Ask An Expert

Answered by Dr. Brian Speer, DVM:

Car motion sickness can cause regurgitation in parrots. However, your bird is 19 years of age, and I would most definitely recommend a proper physical examination and diagnostic foundational workup if this is not current at present time.

Answered by Dr. Brian Speer, DVM:

Ideally, a pet parrot should be purchased fully weaned. With this, many of the health risks and behavioral problems that are encountered with the purchase of an unweaned bird can be avoided. Assuming that you are using a wet formula for handfeeding that is commercially manufactured, the same company should have a pelletized product available in your area. The diet you mentioned seems to be quite high in emphasized fruits, whereas we will generally recommend a combination of a commercially manufactured pellet with vegetables as the primary base. Cheese is generally not recommended as a daily portion of most parrot diets. In the absence of available commercially manufactured diets in your country, low-fat content seed mixtures, combined with vegetable material may be a somewhat acceptable base.

Young parrot chicks, particularly when not fully weaned, should pass more urine than their adult conterparts. During the weaning process, it is advisable to offer a variety of the food items that we are teaching the bird to eat on a large flat plate, and to forage with the birds while they are exploring their environment and social interactions with you. Afterwards, offer a small amount of handfeeding formula, if the bird desires.

Answered by Jamie Gilardi:

Dear Meike, First I have to say that I'm quite impressed that you have a wild caught Grey Parrot that may be as old as fifty years, that's quite remarkable in its own right. If that history is well documented, please let us know as that could be one of the longest lived Grey Parrots with a documented past.

Second, it's great that you've solved many of the problems Marcootje had when you first got him. Feather plucking can be especially difficult to resolve in any bird as has been discussed here and in the PsittaScene many times.

Third, I think you're heart is in the right place to try to find foods which are similar to what Marcootje at in the wild. That said, there are two reasons to be cautious here. On the one hand, your bird has been away from such foods for decades and so something which might be quite edible to a wild grey in Cameroon, might be quite dangerous for your bird to eat. On the other hand, I think it's quite unlikely that any of the really wild foods from the range of the African Grey are likely to be available in Europe. Some of these might be present in special indoor gardens, but I doubt these folks would take too kindly to your harvesting of their delicate tropical fruits, flowers, and the like!

The good news is that if your Marcootje likes destroying things, then providing him with fresh browse from trees and shrubs native to your area is likely to be something which will turn into both a fun and healthy activity for him over time. Of course, consult with other parrot keepers about the plants you have in mind to ensure that they are not dangerous for your bird, and introduce things slowly and in a supervised manner. I also recommend going to our forums and typing browse in the search box for additional discussions of this kind.

In any event, do bear in mind that if your parrot has lived for five decades and is still going strong, you're certainly doing something right!

All best wishes,

Jamie

Answered by E.B. Cravens:

Hi Phoebe, Answering flock behavioral questions is, as always from afar, a bit touchy. It sounds like you have a somewhat stable situation with the seven birds in your bird room; and given the supervision they all get, it is working adequately.

More to the point, how would I set parameters to provide the hawk-head with unlimited time out of it's cage? Frankly, I see no way....

If my years with hawk-headed parrots taught me one thing, it was that these birds are extremely unpredictable. You have the good fortune to be keeping a single female instead of a male, which alleviates some of the aggression, but, basically once a hawk-head of either gender becomes mature, he or she becomes the most dominant psittacine in any room full of similar sized birds. Our former pets and breeders (we no longer keep hawk-headed parrots) were high strung and unsettling to our other parrots. They would attack and bite on slight provocation any intruder they perceived as a threat or rival--dogs, cats, humans included. A case in point was our male hand-fed, Chen, who would take a nut from April's hand, then a minute later, attack her hair and viciously bite the back of her neck if she was not wary.

Add to this the fact that you have an unwell parrot in the room with Hawkeye and it becomes doubly dangerous. Certain aggressive hookbills are agitated and prone to attack birds that are behaving erratically as stroke victims, begging hens of parakeet species, wet birds after a bath, etc.

I would surmise that Hawkeye grew up as a baby handfed with some of the birds in the birdroom already in your home, and that helps the environment by eliminating the "new intruder" concept, but nevertheless, I would hardly risk it to leave Hawkeye out unsupervised---to my way of thinking, it is a bit like keeping a pet chihuahua who has always been "good around the birds."

