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Post by laughingwillow on May 16, 2016 19:16:43 GMT
Hi everybirdie!
I'm looking for advice on how to "comfort" my girl Twila.
She's the baby of the flock. I adopted her April 5th, 2016 at 7.5 weeks old.
I literally can't even LOOK at her without her become frightful!!!
They all have outside cage time for the majority of most days to sit in the tree (preferred) or explore (only if they are gutsy)
If Twila is in the tree, and I'm ACROSS THE ROOM I seriously only have to LOOK at her and she will go QUICKLY scurrying back into the cage.
When changing food or water or working on hand-taming she will just jump off the high perches to the very bottom of the cage. The pet store clipped her wings too short in my newbie opinion so she basically just dead falls. This highly concerns me. Sometimes she manages to grab a branch on the way down or luck out and land on one, but very often she will hit the bottom.
When hand-taming the others I all but ignore her. She cannot handle any of my attention.
She will be on the opposite side of the cage that I am working on with the other birds.
I do not work on training daily, but the birds are in the room of the house with the most traffic and where the family spends the majority of the day, but in their own little space.
What can I do to make some progress with her?
I'm following lots of forum/online taming advice mixed with what I feel works for myself and my flock for the 3 others and am satisfied with our progress. Even if Cloud has only eaten from my hand once I can see a bit of progress from him.
Twila is just petrified.
Please help.
Thank you!
Light & Love
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Post by laughingwillow on May 19, 2016 22:41:06 GMT
No advice out there? lol
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Post by Hezz on May 20, 2016 0:48:21 GMT
If she is that frightened and completely unable to fly, then she probably shouldn't be let out at all in case she panics and crash-lands. She could break her keel-bone.
If she was my bird, I would be keeping her confined until I saw new feathers growing in after some old clipped ones have moulted out, and making the most of this time to get her acclimatised to me. I would be spending a lot of time in the vicinity of her cage, talking to her, reading even, offering her treats through the bars .... every thing I could think of to show her that I was nothing to be afraid of. Only once she had settled down in my presence would I move on to the next step.
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Post by laughingwillow on May 20, 2016 2:42:35 GMT
Thanks for your reply.
She has never ever once fallen outside of the cage and it's the time she opens up the most in personality and playing with the other birds so I definitely won't be taking that away from her. She only quickly scurries back into the cage when I look at her, or walk towards or near the cage. Outside cage time I'm not concerned with at all.
She only "dead falls" when my hands go in the cage, ei: to change water, food, hand tame the others, etc. So daily she drops.
I tried offering treats, spending a lot of time in the vicinity of her cage, talking to her, yadda yadda blah blah all the "regular" training "techniques".
I have made zero progress with her.
I need a gentle, out of the box idea on how to approach her.
TIA
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Post by Hezz on May 20, 2016 7:18:34 GMT
You have had her for no time in the scheme of things. 6-7 weeks is nothing. It may well take 12 months before you see any real progress.
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Post by OP on May 20, 2016 7:24:04 GMT
A rather psychological thought has crossed my mind and that is whoever handled your bud for the wing clipping has put the fear of god in her. I can see this taking a long patient time. That is if ever you will get her to truly trust you. I would love to be wrong and maybe I am. I have a re-homed female who is unable to fly as she has very poor feathers. She was terrified and very un-trusting when I took her in. She has been with me about a year now and I have just got her to come to my finger when she has fluttered to the floor. That is the sort of time frame you should be looking at with Twila. Persistence and lots of patience and she may at some point accept that you are not going to man handle her or damage her wings.
Hezz has much more experience than I will ever have and she would only give good advice. I can only guess at the behaviour of Twila. I hope this is of use to you.
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Post by samwiseg on May 20, 2016 7:25:01 GMT
Just a lot of patience and sitting with her whilst she is in her cage. And I can receommend blinking all the time with her so it shows her you are no threat. You may find she will start to do this with you. In the end she should become curious and a bit more confident but as Hezz said, sometimes it can take a long time but persevere am sure you both will have a lovely relationship!  |
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Post by laughingwillow on May 20, 2016 15:38:50 GMT
You have had her for no time in the scheme of things. 6-7 weeks is nothing. It may well take 12 months before you see any real progress. I'm not expecting hand-taming progress!! I haven't even tempted anything like that. I'm hoping to curve her severe fear so she doesn't HARM herself, thats all. Thank you |
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Post by laughingwillow on May 20, 2016 15:46:49 GMT
A rather psychological thought has crossed my mind and that is whoever handled your bud for the wing clipping has put the fear of god in her. I feel like this is a major factor, as I also feel like her wings are clipped too short. I also found out that they "catch" the budgies with a FISHING NET when preparing them for adoption! She's been through some trauma. How truly sad that these quick moments of tragedy so easily shaped her little life. Just looking for a "trick" to make her LESS scared. I understand fully she may never want to "be my friend" thats ok. I'm not looking for hand taming advice. I may never get to that level with Twila. And, again, I'm ok with that. I just don't want her to hurt herself and the deadfalls worry me. So basically I am only looking to stop the deadfalls. BLINKING LOTS! Great thought! I look away a lot when I'm hand-taming as I know Cloud is more comfortable than if I'm "staring" at him. Plus a "watched pot never boils" haha, a watched budgie never hand feeds. |
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Post by OP on May 20, 2016 15:54:47 GMT
I think you have the idea. If Twila is in her own cage, or even if she isn't, have you thought of putting something soft under newspaper at the bottom of the cage? The newspaper or whatever is easily changed leaving whatever you have underneath fairly clean.
