Too Attack - Serious Injury

[Congobongo]

Central Ohio Friends of a Feather (COFOAF) in Columbus, Ohio had a bird club meet up a couple weeks ago. At the meeting a cockatoo suddenly lashed out and slashed the face of one of the members. She did not own the bird.

She had to go to the emergency room. I was not there but my friend was and she said it was very, very bad. That he just laid her face open.

Now a lady who runs a rescue and says her husband was at the meeting and witnessed this says she would like to see the bird and see if a 'powder gland' or something like that was clogged (and somehow triggered the attack).

Is there such a thing? I have U2's and I have never heard of it.

[Greycloud]

There is no such thing as a powder gland. The powder is produced by special down feathers on different birds. It is made of keratin and when the bird grooms this powder breaks off and is distributed on the other feathers as a form of waterproofing and adding in feather contour. Tiels, CAGS, and toos all have powder feathers.

[Lisa B]

That was the reason we carried insurance at my club. One never knew, and its stressful on the bird. The bite was a reaction to an action. What the action was, dunno.

[Abby]

When we had Coco here the 2 older boys both ended up with some nasty bites that we had to watch. Finn was one of Coco's favoured people and still was at the end of a nasty attack. Yes in retrospect you can often work out why it happened but the body language of a 'too changes so quickly. I'm not a big one for large birds on shoulders (personal choice) but in particular I will not have any of our 'toos on shoulders. Too difficult to see them in order to read subtle changes in body language and that beak leaves nasty injuries as your bird club member unfortunately found out.

It could have been anything that caused the lash out. Maybe something was going on in the background that disturbed the U2 and the member copped it, could have been an unfamiliar or fast movement, the clothes she was wearing, the position of the moon.

Blocked powder gland, I think not. As greycloud said there is no such thing.

[LovelySydney]

Oh no thats horrible. I hope the lady recovers alright with minimal scarring. Ive always read (and unfortunately learned) that if you get bit its a reaction by the bird because of something you did. Even if its something that doesnt seem like anything at the time, its still a reaction.

[Congobongo]

I agree with the bird reacted to something. Now the setting is a meetup with a bunch of strange people and some bring their birds and this was not her bird either. So, the Too could have just been so nervouse and stressed out with all the strange people and other birds...he just freaked.

I guess the strangest thing was this woman saying something like he had a clogged powder gland. I have done a lot of research on Toos because I have them and never heard of such a thing. So I wanted to check that with all of you.

[wildirish]

WOW! Sounds like that Too took an instant dislike for some reason!

I think she was talking about the preen gland that secretes an oil on most birds, not powder gland:

Parrot Physical Exam

Before proceeding to the legs and wings, the back should be carefully palpated. It is awkward to do a good visual exam of the birds back while its in a towel but it is relatively easy to run your hands up the back checking the preen gland, skin and feathers. The uropygial gland or preen gland is a bilobed gland located at the base of the tail. It is well developed in the African Grey and absent in the Amazon. Secretions aid in feather maintenance and weatherproofing. Vitamin D3 precursors are secreted in the oil. Exposure to ultraviolet light triggers the chemical change to active VitD. Subsequent preening results in ingestion of the active vitamin. Plugging or failure of the gland to empty is most commonly associated with poor nutrition. Neoplasms of the gland are not uncommon in budgies. If your patient is a cockatoo your hands should come away from the back and under the wings covered with powder. This powder is produced by specialized down feathers. It aids in grooming and waterproofing. Birds that produce inadequate amounts of powder often have a greasy or unkept appearance.

Uropygial - Preening Gland

[cbalvino]

I think it is totally NUTS,to take birds out in a public place with out having a "safe" area for them to be in,we recently bought the birdie stroller for our utoo because the ist time we took her out for an educational talk she was very uneasy in an open crate,the stroller was VERY pricey,but worth her comfort level and ours,we also are totally focused on the birds when in public,if someone asked a complicated ? we put the bird in the safe area to talk or demonstrate something.I have been to shows and meetings and have rarely seen a bird that looked at ease and happy to be there on the owners shoulder,a few but very few

[PowerBBS]

Here's a gentle word of advice. Birds in the wild (and hense by nature at your home) work on a hieracle scale of domination. That is to say that they seem to feel that the higher they are on the tree the higher in stature they are within the flock.

Now taking a too to a group (or any bird for that matter) where there are other birds (same or differed species) could result in an agressive natural instinct for them to fight for the "top of the tree". This includes fighting people.

I'm a firm believer of not allowing birds on your shoulders, but rather only on your arms. First off it gives you better control of the bird as you can keep your bird in front of you rather than on top of you where by the time you react the fledgling is gone.

When a bird is put into unfamiliar surroundings and what to them is a whirlwind of crazy behavior, they will become both subdued and agressive. subdued until something comes into their "personal space". Then watch out. They will definately feel threatened when someone new approaches them, or even approaches you as you're part of "their" flock and they will sometimes lash out to protect/defend it.

If you wish to bring your birds into crowds, please put them on a leash and then only allow slow "introductory" interactions with new/foreign elements/people/animals around them. This will allow the bird to observe and adjust to the new element as well as make up it's own mind when to be comfortable.

That and one last "thought". You have no idea what the condition/afflictions of the other birds in the club are/have. You might just want to do individual interactions with select people on a one to one basis in the privacy of your own home (your bird would for sure prefer that as now it's bringing small things into it's comfort zone, rather than totally tossing the bird into a totally foreign zone) rather than in a group setting/meeting room. Don't want your fid to get a desease and you have issues because of a chance encounter out of the santuary of your home.

That's my humble advice. While rather incomplete, as I didn't want to write a novella of a post.

Note.. I'm NOT saying don't socialize your bird... By all means do so... just think about how the birds will react before you go "showing off your feathered family member". Birds by nature are actually SOCIAL CREATURES! But only within their own flock. Most times... foreigners are not welcome.

[angelicarboreals]

Yikes, I hope the receiver of the bite is able to recover fully. :(