New to forums and need a few questions answering!

[jessicaleighadams]

Hello

I have a blue fronted Amazon, aged 7-8 months, and I have a few questions concerning his wellbeing...

When we first got him, we saw that his tail feathers had been cut, clearly cut as they were all perfectly straight and every so often we catch him chewing at them. So far we have found that we should spray him to keep the moisture in that area up as he only bathes ones a week. Is this correct or is he in distress? he has barely any tail feathers now as he has chewed them.

Also we have changed his diet slightly by giving him less food as before our vet advised us to 'give him as much as he will eat'. We don't want to over feed him and we read in the Parrot Wizard guide that having food available to them all day may cause them to overeat due to boredom? The point is, today (just two days into the new routine), he keeps making this clucking noise which is really hard to describe! I've never heard him do it this much. I didn't know if he was protesting about having less food or whether the change was making him feel unwell or something? We haven't had a parrot before so we are going with advice we are given.

Please let me know if you have any answers because i'm quite worried about him!

Thanks in advance from Jess and Paulie!

 

[Terry57]

Welcome Jess and Paulie!
That is so strange that someone cut his tail feathers! Did you get him from a breeder?
I would follow your vet's instructions (Is this an avian vet?).
I have food in my birds cages at all times. They have a seed/pellet mix that I mix new every morning, and they get fresh veggies and fruits (emphasis on veggies) twice a day.
Also keeping his water clean is very important

If you go to this link, there are several topics stickied at the top that may be useful to you
Parrot Food, Recipes and Diet - Parrot Forum - Parrot Owner's Community

 

[JerseyWendy]

Welcome to the forum.

I also have a link for you regarding 'feeding' routine: http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/50713-circus-diet-any-opinions.html

Amazons 'can' be lazy, yes, but at 7-8 months, he should be an active and alert young Amazon. The noises you are describing may very well be 'begging' sounds (he's possibly hungry).

How are you housing him? Is he in a good sized cage with a variety of toys to keep him busy, stimulated, and occupied?

 

[Snabb133]

Welcome To This Awesome Forum!

Strange, But when I got Kiki, her tail feathers were also cut straight in half sort of, and she has chewed/pulled out some of them, and they are slowly growing back. I got her from the best breeder in Sweden that I know of.. I can't understand why people would do this, it's stupid and pointless.

I always make sure that Kiki has the right food to eat all day long. She eats only when she feels like it. Other than that, she plays most of the day and is keeping her self busy. I never feed her seed, only high quality pellets as a base diet, and fruits & vegetables every second day or so.

I think you should monitor how much he likes to eat a day and then repeat that amount and keep it as a standard. Don't put more food than he can eat in there.

 

[henpecked]

Welcome to the forum. As far as the "Parrot Wizard" goes,,, he's a wannabe parrot behaviorist looking to make a hustle on the internet. He's big on not free feeding because it makes his birds easier to train when they're hungry. There's much better sources of info than that jerk. I'd certainly listen to your vet and not some self.proclaimed "parrot wizard" Most over weight zons are that way because of what they eat , not how much. Young zons usually have damaged tail feathers because they are rough and tumble. If that's not your case,,, maybe have your vet check for mites. BTW my zons preen themselves or each other for several hours each day. If he's destroying his tail then I'd look to a medical issue, most young zon are pretty stable mentally. Please make a game out of weighing him at least weekly if not daily when making diet changes.

 

[jessicaleighadams]

Thank you everyone, and yes the comment about Parrot Wizard does make a lot of sense, I think we will follow our vets rules! We left food all day in his cage before so I think that was the reason for his clucking!! However, we did note that it is a lot easier to get him into his cage at night with this diet as we put grapes for him in there. It is very hard to get him in at night without this, as it takes hours or even us being unsuccessful!

We feed him a mix of seed and fruit/vegetables. Are pellets necessary? As we were told by the breeder that that was all they ate.

