My first bird! A few questions!

[sphinxface]

I just got my first bird ever a couple weeks ago, I do believe he's about 9 months old, only the very tip of his beak is black now. I've named him Beezle even though I'm not sure it's even a boy yet! The people at the pet store think he's a boy, and someone said that if you hold them on their back and their tail feathers fan out it's a girl, which I'm sure isn't tride and true, but his didn't do that so I'm just gonna think it's a boy for now... ANYWAY!!

I've never owned a bird before, so its hard for me to tell what "normal" is. He is very quiet, he sits on the very top perch, it seems to be his favorite one. He's really fluffy most of the time, I'm worried he's too cold but I don't know what to do about that except cover most of his cage! He talked more before the vet visit(She said he's in good condition), But now he's generally extremely quiet through out the day. He eats, drinks, poops. Which all seem normal.

I'm really confused about how to go about handling him. The pet store said he was hand fed but I'm sure they didn't handle him much besides that. He isn't afraid of my hand in his cage, he just watches me and backs up if I get to close, so he doesn't like to be touched. I tried taking him out with a dowel but he doesn't want that to get too close either. Lately I've just been trying the grab-before-he-knows-whats-going-on method, and not letting him go. Sometimes he'll freak out but maybe he's calming down more. I'm just not sure what the best way to go is. I've fed him millet out of my hand, he's still very wary about this, it's been 2 weeks now. I'm just not sure how to go about gaining his trust... Maybe I'm too impatient?

Anyway, sorry this was all over the place, like I said, first bird, but I'll stop now and see what you guys have to say :)

PS: Sometimes he poops straight clear liquid, the vet didn't understand... is this bad??

[sphinxface]

I stuffed him in my sleeve cause he seemed really cold. he didn't do any protesting once he was in there... I think it's weird that he would stay in there without a protest XD

[bellarains]

Hi,

The watery poops, the fluffing, and the lack of energy do concern me a bit. I don't know what kind of vet you took him to, but an avian vet is definitely what you want. They need to runs a grams stain test(poop test) to determine Beezle's bacteria levels, and if they find anything from that, they may need to do more tests. Just a visual inspecition of a bird will not rule out infection, so if this was not done, it really needs to be done. If it was done, I would have them run another test just to verify the results.

I don't want to alarm you by any means, but birds are very good at hiding illness, as this is a self preservation mode for them. It would be best to have Beezle checked again ASAP, as birds health can decline very fast, and early detection is key to treatment. Beezle very well may be fine, but always better safe than sorry.

I hope all is well, and please do let us know how he is doing. We care very much about the fids here, and will be watching for an update.

[kimsbirds]

I'm a bit concerned about Beezle too.
Fluffed up, sleepy and inactivity means somethings' not right, healthwise.
I agree with Lori about getting an avian vet to check Beezle. The thing about reg vets is that they do a "sight only" checkup...the avian vets do more intricate work. A blood count, cloacal swab, gram stain are vital to start off with. This gives the vet an "inside" glimpse of whats' going on, as birdies hide their weaknesses VERY well, sometimes to the point that you don't know they're unwell until they're beyond recovery.
Can you describe a typical day in Beezle's life?
Did you change his diet from what he was already eating?
Can you inspect his droppings and give us a headsup as to what you are seeing?
Do you add anything to his water?
Give us a bit more info...
Seriously though...better safe than sorry...

Kimmie
Good Luck!

[Janie]

Great advice, as always, from Lori and Kim. :)

The only thing I'll add is my question about he little bit of black still on the beak. Is your lovie a peachface? All black should be gone, every speck, by 4 months old. I'm wondering if he/she is much younger than 9 months. Did you get him from a breeder or a pet store?

[sphinxface]

I'm a bit concerned about Beezle too.
Fluffed up, sleepy and inactivity means somethings' not right, healthwise.
I agree with Lori about getting an avian vet to check Beezle. The thing about reg vets is that they do a "sight only" checkup...the avian vets do more intricate work. A blood count, cloacal swab, gram stain are vital to start off with. This gives the vet an "inside" glimpse of whats' going on, as birdies hide their weaknesses VERY well, sometimes to the point that you don't know they're unwell until they're beyond recovery.
Can you describe a typical day in Beezle's life?
Did you change his diet from what he was already eating?
Can you inspect his droppings and give us a headsup as to what you are seeing?
Do you add anything to his water?
Give us a bit more info...
Seriously though...better safe than sorry...

Kimmie
Good Luck!

