# Eardrum rupture?



## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

So my boy has just screamed at the top of his voice into my ear and now I am in pain and don't know if he has ruptured my eardrum? I also hear something like a buzz in that ear.
Did this ever happen to anybody here? Does pain necessarily mean eardrum rupture?  I am freaking out.


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

My ear is also all swollen now...


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## JoJo's Mom (Oct 20, 2012)

The on way to know if its ruptured is to have a doctor look at your eardrum with an otoscope. It usually takes fluid behind your eardrum or a foreign body to rupture it. I know you may have some discomfort and temporarily have trouble hearing, or have some ringing, but it doesn't necessarily mean its ruptured. Good luck! PS, don't use q-tips or such to try to clear it out, that only makes it worse.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

It's really rare to have an eardrum rupture from a loud noise. If I were you, I would take some ibuprofen and try to relax. Most likely it will be fine, but worrying too much can actually make us more sensitive to pain, so take your mind off of it if you can!


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

I've gone temporarily deaf from lorikeet screetches, but never had pain, only ringing in the ears afterward. If it doesn't settle down I'd definitely see a doctor.


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

Thank you, everyone. I am better this morning, although I still feel some discomfort. But Because I am feeling better and it is more discomfort than pain I think it will be alright.
Maybe I should use ear plugs when he is sitting on my shoulder?


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## Luniticisi (May 13, 2013)

shouldn't have a bird sitting on your shoulder at all, at least that's what most experts say.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

Luniticisi said:


> shouldn't have a bird sitting on your shoulder at all, at least that's what most experts say.


That's mostly for the bigger birds who can do some damage to your face. People usually let it slide with the little guys.

Hope you feel better soon little tiel :flowers:


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## Luniticisi (May 13, 2013)

CaliTiels said:


> That's mostly for the bigger birds who can do some damage to your face. People usually let it slide with the little guys.
> 
> Hope you feel better soon little tiel :flowers:


Apparently it has nothing to do with what the bird can do to you, but what you are teaching the bird .. being on your shoulder (apparently) teaches them that they are on an equal level to you, and (once again, apparently) can cause bad behavior. 

Seriously look it up, it seems to be a common consensus.


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

Luniticisi said:


> being on your shoulder (apparently) teaches them that they are on an equal level to you, and (once again, apparently) can cause bad behavior.


Actually he is always very gentle when sitting on my shoulder. He usually plays with my earlobe very, very gently and preens my hair also very gently.
The screaming was caused (I think) by a sudden noise outside. It was not that bad, but cockatiels are very sensitive to noise and it scared him.
I don't put him on my shoulder. He just comes by himself. We love each other.


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

CaliTiels said:


> Hope you feel better soon little tiel :flowers:


Thank you!


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Luniticisi said:


> Apparently it has nothing to do with what the bird can do to you, but what you are teaching the bird .. being on your shoulder (apparently) teaches them that they are on an equal level to you, and (once again, apparently) can cause bad behavior.
> 
> Seriously look it up, it seems to be a common consensus.


This doesn't apply to cockatiels, which are laidback flock birds without much of a dominance structure. Generally speaking, you _want _to give your 'tiels the message you're equals. That's a healthy, natural (well, as natural as possible for a bird-human relationship) dynamic for them.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

Luniticisi said:


> Apparently it has nothing to do with what the bird can do to you, but what you are teaching the bird .. being on your shoulder (apparently) teaches them that they are on an equal level to you, and (once again, apparently) can cause bad behavior.
> 
> Seriously look it up, it seems to be a common consensus.


No, I'm well aware of the fact. The little guys won't do too much harm (see me with a macaw on my shoulder... no thanks), but it's a nice way to connect with your tiel, because as said above, you're on their level in the flock dynamics


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## Luniticisi (May 13, 2013)

Again, It's not about the harm to you (Speaking on the "macaw on my shoulder... no thanks" comment) 

The only thing I am saying is that experts say that allowing a bird to sit on your shoulder (no matter how nice the experience can be) is a bad thing.

