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Hi, A while ago I posted on here saying one day we would become adoptive parents of some parrots that belong to an elderley neighbour, well, recently she has been less able to care for them & we visit twice daily to clean & feed them whilst she still has the benefit of their company. This will be a long process which I think is a good thing as they can get to know us gradually. My concerns are that their living conditions & diet are far from ideal at the mo. I totally respect her ways & it is obvious there's lots of mutual love between owner & parrots. However, they have no toys, no foraging toys & a limited diet of sunflower based seed, lettuce & digestive biscuits! I sneak what I can in & bring some toys round but they areas reluctant to change as she is. My question is her B&G is very scruffy looking. He has full plumage but his tail & wing feathers are very crooked. He does come out of his cage regularly so I don't know whether this is overpreening, small cage or diet? She has had him from a weanling & he's now ten yrs old. He's shy of me but otherwise in good spirit. Does anyone have suggestions as to why his feathers are all scruffy & a diplomatic way of me sorting things out for him?! I look forward to your replies x

Sounds like to me you have a "Shredder" rather than a "Plucker" and yes it is over preening.

Suggest to her that this is not normal and is a result of him trying to occupy his time inside the cage. Give him plenty of toys and other things to keep his mind occupied. Since she has been in aviculture for a long time, like many from my family, it is hard to instruct these older owners of current tendencies and advancements in care of parrots. Like many things they think this is still 1960. Help her to understand that using modern techniques are in the best interest of her parrots and will see her parrots improve with each idea you will offer.

Try and get her birds on a better diet and provide them ample opportunity for play and sunlight. My heart goes out to you for this very valiant effort for both birds and owner.

Dutch

Do these folks talk with you about eventually having the birds live with you or is it an unspoken plan? If discussed, I would try asking if you could begin handling the birds a bit more so they'll grow more comfy with you. It's wonderful to have the benefit of time for a gradual transition, so talk up that aspect. In your efforts at getting the birds to enjoy your company, use small food treats as rewards for good behavior -- taking a piece through the cage bars, moving near the door, a step up, step down. Celebrate each small step with verbal praise, huge smile, and that little nugget of almond or walnut, pine nut, whatever the bird values most.

Once you are friends, you could begin using different treats. Switch gradually to more nutritious foods, like carrot sticks, a rolled broccoli leaf, a dandelion flower wrapped in kale. Ask if you could lay a whole dandelion plant, roots to flower, atop the cage for each bird to pull down. Bring in some leafy branches you've cut in the yard to lay across the cage once they are not scared by them. You know what's safe for them to chew, right? I don't know what grows around you, so can't make suggestions, but your avian vet surely could.

Those long macaw tails and wing tips often suffer damage in cages that are the least bit small or when perches are placed too close to the cage bars. The scruffiness could well be the combo of cage size, diet, boredom, and perhaps lack of showering. If she's not spraying him every 2-3 days, that's another fun activity you could introduce, using her bathroom to minimize clean-up. If you're intending to get a vet check and bloodwork done before moving the birds in with your own flock, now might be a good time for having that done with the B&G. Then, if there's a health problem, you know and can consider options now rather than if/when an emergency forces a quick transfer.

Good luck!

Great advice, thank you so much. Yes, it is all planned, in fact we now hold all the birds certificates at ours at the lady's request (we're only three doors down!) we come in twice a day & do all the cage cleaning. She has 2 ancient greys,
a roseate hybrid, a mollucan & B&G. I am very bonded with the Moluccan, she's such a darling & the B&G will take food from my hand & let me clean his cage but he's very timid with me. I'm sure this will improve in time. The little Galah is terrified of me & my partner but the lady says he's very affectionate with her. I just hope with time & patience he'll become good friends with us too. I'm scared to ask for bloodwork to be done at the moment for fear of offending her.
All the birds come from very reputable breeders & have been with her since birth. The macaw is her youngest at 10yrs old. PBFD is my biggest fear but I hope very much that this would be unlikely & would have surfaced by now? Can it lay dormant for ten yrs from birth then just appear? Thanks for your help

honeypi wrote:... PBFD is my biggest fear but I hope very much that this would be unlikely & would have surfaced by now? Can it lay dormant for ten yrs from birth then just appear? ...

