http://www.parrots.org/index.php en jim@pbec.com.au Copyright 2009 2009-11-08T04:51:31+00:00 http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/indoor_outdoor_aviary_design/ http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/indoor_outdoor_aviary_design/#When:04:51:31Z Hello and thank you for the opportunity to ask my question. I live with three large macaws and one small conure. I want to convert my oversized two-car garage to an aviary in order to give my parrots a better quality of life and more fly time/space. I'd also like to attach an outdoor section off one wall. I am having a devil of a time trying to find resources for building out what I have in mind. Obviously I want to build areas that encourage the parrots to exercise and explore in safety. I also want to give consideration to cleanability and functional access to systems (HVAC/water). I've even tried contacting experts at local zoos, but to no avail. Are there resources for building something like this in a residential home? What are the best, low or no VOC materials to use? Can I incorporate a running water filtration system or should I stick to bowls? What is the best flooring material to use? Wall material? How do I incorporate 3 different bird sizes plus a sitting/TV area so we can have a place for the whole family to hang out? This is quite a list I know, but I'd like a good shot at getting this right the first time. Thank you! Housing and Environmental Enrichment 2009-11-08T04:51:31+00:00 http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/ask_an_expert33/ http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/ask_an_expert33/#When:15:30:51Z How easy is it for our pet birds to get the h1n1 virus? If so what are the signs? My thanks, Chris Karpo Health and Nutrition 2009-11-05T15:30:51+00:00 http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/stepping_up_cockatiel/ http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/stepping_up_cockatiel/#When:14:29:05Z Hi Steve, I bought a hand-reared cockatiel one week ago from a pet shop. They had him sitting on a stand at the entrance to the shop. When I went over to him he started chirping and talking. I noticed they had clipped his wings and the shop owner told me he was a year old and they had done this to stop him flying away. He also said he was a nervous bird and needed a lot of T.L.C. which he hadn't time to give him. When I got him home I put him in a smaller cage as I already have a tame 21 year old cockatiel in a large cage. He is terrified when I put my hand in the cage and climbs frantically around the cage. When I do eventually get him out of the cage, he climbs up my arm and settles under my chin where he wants to stay. When I put him down again he just doesn't want to come near my hand and frantically climbs on the cage bars. Should I not put him in the cage, and how can I get him to step up on my hand? Thank you, Elizabeth Category: Behaviour and Training Requestor Name: Elizabeth Leckey Behaviour and Training 2009-10-25T14:29:05+00:00 http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/information_from_ring_number/ http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/information_from_ring_number/#When:13:46:19Z Dear Mr. Vonk, I am trying to find information on a Orange-winged Amazon parrot I purchased 4 weeks ago in England. Is there any information you can find out with the ring number NL/I3K3? Thank you in advance, Pat General 2009-10-14T13:46:19+00:00 http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/how_can_i_reduce_the_tension_between_my_birds/ http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/how_can_i_reduce_the_tension_between_my_birds/#When:12:54:19Z We currently have two African Grey parrots, Peaches who is five years old and Vincent who is two (nearly three) years old. Peaches has always been a very laid back bird and never shown any signs of stress, we worked through feather destructive behaviours with Vincent when he reached puberty, finding it appeared to be a combination of a food allergy and certain time of year and fingers crossed he is now fully feathered and not chewing/plucking. Peaches is much more solitary than Vincent in that she prefers to interact with humans, namely my husband, myself and even my daughters and grandson, where as Vincent wants to become friendly with Peaches, from observations this appears to be stressing Peaches and she tends to “escape” byhiding on us or flying to her favourite perch. It has got so bad in the last few months or so the Peaches seems so distressed that she wants to come everywhere with me so she is not left with Vincent. Unfortunately this is upsetting Vincent as he now want to be with me too so he can be close to Peaches. It’s almost akin to parrot stalking. Both birds have their own cage and play stands as Peaches has never wanted to interact with Vincent even when we brought him home, we spent weeks slowly introducing them and trying to get them to stand together to no avail, obviously Peaches wasn’t interested in the new addition preferring one of her human mates instead (we are Peaches play stand in effect). I say Peaches is female and Vincent is male but neither bird has been sexed so I could be wrong. One not very helpful comment I got from a breeder was that Vincent would be happier in a flight with other greys so I should just give him up. This is the last thing I’d want to do as I’d feel I was giving up on him and he is a very loving