Green Cheek Conure Weight

[Lokigreencheek]

Hello everyone!

I'm new here but I am hoping I can get some insight from the wonderful bird owners here I am trying to get some second opinions on the weight of my GCC to see if she really is at a healthy weight. Her vet told me at our last visit in July 2021 that she needed to lose weight and we were getting her on a plan to avoid seeds which she does love more than anything else, lol. I weighed her last night and she came out to 70g. I'll weigh her again first thing in the morning after her first poop to have a better baseline, but even still I see 60-80g is the average weight for GCC.

I called the vet this morning to confirm her weight from last year because all I could find is her 03/2020 weight of 75g. They said her weight from 07/2021 was 64g... so either they told me she needed to lose weight at 64g which I think is bad advice, or they logged the weight wrong and now I have no idea what her starting weight was for weight-loss comparison. I attached a picture - had to use papaya treats to convince her to get on the scale

From everyone else's experience, is 70g a good weight for a 3 year old GCC? I'm very concerned about my vets advice

 

[Ramble]

Well, birds are like humans; everyone is a little different. My family are all thin and around 5’7” and 125# while I’m a little muscled brick at 5’3” and 135.
My GCC was 58g when I got her a few years ago. She has been eating everything in sight since then And she is still on the low side at 62g. Her last checkup was fine, so I think she is just a smaller bird (and, admittedly older.). Did the vet say your bird looks too heavy? Or are they just going by the weight chart? At 64g, I would not think your GCC is overweight…

 

[zERo]

Hello everyone!

I'm new here but I am hoping I can get some insight from the wonderful bird owners here I am trying to get some second opinions on the weight of my GCC to see if she really is at a healthy weight. Her vet told me at our last visit in July 2021 that she needed to lose weight and we were getting her on a plan to avoid seeds which she does love more than anything else, lol. I weighed her last night and she came out to 70g. I'll weigh her again first thing in the morning after her first poop to have a better baseline, but even still I see 60-80g is the average weight for GCC.

I called the vet this morning to confirm her weight from last year because all I could find is her 03/2020 weight of 75g. They said her weight from 07/2021 was 64g... so either they told me she needed to lose weight at 64g which I think is bad advice, or they logged the weight wrong and now I have no idea what her starting weight was for weight-loss comparison. I attached a picture - had to use papaya treats to convince her to get on the scale

From everyone else's experience, is 70g a good weight for a 3 year old GCC? I'm very concerned about my vets advice

70g is perfect, your vet must be ill informed. My GCC weighs 75g and I'd say he's perfect too, if you feel their keel bone it should protrude somewhat, not like a razor blade. Every bird is different, so what may be a perfect weight for one bird may not be for another of the same species. If you bird weighed 64g before and your vet said it was overweight, they are very wrong, if anything she could have gained some.

 

[Lokigreencheek]

Well, birds are like humans; everyone is a little different. My family are all thin and around 5’7” and 125# while I’m a little muscled brick at 5’3” and 135.
My GCC was 58g when I got her a few years ago. She has been eating everything in sight since then And she is still on the low side at 62g. Her last checkup was fine, so I think she is just a smaller bird (and, admittedly older.). Did the vet say your bird looks too heavy? Or are they just going by the weight chart? At 64g, I would not think your GCC is overweight…

I agree with you. They didn’t really give me much of an explanation other than she was overweight . I am happy with her at 70g and it sounds like she is in a good place! Thanks for your insight

 

[Lokigreencheek]

70g is perfect, your vet must be ill informed. My GCC weighs 75g and I'd say he's perfect too, if you feel their keel bone it should protrude somewhat, not like a razor blade. Every bird is different, so what may be a perfect weight for one bird may not be for another of the same species. If you bird weighed 64g before and your vet said it was overweight, they are very wrong, if anything she could have gained some.

Thank you so much for your response! I’m happy to hear she is definitely within the healthy range so I feel much better. She was at 75g in 2020 and even then she still wasn’t outside the range.

 

[Laurasea]

your bird looks beautiful @ 70-75 grams is a very average weight for the species .

I feel worried about the trend I'm hearing about vets calling burds overweight. And not talking how in tiny birds this could only be a gram or two differences. And how to carefully monitor any changes and to go slow.

A theory I have is that they are not used to palpation of flighted burds with developed pectoral. As the norm used to be clipped and the norm now is to keep flighted .

In little birds a few grams is a big deal.

Its better to go by % body mass. And since we usually talk about weight loss in a sick burd ill use thst exampl.
# of grams lost ÷ birds normal weight × 100 = % lost

Example 5 grams lost 75 grams normal weight but now weight 70g
5÷76=0.66× 100 = 6.6% weight loss.
3% loss figure out if any reason take to vet
5% -10% lost you have a health issue or sick burd get to veterinarian
10% or more lost a very sick bird get to veterinarian quickly and consider starting support feeding.
Weight should be checked in morning after morning poop. Look for downward trends, there is going to be little shifts up and down. Females will gain weight when carrying eggs.

