#African Grey parrot expert advice | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rogue-bard · 7 years ago

Note

(1/2) My grandma has five birds (two Cockatoos, three African Greys). She keeps them in their cages 24/7 in the sunroom by the kitchen. I don't know how fragile bird respiratory systems are, but feathers/dust/ammonia are everywhere in there and I'm sure it's not good. Their water hardly gets changed- when it does it's gotten to the point of being brown with food/newspaper/feathers in it. They eat food that is really bad for them (high in sugar and probably sodium).

(2/2) The toys only get replaced when they’re years old and worn down to the point of being pieces. The birds never get attention, they’re never out of their cages, and they don’t have any stimulation except for the TV (what?). I don’t know how to help them because my grandparents and my siblings/I aren’t on good terms at the moment.

Golly, this turned out to be a looooong answer, so let me but a read-more here…

Now, you probably know this first bit, since you’re writing this ask in the first place, but just for the sake of being a bit more thorough, in case any uninformed bird-owner reads this and maybe has an epiphany:

(Let me just note that all sources I link here are pages that I just quickly googled, so I can’t judge their professionalism. However, the issues that I sourced with these links, are issues I know about from my avian vet and that can easily be found on the internet thousands of times. So I assume they’re somewhat current when it comes to our state of avian medic knowledge.)

Birds’ respiratory systems are not the sturdiest, as far as I know. Ammonia is definitely bad for them, and being kept near the kitchen isn’t great, either, as stuff like teflon being heated can be deadly to them.

The thing about the feathers and the dust, is that they are very bad for humans (but you’re right that too much isn’t good for birds, either!), as a family member of mine had to experience, and has to experience for the rest of her life.So maybe if your grandmother doesn’t have too much concern for the birds, as I sadly often find in older generations, maybe that will give her cause to think about the situation.

I obviously don’t have to tell you that the water situation is horrible, but it’s also less than ideal that these birds have access to newspaper (I assume as flooring of the cage). Now, I don’t know where you’re from and what the newspapers there are printed with, so the print might be toxic in high doses. However, google is telling me, that this shouldn’t be a problem anymore nowadays, and the last time I heard about that was during my childhood when my grandfather was breeding budgies, so that might be completely outdated.On the other hand, birds like to have litter (idk if that’s the right english word… bed? bedding?) to play in, and it has the additional benefit of soaking up fluids like spilled bathing water and poop, so that is more hygenic for both the birds and your grandmother’s lung.However, I’m not tooooo sure about this, since I can’t find any sources on the internet right now and this page even claims that paper is the better choice in these regards. I’m far from an expert, I just go by what my vet told me, which is the “litter”-kind of bedding (chipped wood for birds).

As for food - yeah. That’s not good either.

Being always kept in a cage isn’t… always… bad… and I hesitated a lot to write this. I think in my whole life I’ve seen two or three aviaries that are big enough for birds to exclusively live in. That cage would have to be huge, especially for so many birds.For african greys, apparently, that is more than 60x90x120 cm if these sources can be believed. Note that these pages do not say if that’s for one bird or a pair. I’ve never had african greys, so I don’t know if that size doesn’t almost double if you keep two of them (which, I assume since it goes for most birds, is a requirement because they are social animals).For cockatoos, I found the same size-requirements on the internet, right now. It bugs me a bit, because it seems pretty tiny for such huge birds. I own parrotlets and that’s pretty much their requirements. And they’re tiny tiny birds. But again: I’m not an expert.

And lastly, the toy and stimulation situation. At least they’re together, that’s a plus. But of course, having nothing to do and sitting in a cage all day, would make anyone depressed and develop bad behavioural patterns. I’ve seen an african grey go completely apathetic, I’ve seen one non-stop-spinning around it’s own axis for days, I’ve seen a lot of shit. It can get really bad.That isn’t to say that if a bird doesn’t exhibit these problem, it’s fine. I’m just saying, that’s how bad it can get. (What I’m trying to say is, just because hitting a child regularly is not as bad as beating it dead, a child that is being hit daily is far from fine.)There’s a lot of blogs about building foraging toys yourself, there’s a lot of places where you can buy them, and there’s a lot of guides on how to train a parrot, like you would train dogs, to give them something to do and exercise their brain and motorabilities. And as a plus, you have a bird that doesn’t do annoying behaviour (like land on posters *I’m not looking at you, Mealey, but I’m looking at you), and can do cool tricks! It’s a win-win!

Okay, tl,dr… now what you were actually asking. (Sorry, I’m like my old maths professor. You come to him to ask him about polynomial division and he starts by explaining you the complete probability theory…)

If you or someone you know is still visiting your grandparents now and then (maybe your parent that is their child?), you could maybe bring the birds new foraging toys, so they have at least stimulation. However, I think that’s the least of their problem. It’s something easy to do, though, and I don’t see what your grandmother could possibly have against new toys if they’re already there and she doesn’t have to do anything with them.

