Is Olive ok? Strange chirping and head throwing.
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:23 am
Hi, I have a very sweet little female ringneck with a bit of a tough past. She was sold by her original owner, a breeder, because she had strange colouring & some behavioural "oddities" (undisclosed?) to my sister. Olive lived with my sister for some months before my sister said she didn't think she was giving enough time to her with two small children etc. I have recently aquired a beautiful "rescue" male eclectus parrot who I don't like leaving home alone during working hours, so I agreed to a trial period to see if they would like talking to one another while I was away. Unfortunately, Rocky wasn't impressed, got jealous whenever I had to even feed Olive, and Olive's penchant for flying to his cage & eating his food & playing in his bath did nothing to endear her she had a very small cage when I got her, so after finding her a friend of mine who lives alone to agree to care for her, we got her a much bigger cage the next day. She has only been there for three days and I visit her every day to check on her and slip her some nice fruit & veg while chatting to her.
Now, the main issue I'm concerned about is that sometimes, when I'm talking to her, she throws her head down on her chest and chirps three times in rapid succession, while her pupils contract quite small. It almost looks like someone sneezing, and it sounds like a loud, distressed "chee chee chee!" and she looks so sad or upset! I'm not sure when it started, I only noticed it after she moved from my house to my friend's place. I'm worried that she may be lonely or upset at having been moved to too many different houses. What does it mean? I don't know enough about birds yet to understand the behaviour, but I'm fairly certain that it means she isn't happy. Is there anything I should do to help her? Does she just need time to adjust to a new house? Or does she miss Rocky (even though he wasn't very nice to her) and possibly need some company of the bird kind? My friend takes quite good care of her, he brings her cage outside to enjoy the sunshine, and back inside with him and chats to her during the day. He is not confident enough to let her out of her cage yet though, as she hasn't had her wings clipped and can fly. Does she just need time to get used to him? Should I not visit for a few days? When she was startled, she flew to my head and stayed there for a while, so I'm also wondering if she is just angry at me for sending her away after she got to trust and know me. I am very sorry that I had to, she was such a friendly and cute little addition to my home, but Rocky couldn't be trusted with her, and I was worried about leaving them alone together. I am considering telling my friend to get her wings clipped so that she has to get used to him & they can build a bond together outside of the cage, but I'm not sure if that will just cause her more stress, since she really loves to fly around and isn't tame enough to enjoy being handled just yet.
Does anyone have any advice or knowledge on this topic? Please let me know, any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Now, the main issue I'm concerned about is that sometimes, when I'm talking to her, she throws her head down on her chest and chirps three times in rapid succession, while her pupils contract quite small. It almost looks like someone sneezing, and it sounds like a loud, distressed "chee chee chee!" and she looks so sad or upset! I'm not sure when it started, I only noticed it after she moved from my house to my friend's place. I'm worried that she may be lonely or upset at having been moved to too many different houses. What does it mean? I don't know enough about birds yet to understand the behaviour, but I'm fairly certain that it means she isn't happy. Is there anything I should do to help her? Does she just need time to adjust to a new house? Or does she miss Rocky (even though he wasn't very nice to her) and possibly need some company of the bird kind? My friend takes quite good care of her, he brings her cage outside to enjoy the sunshine, and back inside with him and chats to her during the day. He is not confident enough to let her out of her cage yet though, as she hasn't had her wings clipped and can fly. Does she just need time to get used to him? Should I not visit for a few days? When she was startled, she flew to my head and stayed there for a while, so I'm also wondering if she is just angry at me for sending her away after she got to trust and know me. I am very sorry that I had to, she was such a friendly and cute little addition to my home, but Rocky couldn't be trusted with her, and I was worried about leaving them alone together. I am considering telling my friend to get her wings clipped so that she has to get used to him & they can build a bond together outside of the cage, but I'm not sure if that will just cause her more stress, since she really loves to fly around and isn't tame enough to enjoy being handled just yet.
Does anyone have any advice or knowledge on this topic? Please let me know, any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!