Look what Sunny did 😢
Added 2020-12-23 17:00:00 +0000 UTCIts taken us a long while to talk about this.
Comments
This is so disappointing to hear, after all the work you guys put in. It must be scary to think of putting him under again in the future and have it potentially go all awry again. Dave still looks crest fallen, I hope you two don't take it too personally. You two are doing amazing things for Sunny, it just might be a longer and tougher journey to free flight than initially anticipated. The "steering" and "soaring" mechanisms Dave somehow noticed Sunny doing is a good sign. Please keep your chins up, he's truly in the best hands and we all believe in you!
Catrin Griffiths
2021-01-23 19:09:10 +0000 UTCNo, he didn’t. Patrons just know about things way farther in advance than the rest of the world. 😉
BirdTricks
2021-01-03 03:13:10 +0000 UTCDid Bing get a second set of impped feathers? I was confused when I got the email announcing that Sunny got his feathers inpped after this was announced?
Connie Muttart
2021-01-02 19:33:38 +0000 UTCI literally can't wait for this course!
Andrea
2021-01-02 12:54:30 +0000 UTCthe trick training plan sounds suitable for him! as self distraction messes up the dopamine levels - trick training can kinda help balance that up - and give him an opportunity to learn how to self sooth without reinforcing self distraction.
Guy Goldstein K
2020-12-30 18:31:50 +0000 UTCtry and consult a trauma specialist therapist about this - he has obviously developed this habbit to self distract when he was helpless - sometimes trauma needs a specific way of treatment - and a therapist could might give you a more psychological perspective on his care. don’t give up - self distractive behaviors hurts the way the brain processes stress but they can be treated at any age. I think you guys can learn a lot from it.
Guy Goldstein K
2020-12-30 17:32:59 +0000 UTCyOUR HAIR!!! it looks so so good
Guy Goldstein K
2020-12-30 17:17:01 +0000 UTCAh, Im thinking the postage will still be quite dear.
Kristine Vinberg Siiger
2020-12-30 08:48:05 +0000 UTCKango is a shipping thingy where you can ship to an address within the USA and they send it onto you. I've heard of international people getting our pellets that way.
BirdTricks
2020-12-30 03:06:51 +0000 UTCI mix with TOPS, but he’s not really liking it. I got Roudybush from the UK, but I’m not sure about that now cause of Brexit and VAT. I don’t know what Kango is.
Kristine Vinberg Siiger
2020-12-29 17:14:53 +0000 UTCWe have found that if you use Kango we can ship to your Kango address and you can then have it sent to you internationally for pellets. Also there's TOPS as an alternative, or Roudybush which are both better than Harrisons ingredients.
BirdTricks
2020-12-28 17:58:10 +0000 UTCHes on Harrisons pellets, I’m not US based so I can’t try your pellets. He will literally chuck the nut if I try to give him one 😂 It’s gonna be a long way off for a diet including proper veggies, but we’re slowly working our way there. At least he’s interested in trying them from my plate.
Kristine Vinberg Siiger
2020-12-27 16:29:40 +0000 UTCHe is food motivated, but your foundation for it to work isn't in place yet which is having him on the proper diet. That's always step one: diet. This is the diet we recommend: https://birdtricksstore.com/collections/health-and-diet You can check out Tasty Tuesdays here on Patreon for diet conversion help - and make sure he's on our pellets as other pellets have lots of fillers, sugars and extra fat content that discourage them to be interested in real treats because it's already in the pellet they eat.
BirdTricks
2020-12-27 15:20:43 +0000 UTCI think he may be motivated by attention, but I’m unsure how to really use that as a reward. He’s free roam in a bird room, but mostly with me around the house, so he gets plenty of attention as is.
Kristine Vinberg Siiger
2020-12-26 20:27:55 +0000 UTCHis main diet is pellets. I’m trying to get him to try new things, he will only try anything new from my fork and if it’s from my plate. It’s always the meat he tries to get to (poultry, fish, red meat). He will also gladly eat cheese.. I’ve had him for 3 months and he’s 4 years old.
