Jim relates,
We have a 12-year-old lovebird.
He’s had all kinds of injuries over the past 5 yrs and early last year we discovered he has glaucoma.
We found him on the floor which is very unusual and realized he injured himself …he now has tilted his head to the left and can’t lift it straight up or hold it in the position much longer.
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.
Karen S. relates,
Mitch, I have had birds for the last 35 years all have lived a wonderful life and went to the rainbow bridge before I wanted them to.
I am now 72 years old and I do not want to place her where she will be adopted out.
She is 26 years old, a rescue, and needs a special bird person.
I live outside Annapolis, MD, and have found places that do the rescues and adopt them out or sell them.
Kirstin B. relates
Hi,
I have a blue and gold macaw parrot. He has been in the family since he was a baby. Sadly my great uncle was the one who got him and died shortly thereafter.
He has gone through 2 other family members until sitting with me and my dad.
Sherry L. comments:
Yes, my birds are fed ‘chop’ (Arlo the grey, calls it ‘bobbity’) This is a new term for what I have done for 28+ years.
Chop is chopped veg, grains, and sometimes, a tiny bit of seed sprinkled on top or a bit of walnut, or something.
I used to cut the vegetables larger because Arlo was pretty accepting of lots of things, and I didn’t have a food processor.
I also (now) feed Arlo a pelleted diet, along with the chop.
She also gets a small amount of fruit, and sometimes about an inch square of chicken breast (baked) or some steamed scallop (yum).
Bilquis asks
I have a pair of Caiques completing weaning in about 4 weeks from a breeder.
What kind of pellets would you recommend?
The first choice is organic pellets.
Hi Mitch,
Thank you so much for getting back to me, what you had to say was very helpful.
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.
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.
Do you agree?
Finches
Zebra Finches – Gray Chestnut Finches – Flanked White Finches – Fawns Lightback Finches – Black Cheek Finches – Black Breasted Finches – Florida Fancy Finches – Orange Breasted Finches – Penguin Finches – Pied Finches – Eumo Finches – Agate Finches – Recessive Silver Finches – Black Face Finches – Fawn/Gray Cheek Finches – Dominant Silver Finches – Crested Finches – White Finches – Yellow Beak Finches – Timor Finches – Society Finches – Society Finch (Bengalese) – White Rumped Mannikin Finches – Gray Crown Mannikin Finches – Java Finches –
Dear Mitch, Catherine, and associates,
First thank you for the opportunity to contact you about my parrot, who’s a BF Amazon, named “Dollar.” I wish to add, I adopted him at 6 yrs old, and he wouldn’t let me call him any other name than what it had been.
So, he’s a fabulously happy birdie, but several years in a row around this time of year, he begins to regurgitate and swallow, over and over again. He holds the top of a bell and raises and lowers his head like an oil well, only really fast.
(more…)
One day I’ll stop apologizing for stepping on toes. Although I have great respect for my esteemed associate who answered this question previously (on Quora) I have a totally different point of view.
The most influential factor in determining the lifespan of any companion bird in captivity, in and of itself – is daylight and the daily duration of light vs darkness.
50 million years of hard wiring for an animal to believe that he or she can go where they want, anytime, changes the moment they occupy a birdcage.
