Caesar the Bronze-Winged Pionus

Well, I think that SnS is right and  Caesar deserves her own thread. 

Ive already told how she came to be here, but now let me tell you the little bit I know about her story. I'm fuzzy on the details, mainly because while I was trying to listen to the story (the bird I'm 75% sure will be named...) Allie was crawling up one arm trying get on my shoulder, pooping on my hat, hissing at Caesar, and being a general nuisance, while Caesar was climbing up the OTHER arm trying to get to THAT shoulder, or trying to get AWAY from the hissing baby GCC, or just sitting on my hand trembling and shaking like the last oak leaf of fall.  I believe the gist of it all is that she comes from a home where she was kept in a pet-store type cage that might be appropriately sized for a single finch, or maybe a budgie.  She was being fed a diet of Grocery-store brand bird seed mix and sunflower seeds and apparently had no toys.  Her cage was* clean. But the house was very.... Um... Busy.  Mom complained that all the bird did was sit and scream all the time, I remember something about kids... But whether it was kids mistreating the bird, adding to the bird's anxiety by being kids, or demanding mom's time, I don't recall.  She was taken into the rescue having plucked to her skin. I'm told she looks 100% better than she did.  I was told she's a terrible eater, but when I put her in her own cage, she dug into the food we had in there. So I don't know that she's so much picky as she was overwhelmed by being among so many birds. 

I think she's going to be a beauty when she feathers out again.  She's super sweet so far, and virtually silent. All I've heard out of her noise-wise are a couple of ekkie-like mmmrrrr's, though I'm told she's quite a talker. 

Part of me hopes that she settles right in to our house and she finds her forever home here, but I really don't have my heart set on that right now.  I have my heart set on helping her through a rough patch and seeing what the future holds when the future gets here.  My hubs told me last night that he does NOT want three birds, so if we keep Caesar, the possibility of an Ekkie becomes very very small.  So like I said, I'll just wait till tomorrow to see what tomorrow brings. I've found that's probably the best way to live life anyway, right?  

Stay tuned, more to come!

pionus are amazing birds and i absoutly love them. mines also a rehome and once he settled in he was great. your gonna fall in love i know it their little pionus mumbles are adorable and they are generally pretty quiet!

Hail Caesar! Sorry. Couldn't resist. I'm kind of hoping she winds up staying, because it sure sounds as if she's liking what she's seeing. But at least she'll get a chance to be herself for a while and be ready for that forever home if staying isn't what the universe has in mind.

the universe demands that caesar stay! or comes to coral!!!

My heart is with Australian parakeets, but...I absolutely love Pionus and one day I'd like to add a white capped pionus to my flock

Caesar has had another quiet day here today. Several times I've found her perched either in her cage or on one of the nearby perches with her little birdie foot tucked up and her head tucked back behind her wing. Cal came home from work and got her right up on his shoulder, and when he put her down to go upstairs and change, she sat on her cage and stared at the steps where he walked away... until he came back and picked her up again. She doesn't seem to trust me or my daughter like she trusts him. It's not that she doesn't like me or is aggressive towards either of us, but she seems to clearly prefer him to either of us... which is crazy. How could anything like HIM better than ME? *grin*

I'm noticing a few new feathers sprouting out and she's been preening like crazy today. I've been offering her baths but she's not been interested despite the fact that she desperately needs one. I wish I knew how she preferred to bathe and I'd offer her that but without that information, I'm just flying blind and trying everything... showers, bowls, mists, sprays... and hoping that something will catch her interest.

My daughter says she heard her talk this morning. She isn't sure what exactly she said, but she said she heard her speaking. Also, Cal had her chewing up a postcard this evening. I'm no expert, but the fact that she's engaging in what appear to be normal bird'ish activities seem to be a really good sign. And that, combined with the fact that I've not seen even a single feather from her makes me feel good about what we've been doing so far.

So, that's it on the Caesar front! As always, I'll keep you posted!

ScooterNScotty wrote:

Hail Caesar! Sorry. Couldn't resist.