Thanks for all your advice, really appreciate it!

 

[JerseyWendy]

We feed him a mix of seed and fruit/vegetables. Are pellets necessary? As we were told by the breeder that that was all they ate.

Thanks for all your advice, really appreciate it!

Opinions vary on the importance of pellets. IMO they should be offered, yes, preferably high quality pellets.
http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/28242-ingredients-pellets.html

I also firmly believe that a varied diet is the healthiest. The more (healthy) foods your parrot eats, the better for him in the long run.

Here are a few more links for you:
The first one is that of a fantastic recipe (chop mix)
http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/49831-chop-day-recipe.html

This is for SAFE & TOXIC FOODS
http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...afe-fresh-foods-toxic-food-lists-sprouts.html

 

[jessicaleighadams]

Welcome to the forum. As far as the "Parrot Wizard" goes,,, he's a wannabe parrot behaviorist looking to make a hustle on the internet. He's big on not free feeding because it makes his birds easier to train when they're hungry. There's much better sources of info than that jerk. I'd certainly listen to your vet and not some self.proclaimed "parrot wizard" Most over weight zons are that way because of what they eat , not how much. Young zons usually have damaged tail feathers because they are rough and tumble. If that's not your case,,, maybe have your vet check for mites. BTW my zons preen themselves or each other for several hours each day. If he's destroying his tail then I'd look to a medical issue, most young zon are pretty stable mentally. Please make a game out of weighing him at least weekly if not daily when making diet changes.

We aren't trying to get him to lose weight, we are just trying to get him into a routine that allows us to put him into his cage more efficiently because it can take us hours.

And his feathers haven't been damaged by him other than the chewing, they have been cut, as the cut line is perfectly straight. he couldn't have done that himself. It worriese as to why he chews them so often.

 

[henpecked]

I'd keep researching zon diet. Loads of good info here. IMO pellets are an important part of their diet. About 50 percent in my case. I f course a variety is always best.

 

[Terry57]

When you are trying to get him back into his cage, find a treat that he especially loves, and only give it to him in his cage. My Alex does not like to go in, so I use a pine nut that I put in his dish and he goes for it every timeThat may help with getting him back in.

 

[Amanda_Bennett]

Welcome to the forum. As far as the "Parrot Wizard" goes,,, he's a wannabe parrot behaviorist looking to make a hustle on the internet. He's big on not free feeding because it makes his birds easier to train when they're hungry. There's much better sources of info than that jerk. I'd certainly listen to your vet and not some self.proclaimed "parrot wizard" Most over weight zons are that way because of what they eat , not how much. Young zons usually have damaged tail feathers because they are rough and tumble. If that's not your case,,, maybe have your vet check for mites. BTW my zons preen themselves or each other for several hours each day. If he's destroying his tail then I'd look to a medical issue, most young zon are pretty stable mentally. Please make a game out of weighing him at least weekly if not daily when making diet changes.

We aren't trying to get him to lose weight, we are just trying to get him into a routine that allows us to put him into his cage more efficiently because it can take us hours.

And his feathers haven't been damaged by him other than the chewing, they have been cut, as the cut line is perfectly straight. he couldn't have done that himself. It worriese as to why he chews them so often.

I think what henpecked meant about weighing him is so you know he is eating enough. It's important when making a change to a parrots diet to know they aren't losing or gaining more weight than is healthy for them. It will also allow you to keep track of his "normal" weight and you will be able to tell sooner if something is wrong down the road. Weight gain or loss can be an indication of illness, and it might be the only sign you would see since they will hide it until they can't any longer and by then it can be too late. In the wild they would be "chased" out of the flock for being ill or weak, so they don't always show us when they feel icky.

 

[jessicaleighadams]

When you are trying to get him back into his cage, find a treat that he especially loves, and only give it to him in his cage. My Alex does not like to go in, so I use a pine nut that I put in his dish and he goes for it every timeThat may help with getting him back in.

it has worked for the past two days with grapes so im going to try keep that up!

