Carol G. is concerned with her parrotlet’s foot,
Hi, My parrotlet has been scratching her foot to the point where she has a deep cut along the side of her toe.
The vet gave me Hibitaine to rub on it but doesn’t seem to have helped much.
She sits most of the day with her toe in her open mouth almost like she is trying to keep the area moist.
Tammy F. is worried about her bird’s territorial issues,
Yogi, my timneh African grey parrot has taken over our bedroom dresser and nightstand drawers. He learned to open them months ago, he loves getting in there and throwing everything out.
I let him have fun with it but now when my husband goes to get into the drawers Yogi does a dive bomb to his head. He does it to me also but I’m more aware of him and know he’s coming and divert him.
He does not want anyone in “his” drawers. He gets locked in his cage for this behavior sometimes but he knows when we are going to put him in his cage and he flys off.
Debra C. wants to know how to care for the special needs of an older budgie,
I love all of the wonderful info about taking better care of my birds that I am able to take away from your newsletters.
But I am especially wanting more info on how to meet all the needs of my precious 9-year-old Goofus.
She still gets around in her cage pretty well most of the time by climbing, She is a fast climber. Sometimes she flies, I have added extra perches across the length of the cage so she doesn’t have to fly far.
She seems to have her good days and her not-so-good ones. But she seems happy. She and my much younger male budgie Lavender have fallen in love and are mostly inseparable.
Charles S. is concerned with feeding his macaw,
I have had Cookie since a baby for 15 years. Every day for years she/he regurgitation food that is barely if at all digested. I feed her the best parrot food Zupreem and a few nuts and sometimes a little table food.
It looks like she regurgitates as much as I feed her. It’s a lot.
Otherwise, she is very healthy. I have taken her to the vet a couple of times and am told it may be a mating thing. She does this year-round!
Dear Alyssa,
Unfortunately, birds are not like dogs and training is not something you can pass off onto a service to do.
You will have to do it within your family and household.
Dogs like to be told what they should do and not do as they live to serve their owners.
Rebecca A. relates,
We are the (at least) fifth home for an older yellow-nape amazon.
The only information I have from the couple that took him in before us is the previous owner died of old age, he doesn’t like outdoors, and his name is “Brindle”, and he bites… a lot. That was 4 years ago.
He is now a healthy 743 grams (appropriate for his larger than usual size frame, according to his avian certified doctor) DNA-sexed male, microchipped, well socialized, loves classical music and opera, has arthritis in his shoulders and jaw, “walking bird” who trills and plays with family and dogs.
Kathy B. relates,
I have a Parakeet. He’s very mean. I keep trying to Tame him and he killed his female Mates. It’s female partners and kill all the eggs and I just don’t know what to do with him
Dawn C. asks,
My conures cage at night it is in our lounge where we watch tv hence there is some light from the tv etc.
Also, he has become quite hormonal and aggressive towards me over the last 2 months whereas he was quite the opposite before spending lots of time with me now I am very wary of him and at times fearful of him attacking me.
What can I do to get back the loving funny bird he used to be. Btw he is very gentle with my husband.
Donna L. asks,
What should I do for a hormonal black-headed male caique, 17 years old?
Screaming while holding a toy with his beak on the cage bottom or screaming while hanging on the cage bars, screaming at 2:30 AM.
Losing weight, killing any toy he can find, and just starting to pick at his chest and bottom of his foot.
Stopped eating his pellets (Harrisons), has combined with other pellets, not interested. (more…)
Rachel C. is concerned,
My African grey picks his feathers.
He has free roam of the house with a large perch in the living room.
He doesn’t like water and doesn’t like any toy I get him.
He does like the challenge of taking the lids off old pill bottles to find a treat.
He likes very few people.He definitely does not like little people. He goes outside with me and enjoys climbing around. I put him in the cage
