upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Hello everyone! I haven't been here in ages, shame on me. My Rufus is now 14 years old and his life underwent big changes over the past 3 years. We moved into a different house and he is now housed (still with his cage-mate, a 13 year-old eastern rosella parakeet female who adores him) in the kitchen near large windows - the windows being something new for him. He wasn't that close to them before. This went over alright, however, so I don't think the location is the problem. Things really started to get him going when my mom moved in with us and brought her birds along. She has two budgies and a parrotlet. One budgie and the parrotlet share a cage because they are "in love", and the other little budgie is alone in another cage and he's between Rufus and Mango, and the other budgie and parrotlet. At first, this didn't seem to bug Rufus either. The person he really reacted to was my little old mother! Mom is now 90 and has never hurt a fly - she puts spiders out rather than kill them. She's taken care of Rufus many times when we were away so he knows her well. For some reason now he lets out this awful grinding squawk when he sees her, as if he's threatening to rip her arm off if she gets too close! She stoops and talks quietly to him almost every time, or ignores him, but he just carries on with this very threatening racket. When this reaction spread over to my husband it got to be too much and I would hiss at him to STOP or SHHHHH but, while he seems to know darn well he's not to make that noise, he can't seem to help himself. I've tried shooting him with a water bottle too and that stops him for the time being, but he soon forgets and starts it up again. Lately I'm noticing that there might be no one in the kitchen at all and he's making this awful noise - I'm thinking he's directing it at the little budgie, or wild birds he sees out the window. I'm getting to my wits end on how to stop this. I don't understand why he's doing it but there must be a way to discourage it. I've tried ignoring him when he does it, even leaving the room, but it doesn't matter if I'm there or not. He still spends most of the morning out of the cage with me, as usual, so I can't think what the upset is. Anyone got any ideas or insights? Help!

First, shooting him with a water bottle will not help. As you found, there isn't a long term memory for punnishment and all you do is make a neruotic bird.

He is probably a little jealous of the new birds and your mom. Is there a place you can move him and his cage mate so they don't see the other birds? That will be a start. Ignoring is the first thing to do, but after that, there is training him to make another sound.

He may be alerting you to things that are outside that seem dangerous too, so when you move him, keep him near a window to rule that out. I know that my birds will make a huge ruckus when there is a crow within 1/2 a mile.

If moving him is out, try covering part of the cage so he can hide from what is scaring him, a light sheet will work.

Here are some sites as well that will help.

http://www.cockatielcottage.net/questio ... uestion44b

http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-behavio ... quawk.aspx

http://www3.sympatico.ca/davehansen/tielscrm.html

You're quite right about the punishment and I'm red-faced to admit to shooting him with the water bottle. (I must say though it gave me a certain evil satisfaction! ) I can't move him anywhere else without really isolating him and Mango, so I will try hanging a light towel on one side of the cage again. I had done that for a couple days but they managed to pull it down. I actually did try whistling to him when he started the awful noise, trying to distract him, and it seemed to work a little so maybe I'll continue along that route and just persist. I think that whatever I tried, I didn't go on with it long enough. Thank you for your response, and the links are very helpful too! My birds also react to crows and recently there's been a hawk around too, which gets the little wild ones outside all a-twitter. Always something! Thanks again!

No problem!! Having several birds myself, I know how frustrating it can be when they are screaming and you don't know why!! My ringneck can put any tiel to shame, but I even react when the little finches make a ruckus.

With my ringneck, I found that having a small area to hide in helps, so I hope it helps for you too. If you are careful, you can use clothes pins to clip the towel in place, just keep an eye out for loose threads that catch toes.

Lol, that's exactly what I did - clothes pins - and they've already chewed through half of one.

lol that is how I used to have a blanket up on the back side of cages that were on a wall!! You may want to move to the metal cuttlebone clips that are out there since they are chewing the pins. I had to switch when my female tiel managed to mess with a clothes pin long enough to trap a toe. She was fine after I got it off, but it sure was scary!!

You can see the clips here, they are the third item down. http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/shopping_cage-sw.mgi

If you don't mind me asking, what part of the island are you on? My husband's family goes up to Port Hardy 6 weeks of every summer to fish. Hopefully I'll be allowed to do so next summer, we are trying to get pregnant this spring and I don't know what kind of travel restrictions I'll have.

I think you're right about those cuttlebone clips and I believe I've seen them at a local petshop. I sure don't want any toes caught - poor Mango has broken the same leg twice by getting caught in tight bars on the cage! We're in Nanaimo, quite a bit south of Port Hardy, but you'll probably either drive through or just past us on your way to PH if you go. I would think if your pregnancy is going well you should be good to travel. It's usually the last month or two that they like you to stay put. Is this your first? I've got two, son 22 and daughter 20, both still at home, but daughter is moving to Vancouver shortly.

Yes, it will be the first. I just hope that we will be allowed to go. I can't imagine sleeping on the ground in my sleeping bag though, we will have to think that one out. I hope I don't get seasick then either, I won't be able to take anything!

And you are right, we go right through Nanaimo!! Last year when we were in town it was with the last ferry and it was LATE.