Kristine Vinberg Siiger
2020-12-26 20:25:05 +0000 UTCYep, that's how we found he had a bacterial infection and needed calcium supplements added to his diet. And he went back in to make sure it was gone after we gave meds too so that's all good (and his calcium levels had risen due to the supplement and were already on the low end of normal) so all good, and all progress!
BirdTricks
2020-12-26 16:10:25 +0000 UTCIs he motivated by attention or toys? My grandmother had an Amazon that loved shredding paper. When a new person came to visit and they wanted to hold him all we had to do was hand the person a piece of cardboard. Some birds just love destruction! 🎊🎉
Tasha
2020-12-26 16:05:57 +0000 UTCRight! Thankfully you guys had done the procedure cuz if I remember right you guys discovered an infection. I still totally feel your disappoinment too. At the risk of sounding completely cliché, everything happens for a reason. No matter what, he's with the perfect people to turn his world upright and become the wonderful bird he's meant to be!
Tasha
2020-12-26 16:02:01 +0000 UTCThanks! And yeah, that's why I had a full work up done at the same time he went under so that we could make the most out of putting him under at all.
BirdTricks
2020-12-26 14:56:20 +0000 UTCWhat is your grey's main diet? When you say meat is it any type of meat or specific to fish, etc?
BirdTricks
2020-12-26 14:54:37 +0000 UTCI would love to see more about training birds that aren’t food motivated. My greys fave food is meat -.- He doesn’t care for nuts/fruit/seeds at all! I feel a bit lost, how to train him.
Kristine Vinberg Siiger
2020-12-26 08:20:23 +0000 UTCAwe! Poor buddy doesn't know what he's missing in every way. He might not really understand what the feathers actually do for him and what they mean for flight. It sucks that he went through the procedure just so you guys could find out his compulsion is so strong. Putting animals under anesthesia is always crazy nerve wracking... You guys are gifting him always and he knows he's a lucky bird. Love your hair!!!
Tasha
2020-12-26 05:31:07 +0000 UTCI think that’s a really cool idea because Sunny will learn more coping mechanisms and Dave will be able to give him gifts he can appreciate. Obviously, Dave’s love languages include gift giving, and so it hurts real bad when a gift appears not to be appreciated. But Sunny isn’t chewing off his feathers “at you.” He’s just doing what Sunny do. My grey, Morgan, plucked for decades. She improves daily, and her plucking has reduced since July. Over time, it gets better and better as she learns more ways to deal. She also improves as I find new ways to entertain her and keep her beak busy. Even so, I feel she is still over-preening, though I am learning to accept that she gets to draw that line and we don’t know where her limits will be. I do know it helps to shift focus away from preventing or stopping her, and think more about enriching and strengthening her. I try to fill her world so there’s less time and space for self-destructive habits. She’s just too busy living well. For now, I’m over the moon at her progress, and should love her bald and flightless. Using Sunny for the new course is gonna give Sunny the gifts he really needs: Time and confidence. He needs a few wins he can reach with his own body, just as he is. Feathered or not, there’s more than one way a soul can fly. Looking forward to the series. Captain Morgan needs more games to play. We’ll be excited to try them too! Don’t forget to include instructions for the props so we can all follow along and play Sunny’s games!
ShelB
2020-12-25 09:30:36 +0000 UTCI. Am. SO. Sorry! When you started on this journey with Sunny, I was reminded of a favorite quotation from Emily Dickinson - "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul..." Your hope and enthusiasm was palpable. The possibility of opening a new world for Sunny after all the years he suffered and guiding him to take to the skies and fly is a wonderful goal. It's sad to come back to earth and realize just how damaged he is. I hope that trick training gives him focus and confidence to go back to the beginning of a flight journey. He is obviously not a bird for short cuts, but even if his journey is longer and more difficult than we all hoped, your love and care has already given him more than he could have ever have known just months ago. Good luck!
Sue Standley
2020-12-24 23:27:38 +0000 UTCIt’s unfortunate that Sunny chooses to chew his primary flight feathers, if it was his chest or top of his wings, he’d still be able to fly. Perhaps Sunny needs to heal in other ways before he can take flight. It’s not up to us to decide in which order he heals. ❤️
Rosanna Lam
2020-12-24 21:05:56 +0000 UTCI totally feel you guys. Sad for Sunny and for you guys!!!