 

[jessicaleighadams]

Welcome to the forum. As far as the "Parrot Wizard" goes,,, he's a wannabe parrot behaviorist looking to make a hustle on the internet. He's big on not free feeding because it makes his birds easier to train when they're hungry. There's much better sources of info than that jerk. I'd certainly listen to your vet and not some self.proclaimed "parrot wizard" Most over weight zons are that way because of what they eat , not how much. Young zons usually have damaged tail feathers because they are rough and tumble. If that's not your case,,, maybe have your vet check for mites. BTW my zons preen themselves or each other for several hours each day. If he's destroying his tail then I'd look to a medical issue, most young zon are pretty stable mentally. Please make a game out of weighing him at least weekly if not daily when making diet changes.

We aren't trying to get him to lose weight, we are just trying to get him into a routine that allows us to put him into his cage more efficiently because it can take us hours.

And his feathers haven't been damaged by him other than the chewing, they have been cut, as the cut line is perfectly straight. he couldn't have done that himself. It worriese as to why he chews them so often.

I think what henpecked meant about weighing him is so you know he is eating enough. It's important when making a change to a parrots diet to know they aren't losing or gaining more weight than is healthy for them. It will also allow you to keep track of his "normal" weight and you will be able to tell sooner if something is wrong down the road. Weight gain or loss can be an indication of illness, and it might be the only sign you would see since they will hide it until they can't any longer and by then it can be too late. In the wild they would be "chased" out of the flock for being ill or weak, so they don't always show us when they feel icky.

Yeah I heard they do that! Makes me wish they would show us so we could help them more just he is still very very active so im not worried in that sense

I will make sure we do that thank you very much

 

[ImmunoGoblin]

It's possible that he had gotten into the habit of chewing his tail feathers before you got him, and the breeder cut them to make him look neater/minimize or discourage that from happening. It's also possible that as Birdman said above, he messed up his tail feathers through normal activity and the breeder felt the need to trim them for cosmetic reasons. We are babysitting an 11-week old Amazon right now, and his tail feathers are quite bent, from some combination of him sitting on them as he's been learning to perch, and from horsing around and slamming into things.

 

[Minimaker]

Welcome to the forum. As far as the "Parrot Wizard" goes,,, he's a wannabe parrot behaviorist looking to make a hustle on the internet. He's big on not free feeding because it makes his birds easier to train when they're hungry. There's much better sources of info than that jerk. I'd certainly listen to your vet and not some self.proclaimed "parrot wizard"

I don't understand, because it seems to me that his parrots really love and trust him and have good lives. Good food, toys, a great toy-filled room to live in, etc. You can see the love and devotion not just from him to his birds but they absolutely reciprocate and look 100% in love with him in return. That doesn't happen with mean or neglectful owners. If you treat a bird bad they don't forget it and they won't love you. His look perfectly healthy and well-fed as well. Shiny bright feathers and healthy looking body weight. I personally would not take away a dish of food either, but as long as they maintain a healthy weight what he does must not hurt them. I'm sure he'd get a talking to from the vet if they were underweight.

 

[jessicaleighadams]

It's possible that he had gotten into the habit of chewing his tail feathers before you got him, and the breeder cut them to make him look neater/minimize or discourage that from happening. It's also possible that as Birdman said above, he messed up his tail feathers through normal activity and the breeder felt the need to trim them for cosmetic reasons. We are babysitting an 11-week old Amazon right now, and his tail feathers are quite bent, from some combination of him sitting on them as he's been learning to perch, and from horsing around and slamming into things.

Sounds like my Paulie that does. when he was younger he wasn't so coordinated!! Maybe that was the reason

 

[ayesha]

I could use any thought on the matter as we've got a long road ahead,
and *any* advice other than euthanasia is more than welcome