I would doubt it, but TG have had no experience with PBFD. Another good qx for your avian vet. With your large animal population, are you a good enough client that they're happy to answer such qxs by phone? That would be a good fear to be able to lay aside completely.

Good idea, I'll call them tomorrow. I'll keep you all posted of my progress!

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/170222.htm

The natural infection appears to occur primarily in juvenile birds, with few instances of clinical infection seen in birds >3 yr old.

[img]IMG_0844.JPG[/img] I hope I have put up a photo of Monty here, we had a breakthrough today as I shared a lovely head scratch with him! I'm over the moon.. He was happily bashing away at his toy as well & enjoyed some baked potato! He really is such a lovely bird & I enjoy spending time with him so much [img]IMG_0852.JPG[/img]

I hope I have put up a photo of Monty here, we had a breakthrough today as I shared a lovely head scratch with him! I'm over the moon.. He was happily bashing away at his toy as well & enjoyed some baked potato! He really is such a lovely bird & I enjoy spending time with him so much

Yep, he's a shredder.

Get a big shower perch and take him in the shower with you as often as you can. He'll love it. Like I've said before all my Macaws love the shower and if I start one and leave any of them out of their cages, they know what the sound is, they fly off their cages and walk down the hallway. Its so funny with them waddling and sometime they race to see which one is first to get to my bathroom, nipping at each other and squawking all the way.

Hey,

I have tried the Petsmart shower perches & have now gone with Sandy shower perches. They last forever, help keep their nails trimmed, & can fold out of the way when not in use. Maybe I should make a commercial for them.

Hi, I just joined this forum so I hope that I can offer you some advice. First of all, the bird, as you know, is not on the proper diet. If the elderly owner is not willing or able to get them on the diet they need, then it will be up to you to provide it. I applaud you for that. While oil is crucial for Macaws and other such "oil birds", the sunflower seed are not cutting it. It is as simple as two fatty nuts, twice a day. It also gives them something to do. As far as toys, again, if she is unwilling or unable to get them toys you can try a few things that seem to work with my birds. My Hyacinth loves a cardboard box in the bottom of her cage with wooden blocks in them. You can go to your local hardware store and buy UNTREATED 2x4s and have then cut them up into different sizes. If you can string them with parrot-safe untreated leather or cotton rope that would be good. If nothing else, hang a roll of paper towels or toilet paper in the cage. Phone books are great as I have birds that love to shred. Thread the phonebook through the top of the cage so that sections of the book hang down inside the cage. Also, depending on the weather, are they getting bathed regularly? It sound like the birds should be moved to your home as soon as possible, but I realize this is a delicate situation. Feel free to contact me if you would like further advice. Hope this helps some.

Sooooo!... It's been a while since I've been on but I've had my hands full! All the birds came to live with us just before christmas. They have settled in amazingly well and are actually really enjoying their new varied diet. It's the most work EVER in the morning but we get back quadruple what we put in. And the best bit was giving Monty the B&G his first ever shower! We discovered the most beautiful bird underneath about ten years of dust!
Monty is a delight. Having never shared my home with a macaw before I can tell you I'm utterly besotted with him. We buy loads of Jenga sized wood pieces & string them on a rope & he has great fun turning them to sawdust. One behaviour I'm not sure of is when he sometimes sways, like a kid that needs an urgent wee, what does that mean? I can't believe how well they've settled. The only chap we're having trouble with is the Galah/LSC who attacks me at every opportunity - I'll take that one to the Too pages! Thanks for all your help & advice, I'm sure I'll need more!