Besides, hawk-heads are most predictable around other hawk-heads and the way that they have been observed in the wilds suggests they are not at all the social type of pet most parrot lovers envision when they see the helpless little fledgling at the pet store. Hawkeye might be happiest getting "away" from the bird room for out-of-cage stimulation in an outdoor flight or garden greenhouse--that also might give the other six parrots a break too, as living with a hawkhead a few feet away can truly up the tension level in any mixed flock.

Good luck and keep up the great work
EB

Answered by Jim McKendry:

G’day Cindi,

Thankyou for sharing your efforts with your collection and your experiences with Sammy. Your approach towards creating a flock environment and your insight into how this has contributed to the success of your birds is inspiring. As someone whose own flock of parrots has steadily increased over the years with the addition of birds with behavioural challenges, I can empathise with the frustration of not feeling like you are able to achieve your training goals as successfully or as quickly as you would like to. There are some really key considerations that your question brings to light, perhaps not only for yourself, but also for anyone involved with the daily management of a large group of parrots. I’d like to share some of these with you and hopefully you will be able to take some of these thoughts away and set some new and achievable goals.

Positive Reinforcement – Any time, any place...
We tend to only consider, or consciously take notice of, positive reinforcement in the context of specific, pre-planned training sessions. I can remember being in a very similar mind set to you at one stage with some of my aviary birds. How could I engage in positive reinforcement based training with birds that I really only had time to interact with for short periods around feeding and enclosure cleaning on most days? These birds were parent-raised birds with little interest in human interactions so I was challenged to visualise how I could develop a relationship with them. When I reflected on this I realised that we have the opportunity to deliver positively reinforcing consequences with every interaction we have with our birds, regardless of the context and regardless of our perceived lack of relationship with the birds. Managing the day-to-day husbandry of your parrots actually provides a wonderful scope for establishing some important and practical positive reinforcement based training applications. This is something that I learnt well when working with Zoo animals and I apply this awareness when interacting with my own birds. When I worked as a bird keeper and trainer, every time I entered an enclosure to clean it, weigh a bird, place a raptor back on a perch, or change a food bowl, I had the opportunity to make that interaction a positively reinforcing one for the animal – and without breaking from a tight time schedule! Positive reinforcement can occur at any time, in any place, if we choose to arrange the environment for that reinforcement to occur. When you think about the set of interactions that can occur simply by delivering a bowl of food to a cage each day, or cleaning the cage, or offering a shower, or changing perches, or introducing a new enrichment toy, you realise that you do indeed have the power to make each of these experiences positively reinforcing for Sammy. In doing so, you can build the all-important ‘trust account’ with Sammy and establish an ever-developing association between the receipt of positively reinforcing consequences and you as the person who delivers those. Training, teaching, learning – they occur in just about everything we do with our parrots, even if we’re not consciously aware ☺.

Setting Goals – Make them achievable, make them realistic...
Often, the greatest barrier to our success in working with challenging parrots is not setting goals that are either achievable, or realistic, given the current stage of our relationship with them. When faced with an overwhelming sense of not achieving what you really want to with your birds, it is critically important to take a step back, look at the big picture of what you already can do with your birds and work from there, one step at a time. This is where an understanding of `approximations’ and how we use these to shape behaviour is such a valuable tool for every parrot owner. `Approximations’ can be simply defined as the observable and measurable steps that your parrot needs to progressively take to achieve a behavioural goal. When we think of learning we need to see it as occurring along a continuum. Each step along the continuum is an `approximation’ leading towards the final goal. Training using small approximations is the most effective method of establishing solid and consistent performance of behaviours. It is also highly effective when trained behaviours diminish, as we need only to go back to the nearest approximation to the behaviour goal that is still being demonstrated successfully and work from there. Perhaps the first mistake that companion parrot owners make is failing to reinforce small approximations and instead, withhold reinforcement for too long in the hope that their parrot will achieve a behavioural goal from A to Z in one go. Essentially what happens for many pet parrot owners is that they inadvertently make the criteria for success too difficult for the young parrot to achieve. Taking an approach to your training and interactions with Sammy that carefully reinforces small approximations towards your goal behaviour will hopefully help you to avoid the pitfalls of a reinforcement schedule that may be unrealistic or ineffective with your pet parrot.


