Please help! Rehoming a tiel! Long too

[chrisboo]

Hi. I 'inherited' a cockatiel yesterday. I was of the impression that the person it came from by way of my in-laws had some form of situation that required immediate help. My kids have been asking for a tiel since we bought my nanday three years ago. I thought, this one needs a home, great: and if it didn't work out I have two friends who are looking for a bird that would be interested. Turns out, this guy would be too much work for them (no experience with fids for them).
The poor guy was delivered to me before I knew anything about him. The first thing I hear is him singing outside my sister-in-laws front door. Sounds great. Then the door opens and in comes an old parakeet starter kit cage, housing a tiel.

This is what I know for sure:
His left eye is messed up, it appears the inner lid is half closed giving that side of his face a 'chameleon' appearance.
The friend of my in-laws brought it home from her restaurant two years ago, and is never home to take care of it now. We don't know long she had him before then. I'm not even sure its a him....
They didn't hold it to the best of my understanding, because my mother-in-law said not to touch it just take care of it.
He is very, very scared. At first he just postured to bite, by the time we made the 2.5 hour drive home, he was hissing, striking, and fluffing up.
He only sits on a mirrored treat perch for keets. His poor aching feet!


Right now he is quarantined in my son's room upstairs. There is light traffic up there and we are making lots of noise down here, plus it is a small house. When we go in the room, he half climbs his mirror and puffs up unhappily, so I figure he is probably more than content and it gives me some time to observe him.

This is my plan:
Put him in my nanday's old cage. I think it is 20 x 20 and 26 high (its been a couple years she lives in a double bird cage alone now, I can always divide it again later and put him next to her.) My concern is moving him from the keet cage, where EVERYTHING is too small, but home nonetheless. Should I wait until he is more settled?
Offer more toys.
Give him a better diet. My nanday is pellet resistant, but I offer them everyday regardless. She nibbles somewhat. So I thought I would incorporate some pellets into a seed mix for him, they didn't give me any of what they are feeding him, so I will try to buy similar. Also fresh foods.
Love him, slowly approach him with food and treats.

I am a busy mom of four plus a beautiful nanday (who began chewing feathers when new baby came home, cannot stop her, love her anyway), a little budgie who just lost his best friend, a chocolate lab, a hyper jack russell, and an old cat who loves us....we have always joked that he is a dog in a cat's body. So at least the tiel will not be sitting entirely alone in a small cage in an empty apartment I guess.
I did searches on rehoming on the web, and got tons of hits on people either looking to get or give away a bird, but not much detailed help. I searched this board and got much the same. I should probably post this to the cockatiels page as well. Thank you for your time and ANY advice you can give me, or if this is better left to someone without so much going on. By the way, I thought Popeye would be a cute name for him so for now, we'll call him that. Attached is a picture of him in the keet cage for reference
Thank you, Chris

[menafu23]

Recently our rescue took in an Amazon that had been living in a cockatiel cage for several years, after 24 hours I placed her into a Macaw size cage. For about 8 hours she sat in the corner on a perch. After that period though she was climbing around, hanging upside down, etc.

My suggestion would be to go ahead and set him up in the larger cage, fresh food and water, maybe a little millet and then back off for awhile.

Don't force him to interact with you, let him adjust to the changes first.

Also I would take him to the vet as soon as possible, esp to get that eye checked out.

Remember to disinfect your hands, arms after contact with him/his cage. Also I would recommend changing your shirt, just for added safety.

Give him time, good food, love and vet care and he could turn out to be the best little tiel'. If you think that you dont have the time or money for the vet, consider contacting a rescue near you.

We often get birds from families that took in a bird and realized it needed more work than they were prepared for.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!

[RubyMuse]

The bird is lucky to have ended up with you because you sound very compassionate. Take the bird to a vet to get a check up - it is worth your mental health, alone! Then you can transfer him to a better cage, cover part of it, and keep him in a quiet area where he can settle down - out of the traffic of dogs, kids, doors, etc...

Give him time, he will come around after he learns he is safe! Talk softly, move slowly, and he will learn.

[chrisboo]

Thank you Mena and Ruby.
I do have an appt with our avian vet today, yeah! Thank you both for your advice. One further question would be concerning his mirror. As I mentioned in the other post, it is a mirrored treat perch for parakeets. I was going to get something mirrored a bit more appropriately sized for him. I don't have a mirror for my nanday, but my keet does. I figured letting him keep the mirror for awhile would be good, lest it seem that he is losing home and mate, any opinions here?
Thanks again,
Chris

[Valo's Moirana]

depending on how long he's had the mirror, you might have to wean him off of it... our tiel back home has had a mirror for 20 yrs... needless to say that we didn't take it out once we found out it's not the best for them.

one thing you might want to consider is moving him into the new cage but bringing the mirror perch into the new cage too for the time being. it appears he's fixated onto this perch, and probably doesn't care much where it is as long as he's close by. that's how we moved our tiel into his new cage - just move the mirror. the bird followed shortly after LOL
then after settling in you could slowly take out the perch for increasing time periods to get him used to looking at other things too... guess he's not very interested in other toys, is he?!

[chrisboo]

Just thought I would update real quick -

Chewie (we renamed him...) saw the vet who gave him a clean bill of health. Apparently the eye thing is something that some cockatiels are born with. He said he had seen it before, nothing to worry about. Other than that, Chewie has just never been handled.

So, he is in his new cage, I took out the budgie mirror yesterday, he did have it the first several days. I replaced it with a normal mirror for awhile so that he stops standing on that tiny perch! Found him some food that he eats....boy, does he eat! Unfortunately, he doesn't know what millet nor fresh food are (was scared of them....). Does like the cuttlebone though. All in all, he seems a little more settled. He likes to sing, especially to his reflection. And no, he doesn't care about any of the other toys he came with or we have put in his cage!

I think I am going to try the birdtricks thing, I attempted to take him out with a towel and talk to him, he drew blood on me and my mother, so 'forcing' affection isn't my strong suit I guess. Just let him get used to us for awhile and then start the perching trick.

thank you to all for your advice!
Chris