Lol! I couldn't tell you the last time those ferries were actually on time! I see your point about sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag. Not the best arrangement when you're expecting!
I was just looking at your link to pictures of yourself and your birds! All your birds look so beautiful - the finches are amazing. And you have a 20 year-old tiel? You must've been terribly young yourself when you got him. He's a beauty. My first tiel was a lutino pearl and I've never seen the like of her since. She looked like yellow and white lace. I named her Chiquita. Sadly, she choked to death on something when she was only 4 and I was utterly devastated. A short time later I was in the bird store getting a "cockatiel fix" when the owner showed me Rufus who was half-naked and sitting in a shoebox. His parents had started picking his feathers out and he had to be removed and hand-fed. Naturally, my heart went out to the little guy but I was afraid to hand-feed him so I let them wean him before I took him home. He's been my buddy ever since! I enjoyed the picture of your three tiels at the bath - Chiquita relished a nice shower with me, hogging the water and later the blow-dryer - but Rufus detests bathing and I have to drag him into the shower with me periodically to keep him presentable. On rare occasions he'll let me mist him with that same water bottle I shot him with...
And you're a Tolkien fan! SO AM I!! I'm almost always reading something by Tolkien or about him. What a brilliant man - the more I learn about him and the more I read and re-read his works, the more astounded I am. So that makes it doubly nice to meet you, Christie!
- Liz

I know about the ferries being on time!! Last time we sat for hours waiting for the ferry, then dozed on the way to the island, and promptly found the first hotel that we could see!!!

Here are a few more links that aren't available on my site. I can't update the photos because my adobe photoshop stopped working and I can't find the CD.

http://www.christiessite.com/babyfinches - The 1st of two clutches of chicks from this season. The second clutch was greatly different in size and I was more hands off, they are just now weaning.

http://picasaweb.google.com/christiedickson - photos, some from fishing

Yes, I was pretty young when I got Tweety, I was 11 accually!

I'm sorry to hear about Chaquita, but your Rufus sounds like a doll! My Tweety will only bathe on hot days, but he LOVES a good spray from a water bottle. I don't own a blow dryer, so they don't get that treatment.

Yes, I admit, I'm a bookaholic. lol Tolken just keeps my mind so busy! I do love his books.

Sorry this is short, but it is the beginning of the school year and I am a sub so I need my sleep.

Very nice to meet you too!!

Some amazing photos there, Christie! Those tiny baby birds look so alien when they're newly hatched, don't they? My parents got a nesting box for a pair of budgies we had years ago and they laid a clutch of eggs but, being their first, they didn't do at all well and all the babies died. Unfortunately my folks didn't have a clue about hand-raising or anything and had to let nature take its course, but Mom would say that the babies looked like something "only a mother could love".

As for the ferries in summer, your best bet is to either phone ahead or get on-line and book yourself a reservation, especially if you're travelling on or near a weekend. It costs another $17.50 (more by next summer likely) but it's worth it. It's not uncommon for people to wait one sailing, sometimes two, depending on if all the ferries are even running. This summer we had a huge super-ferry hauled off service on a long weekend for repairs and it was utter turmoil.

Back to the initial topic of this thread, I lavished extra attention on Rufus yesterday and his screech actually seemed to diminish. I wonder if I've been neglecting him a little and not realizing it, but he did. He "asked" (in his own little way of course) to come out with me yesteday afternoon, which is unusual, so I took him out and we sat at the computer together and he was absolutely adorable. I think maybe I've become terribly busy lately and didn't give him enough quality time so I'll have to be more mindful of what I'm doing, I think. I had to slow down the past few days because I wasn't feeling well and it's made me realize I've probably been uptight with him and didn't see it. They are such little "barometers" of our own temperaments, aren't they?

Anyway, you've got things to do! Thanks again for your helpful suggestions. I'm sure we'll chat again!
- Liz

My Father in Law does book his passage since he has the truck and boat, but we just try to get there when the ferry is arriving. Last summer was a matter of we decided to push on and get to the island instead of staying the night at the boarder like normal. Our own fault.

Yes!! They really do let us know what we are feeling, even if we don't realise it. I know when I'm stressed the birds will be much more uptight.

The ringneck even will bark at me when I'm grumpy!!

I'm glad that you figured out what was going on! Now that you know what was bothering him, you can keep a closer eye on what is going on when he is acting off.

Thanks for the compliments on the photos!! I just wish my camera hadn't broken. I'm now using a camera that isn't as good, but oh well.

I think all birds are minature dinosaurs when they are hatched, and yes, they are a face only a mother could love.

On another note, did you feel the earthquake last night or was that too far away?

Earthquake? I had to look that one up at the Earthquakes Canada website - nope, didn't feel a thing. Apparently it was too far off-shore to be felt and too small for a tsunami, thank goodness. We have lots of earthquake supplies in the garage though in case we get The Big One. I'm hoping it'll be a good many years yet before it strikes. In fact, if it changes its mind and doesn't bother coming at all, I'll be quite content!

I thought we only worried about "The Big One" down here near Los Angeles!! lol

Never thought about it up there.

Glad that you didn't feel a thing!

Yes, we're on the Pacific Rim and get lots of small, usually unfelt ones, but they expect The Big One to be over 9 on the Scale. Scares me silly to think about it so I try not to. I think we're as prepared as we can be. We have travel cases for the birds out in the garage too, filled with bird food, in case we can't use the cages for whatever reason. I only ever felt one, about 12 or 13 years ago, and it was only a 4.3 but it sounded like a huge truck coming down the street and rattled the dishes in my kitchen cabinets. Quite unnerving.