Fears and other questions, some tips please?

[Shades Of Grey]

Tui is doing great and has fully recovered from his fall. (I made another thread about his beak.) He is climbing around his cage and eating like normal again. I am so relieved! We have 10 pillows surrounding his cage with a duvet on top of them. I am not going to let him get hurt again, poor baby. I have noticed that he is acting scared of something on his cage top gym now. This was his favorite place to play and he went up there every morning unless I accidentally placed something new up there. He is funny because once he is up there I can give him a new small foot toy like a bottle lid or piece of palm shredder. If I forget and leave it there overnight, he won't go onto his gym until I remove it.

 

For the last two days, he has been acting scared of something on him gym. He will sit on his door and peak at the gym but then he won't go up there. It's like he is seeing something he doesn't like. I even used the ultimate bribe of a peanut, his absolute favorite. I wonder if he is scared because he fell or if there is something out of place or something. I stripped the whole top and just left newspaper and a dish of food but he still won't venture up there. Does your grey show strange fears like this? :confused:

 

I am also wondering what the best way is to introduce new toys and perches. I have a big bag of toys including a $40 coconut foraging toy. He doesn't seem interested in any of it. I have placed toys in the room where he can see them but he is fearful if I bring them any closer. I am dying to make a new PVC gym for him and get him off the darn cage and into other areas of the house. We set up a kitchen chair with toys on it because the previous owner said he liked to perch on a chair in the kitchen. We haven't had any luck with it. I feel bad that he is on his cage 24/7 and now he won't even go on top of it. I am trying to figure this boy out??? I guess time and patience is the key.

 

Any tips?

 

P.S.

When can I expect his wings to grow back in? I think he may have just had a molt but I am honestly not sure as we just got him a couple weeks ago. I am thinking I may leave him flighted next time and see how it goes. I just worry about that front door!

[Dave007]

Well, a few things here especially since he's getting older

Toys-----many birds, when they're babies, will show lots of interest in new toys for short periods of time and they also get tired of some those toys quickly or temporally. You can't expect your bird to constantly play all the time. They mske up their own timeouts. Another thing about toys----this is more in line with parrots, especially greys. After a while, an owner finds that they've wasted lots of money on toys because a bird starts focusing in on certain things and avoids other things. Many people eventually see that the simpliest handmade, unattractive toys are what peaks their interest-example wood. So, the expensive toys are put away. Of course, those expensive toys can be left there and sometimes the bird is attracted to it. It's called variety. The same thing happens with kids. So, I wouldn't be so alarmed at him ignoring certain things.

A very young bird can easily get frightened if something unnatural has happened such as an accident. falling off of things can cause that in a baby bird because it still hasn't gotten the total ability to deal with the unexpected. They can also get frightened if things like toys are moved around. You'll see this as time goes on although as they get older, those different things that go on concerning fright usually is replaced by ignoring the situation. Right now, you're doing the wrong thing by putting all of those new toys all around him. That can increase his nervousness. You look upon those things as toys. The pet shop calls those things toys but that doesn't mean the bird looks upon them as toys.

Maybe it is something up there that he doesn't like or is a bit afraid of. You'll need to leave him alone and let him show curiousity in those things when he's ready to.

""I feel bad that he is on his cage 24/7 and now he won't even go on top of it. """

That's something that can happen naturally ( lack of interest) or a bit of fear which makes him wanna stay in a secure place, namely the cage, until he's ready to go back to the way it was.

Wings----Molting and losing wings is two different things. Flight feathers and tail feathers die and fall out all year long with no regularity. The feather's blood supply dies and the feather is replaced. Molting is a process that happen once or twice a year and about 90% of the rest of the feathers fall off and are replaced by new ones . Usually, you can't see theose new ones except on the head and neck.

As far as how long the flight feathers will come back, well, thet depends upon which wing feathers were closer to dying before being clipped. So, some will be visible when coming in while others will remain until they die and fall off. It's a very uneven process and for some birds it can take anywhere from 4 to 8 mts or more when all of the feathers are back evenly.

Introducing new toys---very slowly and very few at a time.

Next time, double think about clipping him and wherever there's a problem, you'll have to bird proof that area. Lots of people have to bird proof areas.

[Shades Of Grey]

Thanks for the help

Just to clear it up a bit, I didn't give him any new toys yet. I took two things and put one on the wall-unit and one on the back of the couch so he can look at them from a distance. That is as far as I have gotten so far. I will move slow. I think your right, he seems to like little homemade foot toys better but I am hoping he will take an interest in the ones i bought..eventually. He actually did go on his cage top when we got home today. I think it was nerves form falling but its all good now.

 

As for the clipping, I mentioned before that I really wish I could keep him flighted but he is in our small living room and the door is close to the cage. He was flying into the door and trying to get out when we first got him. My children have been leaving the door open, its a tough situation because I have no where else to put the cage. We didn't plan on adopting a grey until next year but Tui needed a home and my heart went out to him. As soon as we move to a larger home next year, I plan on letting him stay flighted for life

[Dave007]

Well, good luck to you. More than likely, those fears and nervousness right now will disappear soon.--Little by little. If you'll be having trouble with the door in the future, there's different ways to bird proof it so that getting in and out isn't hard for you and the kids so when it's time ( when he has wings ) just fly in, land on the perch here and you'll get some chirps and opinions about what to do. Take care.

[Tweedle]

just fly in, land on the perch here and you'll get some chirps and opinions about what to do.

 

I like that

[Shades Of Grey]

I like that

 

I think that's cute too LOL. I will check into the bird proofing!

 

We had a bit of a breakthrough tonight and it really made my heart melt. Tui let me kiss his beak and rub his head through the cage bars. He was bopping his head up and down and giving kisses. He even sat on my knee on the couch and looked at a new baby toy that made sounds. This is the most we have bonded so far, it was so sweet. He did nip at me when I pushed a button on the toy though, it wasn't bad but he was telling me he wanted to do it himself LOL. Greys will be greys...

[judygram]

Thats wonderful news and even though it may not sound like much it really is for this bonding will happen in small steps over a period of time but you are definitely making progress, who knows how close it could become in the coming weeks, months and years.