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Hello, I signed up because I want to learn more about parrot

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Hello, I signed up because I want to learn more about parrot

Postby Bigbirdy » Thu Oct 24, 2019 1:40 pm

I'm Bigbirdy, the only type of bird species I have experience with is having many chickens. I'm interested in parrots now because I've decided to build an outdoor aviary.

I'm having issues with deciding whether to put stainless steel leg rings on my parrots or not. The "closed leg rings" have to be applied before the third week after the baby parrot is born, but they don't have accurate measurements for that young age to ensure they won't be too tight in it or if it will slip off in the future.

The metal rings can be dangerous if they get caught in toys or branches, and if they're too small they can restrict blood flow to the feet. Sometimes the only way to remove them is to amputate the bird's leg. I'm also worried about electrocution when they land on power lines, but I read that stainless steel is a poor conductor of electricity.

Here's a budgie who had a leg injury from a ring.

https://www.facebook.com/melbournebirdv ... 9977426850

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Here are some studies I've researched on what are the most appropriate rings to apply to parrots.


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Is it better to get closed rings that are a little loose, or get open stainless steel rings and adjust it to their size with pliers?

Here is a company that sells rings:

https://www.birdbands.com/legrings/stainlesssteel.html

My new parrots will be hand-fed and hand-raised so they can have a good relationship with me and each other. My plans are to teach them to free fly by recall training in the outdoor aviary, then putting a GPS on their tail and letting them free fly, so they can learn to go around my neighborhood and return to the aviary to sleep and eat in the evening. When I see that they return on their own before night 10 days in a row, then I'll be confident enough to remove the GPS.
Bigbirdy
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 3
Number of Birds Owned: 40
Types of Birds Owned: Chickens
Flight: Yes

Re: Hello, I signed up because I want to learn more about parrot

Postby Pajarita » Fri Oct 25, 2019 12:07 pm

Welcome to the forum and thank you for doing research before you get your parrots. Now, you are laboring under a few misconceptions:
a) leg bands do not necessarily have to be dangerous to birds (we've used them for hundreds of years in canaries) - it's something else that is wrong with the environment that causes them to get caught and hurt the bird.
b) the sizes corresponding to different species have been studied extensively and fit the adult parrot without a problem.
c) there are different laws in different countries (and, here in USA, in different states) which would make it illegal to have birds without legbands (it has to do with CITES and the ban for importing, exporting, selling, buying, etc. poached birds).
d) you can't house human imprinted birds outside and leave them without human interaction
e) free-flight recall does not work in the long term - people lose their birds all the time - even professional trainers.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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