not eating

Question
hi,i bought my parrot yesturday morning and its not eating anything,its also sitting there shaking,the last owners used to hit the cage and shout at the parrot if it made a noise,wat would you suggest.thanks debbie.

Answer
Hi, Debbie.  Thanks for posting.

What kind of parrot is this?  How old is the bird?  What type of diet?  Are you offering the same type of food as the previous owner?  

It would help to know the answers to the above and any other details you can provide.  I'm so glad you took this parrot away from it's previous situation.

Your parrot is likely very stressed out from moving to a new environment in your home, and also stressed out because you are someone new to s/he.  This parrot needs time to settle down in his/her new surroundings and get used to you.  The bird may not be eating because of the move, the stress, and also if it doesn't recognize the food you are offering.  Hopefully, the bird is drinking water so s/he doesn't become dehydrated.  Parrots won't eat something they don't recognize as being food.  Because of these things, it's important you offer the same food (same brand, same color, same everything) to this parrot until s/he settles down.  This parrot probably is scared to death to make any noises for fear you will hurt s/he, so you have to be especially careful around this bird.  You want to gain this bird's trust and show this bird that you aren't going to harm it.  Let the bird proceed at his/her own pace, while you go about your business of feeding, changing water, cleaning cage, etc., while talking calmly to the bird at all times.  Don't ignore the bird, but don't overwhelm the bird with attention right now unless the bird shows signs of wanting your attention...let s/he come around slowly when s/he wants to.  Perhaps a little coaxing along the way might help, but don't force anything on the bird.  I'm going to assume this bird probably wasn't allowed out of it's cage at it's previous home, so you might want to leave the cage door open to see if the bird will wander out to the top of it's cage.  If it does, be aware that s/he might try to fly around for some much needed exercise or out of fear with any sudden movements/noise, etc.  This process could take month(s) or the bird could come around very quickly...it just depends on the individual bird and how badly s/he was treated in the past (and how quickly s/he takes to you).  

I think if you show this bird lots of love, kindness, attention, etc., once s/he settles down and overcomes some of his/her fear, s/he will most likely make a nice pet  bird.  On more than one occasion, I've seen "nasty" birds taken out of bad conditions, turn into very good companions with the right human.  It's like they are so thankful for being rescued from a bad situation that they want to give everything they can in return!

Be sure to give your new parrot treats for good behavior and treats also help "win over" scared parrots!

Come back with any questions.

Chrys