I have had my male African grey parrot for 28 years.
When he matured sexually years ago he started plucking.
I have him on a plumage supplement now and he has lots of new quills and looks much better.
However, he humps my arm with a thick sweater on.
He goes to completion if I let him once a day.
It’s spring, which means some of you may have noticed your bird’s behavior has begun to change a bit which may mean, your bird’s hormonal cycle has begun to change.
You can expect many changes but above all expect the unexpected.
Can you do anything for this?
I have a Catalina macaw she is 30.
Her right eye seems to be not as clear as her left. It’s like a very lite graying.
Sometimes she bumps into things.
Her diet consists of seeds and pellets she also gets prime vitamins in her water
Also a little treat from our dinner plates at night.
Thanks
Steven
Is it okay if a bird sees the reflection of her cage in a mirror from a little distance? Does this make the same effect of a mirror inside of the cage?
One of the answers read: “Larger birds such as parrots have no trouble telling that their reflection is not another bird. For smaller birds, the mirror would probably need to be in the cage so that the bird could actually play with its reflection.”
but the answer makes no sense.
Sarah writes:
Hi Mitch,
I’m a 25-year parrot rescue and parrot care specialist.Â
In reading your blog about “Should a blind person care for a parrot,”.Â
I was reading the blind woman’s response and her description about putting styptic powder on a blood feather.Â
Hi Mitch,
Thank you so much for getting back to me, what you had to say was very helpful.Â
I do not know how to send pictures from my Chrome book, only know how to send pictures with my phone, I’m not very good with technology.Â
I did get Alex a rope perch recently, but he won’t go near it as of yet.
I read on the parrot forum that Vitamin E oil is good for pressure sores.Â
Do you agree?Â
Janie D.
I have an almost 16-year-old Red Fronted Macaw.Â
(2 – Red Fronted Macaws pictured above)
I got her as a 6-month-old chick and taught her bite words “hurt” and “cry”.
She uses them accurately!Â
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.Â
Thank you very much! Jane
You asked whether our birds are flighted.Â
All three of our birds – African Grey, Dusky Pionus, Cockatiel – are fully flighted.Â
We have a lot of large windows in our apartment but so far we have not had a problem.Â
They all have their favorite routes and pretty much stick to them.Â
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.
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.
