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The First Cut is the Deepest - A bird mom's dilemma

About 4 years ago I adopted an African Grey Congo from our good friend and rescue extraordinaire, Nancy.

His name is Ceasar and he was 3 years old when he came home with me. He had come from a home where a divorce was imminent and alcohol abuse was prevalent. He was very well cared for by his family but had developed the wonderful feather plucking game and was very jumpy and nervous. He gave wonderful kisses though and I fell in love. Nancy had managed to get Ceasar to start some feather regrowth in his time with her but of course as soon as he came to my home he reverted and was tailless, wingless and bare-chested in a matter of days. Heartbreaking. He also swore like a sailor and embarrassed even me with some of the things that came out of his beak.

As time went by Ceasar would let some of his feathers grow back but then he would pluck himself bald again. Hormones, bad mood, television on too late, look at him sideways, all good reasons for him to start the pulling. Fortunately he never mutilated and I think he was always remorseful when he realized what he had done to himself. Low self esteem?  Good thing he couldn’t get to the fridge or he would be 500 lbs I am sure.

Around the time of a particularly good feather growth spurt we purchased a vacation home in Bancroft Ontario. Perfect, the birds could sit outside without fear of cats, noisy neighbors, watch dragonflies, ducks on the lake and the oh-so-wonderful sunshine. Or so we thought.

First trip up we loaded the cockatoos in their travel cages and Ceasar in his. 2 hours later we had 2 pissed off cockatoos and a bald African Grey. The cockatoos have since learned to live with the 2 hour trip every weekend and Ceasar now sits on a custom made perch that is nested in the drink holder in between the drivers and passenger seat. The trip is not so dramatic for him now but I think he wants to bite all the pointing fingers from cars that stop beside us at lights.

About 5 months ago we noticed Ceasar would flap his featherless wings whenever my husband would do flying exercises with Roger one of our cockatoos. Hmmm could be a break thru I thought. I like to think I am really smart sometimes. He would also flap his wings when he was perched in the truck on the way to Bancroft. Has to be a way to turn this behavior into something really positive we thought.

My husband started flying Ceasar around the room on his hand. He would crouch over so his face was beside Ceasar and tell him he was flying. It was more soaring at this point but a breakthrough is a breakthrough.  Have you ever seen a grown man soaring around the house with an equally crouched bald bird on his hand? I close the curtains during these times. Neighbors already think we are nuts when we dance in the bird room. They can’t see the birds sitting on their cages, just us jumping up and down and waving our arms.

Well eventually the flapping started and Ceasar was so proud. He held his head up high, his chest stood out and it was kisses all around after a good flight with daddy. (Great bonding experience too) Within a couple of weeks Ceasar started growing his tail feathers, chest feathers and miraculously wing feathers. He started aggressively playing harder with his toys and flapping, became the focal point of the day 

I was too proud for words; my little boy was overcoming his phobia and becoming a man. I could once again eat chicken wings and not think of Ceasar. My joy was short-lived however and soon turned into fear. Ceasar in his quest to make us even more proud of him would try to fly on his own. He of course did not have the wing strength or the full wing feathers yet to do this safely. 

I would be making dinner and hear a loud thump and then a string of not so nice words. I would then find Ceasar walking back to his cage with his head down in despair and his ego deflated muttering curses under his beak.  No feather pulling though. I didn’t think birds could bend at the knee but Ceasar has perfected it. Bend the knees, jump, flap and then kerplunk onto the floor. He was not to be stopped though; he just started doing it when we weren’t looking. He has broken several tail feathers, created a whirlwind of dust bunnies and has made me a nervous wreck. Solution, lock him in his cage and only allow him out when we were beside him, I think not, stop applauding his flying attempts, I think not, put a bungee cord on him? No we found a better one. 4-inch thick foam all the way around his cage and pillows. Yes that was the ticket; he could fall and not hurt himself. Only problem we had now created an amusement park for him. He took complete joy in bending those bird knees, jumping straight up into the air, flapping not so full wings, falling straight down and bouncing off the foam into the pillows, He even developed a new word while falling, “Yahooooooooooo”. I kid you not. He loved it, I did not. He grew feathers, I grew bald.

Fortunately he has tired of this game and now holds firmly onto his cage door or the top of his cage when practicing his flying alone.  We still continue to soar him around the room, applaud his flying attempts and tell him what beautiful feathers he has. He has an almost full set of wing feathers, full body feathers and 7 tail feathers almost at full length. We still have short spurts of pulling 4 or 5 fluff balls when he doesn’t get his own way about something. I am so proud of his accomplishment and he is too. Is there a 12-step program for feather pluckers? Maybe we should start one. Pluckers Anonymous support groups. Could be an idea.

In closing I now have one more fear; with the good weather coming and Ceasar almost being fully flighted the need for trimming his flight feathers will become an issue. I am terrified that by cutting these feathers I may cause him to revert to feather plucking by taking some of his accomplishment away. I need to keep him safe indoors and outdoors though. I am reminded of a line in a song called The First Cut is the Deepest and boy I will be holding my breath when it is time to get those scissors out and make the first cut. I am soon going to be a permanent guest on Doctor Phil’s show.

So until my next story adventure remember to praise your birds, pay attention to what they try to tell and show you and don’t worry about looking like a horses patootie in front of your neighbors.  Keep on doing the birdie dance!

by Lorraine Anderson

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