I would suggest In Sammy’s case, you might simply be starting off with small goals leading towards the development of the use of a `target’ to start shaping some of those all important moving around the cage behaviours that can be beneficial to you in avoiding aggressive encounters with him when you need to clean his cage, change his perches, remove an old toy or simply feed him. Developing some target training will take a small investment of time initially to your existing routine but may end up making daily husbandry tasks quicker, easier and with less opportunity for conflict. Barbara Heidenreich explains the process of target training better than anyone. I checked through the catalogue of her `Good Bird’ magazine to find a specific article that you could apply and you know what, just about every issue has an article of relevance to you in your work with Sammy. I would really suggest delving into this magazine for some very cool, practical and well-explained examples of applying basic positive reinforcement training techniques for pet parrots. You can access all of Barbara’s magazines via her website at www.goodbirdinc.com and the WPT store stocks Barbara’s books and DVDs, so if you haven’t got those, visit http://www.parrots.org/index.php/shoptosave/

Arrange the Environment – Set yourself and your parrot up to succeed...
Once you have worked out a goal that you would like to achieve with Sammy, take the next step and ensure that you set the environment up for both you and Sammy to succeed in achieving that goal. When we talk about the `environment’ we consider all the elements involved that can have a variable influence on the achievement of our behavioural goal. Minimising those variables helps us achieve clear contiguity and consistency in our reinforcement delivery. As an example, simple rearrangement of the cage environment in the form of perch and treat bowl placement can help to set up a huge change in not only your ability to avoid a bite occurring, but also to deliver reinforcing food treats without potentially being an invasive presence in his enclosure. Empower yourself with the knowledge that it is you who can make these changes and you can start making progress today. All parrot owners need to reflect on the fact that they are a critical component of the `environment’ and ultimately is `you’ as the keeper of your birds who has the ability to arrange that environment for success and make the decision to deliver positively reinforcing consequences for desirable behaviour.

Be inspired - Access existing resources...
The World Parrot Trust website provides access to perhaps the most brilliant collection of support resources on the internet in the form of articles written by some of the giants in parrot behaviour and training. For your goal of achieving an improved relationship with Sammy, I would recommend downloading and reading the following...
• `Does your parrot have a trust account?’ – Steve Martin
• `Empowering Parrots’ – Susan Friedman PhD
• `Step-up – Command or Request?’ – Barbara Heidenreich
• `Shaping new behaviours’ – Susan Friedman PhD
• `The Success Files’ – Lee McGuire and Susan Friedman PhD

These articles can inspire you to achieve more than you imagined with your parrot. The first four articles will really establish a wonderful foundation of theory and practical application for you. Then make sure you check out Lee McGuire and Susan Friedman’s brilliant example of bringing this knowledge together to develop a plan for applying this theory to a situation that I am sure you will find relevance in.
These downloadable articles are all available from http://www.parrots.org/index.php/referencelibrary/behaviourandenviroenrich/

Hopefully the above suggestions for `where to go from here’ will help you develop some ideas and strategies for working with Sammy and indeed, engaging in positive reinforcement training, without even knowing it ☺

Kind Regards from `Down Under’
Jim McKendry
Parrot Behaviour & Enrichment Consultations
http://www.pbec.com.au

Answered by E.B. Cravens:

Cindi, It appears that your friend has installed safety precautions and that the fireplace is bird safe. But there are other considerations about putting parrots "where the action is" as you state it....

Will they be able to sleep comfortably and in quiet once the sun goes down and their natural day is ended, or will they be kept up by noise and humans and television, etc.?

A vented fireplace is usually free of toxic fumes, but that does not mean the air in the living room is always perfect for small psittacine lungs. Fires burn oxygen and unless there is a fresh air window open and proper ventilation, carbon dioxide can rise indoors in the winter. While humans would perhaps not notice such stale air, over several months it could be more troublesome for birds.

It might be a good idea to keep the parrots' sleeping and feeding cages in the guest room, but to provide play stands and areas in the living room where they can frequent and visit and interact with their humans. This also has the advantage of changing the monotony of always keeping the birds in the same cage spaces, expanding their lifestyle if you will.

As an aside, another need for our pet birds in the winter is to have at least two hour three hours of direct sunlight each week. This means sun through a screen but not a window glass since that blocks some of the beneficial rays. Sunny afternoons can be used in small carry cages where parrot are given some shade with a towel or such on their cage while being able to move out into direct sun for health reasons. By and large, the brighter the room, the better for the birds in the winter as long as it does not overheat or make them feel unprotected.

