Inherited Anxious Plucked African Grey

Judith Boyd

Judith Boyd

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We have recently inherited an African Grey... my Grandmother had many Greys (mostly rescues) throughout her life... and always in my memory (30 years) ... she passed away at the beginning of the summer holidays and we have taken on one of her parrots...
Unfortunately Aku (the Hausa word for parrot - a Nigerian language, as my grandparents lived and worked in Nigeria much of their lives) is a seed junky, as she unfortunately never ate much of the fruit and veg she was routinely offered and preferred sunflower seeds and monkey nuts as well as the near daily chicken legs she was given (not to mention the milky tea...) most of which I have now discovered are no good for her at all :( (my grandmother just carried on doing what she always did... even though the knowledge base about parrots has changed, she didn't know... but please, no negative comments, she was 92 when she died and she doted on all her animals ...)
Aku is currently with my parents as our landlord has said "no pets" & we are in the process of moving house in order to take her on...
We (my parents and I - and husband who's becoming a convert!) have started her on supplements (Vit D and calcium - "fussy feeder supplement"), installed a uv lamp (although she has been hanging out in the garden - with a parasol! - the last few weeks as both of my parents are pottering around the house / garden...) transferred her to black decaf tea, trying to get her to eat more veggies / fruit (I've offered her aloe Vera leaf...)
I'm planning to start making "chop" / "mash" and have some seeds sprouting for her...

Aku is a really sweet bird... I've never met a gentler African Grey and I've know 4 or 5... Aku never bites (she'll nip, but no harder than "necessary" to show she wants to be left in peace and only very rarely... she didn't bite even when she was really scared...) but she can be quite nervous... she's fairly weak, her balance and spacial awareness are really very poor... she is too scared to come to a hand (I think her poor balance is a factor) but she liked being held (see profile pic.... she was giving lots of kisses) when I helped her get down from being upside down in the top of her new cage (with her poor balance and spacial awareness she couldn't figure out how to stop hanging like a bat...)

(& to complicate matters even further I start teacher training on the 4th September!! So it's going to be a busy ol' time! )

Anyway... any tips / hints gratefully received!!!
So that is us!!!

Judith (& Aku )
 
Hello and welcome, well done on taking on Aku, so sorry to hear of the passing of your grandmother. She sounds really sweet in her temperament, Anxiety and in greys is very common and this alone will make your bird nervous of any changes. my sweetest grey is also the most nervous and a pluckier so I know what you are up against. ok lets talk about feed and the first thing you should do is weigh your bird and keep a watch on its weight. as this can show you if the bird is eating properly, I cannot blame your Grandmother for feeding her with a bad diet as most birds in her time was fed sunflower seed and peanuts and many lived long lives, but you are correct to try to change Aku's eating habits to what we know is a better base diet that covers all there needs.

with any pluckier I think the more varied feeds you can get the bird to eat the less boring feed time becomes the more time a bird will leave its self alone, any change in diet should be done gradually slowly less of its old foods and more of the new.

the main thing is getting her used to her new surroundings and trying to keep to regular routines this will help her settle and become less nervious
 
UVA light is great, going outside is excellent both providing the Vitamin D required to mobilise the calcium and allow it to be absorbed, plus interest and fresh air.
Try a product called Nutrobal as it has more than just the Vit D & Calcium and covers all the minerals needed or try the Nekton S as that has the vits, mineral and also has the amino acids added. Mine have the Nutrobal once a week on a want for a better description half a finger of toast with a little something to stick it there like a smear of fruit conserve (I do mean a smear not a dollop). NektonS is water soluble and as your bird isn't currently gaining moisture required from fruit and veggies there will be regular visits to the water bowl to top up body liquid required.
Being a seed junkie isn't totally bad if its a good quality seed and the bird isn't selectively just consuming high fatty seed within the product and additions like the two above mentioned products are added until the diet is rebalanced. There are heaps and heaps of veggies and fruit that can be tried and encouragement by you eating and making lots of oooo yummy noises (seriously) and then offering to share with them to try it as a start out plan. Just because a bird refuses a couple of times doesn't mean you stop offering, the other thing to remember is they have a lot smaller consumption rate than a human so a nibble at a little bit that you think could be size ratio wise a heap load to them.
Try things like fresh garden peas, sweet potato, apple, grape, kale to start with there will be something that takes her fancy in there somewhere and its then a starting point. build up from there and make your chop basic to start with until her interest grows.
Lack of balance can be many things from incorrect size perch for species of bird, inability to see properly deficiency in trace elements impacting and perhaps causing cataracts, a mild case of bumble foot so they don't wish to grip properly, through to things like overgrown claws as well as all the really scary stuff that comes to mind so find yourself an AVIAN vet and have a general health check done. I say avian in capitals as they are the specialists for birds, don't go with an exotics vet nor a vet with interest in birds nor a general vet have the general health check done by a specialist to cover all bases a general health check isn't that expensive and more often than not just the same cost as visiting a general vet.
Plucking wise if the feather follicles have been damaged and destroyed then the bird will never become fully feathered again, stopping plucking hmmm hard one if its habitual then its likely to continue if its been going on for a lot of years, sometimes if its recent plucking that has just started its stress related which could be to do with moving home and routines and all the changes your making which will lessen with time once the bird settles this can take a while and if your planning on moving her again it might last a few months she needs to re-bond with new "flock" … err new flock is you.
Your bird needs lots of time to adjust to a different life, a new routine, new flock members, gaining a bond with you plus your changing diet, your little one doesn't know that life has changed direction irrevocably so what to expect next its a lot to get their heads around. Patience and time and things will slowly and gradually alter.
There are some brilliant training assistance things in the Training folder written by Roz
Will tag her @Roz as she too has done lots of food encouragement and diet alterations.
 
