mixing different sized birds, Zorro's story

[Lynjupiter]

Not long ago a friends of mine had the tragedy of having their cockatoo kill their conure. Their conure got aggresive, went after the too and the too killed him in one bite. I have for the last three years been warning people about letting big and small bird out in the same room at the same time. Even closely supervised things can turn tragic. Birds can move faster then humans. I have myself experinced this tragedy and my nanday Zorro paid for it.

I know many of you have read this numerous times but here is the condensed version of Zorro's story for those who do not know it.

Zorro the nanday Versus Tyler the Umbrella cockatoo
Febuary 27 , 2003

Zorro had lived happily with my umbrella cockatoo Tyler for three years ( not in a cage but supervised out time in the same room) . The cockatoo is a very sweet good bird. She would never hurt a soul on purpose. But that fateful evening Zorro jumped at her. It scared her and she lashed out. She grabbed Zorro by the head. Her top beak entered his left ear, her bottom beak entered the top of his skull and she crushed his head like a nut. I was right there. I heard his skull crack. At that time I thought the crack might be my heart breaking. I love Zorro like no other pet I have ever had.

Zorro fell to the floor. When I scooped him up blood spurted out of his head and he went into seizures. I did not think there was a chance in the world that he would live. Not even humans live through those kind of skull fractures. I called my vet and begged him to meet me even though it was after hours. I figured even if he could not save my Zorro he could take away the pain. He agreed to meet me. He knew how much I loved this bird. And so we met in a parking lot , the rain was pouring down washing my tears away. The vet thought Zorro might have a chance and told me to give him a few days. I gave Zorro what I thought was a last kiss goodbye. I drove home and cried for two days straight

I ended up taking Zorro home four days later. I had to learn to tube feed and give injections. Zorro at the time was blind in the right eye, his right side was weak and limp, his right foot turned in. He could not eat , drink or even swallow. We did not know if or when he would get these functions back. Things still looked bleak but Zorro was stablizied and was showing he wanted to live. I was ready to try and give him all I had.

Zorro had a strong will to survive. I think he really knew how much he was loved and it kept him going. Within a few days I had him eating and walking.
We had our ups and downs. Zorro would stop eating and we would find he had a small infection. When the scabs finally came off we found he had nothing but a massive bone mass underneath. No skin. But as time went on he got better. He gained all the sight back in his left eye, his right side grew stronger. He had plastic surgery to cover the bone sticking out of his head. Zorro is about back to what he was before. He is blind in his right eye, he is very quiet for a nanday and he still has some trouble controlling his right leg. But those are very small problems for such a very big injury. I am very proud of my little boy. He beat the odds over and over He is a very strong nanday

This was one of the worst times in my life since I started keeping birds. I ended up very lucky and I will never push my luck again when it comes to my feathered darlings.
Lynda

Pictures, MVC 009 Zorro a week after his accident. Note his terribly deformed head
My Z Boy a month after the accident
Zorro before 8-1-03 Zorro 6 months after his accident, before plastic surgery
Zorro after 8-2-03 Zorro after plastic surgery
Zorro the wet, Zorro as he looks now. Notice he still has a large pit in his head with no feathers. But his head looks so much better then we ever imagined.

[LivingFiction]

Wow, that is a tragic story! And it only serves to further my resolve to not allow Feo and Hurley to interact. Their playstands are on different ends of the room. Someone asked us yesterday if they were friends. I said that they might be, but that they didn't ever get near each other, not because Feo would attack, but because Hurley might get aggressive. It sounds like you actually had to live my nightmare! Hooray for little Zorro and his will to live!

[Dayna]

Lynda, I always knew that there was a story with Zorro, just never knew what it was.

Poor Zorro and you. I can only imagine what you must have felt like. I am SO very glad that Zorro wanted to stay around a bit longer yet!

[Lynjupiter]

Originally Posted by LivingFiction

Hooray for little Zorro and his will to live!