Good luck,

EB

Answered by E.B. Cravens:

Dear Dot,

Not only is this a complex question, but 'tis one which I find quite difficult to answer from afar. Predators and rodent infestations in an outdoor aviary usually are best solved in situ where one can observe and deduce properly.

That said I have several conclusions about your state.

Normally it is best to have a post mortem on parrot mortalities where one is unsure if the bird was injured/killled by another occupant in the aviary. This is not always conclusive but may shed light on whether the psittacine died and then was chewed and mutilated by other avian occupants of the cage. Cause of death is why we call in an avian vet...

I have spent two plus decades of avicultural work with differing African species and never received input to the supposition that two male grey parrots in a large enclosure would fight to the death over one issue or another (no female being involved). I think you can rule that out...

The circumstances you describe indicate to me that Sid was obviously partially eaten by a carnivore/omnivore. The eating of the brain cavity is consistent with killing animals that are not overtly hungry but choose the gourmet portion of the animal they killed or they found freshly dead. Certainly weasels and stoats and mongoose and mink and such all fit into this category. Well fed varmints I suggest....

The rodent problem you acknowledge is probably not limited to mice. Large mice make their way into an aviary, and are followed in scent and tunnel by small rats which are in turn followed by larger rats that expand entrances minimally to allow passage. Furthermore, the photos you provided WPT about your aviary show that some wire walls are of hardware chicken wire and other openings have been stretched and expaned by beaks--even the smallest of these openings in the wire are sufficient to allow a rat entrance to the flight. Anywhere a rat can insert its head when hungry, it can enter by squeezing its body----one inch round wire openings are excellent for entrance.

Now I have not known rats to eat the brain of a victim. The ones I have experienced were more likely to chew the toes and eyes and extremeties of a bird. But overnight who knows what might happen if rats entered your flight where a grey parrot had died.

A flighted Grey parrot attacked by a predator such as a stoat or a weasel will usually put up a brief fight.. That means clumps of feathers and evidence of plumage disarray on the ground the next day or in the nestbox at night. The same with rats.

You did not say what kinds of parakeets so I am assuming Budgerigars. They are unlikely to chew a brain or windpipe. You also did not say whether the amazon parrots in the flight ever tried to usurp the nestbox. Keeping box sleeping species in an aviary along with the box---with Amazons or other nesting parrots when the days begin to lengthen and rains commence towards breeding is not a good idea.

On the other hand, normally rats in and around a flight will at least sample baits put out for control, so that indicates a larger predator.

Rats leave droppings which can be smelled and can be located around food areas. A rat does not kill a Grey; it may bite and bleed them, but it cannot take them down one on one unless the bird is weak and dying.

As for recommendations. I would say it is time to upgrade the wire and structure of your adoption facility. I personally doubt that a Timneh killed a weak Alexandrine unless there were a nestbox or a food station involved, but that and this recent death should be indicators of something amiss at the site. Having a chicken coop in a parrot aviary is old fashioned and inappropriate...it also leads to pests.

The statement "Sid was ailing" leaves a lot to be interpreted. Perhaps he should have been in special care or at least isolated during the "ailing."

I am sorry for your loss and your consternation. April and I shall light a candle this week in memory.

Aloha, EB and April

Answered by Lee McGuire:

Hello there Joanne

It would appear that this response didn't post last year so we are going to try again.


A vocalization that hurts our ears is surely one of the most annoying situations that we, as parrot caregivers, have to deal with. Add in the fact that each of is us different when it comes to what we can tolerate before we decide we just can't take it any more and it can make for an interesting behavioral puzzle for the caregiver to overcome. Once we've decided to take action, we enter into the foggy realm of which advice to take. Do we, as you did, speak softly? Cover up the bird? Ignore the behavior? Spray the bird with water every time opens it's beak? Run to the cage when the birds whistles? Or, re-home it?


We've all read each of those suggestions many times espoused as general wisdom for altering parrot behavior. Which way should we turn and what would be the best strategy to use that would reduce the irritating whistle? That's what the rest of this response will be about.



Let's think about this for a moment. With our cars, would we change the battery when we have a flat tire? Not likely since we deduce that the reason for the car's "thumping and bumping along" behavior is due to the flat tire not the battery. In other words, the car is still running so we almost immediately rule out battery problems. In the blink of an eye, we've rapidly collected some data based on the way the car is behaving, at that period of time, that tells us the reason for the rough ride is related to the tires not the battery. If we approach a bird's behavior in the same systematic way, collecting data, it's more likely that we can come up with a strategy that will impact the particular bird's behavior.


