Camelot macaws

Q: I like to buy my produce from local farmers and it usually takes several days before the food I buy gets used up. How many days in a row can I give my birds the same foods before they get bored?
- Tamara T.,  Houston, TX

A: I think it’s wonderful that you buy your produce from local farmers. It is something we should all consider doing. Not only does it support your community, but the quality of the produce is better than that which you will find in your local supermarket. Good for you.

The answer to your question calls for a bit of speculation. It is impossible, of course, to get inside the heads of our parrots and most of the judgements that we make on their behalf are based on our observations of their preferences.

A wild bird spends most of its day foraging for food. A flock might locate and feed on the same food source for weeks before it is depleted and they move on to another source. With this in mind, it seems completely reasonable to me that can you feed your birds the same food until it runs out. But is this acceptable to your bird?

Locally grown black raspberries

In captivity, your birds gets what you give them – whether it’s what they would choose for themselves, whether it’s in or out of season. Our indoor birds have an entirely different dining experience than that of their outdoor cousins, but food, and feeding, is no less important to them.

Utimately, a successful parrot diet relies on both you and your bird. Your job is to be thoughtful and creative in your decisions about the diet.You should offer foods in ways that increase the likelihood that your bird will eat it. This is as much about your preparation and presentation of food as it is about the type of food you are serving. If you have several days worth of green beans to go through, try to serve them in different ways each day. You could leave them whole one day, dice them the next, steam them on the following day.

You need to keep in mind, however, not to let the food sit for too long in your fridge. For each day that goes by there is a marked decrease in its nutirional value. If you have more than four or five days worth of a particular food, consider freezing the rest. It is best that you make that decision on day one and freeze a portion while it is still at its nutritional peak.

Your bird’s job is to eat the food you prepare…and fling some against the wall, drop some on the floor for the dog, and make parrot soup by filling the water bowl with any leftovers. You get to clean up.

Two years… 730 Days… 17,520 hours… Countless Miles… No matter how you look at it, two years on the road is a long time!  Especially when you travel the country by truck and RV… correction; make that two trucks, and two RV’s, a flock of birds, magic props, motorcycle, and a house cat.  Driving separately from Jamie can be painstaking, but it does give me some time to reflect.  Not only on shows and future plans, but on training, and what I can do to become a better trainer.

Image Copyright Feld Entertainment 2010

I’m one of those people who is constantly in the pursuit of perfection.  Always trying to learn more, and always trying to become a better person and professional.  At many times, it’s to a fault.  These past two years have really given me the chance to realize how important it is to live in the moment.  It has also given me phycological insight on how to get my birds to reach perfection on and off stage.  After all, I’m hired to perform a 1st-class production with professionally trained parrots – and likewise, my birds are expected to be “1st Class Performers” as well. It would be hard to be “the best” if my birds would land in the rafters, or fly out the backdoor and disappear into the Vegas desert, only to be found a week later by strangers.  In my industry, there’s no room for errors.  Sometimes that can translate to a lot of pressure for my birds, after all they didn’t sign the contract, I did.  So I always do my best to reward their every moment.

October 30, 2011 finally arrived, and we performed our last show in Wilkes Barre, PA.  I had performed for five different Ringling Shows over that two year tour, and it was all coming to an end.  Aside from a huge sense of accomplishment, there was a strange calmness that suddenly overwhelmed me backstage shortly after performing Catapoultry with Bondi.  I looked around and realized… 5,000 people in an arena, sold out shows, TV, Radio, Print… it was all coming to an end in 73 minutes from that exact moment.  Surrounded by black curtains and 7-sets of birdie eyes staring at me through the dimly lit backstage, as if they could tell I was finally processing it all; I took each bird out, kissed them on the head, held them for a moment and thanked them out-loud for being there for me for the entire tour. The ups and downs, the tornados and snow storms, 20 degrees to 120 degrees – it didn’t matter, they had achieved perfection in nearly every show, night after night, mile after mile, audience after audience.

