What does this behaviour mean

[elsaandnori]

I am stumped on what this kind of behaviour means, It reminds me of the kind of behaviour a bored, cage bound bird exhibits, which does upset me as I am trying to give Winnie the best life possible.
As a side note I am worried she is plucking, her feathers are a mess and at first I thought it was molting but now I see a small bald patch under her wings. I don’t think her feather loss is symmetrical but I haven’t been able to take a good look.
I feel as if I am failing as a bird owner, I have done so much research and have prepared for months for Winnie to come but I feel very overwhelmed and constantly think I am not doing enough with her, I am not even sure how much other people do with their birds and what they do, I have no one to look up to here.

Sorry to be spilling all this out! I just find it comforting to be able to talk to people who own parrots and might be able to understand.

 

[kme3388]

Hi there, and what a beautiful Amazon. My conure does this type of jumping as well. She also runs her beak in a perfectly straight line back, and forth across her perch. I am not sure if it’s some sort of dancing ritual?!!

I am sure your Amazon is has great quality of life. Her cage has many perches, stands, and toys.

I am not an Amazon owner hopefully someone with an Amazon can chime in more!

 

[Laurasea]

It wanted me to down load the attachment, so I didn't get to see the behavior.

But the cage does look nice from what i can see.

How is the diet going? I know your vet thought you might need supplements ( mmmm...prefer diet) are you giving anything?

If FDB has just started, now is the best chance to help them stop. Because it becomes very hard as time goes by they addicted to the endorphins.

What my veterinarian recommend when I rescued my girl who was plucking
6 hours plus out of cage time daily
At least one hour of which is direct one on one time, focused on her.
15-30 min outside in light shade ( does not have to be full sun to get benefits) couple times a week ( I secure all cage openings and bottom tray) then roll cage outside and sit with her. Or I put her in a small travel cage and sit with her or go for a walk with her.
Provide lots if frilly preen toys, easy to tear up toys
Good healthy diet
Offer ( not force) daily baths
I use a large casserole dish with about 1.5 inches of water. I splash with my hand a bunch and she often. Ones to take a bath or just stand and soak. Or I offer to mist her.
To increase self choice self directed Behavior. If wings clipped let grow out. If clipped try and make perch bridges to a larger plat area. I also use ceiling hooks to hang perches and swings to climb.
Teach foraging
To ignore the plucking or over preening completely if she did it in front of me

(For mine , fixed self mutilation, but she still plucks but remains very mild and hasn't worsened)

Great foraging

Ideas for expanding environment use

Enrichment ideas, share yours

I'm often posting how I use ceiling hooks abd heavy weight fishing line to create what I call an aerial gym. I attach foraging stuff, stuff to chew, and treats to find to keep my flock busy. So now I will share examples to inspire you. Hopefully you all will share yours to inspire me too! this...

www.parrotforums.com

 

[elsaandnori]

It wanted me to down load the attachment, so I didn't get to see the behavior.

But the cage does look nice from what i can see.

How is the diet going? I know your vet thought you might need supplements ( mmmm...prefer diet) are you giving anything?

If FDB has just started, now is the best chance to help them stop. Because it becomes very hard as time goes by they addicted to the endorphins.

What my veterinarian recommend when I rescued my girl who was plucking
6 hours plus out of cage time daily
At least one hour of which is direct one on one time, focused on her.
15-30 min outside in light shade ( does not have to be full sun to get benefits) couple times a week ( I secure all cage openings and bottom tray) then roll cage outside and sit with her. Or I put her in a small travel cage and sit with her or go for a walk with her.
Provide lots if frilly preen toys, easy to tear up toys
Good healthy diet
Offer ( not force) daily baths
I use a large casserole dish with about 1.5 inches of water. I splash with my hand a bunch and she often. Ones to take a bath or just stand and soak. Or I offer to mist her.
To ignore the plucking or over preening completely if she did it in front of me

the diets going fine, i have stopped giving her formula and she seems to be doing well without it, no begging at all for it. she has chop in the morning and a dry chop in the evening which has Tops pellets added to it. she has an omega supplement that the vet recommended but nothing other than that.

i definitely give her 6 hours out of her cage, she is basically loose in the room at most times (its birds proof) but does like to climb in her cage to play with her toys a bit.

she probably gets 3 hours of one to one time most days from me and the rest of my family.