None of us vocalize without some reason - parrots included. Finding out the reason for the behavior will provide us with a clue as to the function that behavior serves for the individual bird. Once we understand what function any behavior serves, then we have a better chance of customizing an intervention that will work specifically for that bird.


The first thing to do is look at the surrounding environment with a critical eye. You will soon see that there are times when Bobby whistles loudly and repetitively and times when he doesn't. For instance, does he whistle when you've been gone for a period of time? If you have other birds, does he whistle when they are vocalizing? Does he whistle when he hears a specific sound? Does he whistle if you have ignored him for some period of time? Does he whistle when he is engaged in other activities?


Answering those types of questions will provide a clue as to the purpose that the whistling behavior serves for Bobby. It could be a contact whistle to greet you after absence; a reply to another bird; a response to a specific sound or a tactic to get your attention. With that information in hand, we can design a strategy that will reduce the whistling behavior in favor of those vocalizations you find more acceptable while still meeting the same function for Bobby.


As an example, we might say that when Joanne ignores Bobby, IF Bobby whistles, THEN eventually Joanne provides some social interaction time. From that data we could predict that Bobby will continue to, or increase, the amount he whistles to gain social interaction time with Joanne. In other words, he's whistling to get your attention. It doesn't matter if you only tell him to be quiet, speak softly, yell at him, spray him with water, etc. The function of his behavior served the purpose of getting your attention for however brief a period of time that might be.


Does that mean we have to live with any form of excessive vocalization? NO! There are any number of approaches to reducing excessive vocalizations but the intent of all of them is the make the excessive whistling irrelevant, inefficient and immaterial. Once you have a clear idea of the purpose Bobby's whistling serves, you can still fulfill the function the whistling behaviour serves, just in a different way, thereby reducing the behavior you find problematic and increasing acceptable behaviors.



More often than not, in the home situation excessive vocalizations serve the purpose of getting the caregivers attention. Should it happen to be that Bobby's whistling serves that purpose, there are several things you can do. One of the easiest strategies to implement is training the ear to listen to the acceptable pleasant sounds Bobbie makes and immediately reinforcing those. You could also teach Bobby to ring a bell, bang a certain toy, make a specific noise, go to a given area, or any other creative solution you can come up with any time he wants your attention. Speaking from experience, a caregiver can reduce annoying vocalizations quite rapidly provided we rapidly reinforce alternative behaviors consistently.

I look forward to hearing about your success.

Best

lee

Answered by Steve Martin & Staff:

Hello Neka,
Thank you for your question about Charlie. I suspect the tail feather you found on the bottom of his cage is the result of a normal molt pattern.

Most birds loose and replace their feathers once a year. This process usually takes three or four months, and sometimes even longer depending on the species of bird. The feathers are molted, or replaced, a few at a time so the bird does not loose its flight ability, and each feather takes a few weeks to grow back in. You might notice that Charlie has some new feathers growing in at this time, and that there are several small body feathers around the cage as they are replaced with new feathers. You might also notice an increase in small pieces of feather shafts that are discarded as Charlie preens the excess material off the new feathers.

It is important to know that if Charlie’s wing feathers were clipped he will replace those clipped feathers with new complete feathers. Soon, he will have all his flight feathers grown in and he will be capable of flight. Whether or not he has good control of that flight skill or not is partially determined by the amount of flight experience he had when he was young. If Charlie did not learn to fly when he was very young then it is likely that he will have poor control of his flight when the new feathers grow in. This may result in Charlie crashing into things when he is frightened and tries to fly. However, with time, Charlie can learn to control his flight once the new feathers have grown in. It is up to you to decide if you want to have Charlie’s wings clipped again after his molt or not. But, it is important to be aware that once Charlie’s wing feathers have started to grow back his flight abilities will improve to the point he can fly long distances. This is especially important for people who take their parrots outside without any confinement such as a cage or carrier.

Steve

Answered by Dr. Brian Speer, DVM:

It sounds like you have done some good things for this bird's life.

The clinical signs you describe: Polyuria and polydypsia (increased urinary output and increased water consumption) can be potentially meaningful. When you had your veterinarian examine this bird and run some baseline laboratory values, what was seen? Some hepatic functional and/or renal functional disorders can be seen with these clinical signs, and they also can be seen sometimes for merely behavioral reasons. If diagnosed and treated appropriately in a reasonable timeframe, most conditions associated with causation of polyuria and polydypsea can be managed if not resolved, medically.