Fiji’s Last Show – Photo Mishelle Statford

It was when I picked up Bondi, who had been looking at me concerned the whole time, that a single tear made it’s way past my right eye, and was now slowly passing my lips.   I kissed her on the head, thanked her for giving her all, even on days that she wasn’t feeling well.  It was as if she and I connected more than ever.  She mirrored my mood through every phase of the tour, from being a rock star on stage, to the tender moments offstage that an audience and cameras never see.  When we lost Fiji, she completely shut down with me, as if she was mourning her loss through me.  And on October 30, 2011 she once again  understood my feelings and that this was her last show, and we could both go home and relax until our next journey begins.

Bondi Performing Catapoultry

I learned many things on this tour about life & training.  From the highest highs to the lowest lows, and yet one lesson stands out miles ahead of anything else I could ever possibly write.  A lesson that we should all live by, a lesson that keeps you moving when your down and constantly elevates you while you’re up.

“Always love your birds like it’s the last day you’ll see them, for they provide more to us than could ever be transcribed into any human language.”

I’m so grateful for everything they’ve given me.  Those of you who can truly relate know the exact feeling I’m conjuring when I say these words.  And those of you who are just now paving that path with your birds will soon understand the feelings that are impossible to put onto paper.

photo by benefitsof honeyblog.com

For those of you with outdoor aviaries or cages for your birds, I am sure the consideration of insects has crossed your mind. Can they be harmful to your parrot?

BEES:

Bees are not terribly fast moving and are really no match for the speed of your parrot. Any bee that gets close enough to your bird will be moving right on it’s way as soon as it realizes the speed and agility with which a parrot a parrot can manoeuvre that snapping beak. And if a bee were to make an undetected landing on your bird, it’s stinger isn’t really long enough to penetrate the feathers to make contact with the skin.

Bees really have no interest in stinging unless there is a threat perceived. A parrot that is outside sunning itself doesn’t really represent a threat and a bee might only make an appearance to check out what was for lunch in your birds bowl. In this regard, just let nature be and your parrot can look out for himself.

I must tell you, though, that a notification came through the BirdTricks customer service office not too long ago that was just horrifying. We learned that the large outdoor aviaries of a breeder were deluged with attacking bees resulting in the deaths of 12 macaws. We aren’t sure what caused the bees to attack, but birds can be overcome by swarming bees that will burrow under feathers and sting – the result can be fatal.

It’s a good idea to walk the area surrounding your aviaries to know if there are hives nearby. If bees decide to attack, your caged birds are helpless to escape.

photo by nationalgeographic.com

MOSQUITOES/GNATS:

Mosquitoes and gnats are annoying to everyone, parrots included. They, unlike bees, are not particulary concerned with the snapping beak and will remain in the area and do what they do best – bite.  If you have a species that have patches of bare skin on their faces, like macaws, or if your bird is a plucker, you might notice the irritation of bites on their faces and bodies.

Apart from using bug zappers there really isn’t much you can do except to bring your birds in at sundown when the bugs are out in full force. The oil in citronella candles produce fumes that are unsafe for birds, and backyard foggers will coat the aviaries and perches with toxins. Neither are acceptable solutions.

You should know that birds are susceptible to West Nile Virus if they are bitten by a mosquito that has been feeding on an infected wild bird. It is a contagious disease that causes inflammation to the brain and can be fatal. It is considered to be uncommon in many places, but in those areas, such as Florida, where mosquitoes flourish there have been several reported cases.

Photo by nicoledpe255.blogspot.com

FLIES/FRUIT FLIES:

Flies are not only an annoyance, but they spread bacteria and disease. They, themselves, are not harmful to your parrot, but are more dangerous to your parrot’s environment – or more precisely, the part of your parrots’ environment that ends up in its mouth.

Flies are generally the result of uncleanliness with food left lying around on the ground and unemptied garbage cans being the major contributors to the problem in the average bird home. If you feed them they will come…and lay eggs…and never leave.

Fortunately, fruit flies are not disease spreaders because with the foods we commonly feed our parrots, they do appear from time to time. The sticky traps work wonderfully in collecting fruit flies making it easy to rid yourself of them. Be sure to keep the traps, which look like wonderfully fun bird toys, well out of reach. There have many unhappy birds who have lost patches of feathers during the removal of fly traps that they have gotten into.

photo by how-to-get-rid-of-ants.info

For the most part, under normal conditions, there is no reason to worry about flying insects with your birds. Birds are well adept at handling all things outdoors-y. That is their original stomping ground, after all.

