African Grey Traumatized? Will he ever be normal again?

by Tracy
(Colleyville Texas)

I have an African Grey Timneh nmed Charlie. I hand fed him for 3-4 months. We had major incident when he first decided to fly and hit a window. Spent several days at vet and seemed to be normal . He learned to talk, was actually very affectionate, would give me kisses and actually try to steal food from my mouth. Ive never had any biting issues, feather picking , nor screaming etc. He may have bitten me once in two years. I have had parties at my house and people have looked t him, and keep their distance and children in room, and he never became ill or stressed afterwards. I also have a cockatoo in same room in seperate cage.

Now I have a Huge problem. Ill start with events leading up to it, but dont believe that it can be the cause and need feedback. He was fine after we took week vacation and my daughter stayed here with the birds. Then a couple weeks later I had my step daughter here with her 4 chidren. I was very stressed out and Charlie probably heard me yell at kids a few times and heard kids yelling and jumping around. They did go in and see birds, but I never let them out while kids were here. We usually let them out of cages at least 3-4 times a week and hang with us.
There was a time they were out more often and there are times less often and seemed fine with the varience. I do give him pellet diet, fresh veggies and fruit daily and I make my own birdy bread that he gets warm every am.
After the kids all left, I finally got to take Charlie out, rubbed his head, did the usual kissing..talking etc. The next day I noticed he was missing feathers in one area on one wing. The next morning it was on other side. I assumed it was feather plucking from stress or behaviors- he started to become aggressive and never wanted to come out of cage and stopped talking-seemed strange since one night he was fine and his whole personality changed the next day.

I took hm to vet- blood tests did come back days later with little low in calcium and low in protien-I did not do extensive Feather plucking tests- just tests to be sure it wasnt any major organ issues. Stool test was normal. He gave me antiobiotic and said he was underweight (before we had test results) . He put collar on him. Clipped his wings and trimed his claws while he was out under anthestisia. Next day his crop was swollen, I gave him a drop of olive oil and it went down, but think it was from him pulling at collar. I finally took collar off, hand fed him for about 4 days to hopefully get him to gain a little weight and gave him antibiotic through syringe. He made a couple peeps and seemed to be getting better. He still would not come out of cage or step up.

Then all of a sudden he wouldnt take hand feeding at all-squalks like Im gonna kill him flaps all over cage and ultimately falls to bottom from freaking out. Ive left him alone and just talked to him. 4 days and he isnt taking antibiotic, no handfeeding- he is eating his normal food... but isnt talking or chirping or whistling. He sees me coming and hdes in corner of cage and gets ready to snap and bite me if I get too close. His spots where the feathers are missing seem raw on one side, but I believe its from falling and flopping around. Is he traumatized from me taking him to vet and giving him that awful tasting antibiotic? What do I do now? Will he ever like me again? Is it worse if I keep trying or should I leave him be alone in cage? How long does it take if he will get over it?