Alexandrine - A few questions

[Jonathan]

Hi All,

First post here

I've had my Alexandrine Parakeet for about 5 years now, she's about 10 years old at a rough guess as the shop I purchased her from didn't know her exact birthdate.

Basically, I got her when I lived elsewhere and she had been badly mistreated and as such has a little bald spot on her head. Her name is Billie and she's my #1 and i've never bonded with any animal quite like her.

I have a few questions, as currently I live in a studio I don't have a huge amount of space for a cage, i've done the best I can for her size-wise at the moment, she's lived here happily for a few years and I let her out immediately whenever i'm home. (She spends all her time on my shoulder/legs)..

She'll even fly over when the sun comes up and get under the quilt and go to sleep!

I want to get her the best I can, so food-wise can anyone reccomend anything? I read up that pellets are really good for them rather than seeds etc, which I get at the moment (The mix I get has dry chilli, bananas, sweetcorn, carrots, sun seeds (lots), etc)

I also wondered if anyone knew a good site for treats/toys etc?

And last but not least, training... as I got her when she was at least 5 or 6, and she's about 10-11 now, is it possible to train her?

She doesn't talk at all (just little squawks here and there) but i'd like to train her if possible.

Many thanks!

 

[suebee]

if you cannot afford a bigger cage or have space for one, i'll leave it for now, as she is getting lots of out of cage time and she sounds happy, an happy bird won't be snugglin up to you! she looks so cute by the way even with her bald spot

food wise, introduce fresh fruit an veg along side the pellets just NO seeds like apple seeds, except pomegranet to be safe, as some seeds have cynide in them in tiny amounts etc and NO advacado, asparagus, onion

look into what your bird will eat in the wild an feed similar to that

as for toys all i can say is see what she likes to play with now, as some toys i've gotten have been bloody expensive an a waste of money grrr all because they looked good to me lol nut like bells in balls foot toys or foraging toys and shreddin toys. nut is currently trying to shred my new office chair! grrr she already peeled old one lol

as for the training yes you can these are smart birds but depends what you want her to do

i have the same large hanging toy as in your pic i put peas in the pod in the link for nut to get at etc

 

[Jonathan]

Thanks for the reply!

I'd like to train her to say a few simple things "hello" etc.. is there a good technique to this?

Oh! One thing I missed, i'd like to be able to clip her nails back but am SO worried about hurting her with the quick. Is it best to just let a vet do this every 6 months or so?

Thanks again. Yours sounds like a bundle of fun as well!

 

[Pedro]

Hi Jonathan,

I am going to be a little more direct. Your bird need a balanced diet not just the seed mix you are giving her. She needs fresh fruits & vegetables daily. I never feed my parrots that type of seed mix it has no nutrition, i only feed a small parrot seed mix along with some pellets but the bulk of their food is sprouts, fruit & veggies. I am not surprised she is not in good feather.

The perch needs to be changed, she needs natural perchs of different sizes so she can exercise her feet. Constantly standing on dowel can cause bumble foot & ulcers on the pad of the feet. Perches IMO should be at least 2 to 3 inches in diameter.

The toys you have in her cage are designed for small parrots & if she hasn't chewed the crap out of them i doubt very much if she is interested in toys at all. They all look in new condition to me.

Toe nail clipping, i use a pair of human clippers, all you need do is clip off the very tip of the nail unless of course they have grown very long. If you had the correct perches you wouldn't really need to clip.

Now training, they say you can never teach an old dog new tricks. In my experience & aging Parrot could also fall into that category. They tend to be set in their ways & it seems your Alex could be as well. If she isn't talking now i doubt very much she ever will. If a parrot isn't at least saying hello by the time its 5 to 12 months old it's not likely they ever will. Some parrots choose not to talk at all. From what i see your bird is very happy the way she is & might i say you have a very special trust with her. She has been part of your life for 5 years now & i am guessing nothing much has changed.

I have included this link for you to read through. Hope it will help you.

Feeding Birds

 

[Jonathan]

Thanks for the reply Pedro.

Her feathers are generally good it's just always the top and has been ever since I have had her.

I find it hard to keep fruit etc as I live on my own and don't much like fruit myself, however.. would apples/bananas be OK for fruits daily? I can pick these up from a market close by you see.

Whenever I have fresh carrots, sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower she always has some. Although again, admittedly not daily.

Would it be ok to keep her on the diet she is and just add in fruit daily for her?

 

[Jonathan]

Oh, on the perch front. In her old cage I did have different sized natural-branch ones. Those toys were older i'll get a pic of her current setup.

But I will be getting new/different perches and toys for her shortly as I generally buy her a new toy or two every 4 weeks or so.

I'll have a look and see if I can find any good sized perches that'll fit onto 12mm bars.

I wont be moving for quite a few years from here at least. So unless I can find somewhere that makes custom-cages I really am stuck (I looked but all cages seem to be wrong in size!)

EDIT: Here are some recent pictures (just taken now).

 

[Jonathan]

Are these sorts of perches quite good?

.ebay.co.uk/itm/corner-perch-and-2-toys-Ringneck-parakeets-Conures-/220787261727?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Birds&hash=item3367f2411f#ht_2806wt_1164

 

[Pedro]

Best Selection Of Bird Perches - Presented by BirdsComfort.com

Some ideas on perches. Your link took me to a different site altogether.

Your doing the best you can & i can see she is a very happy bird. Look if your not into fruit & veg yourself just buy what you need for a few days. Trust me a good healthy diet for your parrot makes a lot of difference to how long they live for. I had a Rose Breasted Cockatoo & he passed at the age of 70 years.

Jonathan as long as she can spread her wings in her cage & have a good old flap the cage is fine. You really don't have to change to much just the perch & introduce her to a more healthy diet.

 

[pagie]

My alexandrine loves his stand which I made out of rope perches and bird safe branches, you could maybe put something on the top of the cage, as they love being up high. Toy wise he loves destroying anything such as bird safe wooden beads and sticks, rawhide strips, leather strips, anything safe he can tear apart. He spent the other day destroying a whole cauliflower, which he ate as well as dismemebering. He also likes to eat cabbage, pumpkin, apple (seeds out) broccoli, sugar free cereal such as oatmeal, wheat biscuts, puffed rice etc, plain popcorn (great favorite) scrambled eggs, mashed cooked sweet potato, cut up sweet corn cobs (just buy frozen , defrost then slice) frozen peas etc. He loves the odd toasted crust of bread, rice, cooked pasta, nuts.
Cockatiel Cottage has great ideas for food, toys and things to avoid.
He loves seed but doesn't get it much now as on fruit and veges mostly but occassionally sunflower seeds as these are his favorite things in the world great for training, he gets so excited when I bring the container out, I think he'd do anything for those, mind you he also has a thing for cumin seeds, allspice and cinnamon sticks.
By the way try her out having a shower they love it