:welcome: from me too. Good for you giving Aku a home. All good advice given and I cannot add to that.
Do let us know how she gets on and we would love a photo in due course.:thumbsup:
 
Welcome to the forum, Judith and Aku. You have definitely come to the right place for help, advice and support.

All of the essential dietary advice has been covered and it looks like you were aware of a lot of that already, which is great. I am sure that Aku will adjust, given time, and will soon be enjoying a whole new world of flavours and textures. Stainless steel kebabs/kebobs are a good way to provide fresh food too - curiosity gets the better of them and they test things with their beaks and tongues e.g. this "toy" you've hung up is fun to shred and quite tasty - how about that?! Greys are partly ground feeders in the wild too, so Aku may enjoy foraging for food on a table.

An avian vet will be able to check the health of Aku's feet and her grip, and offer some suggestions if required, although if Aku can hang from the underside of her cage's roof, her grip is probably not an issue. The unfamiliarity of the cage may have caused her to get stuck. Most birds look quite clumsy clambering around at the best of times, especially if it is a new/unfamiliar cage, but they soon learn to move quite quickly from point A to B - sometimes when you would prefer them not to! The vet may be able to advise about how to set up Aku's cage if there are mobility issues and there are forum members here that have had to manage that too.

One thing maybe worth mentioning if you are not already aware of it. When a bird is on your hand/arm, the temptation is to try and do the balancing for them. Of course this is normally unnecessary as birds are used to perching on branches moving around in the wind. As long as you provide a stable platform and move smoothly and slowly, birds handle the movement very well. This could be a reason for Aku not being confident to come to a hand/arm. It is one thing to trust humans without physical contact, but stepping on to them is another, particularly if they have had less than ideal experiences with that before.

With our Eclectus Frankie, we started by putting a hand flat on a table and with a treat encourage him to walk over the hand. Then we did that with an arm flat on the table. He got used to it very quickly. Now he is gradually getting used to perching on a hand/arm to get his treats. Most birds will often use their beaks to first steady themselves when they move to a hand and before they place a foot there. Two feet plus a beak is three points of contact and birds often move around keeping at least two of them, especially when shifting to an object capable of movement like a hand. Usually they use the upper mandible as a hook or a brace rather than using the whole beak to grip. An inexperienced handler might initially expect a bite and react by withdrawing the hand as the beak approaches, but if you keep your hand steady, birds will soon get enough confidence to complete the move - beak first, then one foot, then the other, maintaining a minimum of two points of contact. Most birds give warnings signs when a bite is coming and you will learn the signs particular to Aku - they will be different to when she approaches your hand to step there.
 
:welcome: Judith and Aku!

How lovely you have decided to give Aku a home. Yes, I would also certainly recommend you take Aku to an avian vet asap to check her over and do a blood panel. There are so many reasons for poor balance, from calcium deficiency to arthritis, etc. It is better to pin point the problem so that you have something to work from. Different sized perches (ie. natural branches), within reason due to her disabilities, will help exercise/strengthen her feet.

Liking all those human foods gets me thinking that maybe she would eat what you are eating. Try eating healthy foods with her and offer her some from your plate. As for the milky tea, why not make the tea much weaker and add something like soya, almond or coconut milk so that it looks the same but without the cow's milk. As Oli said, if she likes sunflower seeds try soaking/sprouting them. How I got my flock eating sprouts was to put sprouted sunflower seeds on top. Also see if she likes cooked sweet potato, mashed or diced etc. You could even mix a good seed mix into some fresh fruit and veggies so that to pick out the seed, she tries the fresh stuff too. But watch to see that she is eating, and make changes gradually as Michael suggested, so that there are still some recognisable things in her life. Sounds like you are making good progress already!

