Newbie and questions that need answers

[Christina93]

I'm Christina. I am currently 20 years old, work full time as a correctional officer in an all men's penitentiary, and am totally independent. Just thought I would put that out there before anyone says I'm too young to own such advanced birds (heard this before). Anyway, I have a male eclectus named Rocky. He is 20 years old, I have had him for 2 years. He eats a great diet of fresh fruits, veggies, pasta, chicken, and whatever else I'm having. He's in wonderful health. Goes to the vet every 6 months for a check up. I also have a male cockatiel named Kato, he is about 8 months old , had him for 5 months. He's a rescue, missing 2 toes and came from a bad breeder who got caught and all the birds taken away. Last night, I was doing my usually Craigslist search, and came across an ad saying come get this bird. I don't want it. I was like okay, I messaged them, turnabout the lady had a 5 year old female eclectus. I drove 6 hours to pick her up and when I got there it was horrible. She's a feather picker, was breathing weird and sneezing non stop. And she's mean!!! We got up this morning and rushed her to the vet. She's very anemic, and the vet wants us to get her on the right diet before he does anymore tests. So she's being kept separate from our other babies until we find out if she's got anything contagious. Her blood count was 20 and it's supposed to be 50. Her previous diet was carrots and broccoli ONLY.

My questions are; are there any specific foods that would help bring her blood levels up? What can I do to try to prevent the plucking? What's the best way to try to tame her down ( she bit me hard enough I had to get stitches today) ? She's picky on eating things too, she doesn't like holding on to food? Any tips, tricks, advice, whatever is greatly appreciated

 

[MonicaMc]

Christina, apparently you are not familiar with some of our amazing members on this forum!!! I think you'll fit right in!

Plucking could be due to various causes. Health, diet, behavior... there are tests to determine if the plucking is health related. Right now, I would concentrate on getting her into good health before worrying about her being tame or not. Did you discuss diet with the avian vet?


I've put together a thread with some ideas on converting parrots to a better diet. Perhaps it'll help give you some ideas?

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...7-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html

 

[MikeyTN]

Feed her like what your feeding your male eclectus! For the time being it's not a bad idea to give her half a table spoon full of seeds daily. Please do visit this site for more insight on Eclectus!!! Eclectus Parrots