Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
I took Santina to the vet for her first checkup. Whenever taking in a new bird, it is important to have it checked by an avian vet. But when adopting from a rescue or other bird-crowded place it is even more important because the potential for communicable diseases is greater. In fact, many rescues require that you take the adopted parrot to the vet within a certain period.
During the first week and a half I've had Santina, all training efforts were focused toward preparing Santina for this vet visit. I knew a visit to the vet would be inevitable and I preferred it to be sooner than later for the peace of mind knowing she is healthy or dealing with issues as they come. However, I do not believe in manhandling parrots or traumatizing them. The phrase "it's better someone else groom the bird so it hates them instead of you" is a load of baloney. The parrot shouldn't be put in the position of hating anyone. These traumatizing experiences on the parrot come back to bite the owner. If not directly, then through the parrot's distrust of all other people.
Shortly after acquiring Santina, I called the clinic and pre-arranged all the tests that we'd be doing. I wanted the first visit to go as smoothly as possible and did not want to be spending time with the bird there discussing tests or prices. By having a list arranged in advance, it would cut the bird's exposure time significantly. I decided to go full board and get most tests done because it is my obligation to ensure that Kili & Truman are not infected by an outsider. I requested the physical exam, CBC blood panel, Chlamydia test, PDD test, and XRays. The XRays aren't mandatory but they are good for establishing a baseline on a new older bird. Perhaps it swallowed something, has a tumor, enlarged liver, calcium seepage, punctured air sack, etc. It's better to know up front. I would be much less concerned about an XRay on a baby.
I knew that Santina is carrier-phobic from the rescue, so I established a backup plan with the vet. Since I knew she steps up but doesn't go in carriers, my worst case scenario plan was to bring her loose in the car and have the towel her while still inside and bring her in. Since they would have to towel her inside or out, that would make little difference. Having this plan in place took all the pressure off of me to carrier train her and allowed me to focus on that task.
In the first few days, I noticed that walking around the room with Santina, so much as going near the carrier would send her into a panic. She would jump off my arm or run up my shoulder out of fear of being shoved into the crate. Thus my first task was desensitizing her to the carrier. I intentionally did not hide it. But I did leave it at the furthest corner of the grand bird room. Santina would be exposed to the sight of it from her smaller cage room and even more so whenever I took her out.
Then I proceeded to teach Santina to climb insider herself. I realized she began to really like the carrier when I put her in for a walnut and she didn't want to come back out. From that point I've been able to just put her in or take her out as needed. Thus I had no trouble loading her up to go to the vet for her checkup.
Lorelei, the chief nurse and office manager came out to get Santina out of the car. She was shocked to find that a week since we talked, the bird was safely in the carrier and did not need to be grabbed out of the car. Santina stepped up for Lorelei and allowed her to handle her. This all changed with the towel came into play so toweling is something we'll need to work on. Lorelei has a great feel for handling birds and is the main reason I take them to the Center for Avian and Exotic Medicine. I am not bringing my pets to the clinic to be tortured. It is really important for me to know that they are in good hands and will receive not only a good health evaluation but also proper handling. Lorelei treats animals with respect and dignity and that's why they in turn like her.
The vet performed a physical examination of Santina and asked some questions. Then they brought Santina down to the lab and proceeded to perform some Xrays. I won't get into much detail about how they perform the process. I videoed it for those who are interested in the behind-the-scenes of how a bird is Xrayed and tested. When the anesthetics began to wear off, Santina looked like she was drunk. She wobbled around on the floor but walked toward me for safety. I picked her up and held her but also made sure that she'd go back to Lorelei and make up. I stayed at the center for another forty minutes to let Santina come to her senses but also to show her that being at the vet is not all bad. Less than half the time she spent in the clinic was discomforting so she has less reason to hate it than if she were brought in, handled, and then immediately taken out.
Santina had no problem stepping back into the carrier for me. In fact I think she was relieved to go in. And that concluded Santina's first vet checkup. I'm still waiting for the test results but on xray and physical examination she appears to be healthy.
Stress is necessary for your parrot's well-being. "Whoa, did he really just say that!?" Let me talk about stress and why it's important to expose our parrots to it rather than to shelter them.