Well now I'm a little pissed off, seeing as how I WENT TO AN AVIAN VET!! (maybe I should demand a free office visit?) I told her to do her worst because I've never had a bird before and I didn't know if he was sick or not. She visually looked at his poop and said it was fine, it's dark dark, green worm shaped, with the white uratey thinggy... It was only pure clear twice, once when I got him, and once when I made him to sit in my hand.
I didn't add anything to his water, he's eating the same food the pet store gave him even though the vet told me to get pellet food.

Well all he does is sit there on his perch, fluffy half the time, he will bat at his toys sometimes, he'll grab the bell and try to take out the thing that makes it ring, or he'll beat them up like he's mad XD
He'll run down the bars of his cage and eat, kindof almost in a rush? He'll jump to the bottom of the cage sometimes to get a quick drink. He is usually awake, as in his eyes are open, but he will blink them a lot like he's tired. he usually sleeps on one foot, but sometimes he does sleep with his head behind his wing. He hardly ever cheeps now.

It is EXTREMELY cold in my room. Too cold for me even, I sleep with 3 comforters. I'm going to put a space heater in my room, it has several safty features, says no fumes so hopefully that will be good for him.

Still no ideas about how to handle him?? that was actually my main question XD

[sphinxface]

Great advice, as always, from Lori and Kim. :)

The only thing I'll add is my question about he little bit of black still on the beak. Is your lovie a peachface? All black should be gone, every speck, by 4 months old. I'm wondering if he/she is much younger than 9 months. Did you get him from a breeder or a pet store?

Sorry, this was totally a guess, I have to call the pet store to be sure. The band that was on his leg was confusing, even the avian vet didn't understand what the numbers meant, but she said it was this year.

[kimsbirds]

Lovebirds are generally from a warmer climate, so maybe he's simply trying to retain his body heat by fluffing up and remaining still?
See if the space heater makes a difference, even a couple of degrees should help.
Please remove the clacker from his bell that you've described. They can be swallowed or the beak can become entrapped in it, causing serious problems.
Seeing as this baby isn't acclimated to the cage and his surroundings yet, add a couple of extra food/water dishes and place them up high where he spends the majority of his time.
He might feel threatened if he needs to leave his 'high' roost to eat and drink, which explains why he's doing a run-for-it type thing.
Avian vets should at the very least do a gram stain for a new bird checkup. You can't SEE bacteria...but it lives in the stool...so the only way to see it is to stain for it.
Maybe do some looking around for a more thorough vet very soon.
Best Wishes
K

[sphinxface]

Lovebirds are generally from a warmer climate, so maybe he's simply trying to retain his body heat by fluffing up and remaining still?
See if the space heater makes a difference, even a couple of degrees should help.
Please remove the clacker from his bell that you've described. They can be swallowed or the beak can become entrapped in it, causing serious problems.
Seeing as this baby isn't acclimated to the cage and his surroundings yet, add a couple of extra food/water dishes and place them up high where he spends the majority of his time.
He might feel threatened if he needs to leave his 'high' roost to eat and drink, which explains why he's doing a run-for-it type thing.
Avian vets should at the very least do a gram stain for a new bird checkup. You can't SEE bacteria...but it lives in the stool...so the only way to see it is to stain for it.
Maybe do some looking around for a more thorough vet very soon.
Best Wishes
K

She said I could come in for a sex test without an office visit, so maybe she will do the stain test without one too?
This was the closest avian vet... I think she's more of an exotics than purely birds. Maybe that's normal?

His food is somewhere in the middle of the cage, and the waters on the bottom, I always try to make sure that's not directly under his fav perch hehe!

Thanks for your advice, now I wish I could figure out how to make him not feel so threatened :(
I love him even if he doesn't like me too much! He doesn't seem very aware of me, that he is but it's hardly a curious kind. Hes only tried to nip at my fingers once to see wtf is up. We were playing with his toys together :)

[kimsbirds]

The only way he'll start to feel less threatened is TIME.
Patience is the key to pet birds.
You will find that if they don't wanna do it, they just aint' gonna do it!
All interaction must be on birdie's terms, not yours. Make yourself available to birdie often, in time you will develop a nice bond.
Best Wishes
K

[Jally]

Hi. Congrats on your new baby. I've read that birds do pee, and noticed that mine does too. I've never known that! Anyway, the book that I read said that depending on what they ate, your bird may have more watery poos than usual. The pee is usually mixed in with the poo, but they can pee without pooing and they can poo without peeing. :)

I agree with everyone else, time will only help him to feel less threatened. Talk soothingly to him while he is in his cage, sit with him, read him a story, newspaper, TV guide...whatever just so he hears your voice. In my opinion, grabbing a bird is a good way for them to lose their trust in you. It has never worked for me in the beginning of a relationship, but maybe it will for you. Have you tried just letting his cage door open to see if he ventures out on his own?

