My new bird seems terrified

[MichaelTheBird]

I have recently acquired a sun conure that I was not expecting. My father had owned the bird for about 6 months, but he recently passed away, leaving the bird to me. I’m not sure of how much time was spent with the bird before, and the cage was covered with a blanket when I went to clean out the home and found him. I’ve owned conures in the past, but they were always open and friendly. This poor little guy is terrified anytime someone walks in the room. He runs to the far end of his cage any time I open it, and he genuinely does not want anything to do with me. Now that it has been a couple weeks and he is still not settling, I’m beginning to worry. He’s not aggressive, just scared. I’ve been leaving him be to calm down, but I’m wondering if I should even be trying to catch him and hold him to let him know I’m not a threat, or if eventually he will settle. He does talk and seems relatively happy when he is covered or I’m not in the room. I just am not sure where to start.

 

[clark_conure]

I'm worried too.

I wouldn't cover the cage anymore and put the bird in a central location.

Leave her be but talk to her and provide treats and nutritional food and clean water. He/she may not have been getting that.

likely the bird is not clipped and if you try to get (him/her) out right now it would get him/her injured in fright or flight.

It's going to take a while, and you have no history I take it if the bird was even hand reared. So take it slow but be present in the birds life and talk to it a lot....it's all about acclimation right now.

 

[clark_conure]

and....TREATS!

 

[BeatriceC]

I work almost exclusively with badly behaved rescues (new acquisition of a baby not withstanding). The single biggest thing I do that helps terrified birds settle in is just a calm presence. I have my desk in the bird room. I have a laptop that I can take to the quarantine room. I sit near them and talk to them all day. It doesn't matter what. I read facebook posts, math journals, science journals, whatever. I keep a ongoing conversation with them, from a distance at first, gradually inching closer. The first few days are all about getting them used to me, the other people in my house, and my general household noise, and learning that the humans are not parrot eating monsters. I feel this is hugely important for their transition, and spending the first couple days letting them settle and building trust lays the foundation for me to be able to help with their behavioral issues much faster than if I didn't give them that time to get used to their new environment.

 

[MichaelTheBird]

Should I be trying to handle him or no? It has been two weeks now that I have had him and if I leave the cage door open, he will venture out until I walk into the room. He just seems to hate me. I would love to keep him, but he just seems so panicked. How can I calm him temporarily?

 

[RemiBird]

You will need to invest a lot more time into taming and rehabilitating him. Two weeks is really nothing. It takes a lot of patience too.
It has taken Remi almost a whole year to feel comfortable with the family members and accept scritches, treats ets. It's a lot of work, and not always successful. Sometimes with Remi it feels like one step forward and two steps back. Other times, it feels like we have done a great job. Rescue birds are a bit of a challenge but even those sweet, handfed babies can change later on, so there is no guarantee.

 

[Laurasea]

Do not force handling! But do encourage him to be near you. One way to shape behavior is to use food treats, for conures safflower seeds seem to be like crack. So set up a small treat dish, and every time you pass the cage ( I make up excuses to pass every ten minutes in a session) put a single safflower seeds ( or high value treat iteam) in the dish and say hello and walk on. After you've determined that he will come and eat the seed right away after you move off, you move to the next step. You come and say hello but only put the seed in the dish if he doesn't move away. You do that for a while, then you only put a seed in the dish if he moves towards you and the dish, even a single lean in or a single step towards the dish he gets a treat. What you are doing is shaping his response and behavior towards you. Sometimes you will back slide and have to go back to earlier steps. You are working towards him sitting right next to the dish waiting for you to say hi and out the seed in. After he is comfortable with that you can give the seed by hand, and then hopefully he steps up to get the seed and you are on the way!!! This whole process can take place advancing in a single day(rare) or several days, or weeks or months.. I've used this with two abused /neglected/ fearful/ parrots one my Penny the Quaker, and one a severely traumatized starved abused Nanday Conure. Penny just took a day to see progress and a few days to have her bring with me, but we had some big backsliding too. The Nanday took a couple of weeks to see progress, and month or so before I could hold him.
But in addition to that , I also spent time sitting close to the cage but turned sideways not confronting them head on, just reading out loud from my book.
For Penny I put the treat dish on top of her cage, near a rope perch , for the Nanday it was inside his cage. Why it works is they are moving towards you, changes there thinking, and they associated you with good stuff!!! There's other advise too, but this is a start. With a scared bird , abd all this new stuff don't give up!!! Way to soon, much more patience is needed

 

[MichaelTheBird]

Okay great! I will certainly try the high value treat approach. I don't have any experience in neglected birds, so I'm just really trying to not make this any harder on him than it has to be. I hate seeing him so scared all the time, and he only seems okay when he is covered, so I'm assuming that is how he spent most of his time previously. I have tried leaving the TV on a nature show or something similar while I am gone, but I worry that even that might be overstimulating.