I'm glad you said it, 'cause I was thinking it

I hope she stays too. She sounds like she is quite happy with you and quite enamoured by Cal. Time will tell.

zazanomore wrote:

My heart is with Australian parakeets, but...I absolutely love Pionus and one day I'd like to add a white capped pionus to my flock

You clearly need a Princess Parrot of you love Aussie parakeets. And as a bonus, they get along great with Tiels or maybe Tiels just get along with everyone

sure am glad to hear everything is going well with ceasar...you sure know your stuff...so if it turns out to be cal's bird then you only have two birds and he said you could have three....lol....good luck on that


dusty

zaza if you love tiels youll love pionus! not as cuddly but they are amazing!

Well, Caesar seems to be settling in quite nicely! She's started talking, saying several things we don't understand at ALL, and one thing we DO understand - "Whatcha doin'?" It's precious! She has a high, sweet voice when she says it and it's just lovely to hear her talk.

She still has a definite preference for my hubs over me. She seems to stop just short of actually disliking or distrusting me but she certainly loves my husband! When he comes home, the world starts revolving again! She starts talking, murmuring, and moving around, and I see a side of him I don't believe I've ever seen before (but have always known was there). Yesterday for the first time, Caesar left the top of her cage on her own volition - she flew down to get closer to Cal.

Today was another big day for her. I've been trying to get her to bathe without success - until today. Today, I hit upon the magic answer. I took one of our training perches upstairs and put it in the bathtub, then put Caesar on the perch and turned the shower on so the spray hit half the perch. For about three or four minutes she sat at the far end huddled up and shivering, then v-e-r-y v--e--r--y s-l-o-w-l-y she stretched out her wings all the way, turned herself practically upside down ( ) and started soaking herself. She almost looked like she'd forgotten how to take a bath... she opened her wings and never closed them, and did the upside down thing the whole time. She turned from side to side to both sides wet, then when she was finished she slowly folded her wings back up, shook off, and sat and looked at me.

I left her in the bathroom for a while till she dried off some. It's pretty cool in our house and I didn't want her to catch a chill while she was so wet. When I went back in to check on her, I almost didn't recognize her! OK, so that's an exaggeration, but wow! she looked a LOT better! I hope she feels as good as she looks, because I think we'll be doing this again.

Oh that's excellent! I've heard soaking can help pluckers quite a bit, if she's been bath deprived, maybe this will really help her refeather.

I certainly hope so. It's amazing the difference it made in her plumage. Her feathers are 100% softer and more luminescent than they were before, and they're lying so much smoother than before as well. I honestly had no idea that the shower would make THAT much difference.

It's really exciting having her here right now. She seems to be doing so well, gaining confidence and starting to act like a real bird. It's kind-of like watching a flower slowly bloom. I think she's starting to look better too, beyond the effects of the bath, but I don't know if I'm seeing more of her inner-beauty or if there's really been enough time to have a change in her feather growth - she's only been here 9 days so far.

Regardless, it's going to be a revealing couple of months. Cal is still saying that "we're not going to keep the bird!" yet he's the one who spends the most time interacting with her. (Actually, with the exception of her bath today, he's the ONLY one interacting with her on a regular basis.) I'm still maintaining that he'll be the one to determine Caesar's ultimate disposition. I absolutely care about her, but there is no *spark* there for me... and again... y'all know how I am about *sparks*.

So, that's that.

Enjoy reading about Caesar, sounds like your doing a great job with him.Even if you don't get to keep him maybe you can get him to the point where he can find a good home.

Sounds like things are going great im so happy you took her in! i think cal is gonna give in and keep her

Sad news today.

I woke up this morning to find the bottom of Caesars cage full of feathers. She had pulled out ALL of the new feathers she had grown in her chest and a few on each of her wings. I'm really bummed.

My husband was really upset about it, trying to figure out what we did "wrong." I had to try and explain to him that there's no telling what caused this to happen. I made several changes yesterday that probably upset her and caused the plucking over night. Yesterday I moved the cages around so that she would have access to the play top on the other cage. I also changed the toys and perches around because I'm giving Bucky's cage to the boy that has Bucky. Also, this morning Cal didn't give her the early morning breakfast that he usually does, so that was a break in her routine. With his very limited experience, it's hard for him to "get" that changes as minor as those would cause her to pluck like she did. I tried to explain that they're minor to us, but they're clearly pretty major to her.