I do have a backpack for her and take her out on a walk (15-35mins) at least once a week.

i will get a few more preen toys, i don't think i give her enough. Even though she has all these toys, she doesn't like to play with them unless someone is in the room, she i do think she is just sitting on her perch for the 4 hours she is alone a day.

she loves showers with a mister and has them often! i have been giving her more recently as i see her scratching her cheek a lot, so i thought she might have dry skin but i have looked at is closer and its not flaky or dry, so i don't know what she does that so often.

i try to give winnie something to distract her when she is preening excessively (honestly i see her preening almost every time i look up. she preens under her wings especially.) but i guess thats more like a reward to her?

i am trying to keep her occupied as i write this- today has been a wake up call for me and i have been looking for new ways to keep her busy. i really don't want a naked bird in a few months....

we are going to the vet anyway soon so i will ask about the plucking (if that is what it is).
thank you for your long reply!

 

[elsaandnori]

Hi there, and what a beautiful Amazon. My conure does this type of jumping as well. She also runs her beak in a perfectly straight line back, and forth across her perch. I am not sure if it’s some sort of dancing ritual?!!

I am sure your Amazon is has great quality of life. Her cage has many perches, stands, and toys.

I am not an Amazon owner hopefully someone with an Amazon can chime in more!

good to know its not just winnie doing it!

thank you, i am really trying to do a good job with her. i think i need to put more effort into actually getting her to play with the toys on her own though, otherwise they are not serving their purpose of keeping her busy and engaged.

 

[Laurasea]

Yes everything sounds wonderful. You didn't comment on wing trimmed. Some individual parrots find this more frustrating. Or they clipped feathers bother them more , or they need to hsve a milder trimm. . As I'm sure you've read FDB a very complex issue. It isn't a reflection on you.
Those are just the standard recommendations to start with.

I love your toy!!! Did you make this?! Please share on tpy thread!! Great videos.

What a beautiful gorgeous birdie!

Share your toys here!
Thread 'We want to see your homemade toys!' https://www.parrotforums.com/threads/we-want-to-see-your-homemade-toys.93265/

 

[texsize]

None of my Amazons do this.
Just off hand I would say your Orange Wing likes the way the perch gives her a little bounce.

 

[elsaandnori]

Yes everything sounds wonderful. You didn't comment on wing trimmed. Some individual parrots find this more frustrating. Or they clipped feathers bother them more , or they need to hsve a milder trimm. . As I'm sure you've read FDB a very complex issue. It isn't a reflection on you.
Those are just the standard recommendations to start with.

I love your toy!!! Did you make this?! Please share on tpy thread!! Great videos.

What a beautiful gorgeous birdie!

Share your toys here!
Thread 'We want to see your homemade toys!' https://www.parrotforums.com/threads/we-want-to-see-your-homemade-toys.93265/

oh sorry i missed that part, she is fully flighted.

thank you! i did make it, and i will of course share it on that thread!

i think she is a gorgeous birdie too (whats the point in hiding it)

thank you for the help and reassurance!

 

[elsaandnori]

None of my Amazons do this.
Just off hand I would say your Orange Wing likes the way the perch gives her a little bounce.

haha it does look like that! she does do this a lot, not just on that perch. she usually follows by attacking the toy next to her, i don't dare put my fingers near her when she does this because she does try to get a hold of them if i do.

 

[SailBoat]

Our Amazon loves a mist falling from above! Will stand under tit until you call it quits.

The bouncing is likely your Amazon's thing. Clearly is enjoying it.

Start over again with all the basics:
Temperature,
Humidity,
diet,
etc...

 

[elsaandnori]

Our Amazon loves a mist falling from above! Will stand under tit until you call it quits.

The bouncing is likely your Amazon's thing. Clearly is enjoying it.

Start over again with all the basics:
Temperature,
Humidity,
diet,
etc...

I will try misting from above! I’m sure they like how it mimics rainfall.

Haha I like that. ‘Winnie’s thing is bouncing up and down’. Sounds like a cartoon

Regarding the temperature, it has suddenly gotten very hot here, it was 37 degrees Celsius today. I am using the air conditioning now at 24 degrees at night and a little in the day. And a side note, she does keep her wings away from her body (I know it means she is hot) from time to time.