bird and does interact with us and allows us the privilege of scratching his head and sitting on us. He just wants more interaction with Peaches who couldn’t care less about him. We have thought long and hard how to resolve this but the only solution we feel may help is adopting a new bird to help ease the stress between Peaches and Vincent , hopefully giving Vincent the companion he wants and letting Peaches revert back to her own stress free world. I’ve also thought of the new bird and yes I have lots of love, time and attention I could give to it to help it adjust to our flock. I guess my questions are is this likely to cause more stress for my birds is there something else I could do to reduce the tension between my birds. I feel that I am failing both birds at the moment as I am not meeting either of their needs completely. Behaviour and Training 2009-10-04T12:54:19+00:00 http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/parrots_in_urban_areas/ http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/parrots_in_urban_areas/#When:23:59:01Z Do you think that it is a hopeful/useful developement that certain parrot species are living successfully in cities? Should conservation biologists support and aid these developements? IF so would this be world wide or only in the birds natural ranges? IF not, what are your reasons? Dot Schwarz UK Conservation 2009-09-29T23:59:01+00:00 http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/eye_problems/ http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/eye_problems/#When:16:41:18Z Hallo again. A few weeks ago I posted a couple of questions about my 30 year-old blue-front Amazon hen's eye - she was diagnosed by the vet with uveitis and treated with antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, steroids in both oral and eye drop forms. After two weeks in the vet hospital I brought her home with her eye apparantly improved. However, the same afternoon the same symptoms were present again - though her treatment had only been suspended that morning. I seemed to me pointless starting it all again, so I treated her with Metacam for just over a week which did help the pain and inflammation a bit - and also gave her a mix of blueberries mashed up with honey, aloe vera gel, eyebright and echinacea to try and take another route. I stopped the metacam after about 8 days when I noticed her droppings becomeing very watery and she seemed to go off her food a bit. I am told that uveitis is very hard to fix, and she might lost the eye. Do you have any advice to offer? The vet doesn;t really know what to do, other than try the same treatment over again. thanks for your time! Question 2: Dear Dr. Speer, Many thanks for your response re my blue-fronted amazon hen's eye. I have now taken her off eye drops, and she is just having metacam and baytril, once a day, in line with the vet's recommendation. So now steroids. What I observe in her (I have her inside now, not in the aviary) is that her pupil in the affected eye does not contract - it is permanently dilated, and the brown part between the pupil and the orange iris is just not there. She keeps this eye closed quite a bit, and I think her vision from it is affected. The other eye has more of the iris showing, contracts and dilates more, but not as much as her mate, whose eyes are working as a normal Amazon's do - pinning and dilating. She is now eating well, however, and apart from resting more, and having periods with her eye closed, and certainly being quieter generally, she still chews up sticks vigourously and has a good shout in the molrnings. The vet has seen her again and not found anything in the eye and little to change his diagnosis. So my question is really, whether you have any other diagostic advice about the symptom of the pupil being permanently dilated, and also a bit dull and greyish? Would blood tests reveal anything about this? Her stools etc are now normal. I am a bit desperate! 2009-08-29T16:41:18+00:00 http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/choosing_a_suitable_flock_mate/ http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/choosing_a_suitable_flock_mate/#When:20:07:00Z I acquired a green cheeked conure 11 months ago. He/she is approximately 16 months old, is very active, playful, healthy and seems very well adjusted. I am trying my best to ensure that he gets the best care and most optimal enrichment that I can provide. After doing a little research, an avian companion for Cosmo might be a good idea (as confirmed by the replies written by WPT experts such as Jim McKendry). I am hoping that you can share advice on the most suitable type of flock-mate and how best to introduce the two, so that they have the best chance of becoming good friends. Considering personality and size, I am leaning towards another green-cheeked conure, but my local bird store does have several orphans up for adoption that have captured my interest (African Greys, a Quaker, and male Eclectus, amongst others). Also, several local parrot owners have recommended that the birds be kept in separate cages, only sharing supervised playtime together to reduce the risk of injuries. I would greatly appreciate your advice. Sincerely, Pam Housing and Environmental Enrichment 2009-08-25T20:07:00+00:00 http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/amazon_with_changes_in_droppings/ http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/amazon_with_changes_in_droppings/#When:18:26:09Z