Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

diet and self mutilation

Talk about bird illnesses and other bird health related issues. Seeds, pellets, fruits, vegetables and more. Discuss what to feed your birds and in what quantity. Share your recipe ideas.

diet and self mutilation

Postby oliviahyehigh » Mon Jul 12, 2021 9:14 pm

Hey.. Im new here so I hope this is thr right place to ask this question...
Recently I noticed my parrot has been pulling his feathers out. He has done this before about 2 years ago when I left for a month and left him with my other family. He used only bite one part of his body (like actually rip his skin ...) and that was on the side near his tail and after two weeks or so he stopped and was happy. Now its really different. He rips his feathers everywhere. His wings, chest, lower chest, etc... Just by looking at him you can't see that he does that. I don't know what could have caused this. I don't know what could be stressing him out. I am planning on buying him some new toys, but i am not sure if thats the right thing to do because what if it stresses him more out. I admit I wasn't very knowledgeable on parrots. I got him when I was a lot younger and just thought buying him seed food because thats what the pet store told me... For all his life he was basically fed seeds and I am wondering now if that (most likely might be that or a mixture of things) could be it? I don't know how to even start to train him to eat fruits or vegetables. If someone has some advice more me I would love to hear it. Back the the feather pulling... I don't know what to do. What to do... Should I try to stop him or will that stress him out more? It really breaks my heart that he is doing this. I don't want my bird to be in pain. Please forgive me for not being so knowledgeable about this. I know my bird deserved the best at the beginning, but i truly didn't know since I got him as a child. I am really trying to get the best care and treatment for him now. Anyways thats all I have to say I would appreciate all responses.
-oliviahyehigh
oliviahyehigh
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Cherry Head Conure
Flight: Yes

Re: diet and self mutilation

Postby Pajarita » Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:34 am

Hi, Olivia and Conure, welcome to the forum and I am so sorry your poor little bird is so unhappy.

Now, the best thing you can do is first take him to an avian vet and ask for a complete physical with a bile acids test because I think the problem is that your bird is overly hormonal and, most likely, also has liver disease. But, on your part, you need to make sure that his diet, light schedule and general living conditions are right because in 99.99% of the cases of plucking parrots, the problem is that they are not being kept under the right conditions - and don't worry about apologizing for not giving him the right care, we all did the same thing, we all gave them bad care until we learned. The important thing about making mistakes is learning from them.

Conures need a diet rich in fiber, super wet and very low in protein and fat and seeds do not provide any of what they need. Start by feeding him gloop (there are several recipes of it from very easy to more complex but even the complex one is not that hard to make) and large pieces of produce, especially fruits because, in the wild, conures are mainly fruit eaters and they enjoy them tremendously. Veggies are very good too and, although they do not like all of them, they do love fresh corn on the cob, red/yellow/orange peppers (green peppers not so much), grape or cherry tomatoes, baked sweet potatoes/calabaza or any kind of pumpkin/squash, and sugar snaps. Leafy greens are not 'their thing' but they do love raw broccoli, red Swiss chard and Brussel's sprouts. For dinner, give him one heaping tablespoon of a good quality budgie mix (no sunflowers and very little safflowers).

They also need to be kept at a strict solar schedule with a full two hour exposure to dawn and dusk without any artificial lights on during twlight or after sunset and before dawn (birds that are kept at a human light schedule become overly hormonal and, in time, will pluck and even self-mutilate from the pain of the overgrown gonads).

They need to be 5 or 6 hours out of cage and they need to fly - fly - fly - fly A LOT! Why? Because flight is the ONLY thing that quickly dissipates all the bad hormones in their bloodstream and the ONLT thing that reduces fatty nodules in their liver (caused by the seed diet).

Let me know if there is anything that needs further clarifying.
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


Return to Health, Nutrition & Diet

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 22 guests

Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store