HELP! Senegal parrot - hiccup motion

[alicjamende]

I noticed that our Senegal parrot (about 4yo) has been doing what I would call looks like a hiccup. This seems to happen especially when she’s relaxed. She’s picture of health minus this I’d say. She’s happy, active loves pets, sleep about 12 hours every day. Her diet consists of pellets, veggies, fruits, (probably too much) nuts like peanuts and pecans, and piece of eggs or chicken when we’re eating the same.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

She looks very relaxed and content, grinding her beak like a normal happy parrot. Does she do this right after she eats? Can birds hiccup? I read very recently that birds do not have a diaphragm, and a hiccup is an involuntary contraction of the diaphragm. A wide range of mammals are known to hiccup but not birds.

I just read that when a bird makes a head bobbing motion that looks like a hiccup, it's often just adjusting its crop or regurgitating a bit and reswallowing it. However, to be sure, I would ask an avian vet.

 

[wrench13]

So this looks more like him resettling his crop a little bit. My 'zon does this too but even more so. The why is a different story, which I do not know. Donna's right birds can't hiccup in the classic sense.

 

[rheashard2]

My CAG does similar randomly. Avian vet told me it's a way to move food around in crop. It's also a precursor to regurgitating food to mates, chicks and yes thier favorite human pet.

 

[alicjamende]

thank you for your answers. I appreciate all of you. Yes, she does that when she’s relaxed and very close to fall asleep but the “hiccup motion “ (I know birds can have a hiccup so that’s why I was so worried) seems uncontrolled. It happened a few times in last 2 days. She’s happy bird who is crazy about pets and snuggles. We decided (just in case) to change her diet to just pellet (we know we should reduce amount of nuts). If we will notice something alarming we will go to the vet. Thanks!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

thank you for your answers. I appreciate all of you. Yes, she does that when she’s relaxed and very close to fall asleep but the “hiccup motion “ (I know birds can have a hiccup so that’s why I was so worried) seems uncontrolled. It happened a few times in last 2 days. She’s happy bird who is crazy about pets and snuggles. We decided (just in case) to change her diet to just

pellet (we know we should reduce amount of nuts). If we will notice something alarming we will go to the vet. Thanks!

I hope you meant that you knew birds CAN'T hiccup. Right?

 

[alicjamende]

I hope you meant that you knew birds CAN'T hiccup. Right?

Yes we know that birds can’t have a hiccup just we didn’t know how to explain “the thing” she was doing. So I called it a “hiccup motion” for easier explanation bc it is a usual move.

 

[rheashard2]

It's hard to convert people to birdie terms. I took my CAG to vet because of emisis aka vomiting. I paid for an unnecessary visit and received a brief explanation that healthy birds regurgitate to feed family and thier favorite human. Well I was an RN and people don't regurgitate! I didn't know how else to describe it!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Well, it wasn't completely unnecessary because you learned something about birds and learned that your bird was healthy! That must have taken a load off your mind. But not all regurgitating is normal- birds can get very sick and vomit.