darth_mint Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 Poor Nicky. I have a terrible feeling I mishandled him, and on his very first day too. I brought him home in a cardboard box, and when I opened it, he tried to climb out - and couldn't! He kept slipping back down to the bottom, and started flapping. My father was watching, and before I could say anything he barged past, grabbed Nicky and shoved the poor bird into the cage head first - just as if he was handling a chicken! I don't know if Nicky is ever going to forgive him. Nicky's taken up station on the food tray, and hasn't budged for the last four hours except to climb partway up the corner and down again. He ate some mix, dismembered the shell of a nut, threw some bits of chewed-up food out of the cage, didn't drink anything. What should I do next? It's 8pm or so and he seems to have gone to sleep, still sitting on the food tray. I'm keeping the room dark and asked the rest of the family not to disturb him. I need to think of a way to reassure him, let him know that awful welcome isn't going to be a regular thing - I'm so scared he'll develop a fear of hands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slmclean Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 aww the poor thing i would just try and work with him by yourself with no one around and see if that helps just take it slow and be patient i'm sure someone else here will have more help for you to hang in there and best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 He is in a whole new world and needs to get used to the surroundings, Cage and People. Just let him sleep peacefully and have everyone around him stay calm, talk gently and happily to him. Since he picked you at the store, approach the Cage slowly and see if he offers to beak you again. Then depending on his reaction, either offer to open the cage and see if he will step-up or just back away a little, sit next to the cage and talk to him. Patience is the main ingredient right now. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 Relax and don't stress Remember Nicky can sense the feelings you are having - act happy and cheerful like nothing happened, and believe it or not, he'll soon have forgotten the whole incident. Sit near the cage and read stories, sing nursery rhymes and talk about everything and anything you can think of. Lots of laughing and fun-times is what he needs to see. Tomorrow is another day, don't worry your baba will be fine fine fine. The vet that we don't take Zahzu to anymore did that to Zahzu while he was shouting at me, and she's recovered from that....so don't stress! Focus on the positives and enjoy your new baby! Don't be worrying about anything too much. Sameera Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darth_mint Posted July 30, 2008 Author Share Posted July 30, 2008 Nicky woke up briefly while I was in the shower (parrots can pick the most incredible times!) and made an unbelievably loud oriole call. I heard it in the bathroom and was wondering why an oriole was awake at this time! :laugh: I've been using an interaction method which worked very well with my budgies. Every so often - 30 mins to 1 hour - I drop by the room where he's sleeping, very quietly, to check on him. If he's awake I say a few words very softly, keep my body language relaxed and drowsy, maybe even sit down beside the cage and close my eyes as if going to sleep myself. It always sent the budgies to sleep, and Nicky seems to be taking it well too. At least, he closes his eyes when I do. Then opens them again when I get up to leave... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane08 Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 Sounds as though you are doing a great job by checking up on him every so often. He will wake in the morning and just think it was a nightmare and forget it. Just keep doing what you are doing and it will all be fine. We mishandled our grey when we brought him home as well, which was a lot worse than what you did and he got over it. I feel ashamed of what we did now...we used the press on the abdomen method to get him to step up and he hated it and hated us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tycos_mom Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 Greys need 10 to 12 hours of totaly undisterbed sleep to be happy mabie you should think about covering his cage at night so he can sleep without getting woken up all the time just a sugestion. All my birds get covered at 8pm except on the nights that I have to work and then they have to wait til I get home at 1130pm but there is nobody home to disturb them and before I go to work I turn off all the lights so as soon as the sun goes down they have complete darkness and quiet. I only work 3 nights a week so most nights I'm home to tuck them in at 8pm. onthe nights that I work I keep their cages covered for an extra hour in the morning just to make up for the disturbance of covering them at midnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darth_mint Posted July 30, 2008 Author Share Posted July 30, 2008 Thank you for the encouragement everyone! Nicky's finally sound asleep - in a most uncomfortable-looking posture with his neck arched all the way forward. He's managing to ignore the miscellaneous sounds from the rest of the house, I guess that's a good sign. I expect to be jolted out of bed by some appalling parrot noises early tomorrow morning :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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