Congo african grey

A question came up the other day on the Facebook page asking whether we are supposed to use grit in our parrot’s diet. I have talked about this in posts before, but this question is important enough that it justifies another mention. Everyone needs to understand this topic so that no parrot’s health is compromised.

What is grit?
There are two types of grit – soluble and insoluble. Soluble grit, such as cuttlebone and oyster shell, is sometimes recommended by a veterinarian as a dietary supplement. It is the insoluble type of grit, sometimes referred to as gravel because it actually contains small stones, that is improper for use with certain birds. Insoluble grit can not be passed from the birds system.

What purpose does it serve?
The purpose of insoluble grit is to assist in the break down of foods, with birds  most specifically the hard hulls (shells) of the seeds that they eat. The grit stays in the gizzard (the muscular portion of the stomach) and helps to pulverize food during digestion.

Do parrots need it?
This is NOT necessary in the diet of parrot species (as well as passerines such as finches and canaries) because they shell their seeds before they eat them and leave the hulls behind. Other species, like pigeons and doves swallow their seed whole and would need assistance with their digestion. The enzymatic and the muscular stomachs of a healthy parrot are entirely capable of sufficient digestion.

Unless it is recommended by your vetinarian because of difficulty with digestion,  grit should not be considered for use.  In fact, its can cause serious impaction in the digestive system. It is possible that your local bird store carries grit. Please walk right past this product as it is not meant for your parrot.

Photo by Dave
Location: Roanoke, VA
At the vet’s office: Blue throated macaw “Jinx”

I’ve always been more interested in the training aspect of birds and only more recently have been diving into the world of health and nutrition. I like to learn about those topics along the way, but my real passion lies in the training of these amazing animals. I feel that the training is so fun, and so healthy for them, that I only tend to learn of nutrition and health when it comes up as a problem… and so it seems with this story.

I know how important it is to have our animals annual check up, I do this for my cat and I know to do with my parrots as well. However, finding a qualified avian vet can be hard and for years we used a vet that wasn’t an avian specialist in Orlando, Florida. We found her about 15 minutes away from our house and used her for our cat Ninja as well. She always researched the issues and talked with her community of vets she knew of for more information she wasn’t sure of which made us feel good about her care.

It didn’t really become apparent to me how important an actual avian vet was until Patty began pushing it into my brain, and honestly, you can’t really “tell” someone what’s good for them without them experiencing WHY it’s good for them… first hand. Which I did.

We left on tour for two years with Ringling Bros. whom never had touring parrots in their circus before. We hadn’t done something so intense – all our past tours were shorter and any that were longer were in one place. This tour consisted of setting up for the week and changing locations after performances every Sunday. We usually drove Sunday-Tuesday and set up Wednesday for the show that would open on Thursday and would perform shows until Sunday. After the Sunday shows we would tear everything down and get on the road again.

Photo by Jamieleigh
Location: Roanoke, VA
At the vet’s office: Camelot macaw “Tusa” & Toco Toucan “Rocko”

We normally traveled to smaller cities that were unreachable by rail leaving our veterinary options limited in some cases. When Ace, our cockatoo, became sick he had to be driven 2-3 hours away to a special avian clinic to get better again. It was very hard finding good quality avian care.

So our annual check ups did not consist of getting baselines of liver and kidney functions, or bile acid, or white cell counts or levels of things I can’t remember how to spell much less pronounce.

Our annual check ups on our birds were done by the on-call vets that usually took once glance at the birds and said, “I know nothing about birds, I’m a horse, cat and dog vet.” Special vets from the Elephant Conversation Center would come in for care and check ups on the elephants (there aren’t many elephant vets either! Though most of the trainers double as vets for their elephants knowing exactly what kind of care they need for practically anything common.)

And so our check ups went something like… we would request one, a vet would come out and look at them and tell us they looked healthy and that was that. At one point Dave held Fiji, our Swainson toucan, so blood could be drawn on her to check her iron levels but as he tried to do the same thing with our Camelot macaw, Comet, a vein couldn’t be found and we felt being the ones to hold the birds would be damaging to our relationship with them and consequently, the show and what we asked of them (all of which were flighted behaviors so if they lost confidence in us they could choose to fly elsewhere proving dangerous given all the wires and such in the ceiling of the show) so every time we had an annual, it was merely a visual physical.