I talk to many parrot owners and get to experience stressed parrots. In most cases, the parrots that are overwhelmed with stress (which may manifest itself as plucking, pacing, biting, freaking out, etc) are the ones who were not sufficiently exposed to it in the past. To contrast, my parrots have a good dose of stress and strain in their lives. So when something scary happens, they can keep a head on their shoulders and deal with it rather than becoming overwhelmed.
As you challenge your parrot with more stressful situations (that are absurdly rare and unlikely to recur), you will actually ensure that your parrot lives with much less stress in its day to day life! Think of it as watching enough scary movies that nothing in ordinary ones can scare you. This concept prepares your parrot to deal with rare difficult situations and also makes it immune to excess fear during all normal routines.
Now I'm not saying to suddenly take a sheltered parrot and to start doing all sorts of scary things to it at once. Stress tolerance needs to be built up gradually. You can do this by constantly challenging your bird a little more than before. If you maintain this as part of your lifestyle, within a few years the bird will become much more hardy. Let me get into examples of good ways to stress your parrot to save it from being harmed by stress in the future.
A degree of stress in a parrot's life is perfectly natural. In the wild, parrots will have to deal with stressful situations from time to time. So if anything, the annihilation of stress in a captive parrot's life is the less natural lifestyle. The parrot that lives in a sheltered cage, with a bowl full of food, and no changes in its life is at highest risk of stress related problems. Likewise, boredom (and related problems like screaming or plucking) is a byproduct of insufficient stress in a parrot's life.
Instead, prepare your parrot to deal with stress in its life through a controlled and continued exposure to stress inducing situations. Providing challenges through foraging and training, socialization, travel, and outings, are great ways to apply modest amounts of stress on a parrot that will prepare it for more.
Folks marvel at how my parrots could venture all over New York City without being scared. I've received many comments of amazement how a fire truck went by and my parrots were not even phased. This is because they have been exposed to similar situations in the past. Even if they haven't seen a fire truck before, they have been to carnivals and other bustling situations in the past. This deliberate exposure to stress has ensured that they do not become overwhelmed in unforeseen circumstances. Not only that, but it has equipped them to enjoy and have fun in all the travel and things we do. Since these things are no longer frightening, they counteract boredom and improve the parrots' quality of life.
I also physically stress my parrots and improve their endurance through extensive flight training. At home, the two trained parrots regularly end up flying dozens of flight recalls. This is tough on their cardio-respiratory systems as much as on their muscles. But this keeps them fit and healthy.
I extend this concept even further. I don't worry much about my parrots. I don't tiptoe around their cages or fiddle with temperature controls too much. While at first, these may have been greater concerns, with time I've allowed them to get used to more variation. They have learned to deal with it and not be bothered. If food or water isn't available while we're traveling a bit longer than usual, they have no trouble dealing with it. Or if the food I have for them is not what they are used to, they are adaptive and can try the new food on the spot. Whether an emergency, or a planned life change, a parrot that is accustomed to dealing with stress in the long term, will be best prepared and least affected.
I got this nice big juicy pumpkin the other day. I was thinking to myself how much my parrots will enjoy the stuff I could make them out of it. I open the pumpkin and look what I find inside!
Kili & Truman love Halloween. It's the time of year when food is bountiful and there's a lot going on. They like being involved in things so the holiday events keep them in the spotlight. And of course there's tasty pumpkin and pumkin seeds to be enjoyed. I'm sure they still remember the last time they had Pumpkin a few years ago when we were trying to carve it. Leave comments about what you do with your parrots on Halloween and if they like Pumpkin.
Come and see Kili & Truman live in Connecticut or North Carolina:
Hartford, CT - Saturday November 9, 10AM-4PM
The Parrot Club Veterans Memorial Clubhouse 100 Sunset Ridge Drive East Hartford, CT.
Durham, NC - Saturday November 16, 12PM-5PM
Avian Veterinary Services Clinic / The Birdie Boutique Hope Valley Elementary School Auditorium 3005 Dixon Rd Durham, NC 27707
Until recently, Truman didn't know how to eat soft fruits on his own! Whether it was corn on the cob, pomegranate, or grapes, Truman would only eat them if I peeled them a bit and stuck them in his beak. Imagine that! I giant beak like that which could crack an almond in half in a second, couldn't eat a grape!