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Post by Hezz on May 21, 2016 0:15:29 GMT
You have had her for no time in the scheme of things. 6-7 weeks is nothing. It may well take 12 months before you see any real progress. I'm not expecting hand-taming progress!! I haven't even tempted anything like that. I'm hoping to curve her severe fear so she doesn't HARM herself, thats all. Thank you No-one has mentioned hand-taming. I mean that it could take ages, months even years, for her to lose her fearfulness. The time you have had her is very short; you are going to have to be very patient; there is no quick fix solution to settling a fearful bird, I'm afraid. |
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Post by laughingwillow on May 21, 2016 4:59:06 GMT
I just don't want her to hurt herself and the deadfalls worry me. So basically I am only looking to stop the deadfalls. I fully realize that it takes patience to calm a frightful bird. But in the mean time, I'd like to prevent her from breaking something  That's allllllllll I'm looking for I even take my rings/jewelry off in case the shine bothers her/them. Same as nail polish. I'm digging deep with trying to comfort her. But advice like.... "putting something soft under newspaper at the bottom of the cage?" is AMAZING! YES! Thank you! As silly as it sounds I didn't think about that. Maybe for sanitary reasons you wouldn't necessarily think to put anything "soft" at the bottom. BUT I have TONES of scrap fabrics that if they ended up getting soiled would be no biggy. THANK YOU! Going to do that for sure @op ALSO! I have a feeling, a rather strong hunch, that some of it has to do with Clouds behaviors. As Cloud flys in, I don't want to say panic because it's not quite that, but, worry maybe? Thats when I've noticed some of Twila's drops. Maybe the combination of her traumatic experiences and Clouds worry warnings and her young age she just becomes too overwhelmed. I've often thought about moving Cloud to his own cage. Still allowing interaction and outside cage time but Cloud having his own space For a few reasons He's used to having his own space as he was completely by himself for approx 6 months before I resuced him, maybe a flock is too much right now He is the only flighted bud in the flock and he often sparks panic and flock uneasiness He greatly affects cage calmness He can be very aggressive to Emilio and I know sometimes Emilio feels uneasy or like he has to be on guard as Cloud's attacks can come from nowhere He can be VERY pester-some to the other buds I KNOW he affects hand taming and training with the other buds negatively He might be a big factor in Twilas deadfalls Please don't get me wrong, I love Cloud too, he just needs his own special care as well and I'm still trying to decipher what exactly it is that he needs/wants. Same goes for all the buds. Hezz if you could please comment your thoughts on moving Cloud to his own space? Thank you everyone! This is helpful! Light & Love |
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Post by Shirls on May 21, 2016 6:38:52 GMT
I do that laughingwillow - I have two thicknesses of towelling under about 5 sheets of newspaper in my the buds cage. Charlie can't fly anymore and often plummets to the floor and I mean 'plummet'. He is a big bird so the more I can do to stop him hurting himself the better. I have re-arranged certain perches and things for him. He is a happy little chap, so he is OK. A soft landing for these budgies that can't fly prevents things like bumblefoot, and believe me you wouldn't want your budgie to get that!!! |
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Post by Shirls on May 21, 2016 6:43:05 GMT
Just read your section on Cloud laughingwillow. My Billy Boy is a bit like that! He is so naughty to the other buds, so when he is very naughty I separate him off in his own cage. He has fly out time and lands on top of the big cage and talks to the others through the bars. When he is good, he goes back into the big cage. I feel it is because he is so much younger than the others that he is so naughty. He is quite happy in his 'sin bin' cage and has lots of flying out time. In actual fact he hasn't been in his sin bin for a while now so perhaps he's matured a little! |
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Post by milliej on May 21, 2016 10:56:38 GMT
My two are definitely happier since they got their new (huge) cage but Tyler still insists on following Bonnie around like a little lost soul  she's very patient with him really! |
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she's very patient with him really! 