Now I am no expert when it comes to this, and I do not pretend to be one, it could be total BS. but it is not recommended to have any bird on your shoulder (be it Budgie to Eagle) because it can cause bad behavior (Not eating your face off behavior. Just bad behavior) 

The thing is it is never a good idea to have any form of pet be on an equal level of dominance as you, be it Dog, Cat, Bird or Rat. You are the boss, the leader of the flock, pack, sack or crack (those last two must be wrong!)

Asking your bird to do tricks is a form of dominance, asking your dog to sit is dominance. 

I Love my Cockatiel "George" and he loves me .. the only time his cage is shut is when it's bedtime, and he tells me when that is.

Personally I wouldn't have him on my shoulder (He has landed on my head a few times and I shoo him off) 

but that's my choice. each to their own I guess


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

I never asked him or taught him to do any tricks or even to talk.
I just enjoy him for what he is - a feathered friend, and as a friend I also consider him my equal.


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## shaenne (Apr 19, 2014)

Some birds can start acting a bit funny when on your shoulder, but it's not because of dominance. I stopped allowing my rainbow lorikeet to sit on my shoulder purely because he became a jerk to pick up. He liked sitting there, and would quietly sit there all day if I let him, but he started biting a bit too hard when it was time to come down and he didn't want to. It was absolutely nothing to do with dominance, he just didn't want to be moved and he was showing me that by biting me. They can't say "no, I like it here and I want to stay here", so they need to show us in other ways. Think of it as a kid that doesn't want to get out of bed or come out of the toy room. It's nothing to do with dominance, they just don't want to.

My cockatiels second home is on my shoulders, usually a side each, and I am completely fine with that. I was even fine with my eclectus being on my shoulder because I trusted him. Whether or not I allow a bird on my shoulder has nothing to do with dominance, it's whether or not I trust it not to tear chunks out of my face because it got mad about something (which is not related to dominance). The bigger the beak, the more thought I put into whether or not it's okay lol.

Personally I don't think there's much point in trying to be dominant with birds. We don't have to be the boss of *everything* in life. I've never even really thought about it to be brutally honest, and i've never had any problems. I am "pack leader" to three large dogs, but i've never really considered trying to be "head bird" because there isn't one nor any need for one..

Bad behaviours displayed by parrots is usually always linked to something that needs to be fixed by the owner. "bad behaviour" is basically their way of telling us that something isn't right, and it's just easier for people to say "oh he/she is just trying to dominate" instead of working on figuring out and fixing the underlying issue.

I also think this is a pretty good read: http://eclectusparrots.net/dominance.html

Whether or not you allow your bird to sit on your shoulder/head is entirely your decision and has nothing to do with the rest of us so please don't think i'm trying to sway your decision on that, I just thought it might be helpful to shed some light on the whole parrot dominance thing


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## ParrotletsRock (Oct 8, 2013)

Actually you cannot compare dogs to birds, dogs you need to be the leader and the dominant member, with birds you do not dominate them, you ask and they either comply because they want to or they don't,,because they don't want to.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

I agree with ParrotletsRock - dogs and birds can't really be compared, because flock dynamics differ greatly from pack behaviour.

Agreed, though, that some birds can develop dominance issues, but I don't get how having your 'tiel sitting on your shoulder would contribute to that. From what I've read, other (larger) breeds of parrot tend to have more of an issue with this.


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## Noekeon (Feb 17, 2016)

Let me chirp in my thoughts as well, they might seem a bit "off" at the start but you'll understand while reading.

I'll firstly say again that it's my first time dealing with parrots. I've been "breeding/growing/helping/training" dogs, cats and from time to time pigeons [not that it matters much] just to justify my point of view a little.

Main point of view: all of the "experts" that use the word Dominance are way out of order. Sorry but I'm the kind of guy that pretty much goes against all odds and I don't care even if you're the freaking Pope  . I'm not picking a fight with anybody so bear with me and let me express my "opposing" thoughts.

You can't be dominant over any creature that has a brain and an active thinking function. You can be dominant and have dominance over your house/company/area (domain) when someone enters to show them who makes the decisions around there but you are not dominant over the actual people that enter.

