I just want to know what he's stressed about. I have not needed to
give him meds in almost 4 weeks, he's totally enjoyed himself in
taking a bath in the kitchen sink, he is within plain veiw of the
other keet, and I let them have time together- I don't leave them
apart for too long.
I know the breeder hid some things from me, but these birds were
VERY young when I got them. I knew nothing of budgies, so I did not
know six weeks was to early for hand-fed babies. As far as abuse,
it is more neglect. When I first brought them home, the cinnimon
was a fairly dingy color. I knew nothing about the real colors of a
cinnimon, until he took a bath and this vibrant blue showed itself,
and the dark coverts became more golden. Needless to say, the birds
were filthy when I brought them home.
Then the un-weaned thing with the bird in text, and the
bacterial/upper respitory infection they ended up with... The
breeder blamed it on my "past use of teflon pans", dirty cages with
dirty perches (How would she know? Beats me. I would not have a
problem with eating off the floors of my cages or standing on my
perches- I clean them ALL the time.) and the fact I smoke. I don't
smoke in my car or in my home- and if they were suffering from
teflon poisoning, they would have been dead in less then a half
hour of being in my home, and the effect of cigarette smoke would
not effect something within the first hour that they were here. It
takes time for smoke intusion. There is nothing that moves that
fast that would not kill them in an hour. Meaning, I bought them
sick. It took the lady 3 calls and one email a week for three weeks
after it happened before she got back with me. And, I do need to
point out, she smoked too ^_-
I found a few more feathers, and one looked like it was a blood
feather. I hope he's moulting. I REALLY hope he's moulting.
I try to reward him for being good by letting him be with his
brother, then he blows it when he gets on top of his borther, pins
him and starts feather pulling.
I talked to another avian vet down-state from me, and she
said "There can sometimes be mean birds born from a clutch." Makes
sense.
I can reach into the cage and say "step-up", and he does step up
onto my hand without hesitation, but he immidiately bolts once
outside his cage. I am concerned about this- his wings are at an
extreme clip (done by the breeder, not me) and he falls like a
rock. I am afraid he is going to hurt himself if he keeps this up.
Outside the cage, he is a little crab. I know he knows step up. He
just won't do it.
It took me twenty minutes to get one shot, and this was one of the
last pictures I took.
On 11/14/05, jill wrote:
>
> sometimes being under alot of stress will start a bird to
> molting. sometimes persisitance is the key when dealing with a
> mistreated animal(not just a bird) it takes them a long time
> sometimes to learn to trust. the other one may not have been
> abused as much or as often as this particular fella. slow easy
> movements....maybe just open the cage door and leave it open
> while your in the room for a few days, then once that's ok with
> him try resting your hand on the door for 5 min a day for a
> couple of days, when this is ok...try reaching in to pet
> him....he may just be very nervous...with persistance he will
> come out of it. are you certain this is a male? sounds more
> female is all....hope this helps somehow, jill
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