Of course, they could also change the water, while they’re at it, and maybe sneak in some actual parrot food for greys and cockatoos, and throw the sugar-stuff away. That’s assuming that they’re visiting daily, though.If they’re not, changing the food might still be an option, as with the toys: If they already bring it to your grandmother, and it’s paid for, I don’t see why she would have a problem with it, if someone explains to her that it’s healthier for the birds.

For the water, I have heard tale that water dispensers (they look something like this or this) keep the water “fresher” since there would be no poop/food/newpaper in it. It’s still important to change it everyday, but it might improve the situation a lot.(Please don’t buy the dispensers off the internet, except it’s a site that you trust and that says it’s specially for parrots. I’ve heard horror stories of lead-poisoning and whatnot from toys, water dispensers and food bowels from dubious sources. Go to a pet store and make sure the materials are listed on the packaging, and that they are safe materials!Please also make sure that they’re the right size for your birds. My parrotlets wouldn’t be able to drink from the dispensers that looks like the one bunnies have, and if the second type is too small for a bird’s beak, it obviously can’t drink from it either…)

The most obvious advice, of course, is to talk to your grandma or have someone who has a better relationship to her, talk to her about it. Maybe they can go to an avian vet with her (make an appointment for a consultation, the vet is probably just as happy to prevent further mistreatment as he’d be to treat it), and have a conversation about how to keep parrots, because if it’s coming from an authority on the field, it’s probably not brushed aside as easily as if it’s a family member.

And lastly, if the whole situation is too bad, and if nothing can be done about it, call animal protection.It’s harsh, but if it were a child, we’d call child protection too. They’re living beings, they feel pain, they feel suffer from illness, mental disorders and everything we do too, and they are even more helpless than a child that can talk (and a child is already absolutely helpless, don’t get me wrong).Maybe, your grandmother doesn’t even want them around anymore. African greys and cockatoos get so old, who knows how long she’s had them? Maybe she changed her mind, maybe the responsibility has gotten to much, and she’s relieved to have them out of the house (also a thing someone should talk to her about, probably). Recently, someone called animal protection for the dog of our neighbours (wasn’t us; to our knowledge, that dog was treated fine, and I still kinda believe that since I’ve never had any reason to believe otherwise, when I saw him), and apparently/allegedly, instead of proving (or even trying to) that the dog is being treated right, they just let them take him, because they were looking to sell him anyway. Maybe it’s kinda the same situation for your grandmother…

I hope that helped and I hope that big wall of text didn’t overwhelm you!

Lastly: Again again, I’m absolutely no expert on bird keeping. I have two parrotlets, that’s all. So if anyone reads this and knows something I wrote to be false, please reblog or message me to let me know (preferably with sources so I know you’re not a troll) so I can change it!

#birds #parrots #Anonymous #asks #answers

1 note · View note

windycityparrot · 8 years ago

Text

Parrotlet perch & diets, hanging (bat) budgie, conure life spans, grey diets & more

I have recently purchased a new parakeet (Budgie) As my beloved 7 yr old Sparky died. He is very young as the cere above his beak is just changing color from white to blue. When I cover his cage at night he is on his top perch but when I get up in the morning Budgie is hanging upside down from the top of his cage. He has a perch high up but moves to the roof when I am sleeping. Any ideas? Martie H We are sorry for your loss. To your point none whatsoever Martie. Birds will be birds. It would be interesting to know when he makes the move, if he is anticipating getting let out in a certain time? Birds know the precise time of the day. BTW the hanging upside down in place is not a lot of stress on his feet. Birds have no muscles in their feet so there's nothing to get stressed out just 2 long tendons that lock the feet in place based upon the angle of the ankle. Cockatiels hang upside down a lot. We called our all white Popcorn "bat bird" File under “one thing leads to another” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHYIGy1dyd8 Saw your blog post about the green cheek conure cage set up. I'm particularly interested in a Hagen grooming perch. I have a parrotlet. Does Hagen (I think that's what you called it) make a size small enough for him? I need a perch that attaches with a metal bolt and wingnut since the other type of grooming perch (with large, black plastic screw and cap) only attaches to vertical bars and our cage has horizontal, 1/2 inch spacing. Thank you. Name: Carol P Sorry about the audio that was a Facebook live which we have now done twice and twice have had audio issues. We're going back to the old-fashioned way and shoot scene by scene uploaded to YouTube and editing from there it is always much cleaner thank you for the feedback. Extra - small - Please let us know if the extra small grooming perch worked out Here is a more granular view of how grooming perches work How many years does a green cheek conure live? Jennie O. Hi Jennie The experts will tell you 25-30 years, maybe. The exact life expectancy of any bird varies so much. A bird that is re-homed five times is going to have a shorter lifespan than a bird who was with the same humans his entire life as an example. A bird in the wild has more exercise and more food variety but can be eaten by a predator long before it dies due to old age. I try to provide an in-depth answer on bird life spans in this blog post. Please let us know if you have further questions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnNky7Likv0 I have an 8 year old TAG (Timneh African Grey Parrot). Her diet now is mostly safflower seeds and cashews. She weighs the same thing as she did when she was 6 months old. She rejects all other seeds. She likes some cluttered dairy, cheese, grapes oranges and pistachios. What do you recommend I try to give her for a better diet. She has no behavioral problems. She spends 12 hours in a separate night cage. She is free flighted during the day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kIDemsihFQ Catherine Tobsing replied Dear Martha Only a DNA blood test can truly tell you if you bird is doing well or suffering from the diet you are feeding it. Please note dairy is un-digestible by parrots and goes through your bird intact. As long as you are not giving her a lot that could gunk up her digestion then that is fine. Citrus can cause heartburn like issues if given too late in the day so it sits in the crop. Best to give in very small bits earlier in the day so it can be combined with other foods to escort it through the system without sitting alone in the crop. Grapes are fine but really should be well washed, organic or not, grapes get a load of pesticides. The sleep time sounds great as well as the free flight. Getting more veggies into her would be the main area I would try. Hanging a slice of leafy romaine every morning over the food dish encourages it to be pulled and ripped at and maybe even eaten. Some folks try to remove the food (seed, pellet, etc) dish in the morning and replacing with a dish of cut up veggies and fruits for a few hours before replacing with the original dish. I would consider a multi-vitamin that you sprinkle onto the wet food (fruits, cheese, etc) as she is not getting enough in the nuts and seeds alone. Calcium powder sprinkled as well is good. I hope this helps. Greencheek conure emergency/torn lower beak & tongue. Vet recommends syringe feeding. What do you sell & could you FedEx Overnight? Many thanks, Gena Dear Gena I am so sorry for your poor birdie. We do have syringes here. We have hand feeding formula and also, Mash both can be fed via syringe. I have this 60 cc/mm syringe on the website for $3.00 which can be used and washed out after each use. editors note: beaks are being rebuilt with 3d printing

