Plucking started again, and aviary being built---stress!

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Moderator: merlin

Plucking started again, and aviary being built---stress!

Postby allie » Wed May 09, 2007 3:09 am

Maggie,

I have been without internet service for a while but I have to tell you that I finally got your book! I wish I had had it 9 months ago when I got Luna. It's the best I've read on greys and I've read 4 so far! I love that you delve into the importance of understanding the wild bird in order to understand the animal in your home! I totally agree and love your background info on wild greys.

Anyway, the tthing that took out my modem took out my bird's sanity as well. It was a huge lightening strike on TWO trees at the same time in the middle of hte night with no rumbling or warning of a storm, just suddenly KABOOM!!!. Luna fell off her perch, and then was clinking around her cage for quite a while, seemed sheh couldn't find her sleeping perch. She started plucking again the next day. It scared the heck out of our dog who yelped immediately, and my parents too, as it hit the trees about 14 yards from their windows and blew out a ton of dirt from underneath them. Very frightening for all of us.

I'd love to discuss that issue more with you in order to make her feel secure again, but for now I have a dilemma. Tomorrow, the carpenter finally arrrives at 8am to start her aviary on my balcony. He was contracted months ago! He is a nice, soft spoken man, but a stranger who will be carrying a bit of lumber through the studio apartment to the balcony and then hammering for about two hours, and i have a plucking nervous bird! I told her who he was and that he was a "nice busy noisy person" who had come to help her have a home outside. We call the other carpenters who have been working next door, "just busy, noisy people" to try to make them seem less frightening.

Do I 1. Move her to the bathroom windowsill where she will hear it but not see it? She has been plucking in there ever since I tried showering her on her shower perch. So doesn't seem the best idea

2. Leave her in the security of her cage, and cover most of it so she can see me, but not the worker and the balcony and play soothing music and give her her pasta that she is chewing instead of her feathers lately"

3. Do I put her in her familiar travel cage, as we do for vet visits, and make the trek to my mother's home and keep her in her travel cage or on my hand in a quiet, albeit, new home. She hates my mothe by the way. I wonder if she will sense or smell that that is my mother's home. I could bring Avi-Cakes, a book to read aloud to her ( that seems to stop the plucking) or let her observe a quiet visit with my grandmother since she is sometimes interested in new people if they are quiet and non-threatening. I could even put the grill of her cage against a window in a quiet room there where she could see birds but feeel secure in her cage. This is all IF Im physically able to trek to my mother's house tomorrrow.

He gets here at 8am! What do you think is best for a very insecure and nervous bird? She is ducking at shadows and freaking out at the slightest noises these days. I guess we can discuss the plucking issue later. I've been taking notes on what makes her better and what makes her worse.

thanks again for being here and helping our Greys! She is so special, and no matter how nervous and uncomfortable, won't even bite. She will only eat if I hand feed her in the evening and let me give her her first head scritch the other day! I had forgotten to tell you! She seems so needy of me, yet bothered by my presence at the same time. Oh well, for another post.

Allie and Luna
The bird that lives with me is smarter than me!
allie
 
Posts: 74
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:48 pm
Location: Southern USA

Postby allie » Wed May 09, 2007 10:32 pm

Well, I took Luna to my parents' house, and she did really really well for her first visit somewhere other than the VET. We stayed outside for a while, which she loved, actually. She watched the birds and talked and whistled.

Then we went inside and had a social visit which was the only stressful time since too many people were in the room at one time and she was stressed by the noise, but I just let her hide in her carrier.

Then we realized that the workers would be doing the construction all day so we had to spend the rest of the day in a quiet bedroom by a window. She slept on my hand, played on my belly for over an hour, and we did some blowing of headfeathers for her. She even ground her beak as she went to sleep on my hand.

Now we're back home and she's nervously picking through her feathers again! I'll never understand these animals brains. I guess her stress is coming out now that she's home?

Unfortunately, we have more construction starting again early tomorrow morning. I don't know if I'll be able to physically get her to my parents and maintain her there again. Would two days in a row be too much to ask of her? If she had remained here I think she would have plucked herself, and she never once did it while we were away. My question is wil this event come out later on as having been a stressful factor that affects her behavior, I mean, if she seemed so good while she was at a new quiet home for a day, are we ok now?
The bird that lives with me is smarter than me!
allie
 
Posts: 74
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:48 pm
Location: Southern USA

Postby Maggie- » Thu May 10, 2007 5:23 am

Allie,

First, Luna is reacting to your own stress and anxiety. So, you need not to worry so much. Secondly, she sounds like she does get nervous easily, so it may happen no matter what, from time to time.

But it IS a good idea to get her out of the area of construction. Construction can send a bird phobic, especially if it is being done from above her head. So, keep her isolated from that.

Allie, the best thing to do about situations is to be as light, gay and happy as YOU can be. Make joke of things...light of things. Then she will pick up on you and react more calmly.

I think she did extremely well at your mother's home. Was that her first trip away from home with you? The more you do it, the calmer she will be.

The picking at feathers at home makes sense because it is her territory where she is more relaxed. Some picking becomes more like habit than anxiety. It may be her comfort zone. If you can, try to change the activity when she does it.....or even spray her. I don't mean as punishment, but make the feathers wet so she has to let them dry and preen instead.

Hoping this helps. We ALL love Luna!

GREY'T Blessings,
Maggie-
Maggie-
 


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