My BF Amazon, 16 years old, has always had normal feces – solid dark “core”, slightly off-white urates, and some “water”. His first evacuation of the morning – a large one - always has more water than those during the day. Lately, I see him drinking several times (3 to 4) during the day, and there is water with all his feces (the paper I put under his sleeping spot is soaked in the morning – maybe a millilitre of liquid (with the rest of the normal dark and off-white components) and during the day, maybe a half ml or less per defecation. There hasn’t really been any sudden increase in either the drinking or the water in the feces – but I wonder if it just maybe has been increasing gradually over time. Or maybe it is just the contrast with his aviary-mate (also a BFA) whom I almost never see drinking, and whose feces contain almost never any liquid, but are also otherwise normal. His diet includes fruit and veg daily, “egg-food”, a cooked grain mixture, and seeds and Harrison’s pellets “ad lib” – but he seldom eats much of either of the last two. His behaviour and looks are completely normal – he is shiny, active, climbing, playing, preening and allo-preening, and vocalizing, with me and with his aviary-mate. He has always been healthy. I wonder if it couldn't be related to the hot weather, that he eats (or at any rate crumbles) more pellets recently, and/or that it is now rose hip season and he has lots of them to chew on and play with (he doesn't really eat them). Is this something I should be concerned about? Health and Nutrition 2009-08-23T18:26:09+00:00 http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/fearful_grey/ http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/fearful_grey/#When:00:31:47Z Dear Steve & staff, I know you're very busy, but I'm hoping you may have time to give your opinion and suggestions to this question. A good friend of mine, Frans, is an experienced bird owner, he currently owns 3 Congo African Greys. His English isn't that good, that's why I'm writing to you on his behalf! It concerns one of his Greys - he's had this bird for about 5 months now. The bird, Rocco, is 7 years old.The parents and origins of this bird are unknown, as is his first year of life. When the bird was 1 year old, he was bought in a shop. The man who bought him had Rocco for 6 years and told Frans that Rocco was always very scared, particularly of men. However, over the 6 years that he had him, he was able to handle Rocco to some extend - feed him and clean the cage - his wife could indeed do a bit more with Rocco. So 5 months ago, Rocco came to Frans. Frans has a lot of experience in keeping and training birds (based on positive reinforcement) and managed to solve quite a few behavioural problems in birds over the years. He felt he could also re-train Rocco to get over his extreme fear of men. 5 months on.... there's been no progress in Rocco at all. Frans' wife Susi can occasionally give Rocco a treat or scratch his head a little through the cage bars, but that's all. Frans himself can't do a thing with Rocco, after having tried different ways of approach - the gentle way in very small steps and later a harder way by taking Rocco out of the cage (with great difficulty) and putting him on the standard with the other Greys to start with. The other Greys seem to feel Rocco's fear, keep their distance from him and didn't interact with him. Personally I thought the flock dynamic might help to overcome the phobia, but Rocco is fearfull of the other Greys as well, so there isn't much contact between the other birds and Rocco. Rocco refuses to come out of his cage, won't/can't step up. As soon as Susi (let alone Frans) opens the cage and puts her hand into it, Rocco is literally in a blind panic. When Frans approaches the cage, even when still yards away from him, Rocco starts flying through the cage etc in pure blind panic. Frans needed to take a bit of blood from Rocco a while ago to have him tested again, which meant handling Rocco - after which Rocco even went into a kind of coma from fear for a few minutes. Frans is looking for the one ''way in'' with Rocco, after which he hopes to be able to start training with him, but the problem is he hasn't found this way in yet. Rocco's quality of life is of course greatly impaired by his fear... All in all, this really doesn't look like extreme fear but a fully blown phobia. Rocco appears to be an extremely phobic bird, with a clear phobia for men in particular. Frans is at his wits end and running out of ideas and ways to approach Rocco to find a way in to try and break through this fear, which is why I'm writing to you... Are there any particular ways to try and approach an extremely phobic bird? Could the flock dynamic play a helpfull part in this and if so, how? I've searched the internet looking for research on phobia in birds and did find some articles - however, could you suggest any particular research that may be useful to help to understand extreme phobia in birds and ways to deal with this? Frans is considering drugging the bird with a mild sedative, hoping this might take the edge of Rocco's phobia to provide a way in to start training with him - is this an option and if so, what is the best sedative to use? Your suggestions and opinion on this will be very welcome and on behalf of Frans and from me a big thank you in advance, Best wishes, Miriam Behaviour and Training 2009-08-10T00:31:47+00:00