If you tell us whereabouts in the country you are, we may be able to recommend a good avian vet near to you.
 
Welcome to you both from me and mine. Lots of great advice offered as always and I can't add much more [emoji846]

Sent from my Moto Z2 Play using Tapatalk
 
Thank you all so much!!! Really great to meet you all!!!
Loads of great advice, I'm trying to gradually integrate as much as possible! Thank you !!

Yesterday Aku was moving around her cage more confidently than we've seen so far!! It was amazing! Instead of only using 1 or 2 of the "man made" perches, she was using all the tree branches that my Dad (who is a very clever engineer!) has installed for her... it was really encouraging! And especially since I discovered that the supplements I bought got lost weeks ago, so the only "supplement" Abu has had while we were away / not allowed to have her is lots of sunshine and more company! (& slightly healthier food...)

We are going to the vet today! I'm a bit anxious about getting her into her old travel cage in time... (hence I'm awake so ridiculously early! )

I also managed to get her to eat fig yesterday! :) She was quite suspicious, but when she threw it away she got it all over her beak and tasted it... I gave it back several times and she did end up eating a reasonable amount! (I also sneakily smushed it over her seeds, which she ate.. did the same later with some baked sweet potato... and my new seed sprouter from the charity shop is beginning to provide her with seeds too!!!

I have spent the last few days working on a way to convince our landlord to change his mind... so please keep your fingers crossed! (I used the electoral register to find his address and took him a personal plea - letter - as well as letters from my neighbours saying they would like us to stay!!!! Please keep everything crossed for us all!)

Judith. Xx
 
Great progress :)

Cage - it can take a while to settle in until they've sussed everything out. Once they do, the difference in their general demeanor will be very obvious - like day and night.

Vet - probably more stressful for you than Aku. She'll forgive you very quickly once it's over. Fruit in the travel cage will keep her fed and hydrated for the trip. We normally add a slice of apple. Have some of her favourite food ready for when you get home :) Avian vets like to see bird poop (as do we, if truth be told!) as it can be a great indication of health. If you get a chance, take some of that in a clear plastic zip lock type baggy or similar.

Figs - our birds love to pick out the messy middle and barely touch the outer parts. Birds often act as if new foods, especially if offered in isolation, are going to kill them. Your approach - adding it to the foods that Aku already likes - is perfect.

The best of luck with the vet and the landlord. Lots of fingers crossed for you here!
 
Hi :welcome: just to add - I took on a oven ready Goffins last year that had plucked, snipped, pullled her feathers since fledging. The transition to a new home through a charity although done well with great people was traumatic for her and she was very naked until recently when she just clicked with me and seems much happier with her new home and surroundings, settled generally. No longer naked at least.

I give her Harrison's High Potency mash made with Chamomile tea, I buy dried flower heads and make it from this, it's organic. It seems to have calmed her some. She didn't like dry pellets so we progressed to a wet mash. She is a fussy eater so I am not unhappy about the mash, it would be a 'mare trying to add suppliments as would never know what she had eaten of it on any given day. A lot ends up on the cage floor. I still give her what the other two have, some she will try and some she won't. Take it a day at a time hun, but echoing the need for an avian vet check up. :)
 
Oli Fry said:
Sounds like you are a natural. Best of luck and keep us posted...and welcome from Grumpy!
Click to expand...

Hey Grumpy! Thanks!

Aku did really well at the vet... claws trimmed, weighed (375g) and heartbeat checked (a little irregular ... but may have been the stress) and we had cuddles after while I chatted to the vet... she was a superstar!!!
We ALL went to Nandos after Aku sunbathing outside with us!!
But we got a call from our agent while here to say that the landlord was very upset we'd "harassed" them by sending a letter to their home address... so we will definitely be moving ! :/

Ah well... we red!

Thanks everyone! will keep you all posted!
Xxx
 
Crikey she's only a little grey then - my Congos are both well over 500g, the fat lumps.
As for the landlord - what a scumbag. Sadly these people have too much power these days. I hope you find someone more decent next time.
 
Well at least you can stay put then but what a cheek charging extra.

Well done Aku for passing your vets medical !
 
so sorry the landlord is not approachable, you have been put in a situation and only can ask for permission to keep a bird, most tenants would not of told them. started typing when you posted I am pleased you came to a settlement and keep your grey
 
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