I have Adult Lifetime Mash in stock today, I won't have the High Potency Mash in until Tuesday. (back in stock) This food is one that can be cooked, blended and fed with a syringe for a good nutrition. L'Avian Bean Cuisine is another good choice for a "soft bird food" What has your vet suggested you feed your bird with? You can take any pellet and grind it up and add hot water to make a slurry to feed your bird. Please give me a call toll free at 877-287-0810 and we can discuss a shipment that can go out today. Does your avian vet have the supplies and food you need now? Please let me know if I can help with an order today. Chatting with Guest You: hello how can I help Visitor: which blend of Goldenfeast bird food would be best for a parrotlet without being of a powder consistency You: are you seeking a pellet or a food mix? Visitor: food mix. no pellet. he does not like pellet food. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQL6NO7buV4 You: The two smallest mixes are Australian Blend which does have very small bits and the next up would be Petite Hookbill. You: anything else? Visitor: no. thank you for your help Good morning! I'm just wondering if you have a favorite budgie seed. My 3 budgies have FINALLY (mostly) transitioned away from seed, but they still enjoy some. There seem to be so many choices--any favorites? Thanks! Betsy Dear Betsy I am partial to Hagen Living World Budgie mix because it is a complete diet in a bag. Seed, dried veggies and fruits and tiny Tropican pellets too. It was devised to be used at the Hari institute where they breed and research birds. They did not want to constantly disturb the birds by cleaning up the big mess of fresh fruits, etc and made this formula which is cleaner. It is one of our biggest sellers for Budgies. You said that you have transitioned them off seed. I assume you are using a pellet? If so, you may not want to use Hagen Budgie as it already has pellets. After that, most Parakeet seed mixes are very much the same, millet plus some oats and maybe some dried greens. We find a big change though for them with Goldenfeast bird foods. These items are unique and are very popular. Goldenfeast Basic's Plus for Parakeets has a lot of canary seed in it which is not usually found in other keet seed mixes. It is enjoyed by the keets and may be lower in fat than the millet mixes alone. Goldenfeast Australian Blend contains ingredients that are so yummy and smell so good. Many folk will use as a dressing for their regular keet seed and pellets. Goldenfeast Petite Hookbill, a slightly larger mix that contains a great combination for seeds, dried veggies and more. Goldenfeast Goldn'Obles lll (Small beak) which are tiny pellets. These are unique in that they are the ONLY pellet without corn which is mainly a filler and has been known to cause gout in birds. The first ingredient is Quinoa which is a great high protein grain. I hope this helps - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDmD9aM1yZA Thanks Catherine! I followed your advice about a month ago and made Birdie Bread the Harrison's original mix, stirring in a lot of the Harrison's pellets. I also stirred in some seed, just to sweeten the deal, so to speak. They loved this, and it enabled me to actually get them to EAT the formulated diet rather than just picking through the plain pellets to eat the seeds. The only item you listed that I've tried is the Goldenfeast Australian Blend, which they liked a lot. I used it as a "condiment" rather than the entree. I think this evening I'll figure this out and probably order a bag of the Aussie stuff (for enticement) plus a bag of one of the seed mixes (to mix in with the bread mix + pellets). I know they should be eating more fruits and veggies, but anything like that that I put in their cage is treated like a giant monster. Thanks again! - Betsy aggregated by mitch rezman approved by catherine tobsing Your zygodactyl footnote https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkCyJEIAKSw Click to Post

0 notes