Anyhow, we're back to square three or four with her again. I threw her in the shower this morning and took out one of the new toys that I thought might be kind of scary looking. She seems to be doing better this afternoon - more relaxed, in her cage eating her pellets, perching and dozing.

I'm currently shopping for some easy chew and preening toys that aren't scary looking ... if only I could see the world through her eyes, it would make that job sooooo much easier! I think I'll stick to toys that are smaller than she is and don't have much sticking out and wobbling around.

Bless her heart.... I think she's starting to get to me too.

Have all physical causes of plucking been ruled out? It may not even be related to the routine changes, it might just be something she is just going to do periodically. It's easy for me to say given that I blame myself for all Scooter's weird behaviors, but I think getting emotionally vested in her feathering is going to wear you guys out.

Deb, yes, all the physical causes of plucking have been ruled out.  When she was accepted into the rescue she was tested every which way and treated for everything. She's a stress/anxiety plucker, that's just what she is. 

And when I said I was bummed about it, that's about the extent of it, there's no huge emotional involvement. I know she came to me with this problem, it's not anything that I/we caused. (Though explaining that to my OH is a little more difficult.)  We're just doing our best to help her recover and move forward.  

Though like I said, I just *might* be starting to fall for her, whether she likes me or not.

Okay, I really don't know why you're so against the idea of *not* free-feeding.. but I really suggest foraging. The physical/mental stimulation alleviates a lot of boredom and if she's spending time working on food, she can't pluck at the same time. Foraging has been successful for a lot of pluckers as the main cause for avian self destruction is boredom.

Regarding free feeding, if we want to discuss it I think it may be the topic for another thread, but I know its pros and cons have been discussed ad nauseum and I've made this choice for my little flock.

As for foraging, I'm all for it. I've been trying to teach her how, but she's not catching on very fast. She'll do somersaults for Almonds and Apples, but if I hide them in any way, EVEN RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER, they'll sit there until I do something about it. I've re-read all of our foraging threads and have gone to other sites trying to find other ideas but have come up empty handed.

I don't know that foraging would have avoided this situation in particular either. In fact, I don't think it would have made much difference at all. There's not much foraging that takes place in the dark which is when this plucking episode took place. I really believe that one of the changes yesterday caused her anxiety, probably a toy I put in her cage that was bigger than usual, and that was the only way she knew how to deal with it.

If anyone sees fault with my reasoning, let me know. I'm a very intuitive/empathic person, always have been with people and horses, and as it's turning out, with birds. I cannot talk to them, (lol, well, I do but they all think I'm nuts), but they're one of the animals I'm very attuned to. While that often leaves me with an understanding of "what's going on," I dont have the experience to always know how to fix it.

So, fix it, wouldja?

My heart really goes out Caesar.

I have obsessive compulsive disorder, and when I was younger I had tricatellamania (I would pull my hair out), which in my eyes is the human form of plucking.

I wouldn't blame yourself for it. It's anxiety based. And anxiety doesn't just go away. It is going to be a long process. But I have all the hope in the world that you will help her on her journey to recovery. You are doing a fantastic thing

When I meant foraging, I meant it as in 'foraging for parts of meals', which means that Caesar would not be 100% free-fed as she's working for her food.

Sigh, I'm a chronic nail biter.. it's sure HARD to fix. Good luck Vicki..

I don't even know if we know what causes it, let alone how to fix it. It's an even tougher nut than cribbing in horses. You could try a sock sweater.

My pionus wont play with toys bigger then him either lol try small foot toys i can message you some links of toys marty really enjoys! as for the foraging idea i think that would help but marty wont forage either so an idea is that i stick nuts snuggly in an apple with the core taken out and some of the skin off so he has to get them out he doesnt like apple but this helps mikko! i know having a rescue that plucks is hard im going through the same thing with mikko! i think you guys are doing great with her though if you want some toy links let me know!

I'm so lost here. I have to take a break from my live and read all topics!
You guys get that birds so fast, that I'm not able to follow

Of course congrats and good luck!