We learned that’s just not good enough. Not even close.

Learning the hard way that you need an avian certified vet checking your birds sucked. I don’t recommend it. Just get an avian vet and bypass the headaches and stress levels.

With you all knowing that, you’ll understand why this annual check up had SO much information to offer us and why it was such a big deal. In all honestly, I feel like it’s the first check up any of our birds have ever had because this vet was more qualified than any vet I’ve ever come across with my parrots. That alone made everything feel like a “first”. I’m so confident in this vet, I will recommend him all day long. Although his schedule has been filling up so I sometimes wonder if I recommend him too much…

And even though he’s located in Roanoke, Virginia… we make the trip from wherever we are in the world to see him because he’s that good. Obviously for a quick emergency, we can’t do that. So I asked him for his personal recommendation of an avian vet near my home in Florida.

However, if you’re anywhere close to Roanoke, VA here is his information:

When my female cockatoo of 6.5 years of age started showing plucking behavior signs I knew something was severely wrong. To put it blunt… it scared the crap out of me. She had just flown to a tree for the first time in freeflying in Virginia and I had thought it was just another thing to come and blogged about it here, but it turned out it was a huge SIGN that I completely missed! Of her telling me she didn’t feel well. After looking at the photos of her freeflying the week before that in Moab, I even saw how she had begun pulling and I didn’t even notice then. There were weeks I was suspicious but couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong with her.

Her getting sick made us find out she had a yeast infection and the vet said it could be contagious to the rest of our flock so I decided to test the entire flock and get full base lines. We had no prior info to give this vet so everything felt from scratch. I was kicking myself for never getting any of this done when I had asked before, and letting it just go by with a visual physical (anything to beat yourself up, right?)

Now, some tests we heard back about the next day, others took a couple of days and others took longer than that. X-rays and things we got to go over with the vet right away and hear about immediately.

Photo by Dave
Location: Roanoke, VA
At the vet’s office: Camelot macaws “Comet” & “Tusa”

Comet, our camelot macaw who we’ve always wondered about being a little ‘slow’ from the recessive hybrid genes, checked out in great condition! He had no notes, received an A+ on his exam.

Photo by Jamieleigh
Location: Roanoke, VA
At the vet’s office: Camelot macaws “Comet” & “Tusa”

His brother, Tusa, whom we thought was going through a molt and having a rough time with it (for lack of feathers coming in on his head) had some black coloration on his flight feathers and his skin appeared dry. The vet suggested a booster which we would give once a day for 60 days and more humidity so he provided us with an aloe rain solution we could use to bathe him with 3 times per week. The booster would help his plumage and the rain would do the same but with the aloe it would also help his skin.

No big deal on Tusa, but it was still something. He was also put on a high potency pellet by Harrison’s until everything is normal again before going back to his FYF organic pellet and told to maintain his current weight which was good and spot on.

 Photo by Dave
Location: Roanoke, VA
At the vet’s office: Blue throated macaw “Jinx”

Jinx also received an A+ on his exam except for the little piece of metal found in his belly that went out for testing to determine what type of metal it was. This test took the longest to receive but was found to not be metal at all, and instead completely normal. We were still glad we looked into it “just in case” so Jinx ended up like Comet with an A+. Yay Jinxi!

 Photo by Jamieleigh
Location: Roanoke, VA
At the vet’s office: Congo African Grey “Cressi”, Galah “Bondi”

Cressi was told be a little overweight which we had suspected as she will eat virtually anything and will be the first to the food dish as well as the last to leave it. Because she isn’t in the show performing her weight wasn’t really monitored which was our fault for not prioritizing it.

She had higher “fostrious” levels (not sure if I’m spelling that right) that we would need to have rechecked in 30 days – however she also was the only other parrot of our flock to have the same yeast infection Bondi did so they thought it may be linked to that. She was also found to be getting too much protein in her diet and not enough calcium. Everything in her exam lead to the possibility of kidney issues should they worsen after her yeast treatment.