Your diet should be improved, however. With the still persistent diet containing primarily fruits (lots of simple sugars) and nuts, this bird is being bombarded with excessive energy in its diet, which can and will lead to a myriad of longer term medical problems, including but not limted to obesity, liver problems, cardiovascular disease, some kidney problems, etc. I would suggest that the diet be shifted to a predominately formulated base, with vegetable materials and limited fruits or seed as a general outline. Seed / nuts - if made available, should be used as environmental enrichments and positive reinforcers for additional behaivors, not simply dropped into the bird's food bowl.

Answered by Dr. Brian Speer, DVM:

Theoretically, the dust could be contributing to the problem, although I would be doubtful if the dust you describe is the primary causation here. Air filtration may help remove dust, and if dust is a contributor, may help reduce the frequency of flare-ups of the symptoms you describe. Other than the costs involved in purchase and setup of a filtration machnine plus the delay in time for diagnosis should there be other medical issues involved, there should be no direct harm posed by your proposed approach.

Answered by E.B. Cravens:

I assume when you say parakeet, you mean the Indian Ringnecked Parakeet of the Psittacula genus. Males and females look very much the same, so without an expert to view the bird close up, and unless your parakeet decides to scrabble around in a dark corner and lay an egg, it would take laboratory testing to find out what gender you have been given.

All parakeets do not talk and normally the males are more vocal and better mimics; all you can do is try to repeat words and see what the outcome is. It may take months.

As adult ringnecks usually prefer not to be touched on the head or body, your best bet for training is to coax it onto a hand-held stick and later to your finger or arm with treats. This may take some weeks depending on the parakeet's previous home and how it was treated.

Birds like this seldom overeat. If it is appearing very hungry, it could be in need of the nutrients in the pods and fresh seeds you are giving it....continue to feed it fresh foods like that but add more food and different types of food like nutmeats, dried and cooked grains, cooked dosa, perhaps a bit of cooked egg or a bit of cheese once in a while, chili peppers, fruit like mango, and papaya with seeds, fig, etc. (NO avocado!!). Protein sources may be harder to find. As it was likely a wild bird at one time, you may trust it's tastes and feed it things that it likes, stopping the things it rejects. Not a lot of sugar of course.

You can go online and google search for "Feeding Ringneck Parakeet" and learn much information about food and water and training for your bird.
[Editor - you can also view more information and identify the species at the WPT Encyclopedia of Parrots found at http://www.parrots.org/index.php/allaboutparrots/ ]

Good luck, and best to avoid being bitten as that can turn into a habit for the pet.

Answered by Phoebe Green Linden:

Hi and thanks for writing World Parrot Trust.

We have seen many types of wing-clips over the years and this "one wing clip" was advocated in the 1970's, but no longer. In our experience, it's best to clip both wings symetrically. That is, take off an equal number and amount of feathers from each wing. This way, the bird can maintain her balance which is beneficial for flapping and climbing.

When parrots are given an adequate indoor play area, they can be successful with partial flight, or with full flight, depending on the skill and commitment of the caregivers involved, as well as how well the environment supports flighted parrots.

All best,
Phoebe Greene Linden
Santa Barbara Bird Farm
Santa Barbara CA USA

Answered by Jim McKendry:

G’day Jo,

Without a doubt, trying to manage feather picking behaviour is the most challenging of the behavioural issues we unfortunately encounter in captive parrots. It is very difficult for me to cover all bases within the constraints of a Q&A format for an issue as potentially complex as feather picking. As a consultant with extensive first hand experience with this particular issue, not being able to actually see the environment, and being unable to observe Peaches, really will limit my response to generalisations. Nevertheless, we can certainly cover some food for thought from the insights you have shared. Hopefully, from what I can offer, you might be able to develop some strategies that will help to minimise the potential for the feather picking to occur.

Firstly, you’ve done the right thing by consulting a veterinarian first. My advice to clients managing any problems involving poor feathering or feather damage in their parrots is to seek veterinary advice first. All the behavioural intervention in the world won’t help a parrot that is physically ill. As you have sought veterinary advice and have been advised that the problem is behavioural, let’s focus on the key general areas that you can start considering.