[Minna]

I absolutely agree that it's bizarre that your avian vet didn't do a gram stain :( It's definitely worth asking after, especially as a pet store bird -being surrounded by that many other birds from different sources means they can pick things up, no matter how good the store is. :)

That said, there's a battery of tests that are good to get done on birds you've just brought home; I don't know the figures over there, but in Australia 1 in about every 10 birds has psittacosis, so new birds -especially pet store birds -should be tested for it. Not all vets seem to test for it as a matter of course, unfortunately.

(The first vet I took mine to didn't, and told me it wasn't necessary. My birds were positive for psittacosis.)

Birds will occasionally do watery poops -if they haven't eaten in a while but they've drank a bunch of water, for instance. But if his poop is consistently watery, that's a huge warning sign.

It's entirely possible he's just a bit cold and a bit tired and in a scary new place. The heater will probably help, and he probably needs a little while to adjust to the new sleeping pattern, since you're probably not on the same hours as the pet store. But tiredness shouldn't be so consistent, so here's crossing fingers that upping the temperature a bit will perk him up. :)

The thing about many bird illnesses, is that they often don't show until it's too late. Psittacosis particularly is something that a bird can carry for literally years with no outward signs, but one day when they're feeling a bit under the weather and their immune system is busy fighting off, say, a minor infection, it pops up.

Ack, sorry if it sounds like I'm trying to scare you! I felt that I was mislead by my first vet, and I was horrified to realize that Akira may have been carrying this disease for all those months, that I might have lost her. I don't want anyone to learn the hard way!

[Janie]

he's eating the same food the pet store gave him even though the vet told me to get pellet food.


There has been a whole lot of discussion about pellets vs. seeds on this forum and personally, I don't use pellets except those I add to the birdie cornbread I make but I do strongly suggest that if you decide to offer pellets, do not make a complete switch. You will need to slowly introduce them because a bird that has not eaten pellets probably will not recognize them as food and could easily starve to death. One of my three would have died if I'd removed his seed and offered pellets instead and truthfully, none of my three really like them or will eat them if they are in a separate bowl. I'm not saying that pellets are all bad but do think they should be offered in moderation and never as a total replacement for seed.

Even when I introduce a new brand/type of seed, I continue to give my birds the seed that they've already been eating and add the new type in another seed dish to see how they'll like and accept it.

When I adopted my first lovebird he came to me with a container of the seed he'd been eating in his former home. It was a cheap brand so I bought a couple more types for him to try but I did not discontinue the seed he was used to until it was obvious he was eating the new seed and ignoring the cheap seed.

[Christian]

There has been a whole lot of discussion about pellets vs. seeds on this forum and personally, I don't use pellets except those I add to the birdie cornbread I make but I do strongly suggest that if you decide to offer pellets, do not make a complete switch. You will need to slowly introduce them because a bird that has not eaten pellets probably will not recognize them as food and could easily starve to death. One of my three would have died if I'd removed his seed and offered pellets instead and truthfully, none of my three really like them or will eat them if they are in a separate bowl. I'm not saying that pellets are all bad but do think they should be offered in moderation and never as a total replacement for seed.

Even when I introduce a new brand/type of seed, I continue to give my birds the seed that they've already been eating and add the new type in another seed dish to see how they'll like and accept it.

When I adopted my first lovebird he came to me with a container of the seed he'd been eating in his former home. It was a cheap brand so I bought a couple more types for him to try but I did not discontinue the seed he was used to until it was obvious he was eating the new seed and ignoring the cheap seed.

My baby must just be a pig then...I can offer pellets and he chows down, of course he eats EVERYTHING I offer, and is bad to eat things that I don't offer (like my meals when I am trying to eat) haha

~ Anyways, back to the questions at hand...I have been reading through a few of your posts, and I would definetly see an avian vet ASAP..if you are too cold, then your birdie is most definetly too cold!!!!
Also, I have noticed on occasion that Estrella pees (and by on occasion, I mean in the 3-4 months I have had him, I have seen this all of maybe 4 times...and usually after a bath, or when he drinks more water than usual..so its not uncommon, but I would definetly check into it!!)
~I have noticed that after a long, eventful day, that Estrella will cuddle with me on the couch and sleep under the covers but this is usually either late at night (9:00 p.m.) or after a vet visit..
~PLEASE PLEASE take your baby to a vet, a QUALIFIED vet who will perform the proper tests, and please keep us updated!!

