Meet Shiloh, and need some info

[Tarrah]

Hi all,
Please meet Shiloh! He is so adorable and sweet! He has been with us for about 2 weeks now, and I think has finally relaxed. He is about 4-5 years old and is male. He does speak, which we finally have heard this week, but only when no one is in the area where is cage is. He says "pretty bird", "Shiloh" and "Hello". However, he is quite hand shy and skittish. I actually traded him for 2 baby tiels which I had bred. The previous owner is a wonderful woman, who had 2 brown headed parrots, wanted to get back into smaller birds, and wanted to know if I wanted to trade for some tiels. She kept one parrot, as she hand raised it from a chick. She rescued Shiloh from a breeder who said he was too friendly to breed and was trying to get rid of it, so she took him. She said (and which I now have seen) that he is a happy bird, cuddly, friendly, but somewhat hand-shy.

He will step up onto my hand, but I have to move slowly and use my fist or arm. And any quick movement when he is out of his cage, startles him and he shakes. (He actually is more content with my kids picking him up or taking him out of his cage.) So I am trying to work on calming him down and making him more hand-confident. Any suggestions on how to help him in this area? I also notice that (I think) when he gets nervous, his poops get runnier. But, when he calms down, they become regular again. Otherwise, he is a sweet, friendly, happy little guy!

I am used to tiels, so having a parrot is new to me.

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks in advance!

[becca623]

Congratulations! He's a cutie. Some pois need people to be extra slow when handling them imo. Livi (sennie) startles very easily. If I'm not careful to make sure I go slow, talk quietly, and everything else in the house is calm, she gets very scared, tries to flee, and bites hard. It took 7 months for her to feel safe enough to relax and enjoy handling. I don't know about the runny poop but it does make sense that some birds like people and other animals get upset bowels when they get nervous. If in doubt, a trip to your avian vet is a good way to find out if there is anything serious or medical causing the problem.

[Poicephalus girl]

What a cutie! :)
All of my Pois that I had bought/got from someone else needed to be approached slowly in the beginning. Once they started to trust me, handling them became much easier.

[Tarrah]

Thanks guys for your input. this makes me feel better