 Photo by Jamieleigh
Location: Roanoke, VA
At the vet’s office: Galah “Bondi”

I found that since our flock is primarily male, we were lacking in providing enough calcium to our females (Bondi and Cressi) and learned that female birds need more calcium than male birds because of the potential egg laying factor. Even though neither Bondi or Cressi have laid any eggs in their years so far, their bodies still need more calcium which can be provided through many ways such as:

• Scrambled whole eggs (shell included)
• Boiled egg shell ground up and sprinkled over food
• Cuttlebone
• Calcium perches

Bondi’s story and results were a long and can be found at the following blog post entitled Plucking: Sometimes it’s the symptom, not the problem.

Her yeast infection should be gone in 10 days from treatment (on the 30th of this month) and she has showed great signs of improvement in leaving her feathers alone, preening less and we have been bathing her each and every day since suspecting something was wrong. I plan to take some videos and do some blog posts on medicating her, as she has also been so good about that that some days I was able to do it by myself. She has to be toweled because two of her syringe fed ‘medicines’ are oily and can dye her feathers orange. It’s not pretty, so I choose to towel her as much as possible to limit the mess I make.

 Photo by Dave
Location: Roanoke, VA
At the vet’s office: Galahs “Bondi” & “Bandit”

Bandit also received an A on his report card and was told if he lost 10-15 grams he would receive an A+! We were very happy, although, the vet said he’d like to see his liver function up 20% if possible so we decided to treat him for that as well. He went on one of the 6 prescriptions Bondi was given at a lower dosage and just once a day instead of twice a day like Bondi. This was for possible fatty liver, and in his circumstance to avoid it.

Both Bondi and Bandit were put on a prescription for liver pellet by Roudybush until their levels are normal again for liver function.

 Photo by Dave
Location: Roanoke, VA
At the vet’s office: Toco Toucan “Rocko”

Rocko was another A+ student. The only thing off with him was his uric acid which was 18 when it should be 15.

Practically all our birds treatment includes a change of diet; more speciality pellets to give them a boost and a request for more veggies than fruit.

I’m beginning to feel grateful for the boost in veggies and lower amount of fruit as I could use the same change in my own diet! Who knew my birds would help me to be healthier through all of this?

Now I have to hit on the emotional side of all this… because it really took its toll on me. I literally left the vet’s office feeling like a great trainer, but a terrible caretaker. I easily handed the vet 1-2 birds at a time and he walked off with them on his hands, able to hold their feet and do their exams and take blood without using anesthesia. I was so pleased about that and even more proud when he came back with them after their exams and would tell me how great they did and how they were the best he’d had, ever. That felt great, I can’t even tell you, and having the birds hang out in the waiting room and the vet assistants wanting to come take pictures and meet them was so flattering and fun for both humans and our birds. They had a blast destroying… er… playing… in that waiting room and meeting everyone, posing for photos…

But I felt because there was something wrong with pretty much every bird except Comet that I was a failure in the health/nutrition area. Beating myself was way too easy. Then something in my head would come back with, wait a minute… you did the same thing with all the birds and Comet turned out perfect so what’s to beat yourself up about?

 Photo by Dave
Location: Roanoke, VA
At the vet’s office: Toco Toucan “Rocko”

I still did so anyway. Dave did too and so that just made me feel worse and I’m sure it made him feel worse too hearing how I felt I or we had failed in so many aspects. One day Dave turned to our flock and said, “You guys are fantastically trained and sweet but medically you suck.” of course they had no idea what he said and just looked at us with fluffed up adorable faces – clueless adorable faces… as Dave and I moped for the next few days.

Then as I talked with the manager of the clinic about the speciality diets and this and that I stopped her before she could hang up to tell her how much we appreciated them working with us. We took up the vet’s entire Saturday with our check ups and blood work and many, many questions and they had been so understanding on so many levels I wanted them to know how much we loved them for it.

She then stopped to tell me how wonderful Dave and I and our birds had made THEM feel. She said how much FUN it was for them, how they never had birds in like ours and how amazing they were. “That’s the difference between a healthy flighted bird and the perch potatoes we see.” she said the vet told her after we left. “Those birds were so muscular from flight, not like the birds we see all the time. THAT is the difference it makes.”