[danielleanne]

I'm really confused about how to go about handling him. The pet store said he was hand fed but I'm sure they didn't handle him much besides that. He isn't afraid of my hand in his cage, he just watches me and backs up if I get to close, so he doesn't like to be touched. I tried taking him out with a dowel but he doesn't want that to get too close either. Lately I've just been trying the grab-before-he-knows-whats-going-on method, and not letting him go. Sometimes he'll freak out but maybe he's calming down more. I'm just not sure what the best way to go is. I've fed him millet out of my hand, he's still very wary about this, it's been 2 weeks now. I'm just not sure how to go about gaining his trust... Maybe I'm too impatient?


Hi there! I'm also a first time bird owner :whistle:. I've had my lovebird Tico for a little over three weeks now, and were just beginning to make progress now. I also bought him (although i'm beginning to think he's a she) from a pet store. He was supposedly hand-fed, but it was obvious the birds weren't handled often. Luckily, the lovebirds were only there for less than two weeks. Tico acted exactly as Beezle has been for the first two weeks. As Jally said, try leaving the cage door open for him, he might come explore on his own. I opened Tico's door, sat on my bed with a book and sure enough I heard a chirp and flapping wings! :clap He ran around on the floor for a bit and I let him find the ladder back into his cage on his own. It took him about two hours to actually come out, but as someone already mentioned, patience is key. It's important for your bird to know that outside of the cage isn't dangerous and I believe it's best to let him figure that out on his own.

I've read on here that taking your bird to a small room (like a bathroom) is a good way to get your bird to focus on you for taming. I did this and it's been working wonders! :) In just two days (in several 15 minute sessions) Tico has learned to be much more tolerant towards hands. He now knows how to step up, step down and give kisses :clap. Maybe I'm just lucky :whistle: Make sure to put the toilet seat cover down, the last thing you want is to traumatize Beezle :) I also put all our bathroom products in a cabinet and covered the heater with a blanket. Just sit down on the floor and see if he comes over to check you out :)

Now, when I first got Tico I was so eager to play with him I just couldn't keep away. He was terrified when I grabbed him, and I stopped immediately once I read that your bird will begin to associate your hands with fear. He was just as scared of dowels and he was of hands. The only times I grabbed him after that were for the first few bathroom sessions, but, as I said, he now knows how to step up, so it's no longer necessary.

Tico loves listening to upbeat music and youtube videos with lovebird chirps. I play one for him every morning and he just goes crazy! :rofl: I usually play music for him when I'm at school, he seems to like it.

Anyway, I'll stop before this becomes a novel :rotfl. Just read through the Behavior & Taming posts and you'll most likely find everything you'll need to know.

Good luck with Beezle and let us know how it goes :)

- Danielle and Tico

[Janie]

My baby must just be a pig then...I can offer pellets and he chows down, of course he eats EVERYTHING I offer, and is bad to eat things that I don't offer (like my meals when I am trying to eat) haha



Christian, my guess would be that your baby was weaned to pellets, maybe seed, too. Big Boi and Shy were weaned to seed and pellets and would eat them when I first got them. I stopped giving them the pellets, just my personal decision, and only add them to birdie cornbread.

I don't want to debate pellets here, just to be sure that a new birdie owner knows that you can't just switch any type food overnight. Most birds who've been on a straight diet of one particular thing will not automatically accept the new food and could stave to death if the one food they know and eat is removed and replaced with something they don't understand to be food.

[Christian]

Christian, my guess would be that your baby was weaned to pellets, maybe seed, too. Big Boi and Shy were weaned to seed and pellets and would eat them when I first got them. I stopped giving them the pellets, just my personal decision, and only add them to birdie cornbread.

I don't want to debate pellets here, just to be sure that a new birdie owner knows that you can't just switch any type food overnight. Most birds who've been on a straight diet of one particular thing will not automatically accept the new food and could stave to death if the one food they know and eat is removed and replaced with something they don't understand to be food.

Actually, he was weaned to a cheap cockatiel mix and a few dark leafy veggies (I only know this because I called and asked the breeder myself what foods he had been exposed to)...I only started offering some pellets, to help out with his first molt...
I mix them in with his Nutriberries or seed about 2x a week..I don't want to risk overnutrition. He mostly gets Nutriberries and veggies... But I would NEVER just give him pellets alone..I have been lucky that Estrella will try anyting.

[thebubbleking]

I'm super lucky because what sunshine does not eat (which isn't much!) he feeds to boo and what baby boo does not eat (boos a very picky eater) she feeds to sunshine.
So they both get everything i put down and then some, even if one or the other doesn't like it it will eventually find the way into both crops lol
I have yet to find a food they both dont like so far so good:D