Humidity is fine at around 55% in the day.

I will go over all the possibilities that could be causing the FDP and again check with the vet when we go.

Thanks everyone!

 

[wrench13]

More of the frilly tissue paper toys. Its rare that amazons pluck, not unheard of but rare.

 

[kme3388]

Also remember spring makes our feathered friends a little different (kind of like a full moon makes some animals different). Birds are weird! They just have their little quirks lol You could try to give your Amazon a swing. Maybe she really likes how a perch bouncing up, and down makes her feel. I hope this isn't a feather plucking situation. It is spring which mean molting, hormones, and so on. Its great that you have a vet on board already so you can just ask.

 

[elsaandnori]

Also remember spring makes our feathered friends a little different (kind of like a full moon makes some animals different). Birds are weird! They just have their little quirks lol You could try to give your Amazon a swing. Maybe she really likes how a perch bouncing up, and down makes her feel. I hope this isn't a feather plucking situation. It is spring which mean molting, hormones, and so on. Its great that you have a vet on board already so you can just ask.

birds are definitely weird! though i am sure they are saying that about us...
i do have a swing for her but she hasn't used it much, i might move it around so she will try it out, i can see her enjoying it!

yeah, hopefully the vet can clear things up, i hope its just molting

 

[HeatherG]

I don’t think you’re failing, it looks like you’re doing a great job! What a nice cage with lots of fun toys and what a beautiful bird!

That ‘dance looks like something she had learned to do and thinks is fun. Like a kid will learn a rhyme or funny routine to skip and jump down the stairs. I don’t think it’s anything to be worried about.

I can’t see her wingpit but usually they are a bit bare under there. I would doubt she’d pluck from boredom! The other Amazon owners have given lots of good info about that stuff.

Pretty bird!!

 

[elsaandnori]

I don’t think you’re failing, it looks like you’re doing a great job! What a nice cage with lots of fun toys and what a beautiful bird!

That ‘dance looks like something she had learned to do and thinks is fun. Like a kid will learn a rhyme or funny routine to skip and jump down the stairs. I don’t think it’s anything to be worried about.

I can’t see her wingpit but usually they are a bit bare under there. I would doubt she’d pluck from boredom! The other Amazon owners have given lots of good info about that stuff.

Pretty bird!!

Thank you so much for saying this.

She does it a lot so hopefully that’s a good thing!

I really hope it’s just molting, I put a few pictures of her feathers just now, she does have a lot of down feathers all over the place.

 

[elsaandnori]

1-her neck when I stroke her, there are a lot of down feathers
2-near her bottom beak I was stroking her and a few feathers came out, she also scratches her cheek a lot. The red is from a fruit
3- scraggly feathers near leg. Her band is terrible I know, we are getting to the vet tomorrow to get it off (the vet has not been able to see us until then!)
4- being stroked again
5-inside of her legs, she preens there quite a bit.
6- her head.
Again, we are going to the vet tomorrow and I will of course ask her about all this too!

 

[kme3388]

I hope your vet appointment goes well. Keep us updated on how she is doing.

I have a parrot who feather plucks. He barbers, scissors, plucks, and will self mutilate. It’s perplexing, and there really isn’t always a good answer, or treatment for it. I really hope this isn’t the case with your beautiful Amazon.

 

[HeatherG]

What a gorgeous bird! I think she looks very well and happy. And it’s spring. It should be time to replace some feathers, body contour feathers if not wing and tail feathers. (Since she’s a baby I don’t know if she’ll moult much.) Maybe you will find from the vet that there is no plucking issue. The feathers in the photos look quite nice.

such a pretty girl! Showers or baths, good food, petting and scritches (carefull to loosen up pin feather sheaths), and maybe some time under a full spectrum lamp or in the sunshine (inside her cage or harnessed) will all be good things for your bird’s new feathers. I have never had a pet amazon but seeing all those closeup feather pics makes me want to get my nice long nails on her chickeny neck for a good scritch. Willow and Jasper will have to do. Aww.

 

[texsize]

The only are of concern I see is near her leg.
that area resembles an area on my Bingo’s chest when he was over-preening. Light green turns to a wet dark green appearance (without being wet).
I would definitely have the vet check out that spot.