Hi Glenn. What you have already tried, "patience" is the best and most effective weapon you have for this problem. Patience and consistency. Yes, to an extent, there may be some jealousy in the equation. But, Tiels, more than any of the other parrots, are so laid back, easy going, "go with the flow" types, Baby should be getting over this. I know you say he is in good health but just as a heads up, almost always, any change in behavior can be an early warning sign of a health issue. I'm not telling you to go rushing off to the vet with him just yet but it's something to keep in mind if my other suggestions don't bring about at least the beginnings of a change in attitude. One of the problems we have with our parrots is their very strong instinct to mask all symptoms of illness or injury from us. In the wild, they are prey and to show weakness is to get kicked out of the safety of the flock. By the time we see any symptoms, it's because they are too sick and too weak to keep up the pretense. A couple of the first things we will be able to notice is a change in behavior, (less playing, less or no talking, etc.), any change in the appearance of the droppings that lasts more than 24 hours and cannot be accounted for by diet. For example, a lot of fruits or veggies one day can make more runny droppings but it should not last more than a day, then go back to normal. Other symptoms are sitting with feathers fluffed, giving up the perches and staying on the cage floor, and sleeping an inordinate amount of time. Keeping that in mind and keeping open to maybe taking him in for a check up just to be on the safe side, I'm going to suggest some ways to hopefully bring him back to his previous sweet self. The way you worded your description, it sounds as if you may be reaching in to take him out of his cage. If I misunderstood, that's good. But if you are reaching in for him, I suggest you stop doing that. Just open the cage door and let him decide if and when he wants to come out. Forcing the issue, (and him) only makes matters worse. They are very flock oriented and since Baby was there first, he considers himself flock leader. Honey, in his eyes, is a threat to his position in the flock. That flock includes you and your wife by the way. Baby needs constant reassurance that he still occupies the same position in the pecking order that he did before. One thing that will help is to never let him see you interact with Honey. Another, and one of the best ways, is to always greet Baby first when entering the room. If you use cage covers, uncover Baby first. Feed him first, clean his cage first, put him first in everything. Your wife should do the same, because Baby was there first. It's not going to damage her relationship with Honey. Honey probably recognizes Baby's position of flock leader more than you and your wife do. In the evening, cover Baby last, and so on. Open Baby's cage and when he decides to come out on his own, he may decide to come right over to you. If so, that's great. If not, see if you can get him to step up, then take him to some other room in the house. Away from Honey, to a neutral area. Do this when you have a reasonable amount of time you can spend, interacting only with him. No Honey, no wife and no distractions. When it comes to the time we spend with our birds, quality is more important than quantity. I don't know how your household is arranged of course but for example, if your TV is in another room, throw on an old TShirt that a little poop won't hurt and let Baby sit on your shoulder or lap, while you watch some TV. Give him scratches and pets if he asks, otherwise, just let him sit and be with you. Same thing can work if you need to do some work on your computer. Anything that you have to do around the house that doesn't involve any danger to Baby, include him. Talk to him the whole time. Tell him what you are doing, explain things to him, anything to keep a verbal interaction going on, along with the physical. Whatever songs and words he was working on before, reinforce that by repeating it a lot to him as well. Get him to looking forward to the time he gets to spend with just you. As he regains his confidence over his place in the pecking order, he will have less reason to resent Honey, and less reason to blame you for it and hold it against you. If you don't start to see an improvement in another couple weeks or so, then I'd really consider that vet checkup. If he has a health issue brewing, it may just be coincidence that it came along about the same time Honey showed up. And, if you did not observe a minimum of a 30 day quarantine, keeping the two as far apart as possible, you can't totally rule out the possibility Honey brought something contagious with her, that may or may not end up affecting her personally. Or, it could take longer to become evident with her. No offense to Baby but if he came from one of the stores like PetSmart, PetCo, PetLand, etc., any of the large chains, while Honey came from a private breeder, Baby is most likely not as genetically sound and pure, as Honey. That difference can manifest in many ways, health issues included. I hope this will be helpful for you but if you have any more questions, just let me know. Best of luck with Baby and let me know how it goes. Patricia
Addendum: I also meant to tell you, since they are both male, I would not ever expect them to share one cage, totally in peace. They might get where they will visit and spend time together, especially if they have a neutral area like a parrot stand or similar. They might even go to each other's cages from time to time. But no matter how well they seem to get along most of the time, be prepared for some problems during molts and during hormone time. Most likely you will find yourselves with a couple moody little roosters during those time.
Edited by Skydanzer on August 31 2006 at 11:19am
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