 

[Lokigreencheek]

your bird looks beautiful @ 70-75 grams is a very average weight for the species .

I feel worried about the trend I'm hearing about vets calling burds overweight. And not talking how in tiny birds this could only be a gram or two differences. And how to carefully monitor any changes and to go slow.

A theory I have is that they are not used to palpation of flighted burds with developed pectoral. As the norm used to be clipped and the norm now is to keep flighted .

In little birds a few grams is a big deal.

Its better to go by % body mass. And since we usually talk about weight loss in a sick burd ill use thst exampl.
# of grams lost ÷ birds normal weight × 100 = % lost

Example 5 grams lost 75 grams normal weight but now weight 70g
5÷76=0.66× 100 = 6.6% weight loss.
3% loss figure out if any reason take to vet
5% -10% lost you have a health issue or sick burd get to veterinarian
10% or more lost a very sick bird get to veterinarian quickly and consider starting support feeding.
Weight should be checked in morning after morning poop. Look for downward trends, there is going to be little shifts up and down. Females will gain weight when carrying eggs.

This is super helpful and I like that way of looking at their weight. I definitely want to start tracking her weight myself so I can just make sure she isn't gaining or dropping at a huge rate. Not relying on the vet for judging her weight anymore

 

[Laurasea]

It's just my opinion but I don't think she needs to drop any weight. The 64 grams was too low or a not done growing weight.

 

[TulsiBlueVana]

your bird looks beautiful @ 70-75 grams is a very average weight for the species .

I feel worried about the trend I'm hearing about vets calling burds overweight. And not talking how in tiny birds this could only be a gram or two differences. And how to carefully monitor any changes and to go slow.

A theory I have is that they are not used to palpation of flighted burds with developed pectoral. As the norm used to be clipped and the norm now is to keep flighted .

In little birds a few grams is a big deal.

Its better to go by % body mass. And since we usually talk about weight loss in a sick burd ill use thst exampl.
# of grams lost ÷ birds normal weight × 100 = % lost

Example 5 grams lost 75 grams normal weight but now weight 70g
5÷76=0.66× 100 = 6.6% weight loss.
3% loss figure out if any reason take to vet
5% -10% lost you have a health issue or sick burd get to veterinarian
10% or more lost a very sick bird get to veterinarian quickly and consider starting support feeding.
Weight should be checked in morning after morning poop. Look for downward trends, there is going to be little shifts up and down. Females will gain weight when carrying eggs.

This is great information, thank you

 

[hiriki]

Rather than worry about weight, which like people wont really mean much, you should feel Loki's abdomen. You should be able to clearly feel the keel bone, but it shouldn't feel "sharp."

An underweight bird might feel like their abdomen is a V, with the keel bone jutting out and lacking muscles and fat to either side. Meanwhile, an overweight bird might feel like a U, where there's so much fat on either side of the bone that it doesn't come to much of a point.

Either way, diet is a contested topic even on this very forum, but I would say a majority of us feed pelleted diets and lots of fresh food rather than seed heavy diets. My birds have a pellet bowl which is always available, and then every morning a nice big bowl of veggies with two nutriberries (seed balls) on top--I haven't cut seeds out entirely, but it's not their main diet. I would say that proportionally most of my birds eat more veggies than anything else.

 

[TulsiBlueVana]

Rather than worry about weight, which like people wont really mean much, you should feel Loki's abdomen. You should be able to clearly feel the keel bone, but it shouldn't feel "sharp."

An underweight bird might feel like their abdomen is a V, with the keel bone jutting out and lacking muscles and fat to either side. Meanwhile, an overweight bird might feel like a U, where there's so much fat on either side of the bone that it doesn't come to much of a point.

Either way, diet is a contested topic even on this very forum, but I would say a majority of us feed pelleted diets and lots of fresh food rather than seed heavy diets. My birds have a pellet bowl which is always available, and then every morning a nice big bowl of veggies with two nutriberries (seed balls) on top--I haven't cut seeds out entirely, but it's not their main diet. I would say that proportionally most of my birds eat more veggies than anything else.

This is how I feed Tulsi, and now Mango. Pellets at will and fresh chop in the morning. Tulsi gets a walnut, cashew or almond a day, in bits, as we train.
We’ve had Mango only 2 days. She was on a fully seed diet but has really taken to bird-tricks green pellets and also the fresh veggies I’ve given her so far. Slowly, a little at a time but she’s taking to it and I’m so happy about that.