 

[Jen5200]

Great suggestions above! Another idea you can try is to cover one corner of his cage to give him somewhere to “hide” if he feels scared, but also still see what is going on around him and get used to the sights and sounds. Birds can take a long time to settle if they’ve had scary circumstances. Keep trying different treats to see if something really sparks a positive reaction (just put it in his bowl and move away, see if he likes it). I’ve tried little bits of apple, safflower seeds, shelled raw sunflower seeds, pine nuts, other nuts. The goal being to find something that he has a positive feeling about...then let him start associating the good thing with you. Put it in his bowl and walk away, perhaps offer it on a spoon after he stops running away if you approach, then offer from fingers through the bars. Take it slow and you’ll get there . Lots of talking to him from a distance and gradually moving closer, when you see fear that’s the distance you stop at, keep talking and let him know that you are no threat, then back away. Repeat regularly and hopefully he’ll get accustomed over time.

 

[Laurasea]

Where is the cage location? How is it set up? What size is the cage? At what height is the cage? Are there other animals in the house? How many people are in the house?
All of these things have a big impact. If there are more than you living there, then everyone else must leave the bird alone, except for the first step of saying hi and putting a treat in dish when they pass the cage. Only you will do all other steps until you've built trust and overcine the fear.
The cage should be in main living area, preferably with a view out the window, and the back side of the cage against a wall. If the back can't be placed against a wall then leave the back part cover with a blanket at all times.
If the cage is too small and many are, I made the mistake of to small a cage with my first. Then the bird always feels fearful, there isn't enough room for them to claim their territory and to retreat to a safe comfortable distance from you. Also if the cage is to close to the floor or to low the bird feels constant stress.
It's time to leave that cage uncovered ( except for the back) all the time. His brain need stimulation.
If he really freaks out Everytime he even sees you. Then you need to find the distance at which he firsts seems uneasy, and park your self there and hang out reading, or on computer , till he ignores u, and every day see if you can move closer spot, abd just hang out. Till the merr sight of you isn't enough to ruffles feathers.
When you have to clean or feed always approach from the front of the cage, and start telling him I'm coming over there to feed you and clean cage. Give him space to move away from you while you do, and move slow and calm. Try and establishe a routine, birds seem to like that, so he knows what's going on and when to expect it.
You guys are going to get there I promise!

 

[MichaelTheBird]

I have his cage in my bedroom. It is the only window that has a view of more than just a wall. I live by myself, so it is only me that he has to deal with regularly. I have a dog as well, but she has lived with birds in the past and does not approach the cage, and is shut out of that room whenever I am not home. I leave the tv on for him when I am gone to hopefully help. I just put on a nature show at a low volume where he can see the tv. He has watched more Bob Ross too at this point than most people. I have a very quiet house so I'm hoping that will help settle him. The cage is a little over 5 feet tall and about 2.5 feet wide and deep. He has a little "play pen' that has a few branches on it as well, but I have not been able to get him on it at all. He has a little fluffy triangle cubby in his cage that he sleeps in, as well as a few toys.

 

[BeatriceC]

The most important tool in your arsenal for dealing with rescue birds is patience. Sometimes it seems like they'll never come around, then one day out of the blue they work up the courage to reach out for scritches, or start interacting with you from a distance in a way they haven't before, and it all seems to go quickly from there. Go at the bird's pace. You may have inadvertently made things a little harder for yourself simply because you didn't know. That's okay. It happens all the time with humans new to bird rescue. The important thing is that now you're reaching out for help and getting great advice. Just take it slow. Make all your interactions as pleasant as possible, and slowly he will build trust.

 

[Laurasea]

Your dog, might very well be causing your parrot great fear if he hasn't lived with a dog before. It's instinctual for him to view the dog as a predator. While you work on trust you definitely don't want the dog around. I have four dogs myself. And there will be a point that all can hang out , as long as you are dilligent about the dog. Mine know to keep five feet from me if I have the bird with me, but I never trust that the dogs instinct won't kick in. Even though they have been around parrots since they were puppies.
But back to your bird, your dog could be a big cause if stress for him for awhile. With my first parrot Burt The Bird it took six months for him to accept the dogs, even after that took a year before he wouldn't bite me if a dog came near us.
There is a blue sticky at the top of the Amazon parrot forum page calked I love Amazon ( i forget) by Sailboat. Anyway read that many pages but such great stuff, much of which will apply to you. Talks about rescue birds, birds that become cage bound( a dear if being out or away from their cage) and other stuff. I learned, and re thought some things from. Reading it. And there is a tips on bonding maybe it's u der behavior page not sure? Anyway spend time exploring the forum and reading topics even under other species.

 

[MichaelTheBird]

He seems to like the dog more than people. My father had a dog as well, and he talks to her from his cage if I ever step out of the room. "'mere dog" seems to be one of the few phrases he has mastered haha. I definitely keep them separated and she is never in the room with him if I am not home. She is a retired service dog, so she is extremely calm and has lived with bird before, so she doesn't approach the cage even when I am there.

 

[Laurasea]

Great! One less stress for the new guy then!!!

 

[wrench13]

My heart goes out to Michael, he is a poor stressed out lil guy. I hope you show him the patience and love he needs. Your getting very very good avice from the members here.