13 minute read
an animal’s emotional state than body language alone
a v i a n Thinking Outside the Box
Sheila Blanchette presents the case study of Hei Hei, a 13-year-old male cockatiel who had issues with plucking behavior and night frights as well as a reluctance to be inside his cage, and sets out her behavior change plan that empowered him to make choices about his environment
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© Sheila Blanchette When cockatiel Hei Hei (above) was surrendered, he was struggling with night frights and plucking behavior and preferred to sleep on top of his cage rather than inside it (below)
© Sheila Blanchette
Hei Hei is a 13yearold male cockatiel who, at the time of relinquishment, displayed plucking behavior. Unfortunately, however, his rescue intake sheet did not include any background information that would help determine the cause of this. During visual review, it did appear that there were missing feathers on his back, so he was taken to a certified avian veterinarian for a complete medical exam to eliminate any possibility preexisting medical issues.
While we waited for the test results, Hei Hei adjusted to his new setup of living in my home. Several days later the results came back: no avian diseases, no mites, and no nutrition deficiencies had been detected. The veterinarian explained that Hei Hei had neurological issues in his tail and wings, but was not in pain, and that his quality of life was not affected. However, these same issues would prevent him from flying and also cause some balance issues. It was important for me to be aware of this because if he fell, he may not be able to pick himself up again. The veterinarian noted that Hei Hei was in good health, so the missing feathers appeared to be the result of a behavior issue. During my first week observing Hei Hei, I noticed that he preferred to be outside the cage. I didn’t notice any plucking occurring at this time. At the same time, each morning I would find a few smaller feathers at the bottom of the cage but could not determine if this was related to molting, preening, or plucking.
Night Frights
During the second week, more behavior started to surface. One night I woke up to a loud noise and banging. I went to check on Hei Hei and determined that he was having a “night fright.” Night frights occur when a cockatiel is spooked or anxious during the night and can cause him to try to escape by flying into the cage bars or flailing on the cage floor. This can be dangerous as the bird’s wings could get jammed in the cage bars, and was especially dangerous for Hei Hei because he could not set himself upright and may have got stuck on his back.
As a result of this experience, I started adjusting the location of Hei Hei’s cage and added a light to reduce the potential for night frights. I also started to keep a daily log to help me investigate anything that might be contributing to the night frights or the plucking.
After two months of observation, one key factor started to emerge from my notes, namely that the night frights seemed to reduce when Hei Hei was left out of his cage at night. And when I continued leaving him out of the cage overnight, in the morning I would find him sleeping quite peacefully on top of the cage with no issues. I never found any feathers at the bottom of the cage either. And so, over the next month, I rearranged Hei Hei’s cage setup so he could sleep outside safely. This included pillows around the cage in case he fell.
After several weeks living outside the cage, there appeared to be no further plucking or night frights. Hei Hei’s back feathers grew back in and he was back to being a beautiful cockatiel. However, now that the genie was out of the bottle, so to speak, I had get him back in again. In other words, for safety and adoption purposes, Hei Hei needed to adjust
to life back in the cage.
Obviously, my plan did not consist of simply placing Hei Hei back into the cage in the hope he would get used to it. I still could not determine what had originally caused the plucking and, in any case, I wanted Hei Hei to choose to go back into the cage at his pace. I needed to arrange the environment carefully so as not to retrigger the plucking or the night frights.
Training Plan
Up to that point Hei Hei had been enjoying four happy foster months in my home, during which time most of my focus had been reducing the plucking and night fright behaviors. The next stage of the training plan involved setting up the environment in such a way that it would encourage him to move back into a cage. As an aside, Hei Hei was not at all interested interacting with humans, and only stepped up onto my hand when he fell and needed assistance to set himself upright. Otherwise, he would move away from hands and squawk.
To start with, I reviewed the current cage setup to see what might motivate Hei Hei to want to go back inside. Then, as I started making changes, I would use a technique I learned from occasional BARKS contributor Lara Joseph at The Animal Behavior Center in Sylvania, Ohio. This entailed counting backwards, out loud, “3…2…1” and then moving an item. By doing this, I was informing Hei Hei that change was coming. If he squawked or lowered his body position, I stopped immediately. I quickly learned to recognize which posturing indicated Hei Hei was not comfortable with the change so I would simply stop and try again later. Any time after my countdown when Hei Hei just watched me, I could continue with whatever change I was making at the time.
The first change I made was to position a little ladder that led into the cage and place food and water near the entrance. Hei Hei quickly got onto the ladder and approached the front of the cage where the food was, but the position of the ladder shortened the height of the door entrance opening and there was not enough head room for him to walk in. He would have had to lower his entire body to clear the entrance. Evidently he was not comfortable with this arrangement and he elected not to go in.
