Dumb things

[LordTriggs]

So I'm a little bored and came up with a silly little idea.

What dumb things did you used to think/believe in regards to parrots/parrot care. I'll start off with the silliest one I thought to get the ball rolling.

I used to think that wing clipping involved cutting a small bit of muscle in the bird's wing where it attaches to the body which stopped them flying entirely for their life

So guys, what dumb things did you used to think before you became more clued up on parrots?

 

[plumsmum2005]

That an all seed diet was OK, didn't question it. (over 20 year ago) Or that parrots need their own very specialised Vet.

God bless my darling little budgie, I am sorry I was an ignorant mummy, sleep tight.

 

[LordTriggs]

That an all seed diet was OK, didn't question it. (over 20 year ago) Or that parrots need their own very specialised Vet.

God bless my darling little budgie, I am sorry I was an ignorant mummy, sleep tight.

that was the consensus at the time. nobody really knew how complicated birds were except for the few really hardcore people like that Dr Pepperberg

 

[Flboy]

I always carried salt as a child to tame my first bird!

 

[plumsmum2005]

I always carried salt as a child to tame my first bird!

Not heard of that one? What did you do with the salt?

 

[LordTriggs]

I always carried salt as a child to tame my first bird!

okay I'm gonna need some elaboration on this one cause that's... that's a new one to me

 

[Tami2]

When I first got Levi (last Aug) I was giving him organic fresh fruits & vegetables everyday. In addition to pellets and a grey seed mix. My CAV told me to stop with the fruit. That it was too much sugar & his gram stain reflected that as well. I felt bad but, pulled back the fruit & only give it occasionally as a treat. Every gram stain since has been WNLs. She told that the increased sugar builds up bacteria in their gut and can lead to health issues. I was so surprised. I always see videos of parrots/birds eating fruit all the time. I recently watched a video about the Pak-O-Bird and the woman was offering her bird a life savor. :11:

 

[Flboy]

I always carried salt as a child to tame my first bird!

Not heard of that one? What did you do with the salt?

To salt their tail!

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/home-garden/2009/02/23/salting-a-birds-tail-fact-or-folklore/
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/2001-February/014583.html

Putting Salt on a Bird's Tail If one can get
close enough to a bird to put salt on its tale, it should be easy to catch
it.
The first use of the phrase that the compilers of the Oxford English
Dictionary identified in the English language was from the Elizabethan era.
In 1580 Lyly, in his story Euphues, said: "It is ...a foolish bird that
staieth the laying of salt on hir taile"
Kirk Scarbrough traced it into the 19th Century with a quote from Sir Walter
Scott:
"His intelligence is so good, that were you to come near him with
soldiers
or constables, ... I shall answer for it you will never lay salt on his
tail."

 

[LordTriggs]

When I first got Levi (last Aug) I was giving him organic fresh fruits & vegetables everyday. In addition to pellets and a grey seed mix. My CAV told me to stop with the fruit. That it was too much sugar & his gram stain reflected that as well. I felt bad but, pulled back the fruit & only give it occasionally as a treat. Every gram stain since has been WNLs. She told that the increased sugar builds up bacteria in their gut and can lead to health issues. I was so surprised. I always see videos of parrots/birds eating fruit all the time. I recently watched a video about the Pak-O-Bird and the woman was offering her bird a life savor. :11:

wait what? All I ever hear is to feed more fruit and veg. Maybe less high-sugar fruits I guess. Rio would have been awful, his treat food was raisins... So much sugar

 

[plumsmum2005]

I always carried salt as a child to tame my first bird!

Not heard of that one? What did you do with the salt?

To salt their tail!

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/home-garden/2009/02/23/salting-a-birds-tail-fact-or-folklore/
Putting Salt on a Bird's Tail

So she says laughing did you ...?

 

[plumsmum2005]

When I first got Levi (last Aug) I was giving him organic fresh fruits & vegetables everyday. In addition to pellets and a grey seed mix. My CAV told me to stop with the fruit. That it was too much sugar & his gram stain reflected that as well. I felt bad but, pulled back the fruit & only give it occasionally as a treat. Every gram stain since has been WNLs. She told that the increased sugar builds up bacteria in their gut and can lead to health issues. I was so surprised. I always see videos of parrots/birds eating fruit all the time. I recently watched a video about the Pak-O-Bird and the woman was offering her bird a life savor. :11:

wait what? All I ever hear is to feed more fruit and veg. Maybe less high-sugar fruits I guess. Rio would have been awful, his treat food was raisins... So much sugar

Unfortunately it is just the accepted way of saying this phrase and it should really be 'feed more veg, veg, veg and a little bit of fruit' in the main but there are excepted species.

In the wild birds eat what is available and that usually means gorging mainly on one thing 'til it's all gone and then move on to the next. They use that energy up though and that is the difference.

