG ! That is one helluva way to teach a bird to step up !!
I got so mad after reading that, what a horrible person to do such a thing !! Just terrible < I cant believe it

 

[lene1949]

I agree with both post above. I know my Dixie was abused in her first home because she was afraid to have her feet touched nor will she step up. But I've taught her to step up to a perch. Her previous family told me what the first owner did to make her step up, that lady grab her by her feet and yank her off her cage. Thats when I asked the previous owners why she was afraid to have her feet touched.

OMG ! That is one helluva way to teach a bird to step up !!
I got so mad after reading that, what a horrible person to do such a thing !! Just terrible < I cant believe it

Shocking... Shouldn't happen...