The second change I made was to lower the ladder to give Hei Hei more clearance, but he still wouldn’t cross the threshold of the cage door. He would pace up and down the ladder but never go in. Hei Hei won this battle and I gave him a break for a couple weeks. In the meantime, I had to take a step back and reevaluate my approach. I gave Hei Hei a lot of bonus points here as during all the attempted changes to his environment, there were no recurrences of the plucking or night fright behaviors.
New Strategy: New Cage
On the third attempted change, I introduced a new cage. It was a taller, more spacious cage that gave Hei Hei a lot more room. It also had a much larger door/entrance. He loved being on the top of this cage, but no matter how I set it up, he showed no interest in going to the lower part. It was as if the cage was too tall for him to venture down. And so I went back to brainstorming for a couple more days.
For the fourth change, I tried raising the food items closer to the top of cage. Once I’d done this, Hei Hei started using the ladder to move from his position on top of the cage to access his food and water that were, at this stage, located outside the cage. I then placed boxes inside
© Sheila Blanchette To encourage Hei Hei to go inside his cage, the first change author Sheila Blanchette made to the setup was to position a little ladder that led inside and place food and water near the entrance
Blanchette also introduced a new cage that was taller and more spacious, with a larger door/entrance
A later environmental change involved removing the cage roof and placing the ladder inside to provided access to food and water and it was this that finally helped Hei Hei feel safe enough to go inside
Blanchette gave Hei Hei a couple of weeks to settle in and adjust to his new setup before moving forward with the next step
© Sheila Blanchette
© Sheila Blanchette
© Sheila Blanchette
Over the next couple of days, I observed and tracked Hei Hei’s behavior. He appeared to have no issues. There were no night frights and no plucking. He was moving from the top of the cage to the inside very fluently and was making the choice to go in and out himself. After just a week, he was settling into the new cage setup really well.
© Sheila Blanchette Once Hei Hei’s environment had been gradually modified to suit his needs and preferences, his emotional state improved sufficiently for the plucking behavior and night frights to stop, and his feathers grew back the cage to raise the cage floor, so Hei Hei could easily reach his parakeet millet stick. It was his favorite thing of all and it was still inside the cage. But he would just sit on the ladder and look inside. He still didn’t go in and so, again, I took a break and reviewed what I was learning from his behavior.
For my fifth attempt at environmental change, I really needed to think outside of the box. I knew Hei Hei liked being on top of the cage, but there was something preventing him from going inside. This could be connected to the cause of the plucking. I wondered if there something about both cages that was aversive to him.
I created a new adjustable cage floor from cardboard that could be adjusted so it was closer to the top of the cage. As I attached my creation, the inside height of the cage was being reduced. I wondered what would happen if I removed the top of the cage to give Hei Hei the choice to go inside from the top. Up until now I had been adding ladders leading from the outside of the cage to the cage door, with no success. But what if the ladder was already inside the cage and provided access to the food and water? It seemed like an odd approach but if it worked, it would tell me that the cage roof might be the thing causing the issues.
And so I removed the cage roof and set up the ladders inside. I watched Hei Hei check out the new setup for a while and was preparing myself to go back to the old setup and start planning the sixth attempt,
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© Sheila Blanchette At the time of writing, Hei Hei’s training plan was not complete as the cage roof still needed to be added back
when it happened. Within 30 minutes, Hei Hei was in the cage and eating.
Over the next couple of days, I observed and tracked Hei Hei’s behavior. He appeared to have no issues. There were no night frights and no plucking. He was moving from the top of the cage to the inside very fluently and was making the choice to go in and out himself. After just a week, he was settling into the new cage setup really well.
I also made a few minor changes that increased the length of time he chose to stay in the cage area. I never forced him to go back into the cage, of course. I just let him choose which changes would help make the setup more acceptable and appealing to him, and also feel safe. All in all, the training process and learning adjustments took two months to complete. In the end, the slow adjustment approach was successful and there have been no more feather plucking or night frights.
At the time of writing, the training plan was not complete as the cage roof still needed to be added back. That is the next thing for us to work on. The lessons learned from my observations so far will assist enormously in getting the roof back on in the coming months.
Positive reinforcement, small approximations in the environment, and allowing choices at the bird’s pace can lead to amazing outcomes, as Hei Hei’s case so clearly demonstrates. I can’t wait for the next step! n Sheila Blanchette is an IAABC certified parrot behavior consultant/ trainer who has operated her own companion bird training company, Heart of Feathers Education & Training, in Haverhill, Massachusetts since 2015. She conducts in-home and online companion bird behavior consultations. Her love for birds began when she received her first red lory in 1995 and she joined the American Lory Society. She began volunteering at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and formulating her desire to improve the understanding and welfare of companion birds. She then began her study of avian behavior and applied behavior analysis and started reaching out to animal rescues in the New England to offer assistance with companion bird education and review companion bird cases. In 2017, she was named chair of the Quaker Parakeet Society Rehome and Placement Program, which includes coordinating the surrender and adoption of Quaker parakeets throughout the U.S., organizing and educating volunteers, and facilitating the foster program.
