Second Chance Birds

I rescued a Quaker a year and a half ago that has plucked is neck, wing coverlets, and legs bald. The follicles are so badly damged the feathers can't grow back, and he still plucks other parts of his body butnot to that extent. The lady who gave him to me knows nothing about him or why hes in the condition he is in. Oscar has not gotton better. On top of that, he is so terrified of people that he can't be handled at all. After all this time I still can't touch his cage, much less him, or he freaks out. If I do get ahold of him he doesn't bite, just trys to get away. He responds the same to every family member and is some what agressive to my other conure. He rarely talks and doesn't play with toys, he doesn't act normal for a Quaker at all. He is very quiet. There is nothing wrong with him as all checks have shown nothing except for the QMS. As an animal and bird rescuer of sixteen years, this is the hardest case I've ever delt with. Every thing I know I have tried and everything has failed. I need advice on how to get him calmed down and to stop this behavior. Any knowledgeable advice is desperetly needed.[/color]

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With a Broken Wing and a Dream, You oughta see Him Fly!
Now I lay me down to sleep, to dream of a home that I may keep.
Bo-Innocent & Brave ((((Diamond))))

Sonoma Spike Sadie Opus Kaiser Timmy Reagan

Bird Profile

Hmmmmm, a Quaker that doesn't bite AND is quiet, that is weird. Our HM Conure isn't hand tame and we had to offer a thickly covered arm (not hand) to get him to step up and he'd bite through it and make us bleed. He also is on the quiet side for a conure.

Has your vet offered any suggestions? Has a medical reason been ruled out for his plucking?Have you tried leather strips with beads tied to it as a toy or strips of fleece tied to the bars of his cage to play with? Do you offer foraging oppertunities such as a coffee filter filled with pellets, and favourite treats, tied closed and hung in his cage?

When he does make any noise do you praise him and tell him he's a good bird? Have you played recordings of conures calling to see his reaction?

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Sondra,owned by...
Powder- :U2: - Henry, Poncho- :TIEL: - Momma - :TIEL: - Higgins- :AG: - Max- :hmc:

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly!
Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably .
And never regret anything that made you smile

Thank you for the replys. I have tried the foraging toys with no results. I will try the leather and fleece idea. There is no medical reason for the plucking and I do use bird safe herbal remedies as suppluments such as Rescue Remedy, passion flower and St Johns. I'm guessing that trama at someones hands is the cause and it could be possible that he was a breeder, but I have no history on him. When he does talk I praise him and sometimes get him to engage a slight conversation and sometimes my conure Nate joins us. That is his friendlyist time and it's taken a year to get to this point. He's a funny guy and I belive he will be a sweet bird if I can get him past the fear.

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With a Broken Wing and a Dream, You oughta see Him Fly!
Now I lay me down to sleep, to dream of a home that I may keep.
Bo-Innocent & Brave ((((Diamond))))

Sonoma Spike Sadie Opus Kaiser Timmy Reagan

Bird Profile

Thats what I decided as well. This is one of the many things I found in my research on herbal remedies for birds and parrots. this is a incerpt from the Kitchen Physician Herbal Remedies for Parrots at www.landofvos.com/articles/kitchen5.html . ST. JOHNS WORT-- Hypericum has anti-depressant qualities and can be tried as a substitute for Haloperidol in some feather-plucking parrots. Not all herbs work the same in all parrots so it may be necessary to try more than one for some symptoms. St. Johns Wort could possibly be a problem if administered to parrots that live outside with access to direct sunlight. The reason for this warning is that there were studies of sheep that ingested extremely large quantities of pure hypericum-perforatum and died of phototoxicity. This may or may not apply to parrots. I found it to be a useful website along with others. please check it out, it may be useful for others as well. I would love to post a pic but I have no way to post it but will keep trying.

Our Conure is not hand tame, but in the last 3 weeks he has started to let me touch his tail without trying to eat my finger. He has also started to fly to me, and he has started to let me rub hus head with my face instead of just him rubbing his head on my face - this has taken about a couple of years to get to this point. Max has had 2 owners before us and neither tried hand taming him, he's over 30 so we decided not to stress him and accept him as he is. I can towel him if I need to which is something we work on with all our birds. I guess what I'm trying to say is just keep showing him you won't hurt him and encourage him to play and eventually he will come around. Try toys that are more cockatiel sized than Conure sized, thinner pieces of wood are easier to chew on when a bird doesn't play with toys. Add a bell to his cage and place it so you can jingle it every time you pass by it, eventualy he'll jingle it too.

_________________
Sondra,owned by...
Powder- :U2: - Henry, Poncho- :TIEL: - Momma - :TIEL: - Higgins- :AG: - Max- :hmc:

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly!
Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably .
And never regret anything that made you smile

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Cockatoos are not obedient. No to a Cockatoo means try again later.

"Some say they don't believe that angels can be seen or heard.
What a shame, such blindness. What a pity, such deafness. When the Song of songs abounds and Heaven's flyers are all around only thinly disguised as birds"

Unseen they suffer ~ Unheard they cry ~ In agony they linger ~ In loneliness they die

Thank you for the the web sites. I'm trying anything that may help and all ideas to consider trying. The fear is the biggest problem and the hardest to overcome. All I can hope for is that someday he will get over it and trust me.

I have a partially naked quaker and have seen full-blown QMS. It's sad and it's scary.

It took my quaker a very long time to adjust. She seemed to focus on her feathers more than anything else in her life, so she didn't take time to take in any of the world around her. I think that's why it took her so long to learn to trust us. It was a couple years until we could hold her and she still gets nippy really quickly.

For my quaker, Kuiper, i tried many different medications with my vet's help. It was a long and careful process trying medications and herbals one at a time to see which one(s) would help. We would try each one for 6 weeks to get a good read on if it worked. My vet doesn't agree with the mixes of herbs all at once, because then we could be overmedicating and we wouldn't know which herb helped. As we tried them, then we could add one more. There were some she had a negative reaction to, too. And some foods tensed her up and made her nervous. Like a child with too much sugar, she can't have fruit or wheat or corn.

What we finally settled on for mine was Amitriptyline, Red Palm Oil, frequent baths, Chamomile tea in her water and no fruit, no wheat and no corn. After she calmed down a little (about 3 years!), we discovered she was starting to weave. She ties and weaves leather strips in her cage bars. This activity seems to help her and gives her a focus and a "job". Then she started singing and whistling and talking. She'll never be a "normal" quaker, and is half naked, but she has come so far!

I think many quakers are given a bad start on life. They are so easy to breed, and are small and are seen as "first birds", that many are force-weaned and placed in homes (many that are not versed in proper bird care) too early. A quaker is a very intelligent bird, but sometimes the birds that are most intelligent can be more deeply mentally wounded.

Each bird can be so individual. Keep trying. Keep a diary of what you try.

I also want to say that I have a nanday conure that I have had for 6 years now that just last month learned to trust me.

Congrats on your bird! That is a dramatic change and thank you for the information. I will give those a try. I belive you are right about the breeding and home placements for I have seen simalar things with other birds. I have no doubt that it will take Oscar a long time to come around; and every improvment I have seen gives me hope that he will. It's reasuring to know that there are those who have simalar stories that end in sucess. Good luck with your birds!