Relationships between groups,packs,flocks,farms etc is built upon Trust and not dominance. If you are the 'strongest mind' they will eventually trust you to lead but you are not 'dominant' over them as the group can easily turn their back on you and avoid/ignore/take you down under any "strange" circumstances.

Allowing a dog to be on your bed is the same thing as allowing a bird to be on your shoulder and it's the same thing as allowing your friends to call you in the middle of the night and wake you up for no reason at all [ lol ]. Now telling the dog to get off the bed or take your bird out of your shoulder or make your friends stop doing it has nothing to do with dominance but trust, as they'll trust you are making the correct decision even though they can't actually understand it fully.

You are able to "make" a pet or a wild animal to do a "trick" because they trust you and they let you to teach them as they know that at the end they'll have a 'treat' or something similar. That's trust.

You "think" you are dominant because you can't understand what they tell you when they bark/chirp/tweet or whatever so your human-only genes kick in and your Ego grows and you say "aha! I made him do this! who's the boss". If they don't want to do something they won't no matter how hard you try or worse you'll end up missing a toe or something from a bite ( who's dominant now ? ).

I say parrots to shoulders ( yes even Macaws ahoooj mateys ) dogs on beds cats on sinks and everything goes, but make sure to have their trust so you can easily shoo them off without a problem :>.

As for the ear [ main topic ! ] I hope you're feeling better and it shouldn't be something that the bird did on purpose of course probably he just screamed on something as you said, it's not his fault that our eardrums are somewhat fragile  .


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> The thing is it is never a good idea to have any form of pet be on an equal level of dominance as you, be it Dog, Cat, Bird or Rat. You are the boss, the leader of the flock, pack, sack or crack (those last two must be wrong!)


And here is where the problem lies with this idea. Tiels don't have "leaders." They don't have an alpha in the flock (I also own two dogs and I'm alpha because food lol). Tiels don't work that way. They are flock birds and no one is distinguished in that flock. I know, I had 12 birds at one time and no one bird was higher than another. The hens chose their mates and the males had to deal with that decision. That was the extent of the hierarchy. I have let my birds on my shoulder all the time without any bad behavior. And I've never forced them to do tricks as that's not important to me. Dominance is not something tiels understand. Don't believe everything you read on the internet.


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

I adore this kid. Today I was struggling with depression and negative thoughts. He was sitting on my shoulder and just when my thoughts were at their worst he stretched his neck, looked at me with his crest meaning he is flirting with me (flat, but with a curled tip) and started blowing me kisses sooo sweetly and then he preened my hair very gently. The best cure for depression. He is such an adorable kid.


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## arnabsri (Jul 22, 2015)

wow so sweet !!


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## littletiel (May 15, 2011)

arnabsri said:


> wow so sweet !!


Yes, he is going through a sweet phase. He is doing it again today. He has either been kissing me, preening my hair or grinding his beak uninterruptedly for two days now. I wish he could always be like that and that his hormones wouldn't make him crazy sometimes!


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

I have my male cockatiel sit on my shoulder lots, and he has a delightful temperament. If we go into another room, he will flock call to the female, and that is quite loud and can hurt my ear. I have learned to turn my face away if he starts flock calling, which reduces the noise. Sometimes I make him step up onto my finger, to get him away from my ear.

It seems if we are in the same room as the female, he doesn't flock call. The female doesn't like to be in contact with me, so it's hard when I want to go into another room and the male will come, but the female won't.


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## Pippitha (Mar 27, 2011)

Luniticisi said:


> The thing is it is never a good idea to have any form of pet be on an equal level of dominance as you, be it Dog, Cat, Bird or Rat. You are the boss, the leader of the flock, pack, sack or crack (those last two must be wrong!)


cats and birds don't have leaders. dogs have alphas because they are pack animals. packs have a structure. cockatiels have flocks, and there is absolutely no hierarchy in the flock. you can not BE a leader to a cockatiel, that concept doesn't exist to them. you're flock member, which is their EQUAL, or you are a predator. 



Luniticisi said:


> Asking your bird to do tricks is a form of dominance, asking your dog to sit is dominance.


Nope. teaching cockatiels tricks, even for dogs, is them doing something they were taught that doing will get them a reward. nothing more, nothing less.


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