Zorro says thank you. I recieved many letters from people after Zorro was hurt saying they experinced the same thing. Some were cases of little and big bird being best freinds and big bird not knowing it's own strength, others it was a fight. I have found it usally is the little bird who is the aggresor and the big bird is just defending it's self. Many people asked me if I was mad at Tyler or if I got rid of her. But the only fault was mine. Cockatoos have a fight or flight reaction. She was cornered, she could not be expected not to defend herself. Same with any big bird.

Your smart to keep Feo and Hurley well separated. But be careful, like I said even the same room is risky. I saw what was going down and tried desperatley to intervene. I was a less then foot away when Tyler got him. If I had been a few seconds faster I would have received a bad bite from Tyler and Zorro would have been saved. My birds have playgyms also but don't always stay there. Now out time is split up. None of the birds have the hours upon hours out like they used to. But that is the way it has to be. Since our move Tyler is not even in the same room as the conures anymore. I thinks she likes it that way though.
Lynda

[Lynjupiter]

Originally Posted by Dayna

Lynda, I always knew that there was a story with Zorro, just never knew what it was.

Poor Zorro and you. I can only imagine what you must have felt like. I am SO very glad that Zorro wanted to stay around a bit longer yet!

Thanks Dayna,
I really doubt Zorro will have the full thirty years since his accident. In many ways he is like an older bird now and I figure that it probably took ten years off his life. But I consider each day with him a gift and I know when his ends comes he will go knowing how much he is loved. In my house Zorro is king. Even the other conures treat him with reverance and know the biggest sin they can commit around me is getting aggresive with Zorro LOL

Lynda

[dlaonivcee]

Oh that story made me cry. I'm very happy Zorro lived. I'm going to be very careful with Chiquita and Snickers from now on.

[Spinnergirl]

I am posting this through tears of both sad and happy thoughts, what a story you and your Zorro have.

Thank you for sharing this story and I do watch carefully with even my "same" size birds when they are out together.

I do not want to ever go through what your family did.

I am happy however your Zorro is leading a good life now despite his disabailties :)

[lcbrink]

and it tells me than when I get my second bird both of them will have their wings clipped religiously and that they may play in the same room, but not on the same stand/cage.

Thanks for the story, and sorry about Zorro.

[DocT]

Oh how sad I am so glad Zorro is ok. I have 4 large birds and one Maroon bellied Conure. I never allow Jo Jo the conure to be in with the big birds for fear that something like this could happen. He stays in the living room and not the bird room.

Bonnie

[Monica]

I, too, have had to gone through a similar situation, though the outcome was worse...

I had my birds in one of the flight cages, though the bottom glass was broken so I had to to cover the bottom with some other object to keep the little birds in. Now Noel and Casey live cage-free together (cockatiel and cherry head conure). I had left the house for several hours, and when I came back, most of the little birds had escaped and landed on Noel and Caseys gym. Noel, of course chased them, and even managed to get a hold of the mother, a female bourke that was 14 years old. Noel literally removed this bourkes top beak, and was still sitting on the gym when I got back. I managed to get all the small birds together and into a different cage (which at the time was outside).

There wasn't much I could do because it was in the evening on Saturday, so the only avian vet office was closed. I called around to other places, managed to get an emergency number, called it, and was directed to UC Davis. I was then redirected to one of the avian specialists who was asking me if I could possibly bring the bird down to her, however the university was too far out of my range, and the only transportation I had was from my mother... I tried feeding her some handfeednig formula from a syringe, though she refused to take it, and being that she's an elderly bird, I didn't want to stress her out.

She was alive Monday morning, and I had school so I had to leave... in the time that I was gone, she passed on. I still have Noel and Casey together, living cage-free. I was even able to make sure that the flight cage they escaped from fixed. I was aware of the danger, and I did what I could to prevent it. I also realize that if something wrong goes inbetween Casey and Noel, Casey would pay the price, however if I seperate them, I would be left with two screaming birds, both of which may end up plucking/mutilating themselves. I do plan on hopefully seperating them in the future, however I need to first find a friend that is Noel's size (such as another cherry head, or even a mitred). However, that will be several years before something such as that happens, if nothing happens before then...