 

[Tami2]

When I first got Levi (last Aug) I was giving him organic fresh fruits & vegetables everyday. In addition to pellets and a grey seed mix. My CAV told me to stop with the fruit. That it was too much sugar & his gram stain reflected that as well. I felt bad but, pulled back the fruit & only give it occasionally as a treat. Every gram stain since has been WNLs. She told that the increased sugar builds up bacteria in their gut and can lead to health issues. I was so surprised. I always see videos of parrots/birds eating fruit all the time. I recently watched a video about the Pak-O-Bird and the woman was offering her bird a life savor. :11:

wait what? All I ever hear is to feed more fruit and veg. Maybe less high-sugar fruits I guess. Rio would have been awful, his treat food was raisins... So much sugar

I know, I was shocked as well. However, he was just at the Vet last week & had BW. Everything was normal & she was very pleased at how well he looks and how I've been caring for him. So, she's the Vet. I pay for her knowledge and experience.

 

[LordTriggs]

When I first got Levi (last Aug) I was giving him organic fresh fruits & vegetables everyday. In addition to pellets and a grey seed mix. My CAV told me to stop with the fruit. That it was too much sugar & his gram stain reflected that as well. I felt bad but, pulled back the fruit & only give it occasionally as a treat. Every gram stain since has been WNLs. She told that the increased sugar builds up bacteria in their gut and can lead to health issues. I was so surprised. I always see videos of parrots/birds eating fruit all the time. I recently watched a video about the Pak-O-Bird and the woman was offering her bird a life savor. :11:

wait what? All I ever hear is to feed more fruit and veg. Maybe less high-sugar fruits I guess. Rio would have been awful, his treat food was raisins... So much sugar

Unfortunately it is just the accepted way of saying this phrase and it should really be 'feed more veg, veg, veg and a little bit of fruit' in the main but there are excepted species.

In the wild birds eat what is available and that usually means gorging mainly on one thing 'til it's all gone and then move on to the next. They use that energy up though and that is the difference.

huh. Maybe I need to rethink the usual diet I give. I normally give some fruit in the morning for breakfast, then remove it for pellets during the day, then veg in the evening followed by a couple seeds to snack on

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

I also thought it was okay to feed an all seed diet, and thought that it was okay to only have dowel perches.

 

[ParrotLover2001]

I use to think that budgies couldn't open their beaks. That was before I had my first bird. After I got my first bird I thought that my female budgie was going to lay eggs just because she kicked food out of the dish.

Sent from my Galaxy s8

 

[clark_conure]

First off I want to say this is a very ingenious thread, it shows off our humility and how we all had bad ideas. Kudos to lordtriggs on this one this is an excellent topic.

1) seed diet of course then I learned to switch to pellets

2) and this is on and off in the nutrition forum I heard milk was bad I figured it would be good, but since then he's snook in some milk and I think my conure isn't bothered by it so I dunno he loves the taste and dosen't have any weird poop.

3) I thought I'd have privacy and be able to watch my bird play....neither on both. I can't go to the restroom 10 ft away nor watch him play without becoming a major sporting event with teams me vs him.

4) I figured he would be drawn to windows, but it I leave a sliding door open so he can see all the birds or even leave; he still just says meh if I leave and comes back to me.

5) I figured he'd be particular about food, instead anything I eat he MUST HAS!

6) I figured he would be hard to teach words to based on the literature, fact is he keeps growing his vocabulary and if he doesn't know the words he knows the appropriate grunts (mimicking me) to get his point across.

Very good thread

Justin

 

[LordTriggs]

I thought I'd have privacy and be able to watch my bird play....neither on both. I can't go to the restroom 10 ft away nor watch him play without becoming a major sporting event with teams me vs him

Haha the bathroom was one of the only things that would make Rio scream. If I was in the bathroom and he wasn't able to get there he would scream murder, he knew I was there because of the extractor fan. The only other thing was looking out the skylight in the mornings when he was out the cage. He'd call to the ringnecks that are in my neighborhood

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

Haha I can't leave the room either. If the bird room door is closed, Ducky and Kermit will be screeching and flying around wildly in a panic. If the door is open, they of course would follow me and land on my head. If the birds are in their cages, they would be pacing back and forth and screaming until they settle down.

 

[Scott]

That colored newspaper below the grate covering the bird's "toilet" gives off perpetual harmful fumes. I used to go through reams of newspaper to have only black and white visible. My vet says the only concern with colored newspaper is physical contact, particularly when wet. Newspaper is always inaccessible in my cages.

 

[Tami2]

I remembered another thing I believed prior to owning Levi.

I eat tons of avacados. I think it’s a perfect food for so many reasons. So, I totally planned on sharing them w/ him. So, I was SHOCKED to find out that they are actually deadly to parrots. :52:
I was surprised at how many foods could be harmful if not deadly to our beloved birds.