Sarah writes:
Hi Mitch,
I’m a 25-year parrot rescue and parrot care specialist.
In reading your blog about “Should a blind person care for a parrot,”.
I was reading the blind woman’s response and her description about putting styptic powder on a blood feather.
Hi…I am a long-time friend of Nora…haven’t been able to contact her…so I am turning to you guys.
I will try to make a very long story short.
I adopted Kirby a 6-year-old Senegal, male, about 6 years ago. He is now about 15, not sure, don’t remember what year I got him…
Can’t get near him to read a band.
Anyway….he is a BEAST.
Yes I have another question for you, my green-cheek conure seems to be molting all the time and he’s lost the two big red feathers in the tail and I can feel the feathers under his skin in between his back and wing feathers is this normal or is he short on calcium he will not touch a cuttlebone or any calcium bone to rub down his nails or beak so I have two perches, that are rough, he is a year and a half old, already really molted.
Thank you very much! Jane
This might be an interesting topic for a Birdie Brunch!
Hello, I’m Laurie Cannon, who wrote to you about the possibility of adopting an older Green-Winged Macaw.
We didn’t do that, however, we did contact a breeder about a Panama Amazon baby.
She seemed almost horrified when she found out both my husband and I are totally blind.
You asked whether our birds are flighted.
All three of our birds – African Grey, Dusky Pionus, Cockatiel – are fully flighted.
We have a lot of large windows in our apartment but so far we have not had a problem.
They all have their favorite routes and pretty much stick to them.
The only time we have clipped our bird’s wings is when we were traveling internationally and they had to go through the health and customs inspections at the airports.
Lisa Y.
Hello, knowing of your holistic approach to things here is a synopsis of our bird and situation. We have an 11 1/2 yr old Goffins Cockatoo, Taedo ( we have had him since 2008 when he was 3 mths). We did have him sexed and know he is a male.
Over the past few years, we’ve been emphasizing the proper use of man-made lighting and its effect on pet birds.
Search results when googling the term “pet bird lighting” predominantly yield links to products relating to lighting for pet birds.
With the exception of Windy City Parrot and the Lafebers blog, it is difficult to find information about pet birds and the many ways light affects them.
It’s a bird, not a dog and doesn’t necessarily want to get pet.
Birds want to be preened.
Re: “Larry’s was more direct”.
He let himself get bitten.
He made a fist to lessen the amount of skin the bird could get in his mouth and just let him bite.
Our first answer comes from a question on Quora
Do parrots we rear at home need sunlight?
Firstly, lets set the record straight.
No amount of natural sunlight nor artificial light will help with the production of any vitamin in a bird’s body.
This is because of the dual integumentary systems of feathers and skin.
My severe macaw is losing all its feathers.
The vet says I should switch her to 80% pellet food.
However, I am not convinced. I don’t think they eat pellets in the wild.
I am trying adding HARI Prime vitamin, mineral, and amino acid supplement w/probiotics to her diet.
Do you think this is an acceptable alternative?