Help!!!!! One PO'd Cape Parrot!

So, Scotty managed NOT to break his beak tip for a couple of years and then somehow managed to do so Wednesday evening while SITTING ON THE ARM OF MY CHAIR!  I have no idea how he did it!  I was sitting in the chair cleaning the interior of his cage and when I picked him up so I could move on to Blanco's, there was a large drip of blood on my hand.  At first I thought I had a bloody nose!  Then I realized it was Scotty.  It seemed to be coming from his mouth at first, so I was really worried.  I picked him up and Bill grabbed him with a towel and we had a closer look -- the blood was coming from the back surface of his beak tip.  Several iterations of direct pressure (doing this without getting bitten is quite a trick even when birdie is restrained) did not stop the bleeding, which was quite significant.  So I got out the styptic and a quick pinch of that pressed on there did the trick.  Whew!

So now he seems back to normal except that he's really mad at my hands.  He's cracking nuts and everything else just as normal, but he's spending more time in the cage, and I can neither pet him nor have him step up onto a finger or hand.  When I have to put him back in the cage, he will step up onto my forearm, but not my hand.  He hasn't actually bitten me, but he snarks and threatens and backs away and generally indicates that if I pushed it too hard, he would bite.  Once he's on my forearm, he'll give a kiss, so I feel he's almost more mad at my HANDS than at ME.  However, my heart is a little broken because he used to step up and fluff up and coo at me...  WAAAAH!

Anyway, has anyone had a bird get this upset over having to be man-handled?  He's always been twitchy about hands, so I've tried to avoid having to man-handle him, but there really wasn't much else to do here.  As it is, there is blood all over the place, it was too much to just watch and wait or even, IMO, truck him 30 minutes to an emergency vet (it was, of course, after 5). 

I'm not sure how much I should push the issue.  My instinct is to try to avoid making a confrontation out of it, and try to interact as normally as possible.  I've also been feeding him pistachios out-of-hand just to re-associate the hands with something positive.  He wouldn't take them yesterday and will today, so there is progress.  Is this likely to just blow over?  Or will I need to do some rehab?

Oh well, at least he seems physically quite recovered.

How does a bird do that sitting on the arm of an upholstered office chair?  How?

I think it will all blow over in a week. As I remember, you are his favorite person. I don't think one negative experience will change that

At last my trials and tribulations with Arthur have something positive come out of them.  Minus the beak break I have been through this several times with Arthur.  He will have some kind of freak out and fly all over the house while we try to get him to settle down, usually involving towelling of some sort (which he totally hates!). 

Afterwards he behaves just like you describe Scotty, all snappish and miserable.  What we have always done is dial things back, give him some time, and then move slowly when we begin to move forward again.  He has always been able to go back to at least the way he was before each "incident" took place.  In many ways he has even improved some over time, though he has never moved to the level you have with Scotty, or what I have with Merlin.

My advice (FWIW) is give him his space for a while, try to interact wherever you can (the pistachio thing is a great idea), and do whatever he will let you do.  He will bounce back in time, I am sure of it!  He just has a birdie case of PTSD.  It will blow over in time.

PS, Is it bad of me that I was a little happy that we had something new to talk about?  I'm feeling guilty now.    .  It's terrible that this happened to Scotty.  Hopefully he will bounce back quickly.

I'm really not a bad person, honest   .

No, you aren't a bad person!  And I actually thought you might have some good advice for me, which you did!

Actually,  I just had a minor breakthrough.  He stepped up.  Somehow I could tell he was ready.  He thought about it for a long time -- first one foot up and then down, then the other...  I didn't even TRY to pet his head, but he stepped up and got a kiss, so...  I think Alyssa was right and it will blow over.  And I'm heartened to hear that it never made a permanent setback with Arthur.  I wonder if Pois are more inclined to this?

Still wish I knew how he managed to do that!  How do you hurt yourself sitting on a chair?

RogerP wrote:

PS, Is it bad of me that I was a little happy that we had something new to talk about?  I'm feeling guilty now.    .  It's terrible that this happened to Scotty.  Hopefully he will bounce back quickly.

I'm really not a bad person, honest   .

I feel the same way!

We're kind of a sad forum, with only three people checking in regularly

zazanomore wrote:

Quote :

I feel the same way!

We're kind of a sad forum, with only three people checking in regularly

I know   .  I wish we heard from more people.  I miss the group conversations and input from everyone.  Even the new people that join don't seem to chime in.  I wish they would.

Off-topic: Here! I'm here to help!

Four, we have four!

Yaaaaay!