worried about stressing him out

[FeatheredFiend]

hey everyone. i posted in the intro forum a few (?) days ago. we have a 13 year old CAG who we brought home one week ago. since we currently have a quaker in the house, we are doing the mandatory quarantine with goofy (CAG). this is gonna be a little wordy, so bear with me.

 

goofy has been vocal since the initial car ride home, going thru his repetoire of sounds - farting being the most often heard :laugh: he also has let us scritch his head since the first day. he is somewhat flighted, although he has been clipped. if he flies off his cage, he lets me pick him up and hold him. but to be completely honest, his beak is very intimidating to me. his previous parront was very good with him and they would play around, with goofy hanging onto his finger and letting his dad bob his head around. i know it's not IF but WHEN he will get me, but i guess i would prefer to be a little more used to him.

 

i know that these birds are very sensitive to stress and can start plucking or other types of behaviors, so i am concerned that the stress of moving in with a new family combined with being quarantined for 30 days (min) will incite some unwanted behavior. he is not able to be in his regular cage as it is too wide to fit up our stairs. he has some toys in his travel cage, and we do spend time with him when we are home. when the adults are hanging out with him, his cage is open and he is free to go in or out at will.

 

ok, now to the point: when i brought him his dinner tonight i saw a feather on the bottom of his cage. the entire feather. i can not tell where it came from, but he has no history of plucking. also, his tail feathers look a little ragged to me. i do see him discarding a lot of downy feathers tho. is this something i should be concerned about, like is this the start of some stress induced self mutilation, or is this something that is normal? i have never experienced a molt before, so hopefully this is all it is?

 

thanks for any help,

kris

[ziggy]

Hello Kris,

First of all your grey is stressed. Lets step back and think if you were him how would you feel. First he is taken from his normal enviroment, next his home(cage) is now not there, Next he is in a travel crate, And to top it all off he is scared. So is this a tramatic time for him? You bet it is. The feather thing you are discribing sound like a molt and not a pluk. Pluckers are very nerotic and very nervious. Pluckers are not very common in greys, cockatoos,and macaws are more common pluckers.(not to say greys dont do that). You need to get him a regular cage and get him aclamated to his new enviroment. This will take time no dought. You will have to watch him closely to make sure that he does not keep plucking his feathers. I my opinion he is molting. For his tail I would say he keeps hitting it on the carrier. He is fine just needs to adjust to his surroundings. You know that greys have a great memory and you should do everything in you power to get him in a cage, that is what he is use to and this will help handsomly in getting him comfortable in your house. He will adjust better if he feels secure. He needs to get to trust you fully before he becomes comfy in his new home.

[judygram]

Ziggy is right, Goofy is stressed, and he needs to settle in his new home before he will feel more comfortable. But I would not worry about one feather coming out, he is probably going thru a molt so don't worry needlessly.

 

It takes time for him to learn to trust you especially since he is 13 years old and has been taken from the only home he has known so give it time and be very patient with him.

[Christina]

Good advice. I would take his other cage apart to get up/down the stairs, so he would at least have his cage. I know its a pain but even the most "together" bird will feel anxiety without his cage. As an example, our B&G, is rarely in his cage, except to sleep...we took it apart one day to take outside and pressure wash....well you would have thought we were tearing the house down! He did his very best to stand on any part of that cage for as long as he could and this is a bird that wouldn't enter his cage for a drink of water on his own. Not that he doesn't like it, he just seemed to care less about it, apparently that is not the case. Okay, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that Goofy will feel sooo much better and you will probably see a difference in his tail as his travel carrier is probably smaller than he is used too. I know it might be a pain to take apart for a small amount of time, and then take it apart again to move it to the permanent location...but I think it would be worth it. Just my two cents.

[Guest briansmum]

yep sounds like a molt to me too. when they pluck they will go for certain areas (neck, chest, tail etc) and you would see more than one lonely feather. also the increased downy feathers are a sign of molting.

 

even so he really does need more space, if your travel cage is like mine it's too small to spend any length of time in. he will be confused and scared, it's a given. although you sound like you are doing well with him. i would try to get him in his regular cage a.s.a.p though

[chapala]

I agree that it's hard for a bird to spend 30 days in a travel cage. Does he get a lot of out time? He sounds social and probably enjoys company while getting to know you better. Do you have a playstand for him? Does he have shredding and other toys that he uses?

 

One entire feather plus some downies sounds perfectly normal, just general molting of feathers, so it's doubtful that you have plucking going on. Not to worry right now. Hope that 30 days flies by and he can have his regular cage and more activity and company.

 

The fact that he had a good relationship with his former owners means that it will be easier to create a bond with him, in my opinion. He knows how to relate to humans, and likes them. What works in our favor when we take a bird into our homes is that they really want to have a friend. Yes, it does take some time to get to know each other, but the fact that he lets you scratch his head is an excellent sign.

Reta

[FeatheredFiend]

thanks for all the input - helpful and reassuring. i have asked my hubby to disassemble the regular cage for me to really clean it, and so that we can move it upstairs for the remainder. one of us (me, hubby or daughter) spends the evening with him every nite, and throughout the day on weekends. we have another bird also, so we have to spend time with him too. when i am up there, i open the cage so he can come out. he has a couple toys and we give him paper to destroy, and he has chewed thru 2 perches.

 

we have seemed to make a little more progress - he will fly off the cage to the floor, and has let us pick him up no problem. tonite i put him on his playstand, and he stepped up from there to my hubby, then from hubby to me i took him for a little walk from the computer room to the bedroom and let him walk around on the bed.

 

i guess i kinda figured by now he had already gone through his molt... that coupled with the traumatic vet visit, i am surprised he even looks at me lol.

 

kris

[chapala]

Sounds like he's doing fine! Quarantine will be over before you know it, and since he's getting plenty of out time and company upstairs, I think he will be adjusting well.

Reta