If I stuck a grape in Truman's beak and didn't at least peal the skin a little, he'd drop it. In other words if I didn't get it started for him, he couldn't figure out how to get the fruit going. But a few weeks ago, I grew tired of all this and decided to teach him a lesson in figuring it out on his own! So instead of giving him something tasty like this at the end of a meal as a treat, I gave him a corn on the cob as his meal. The only catch is he'd have to figure it out on his own!
I put a piece of corn in Truman's bowl and left him at it. At first he was pissed that he couldn't get at the tasty kernels but since he was hungry he kept at it and figured out. Since then I've been able to get him to work grapes and other fruit without having to help him. What a big baby!
Now this time I took the birds in the yard where the fig tree is blossoming. Kili had never had a fig before and Truman only had one once in the aviary. Since the figs look like a giant grape, I think they both figured it out pretty quickly and began munching away. I think for a parrot this must be one of the most enjoyable experiences: peeling off mother nature's own right off the branch and making a big big mess!
I've been a fan of water bottles rather than water dishes for parrots from the start. I never liked the mess that comes of a bird's water dish and have found the water bottle to be the best alternative.
The advantage of using a water bottle is that the water stays clean all day long as the parrot cannot dump anything into it. Additional benefits include that you can assess how much water is consumed and the parrot cannot “dunk” its pellets.
The disadvantages of using a water bottle include difficulty of conversion, potential blockage, more difficult to clean, potential bacteria in the tube, and inability to bathe. Luckily most of these disadvantages are only potential issues and not actual ones. The extra work involved in cleaning a water bottle isn't much but it sure beats changing water multiple times a day. Bacteria in the tube is only likely to occur if water isn't changed frequently enough or bottle is poorly cleaned. The difficulty of converting a parrot to use a water bottle becomes moot once the parrot begins to use it and continues to for many years. As for inability to bathe, you can occasionally provide a water dish for bathing opportunities or the parrot can cleverly learn to shower with water from the bottle.
If you use a high quality glass and metal water bottle system, you are unlikely to run into problems. First of all, being without access to water for half a day isn't catastrophic. But more importantly, these bottles are very reliable and you'll know there is a problem with the bottle before anything bad happens. You can see how much water is consumed, unlike a dish, because of the air pocket that forms at the top. If more water is gone than normal, there may be a leak. If no water is missing, then there is a blockage.
I don't think the bottles themselves are prone to getting stuck. Instead they are more likely to develop a drip with time. In 5 years I have never had a bottle get stuck but I have thrown out one bottle that after a few years developed a drip. The drip was not catastrophic. Even at the end of the day over half the water was still remaining in the bottle but after a few weeks I got around to replacing the bottle.
The most likely way a bottle can get stuck and not dispense water is if something gets lodged inside. This could either cause it to get stuck or to leak all its water out quickly. If a parrot is obsessed with dunking or has some weird ideas where to stick wood chips this could happen. Always watch your parrot's habits and do not rely on a water bottle for greater than 24 hours unsupervised.
The water bottle conversion process of teaching a parrot to use the bottle is straightforward and simple. What is difficult is the stress on the owner that is not sure if the parrot is drinking from the bottle or not. I think it is best to get the bird to drink from the bottle when thirsty, so I would recommend not leaving water overnight, allowing the parrot to eat dry pellets with no available water in the morning, and then offer water from the bottle. Either hold the bottle in your hand or secure it on the cage. Tap the ball to show your bird how it works and allow a drop of water to form on the tip. Hopefully the bird will beak around the bottle and realize that pressing on the ball releases water. I would repeat this process a couple times and then see if the parrot can manage on its own. For the first few days, you may want to offer water in a bowl briefly twice a day to check if the bird is thirsty or not. If the water level in the bottle is changing and the bird does not want to drink from the dish, you will know the conversion is complete and successful.
When it comes to cleaning water bottles, dish soap and some scrubbing with a bottle cleaner are the way to go. A good place to get the cleaning brush is in a baby supplies store. Often times you can find a baby bottle cleaning kit with a large and small brush and that works perfectly on bird bottles. To be safe, I boil my bird water bottles about once a month to make sure there aren't any nooks that were missed in the tubes.
Here's a video of how my parrots drink from their water bottles. Check out how they each have a different way of making the water come out. And then another video of how Kili learned to shower from her bottle since she rarely has access to a dish.
Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
Trained Parrot site content Copyright 2010-2020 Michael Sazhin. Reproduction of text, images, or videos without prior permission prohibited. All rights reserved.
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