David Eugene Deutsch
2020-12-24 15:30:00 +0000 UTCIt will replace our current trick training course.
BirdTricks
2020-12-24 14:54:39 +0000 UTCI am so sorry about the setback. I know how devastating it must feel to want so much for Sunny only to realize how deep his troubles are. Try to look at how far he has already come. He may not be ready for full wing feathers but consider how much he has blossomed in the time he has been with you. There are so many, too many, birds like him. Rescues are full of them. They are damaged from abuse, neglect, or from grief after the loss of a long time owner and being passed around after that person died. We inherited a 15 year old cockatiel when my grandmother died. He had been confined to his cage for the last 5 years of her life because she was afraid she would fall asleep while he was out and he would get hurt. She kept him in her bedroom his entire life. He almost never saw anything except that room. My grandmother loved the little guy, but she didn't really know how to take care of him properly. When I brought him home he was cage bound and grieving for the only person and place he knew. That was so long ago. I wish I had resources like Jamie's videos showing day one with her project birds. I followed traditional advice to let him get used to his environment and kept my distance. Of course this only added to his fear and isolation. He was so unhappy. I didn't have progress with him until I bought a new larger cage and started letting him stay outside it. As years went by he improved but there were always signs of his past. I wasted a lot of time and money trying to enrich his life. I wanted him to have all of the things I saw other birds had, but he was often afraid of them or indifferent to them. I learned how to make him happy after a LOT of trial and error. I think once I came to the realization that he would never be like the confident and often very young birds I saw on YouTube, I stopped feeling like I was failing. He was old and he had some baggage, but he was still an awesome little bird. It was great watching him blossom as much as he did, even if it wasn't to the point of becoming like the perfect YouTube birds. He passed away this July at 29 years old. He was so very loved and he knew it. We adopted a baby pionus in September. When he first came home, I was taken aback by his confidence and lust for life. Every day is a new adventure. He has a great time everywhere he goes. Toys are judged as the bigger the better. He is a fearless little daredevil. At first it made me sad that my little cockatiel may not have ever felt that way. Then I came to the conclusion that while he never had a charmed life, even when one was offered to him, he was content and happy in the last half of his life. I wish that a course like the one you will be making for older birds was available when I first got my little cockatiel. I'm sure I would have had more progress with him, or at least more quickly. Also, I think watching the setbacks will help people just as much if not more. It's important for people to know that there will be setbacks, but also successes that make it all worthwhile. I won't make a prediction as to whether Sunny will be able to achieve flight. That will be his choice. He will most definitely blossom and become a happy bird. It will be so rewarding to watch his personality develop, for him to feel safe, and to accept love. He is in the very best hands. I'm so excited for him!
Holden Kendrick
2020-12-24 04:51:16 +0000 UTCI agree, I don’t think Sunny has had enough time to get over the trauma that he’s been through. It takes people years to get over PTSD. Who knows how long it takes a bird to get over PTSD. He might be just so full of things Zaidi it will take him a lot longer. I know you guys are super sad but I really really think and feel very stronglyThat it’s not that he’ll never fly it’s just not yet. Don’t give up on him.
Connie Muttart
2020-12-24 04:50:30 +0000 UTCI’m so sorry guys... I know how much you were hoping he would fly soon! But you said it, that was his coping mechanism for years and years, so it may take a while to break that habit. But if anyone can turn it around it’s you guys! I can’t wait for the new trick course, and using Sunny is such an amazing idea! Question- is this going to be a standalone, or is it going to replace the trick training in the Elite trick course or the Complete Course bundle? Either way I’m stoked!!!
Jennifer Percopo
2020-12-24 04:09:33 +0000 UTCThat's so sad, I feel for you guys. I still think Sunny wants to fly, he's just not recovered enough yet to realize he needs those feathers. Watching him on the stand behind you, he seems a lot more aware and active than in previous videos. You've got him on the right path and your new plans should help him get much farther along it. Thanks for what you do.
Chris Mallabon
2020-12-24 03:22:23 +0000 UTCI am so sorry!!’