Diet Management & Foraging Opportunity:
Scientific studies have demonstrated a significant disparity in the time spent actively engaging in foraging and feeding behaviours of wild parrots compared to captive parrots. Reduced active foraging can be considered a precursor to `boredom’ or lack of activity. This `activity deficit’ has been linked to excessive amounts of time spent preening by captive parrots, which of course has been linked to improper care of feathers over time. The more dynamic, variable and creative the captive parrot owner can be in terms of food allocation, presentation, and access, the longer the time period the parrot will need to spend engaging in feeding activity. This strategy has been used for decades in the zoo industry to reduce stereotypical behaviours, in a range of animal species, and the relevance for our companion parrots should be obvious.

Diet management involves more that just withholding favoured foods for training treats. Creative diet management for parrots is concerned with a range of goals. Initially, it is beneficial to establish a formulated diet as the daily `base’ for food consumption, and then supplementing this with a range of other food types, including fruit, vegetables, seeds, natural foliages and even livefoods such as mealworms. The composition ratio of each of these supplements should be considered at a species-specific level. Not only will a diet based on a formulated food offer a sound level of nutrition, whilst minimising fat intake, it will also enhance the motivation level of the parrot to engage in foraging activity for items of higher palatability value, such as nuts and seeds. You have described a good diet for your African Greys. However, we often stop at ensuring all nutritional bases are covered, without taking the next step and considering the `when’ and `how’ of delivering the food so that time spent feeding, and essentially engaging in behaviour that is incompatible with sitting around picking at feathers, is maximised. This may be particularly important at times when we are not in the environment to provide the alternative stimuli needed to redirect feather picking behaviour.

Diet management therefore extends to catering for food allocation at various times of the day. Most parrot species do not feed for only an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon as some articles claim. Feeding durations of up to 8 hours have been observed in the wild, and at all times of the day, so therefore we sometimes need to consider catering for the natural tendency to forage outside of an established captive feeding regime. From your description, you may have the luxury of being able to manage the delivery of food for Peaches and Vincent around those times when you leave the house. By doing this you are rearranging the environment by introducing a stimulus that is likely to offer a highly motivating alternative to feather picking when you are absent.

In my experience, creative food delivery still has limitations in the remediation of feather picking. Best results for providing alternatives to chewing on feathers are usually derived from the provision of natural foraging `browse’. This is where a species-specific understanding of parrots is required and an appreciation of the huge variability in foraging behaviours and foraging preferences of wild parrots. What works as a foraging motivator for one species, or even one individual, may not work for another. In any case, if the daily food intake is staggered for a companion parrot then it is important that natural foraging opportunities are provided outside of those times to reduce boredom, possible stress and anxiety due to separation, and relieve pressures associated with behavioural feather picking.

The biggest problem for a large proportion of parrot owners is the unavailability of suitable, natural foraging items. In these cases, we need to reflect on the suitability of the artificial enrichment and toys being provided. A lot of the traditional parrot toys lack functional relevance for the birds they are provided for. With the increase in the availability of toys and artificial enrichment products specifically designed as `foraging’ items, where our parrots engage with them with the goal of procuring hidden food treats, we can now provide these items as an alternative to natural browse. If your parrot lacks interest in the toys and artificial enrichment on offer, it’s time for a change. The WPT Store is now stocking some cool toys for pet parrots that are worth a look!

Enclosure Variability & Suitability:
A dynamic and creative approach to food management needs to extend to providing a captive enclosure that facilitates `normal’ behaviours. In my experience, most pet parrots are maintained in enclosures far too small, and for too long, to maintain optimum behavioural health. Larger enclosures obviously facilitate the provision of a wider range of materials, substrates, perching and food positioning options. If small enclosures are used then it may be beneficial to maintain a regular schedule of variability and change in terms of enclosure furnishings. Care should be taken with sensitive individuals with a history of aversive reactions to changes. Such individuals should be catered for via gradual desensitisation to enrichment items, and even new perches in extreme cases. Parrot owners also often `over provide’ enrichment items such as toys and inadvertently create a cluttered environment that reduces healthy movement within the enclosure. Providing excessive amounts of artificial enrichment may also result in a lack of interest in such items, so a rotation schedule, with a minimum number of artificial enrichment items being provided for no more than a week at a time, may be far more beneficial than a `saturation’ approach. This is often particularly relevant for young parrots. When we consider enclosure suitability we also may need to consider the position of the enclosure. Incompatibility stress with other animals in the environment might be a potential contributor to feather problems. This therefore prompts reflection and careful observation of any parrot that is damaging its own feathers and is housed with or around other birds and animals and appropriate modifications made if necessary. The ideal, in my opinion, is to provide companion parrots with access to an outdoor aviary. This facilitates enhanced provision of natural browse and exposes the bird to a huge variety of natural stimuli, particularly visual and aural stimuli, that is rarely achieved indoors.