When she told me this I felt like I finally took a breath again – a breath of relief, of being proud again, feeling like I did something right, no matter how little. I told her how we had felt awful at what a terrible job we had been doing with their diet, nutrition, giving too much fruit, not seeing the signs weeks earlier. She assured me we caught signs early and compared to what they see on a regular basis we are WAY ahead of the times. The praise didn’t stop coming in and I finally said, “We feel so behind on the health side of things, like we don’t know a thing and we want to take all this in and learn from it.” and with that she said, “And we’re happy to be the ones to help you with it.” it was a very nice feeling of equal gratitude and I have to say, she made me feel like a not so bad “parront” after all.

 Photo by Dave
Location: Roanoke, VA
At the vet’s office: Blue throat macaw “Jinx”

And I am very happy to learn from this in huge strides and hopefully help anyone searching for more information on how to care better for their birds learn a thing or two as well.

I think we are hard enough on ourselves for not doing a perfect job that the last thing we need in our lives are other people picking on us too for making mistakes. That’s why I choose to share EVERYTHING.

I’d like to say I do it and am not ashamed of making mistakes, but that’s just not true. I feel quite embarrassed about making mistakes with my parrots but choose to confront that fear by letting the world know about them.

Parrotlet and budgie

“Quarantine” comes directly from the Latin word quadraginta meaning forty. It is an act that helps prevent the spread of contagious disease by keeping it separated and contained from the main populous. Quarantine is intended for those who either are, or are suspected of being infectious. The word quarantine was meant to indicate the period of time (40 days) during which it was believed that the symptoms of disease would either present themselves or run their course.

This is an important precaution in good animal husbandry, and it is particularly important for we owners when we bring a new bird into the flock. Most of us are probably aware that birds, being prey animals, will hide disease for as long as they are physically able to keep them from being singled out as the weak link by a watching predator. Given this fact, it would be easy for us to unwittingly bring home a sick bird that would then infect our existing flock.

A bunch of budgies

Quarantining means more that simply isolating the new bird from your own. When you are bringing a new bird into the house it is preferable to keep them in a space that is on a separate air system from the one your birds are on. Many bacterial, viral and fungal infections are airborne, and disease can be carried through the air vents in your house. Unless you’ve put an addition on your house that is separated from the main heating and cooling system, this can be a problem.

There are a couple of procedures you can use that have worked well for friends:

• One friend is a “foster parront” who often takes in birds that are not doing well in a rescue setting, have special physical needs or who need more intense one-on-one interaction and rehabilitation than their situation can provide. While she doesn’t take on many birds, she always has at least a few in her home at all times. She has a small room upstairs that she uses as a quarantine room. The air vents are closed and sealed off with plastic and she has a sheet of plastic that is hung from ceiling to floor inside the doorway. And because it is cut off from the rest of the house, the room is heated or cooled with small portable units. She keeps a small fan just outside the room blowing toward the door at all times to keep the airflow from the room heading away from the rest of the house. This is do-able in any home.
• Another friend who runs a small rescue had her husband modify her garage (which is never used for cars). All of the interior walls of the garage are lined with tarp. Inside is a plastic “tent” that falls from the ceiling. This is for the purpose of holding in a comfortable temperature that is provided by a space heater or an air conditioner when it is necessary depending on the season. Thermometers are used and checked constantly.

Blue throated and camelot macaws

Many infectious avian diseases are spread through bodily excretions (such as fecal matter) and dander. For this reason, you should always feed, handle and tend to the belongings of your new bird LAST. And after contact with the new bird you should wash your hands with disinfectant (keep a bottle of Purell on hand) and change your clothes before handling the members of your own flock. Remember that disease can be transmitted through dish sponges and towels. Think smart and don’t take chances.

I personally believe that an effective quarantine period is two months, but it should NEVER be less than one month. During this time, an appointment with your avian vet should be made. Some viruses have an incubation period of weeks, sometimes months, and a blood panel will help screen for disease. Quarantine should continue following testing.

Rosebreasted cockatoo and congo african grey

You should make the practice of quarantining a rule from which you never deviate. Even when caring for the bird of close friends, whom you know to be meticulous in the care of their birds, you are taking a risk without implementing quarantine. They could be completely unaware of any illness in their flock. A disease could enter someone’s environment on a new bird toy that had been handled by the owner of sick birds. You just never know. If you value your flock, you will not make exceptions.