fluffy kakariki

[tobba]

2 years ago I bought a kakariki off a breeder at a market who was so horrible he was going to dare i say it...ring its neck...poor thing i felt so sorry for it he has no flight feathers or tail feathers and while he flaps his wings sometimes he will never fly. He called it a crawler. I bought him off the man as i fell in love with this poor little critter. He never bites , loves to sit on my shoulder and click his beak. But his feathers are just terrible hes a really yellowy color and has the red around his eyes and top of head. Is there something that he could be missing from his diet to make his feathers grow better???

 

[Freespin]

What is his current diet?

 

[Kinny]

Awww poor little guy! D: I'm so happy you took him in! Kakarikis are not naturally nasty. I've had so many crazy untame ones quite easily jump onto me and attempt to have 'conversations' with me about their food... lol. Awesome little birds!!!

Kakarikis eat veggies, fruit, safe-cooked meat like chicken/egg (mine LOVE red meat.. but i only ever use that as a tiny treat for good behaviour) and then the seed and Vetafarm pellet mix. I always give them a nice amount of Sunflower and Safflower seeds, as they require more fat in their diet than most other parrots, partly because they are so hyperactive they just burn it all off. If I have a non-hyper Kakariki i just lower the amount of Safflower and Sunflower seeds in it's seed mix.

Have you got any photos? He sounds like a Red Fronted. (Yellow Fronted are a different subspecies of Kakariki) If his eyes are completely black he is a Black Eyed Yellow /Black Eyed Clear - If his eyes are the normal redish-brown with black pupils then he's a normal Yellow.

Kakarikis don't necessarily need to fly, they are so acrobatic, so don't feel horrible if he never flies. I have one called Bou and she just reminds me of a Monkey... she NEVER flies... she has lovely flight feathers, but she just likes jumping around and swinging upside down etc. The nutter!

 

[Mike17]

When we had kakarikis we gave them additional insectivore mix, as insects form a proportion of their diet in the wild. We had a nasty one, which is why we swapped them for a lori- male attacking my face. The hen was really timid and would hide a lot of the time. I could usually only find her because he tail poked out

 

[gizzygirl]

You should also give him vitamins