Bathing Schedules:
Skin and feather health may be dependent to varying degrees on humidity and access to bathing opportunities. Owners of companion parrots kept indoors, particularly in air-conditioned environments, may need to reassess the bathing schedule of their bird if behavioural feather picking is diagnosed. I have consulted with a number of feather picking birds that were rarely, if ever, bathed or provided with opportunities to self-bathe. This is very important for keepers of neo-tropical species whose natural range is within areas of high annual rainfall. Proper access to bathing promotes natural preening behaviours and can often be a significant component of successful recovery. In the case of Peaches and Vincent, the bathing schedule you have described should be more than adequate ☺


Balanced Social Interaction:
It’s great to see that we have an environment here with two African Greys and not just one. Companion parrots are often deprived of natural physical interactions with conspecifics (same species). When we consider that mutual preening is an integral part of natural pair bond behaviour for a range of species commonly kept as pets, the lack of access to such interactions can be considered contributory to some cases of excessive preening leading to feather damage. Aside from the physical aspect, balancing social interaction for pet parrots encompasses the behavioural and cognitive side as well. Most parrot species (the kakapo is one exception) are highly social and often form strong pair bonds. It is extremely unnatural for most parrots to be alone for most of the day, as many pet parrots often are. I firmly believe that many parrots fail to cope with the inconsistencies of the human-parrot bond and as a result we often see behavioural abnormalities arise. Obviously there are exceptions, but there is little arguing that captive parrots that are kept alone and without the stimulation of other parrots in their environment or without regular human interactions will benefit from being provided with another parrot, preferably of the same species, in their environment. A whole suite of behaviours can be observed between parrots, even in different enclosures, housed in the same environment that would otherwise be absent in a solitary individual. Such stimulation can equate to increased activity and engagement in enrichment items and less time spent damaging feathers. The key to this strategy is achieving compatibility and minimising incompatibility stress.

Jo, you have covered this consideration as well as any companion parrot owner can by having two African Greys in the environment. We’re still short of the ideal for avoiding feather picking by not having a truly compatible partnership, but Vincent is still very young. Over time, hopefully the level and quality of interactions between Peaches and Vincent will improve and provide both of them with a stronger diversion from picking in your absence.

Finally, considering Jo’s question about whether Vincent flying to her and not staying with other family members or visitors for long durations is `age’ related behaviour. Whilst a young parrot at 11 months of age will certainly still tend to gravitate towards whomever it has a well-established parental association with, it’s perhaps best to consider this behaviour purely from a reinforcement schedule perspective. It’s likely that the behaviour of flying back to you is reinforced with more consistency, and better contiguity, than the reinforcement on offer from others wanting to handle him. It’s also likely that the interactions Vincent has with you are more positively reinforcing in general and that he has established a stronger association with you as someone who is predictable, and offers rewards on a more consistent schedule than others. Try making your goals more achievable for Vincent by setting up a reinforcement schedule from other people that you would like to handle him that is more consistent and less variable than is perhaps presently being delivered.

Jo, managing feather picking is an on-going process of reflection, careful evaluation of the functional interaction and relationship between the behaviour and the environment, and a dedicated approach to creating alternatives to feather chewing. If the problem persists then I would recommend seeking out some professional advice and support on-site from a consultant or veterinarian who may be able to work with you on some strategies specific to your environment.

Kind Regards from `Down Under’,
Jim McKendry
Parrot Behaviour & Enrichment Consultations
http://www.pbec.com.au

Answered by Phoebe Green Linden:

Hi Dot,

Thanks for the question. Your parakeets sound healthy and well-acclimated to life outdoors. However, I understand that a particularly harsh winter is cuase for concern.

Yes, I'd add more sunflower and safflower to a "winter mix" and also supplement with fresh corn on the cob, slightly cooked. Our psittacula relish corn. They'll also eat other vegetables on cold mornings, especially when served warm -- yams, squash and yellow potatoes.

As always, keep a close eye on them and encourage their exercise to maintain good health.

All best,
Phoebe Linden
Santa Barbara Bird Farm