Patricia Lynn
2020-12-24 02:11:17 +0000 UTCMy heart breaks for Dave BUT I know Sunny couldn’t be in a better place to continue to overcome the obstacles before him. And what an amazing opportunity that presented itself (silver lining!) for Sunny to help so many other older birds and their owners. Everything happens for a reason. Although I still hold out hope that flight could be part of Sunny’s journey. Love you guys! And Jamie LOVE the hair 🔥
Ali Stergas
2020-12-23 22:31:45 +0000 UTCnew course sounds like fun! maybe Sunny will be too distracted with that to keep chewing his wings! we can all hope at least :D also... love the new hair, Jamie!
tzxazrael
2020-12-23 20:30:03 +0000 UTCAwww...poor Dave! You could see how disappointed he is still. I firmly believe Sunny will want to fly once he gains the right amount of confidence. You said it yourself when you were trying...you could feel him soaring and testing his equipment out. He just needs time, so maybe he doesn't need another procedure until he's showing more signs of wanting to fly. You guys are the best and will end up doing the right thing(s) by him. Also, I'm excited for the updated trick training course with Sunny and the SunGirls!!
Jessica Almquist
2020-12-23 20:21:46 +0000 UTCI had begun to wonder; there had been so little information about Sunny's progress. Still, I am heartbroken for Dave (and Sunny) -- what a let down. But it occurs to me that you should still take opportunities to remind Sunny about flying. About ten years ago I adopted a very unhappy (and abused) BFA. In his anger and frustration, he had started chewing and plucking feathers. Everything frightened him. I could only move him by using a long-handled T stick -- too short and he was able to reach my hands before the move was complete (his bites were vastly worse than those of the baboons and monkeys we rescued while living in Malawi). Once he was out of quarantine, I moved his cage to out great room so he could be part of any activity. His cage door was open if we were home and food was hung on the outside of the cage, initially beside the open door. Now it is ten years later (December 10th) and he has formed a strong bond (too strong some days ) with my much younger Galah. He steps onto my hand from anywhere and I can often cuddle with him (as long as he does not see my second hand). His feathers are beautiful and complete. Most amazing of all, at least to me, is that he has begun making hops that actually involve near use of his wings. Perhaps flight is in his future. My point with all of this is that it took nearly ten years to gain some of his confidence. I have not been bitten in several months, not even when I did something that nearly cost me a finger a few months earlier. Restoring these beauties to a full life takes time, sometimes years of time. (I suspect you two could have brought Rodney around in far less than ten years!!) But the journey is so worthwhile. I think your plan to focus on trick training is brilliant (and precisely the approach I expect of Bird Tricks ). And I do expect that we will see some amazing results. Just, please, when you can, remind Sunny that he can make flight possible. He may be a little slow to learn new things but given his previous environment, I regard being able to learn anything as a miracle. Thank you once again for all you and your team does!
Gale Rhoades
2020-12-23 19:24:40 +0000 UTCDudes, that blows. Talk about one-upping the nail biters out there. Looking forward to the new course, and congrats on the new studio!
Heather Wolf
2020-12-23 18:50:19 +0000 UTCThis is so sad. I'm so sorry, especially for Sunny. As sad as this is we all know that you guys can overcome pretty much anything that comes your way. I know Sunny is the worst case you've ever had but I feel like he in no way could have better people in his corner to help him overcome and cope with the world around him. As far as a trick I'd like to hear Sunny say a Jinxy OKAY. Hopefully Santa brings Capri and all of your wonderful birds exactly what they want for Christmas. I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas and that you also get whatever you may want as well.
Sherry mathes
2020-12-23 18:44:32 +0000 UTCWOOHOO!!!! I'm so excited for the NEW COURSE!! I bet Sunny will be ready to fly at the end of all that. What a journey! Love you guys!! xoxo
Wendy Miller
2020-12-23 17:48:12 +0000 UTCAw man, I'm sorry guys. Poor Sunny though, this just emphasizes how much he went through and it breaks my heart. I know it sucks but yo guys are giving him the best chance at a new life. Love you guys.
Zaira Lupidi
2020-12-23 17:34:01 +0000 UTC
