choking?

kozykitty · May 13, 2016

Is it common (or does it tend to happen at all) for a BFA to choke on food? Gloria was at her seed/pellet dish last night and she started sneezing or coughing. Then she looked like she was trying to vomit--opening her beak wide and heaving. She brushed her beak on the bar of her playstand, did the heaving a little more, then it all stopped and she went back to eating. I had never seen this before and I found it alarming so I sat and watched her. She's been fine ever since. Can birds swallow things "down the wrong pipe" like people do?

Scott · May 13, 2016

I have rarely if ever observed a feeding bird "choke" on food, but it is certainly possible. Was curious to learn the structure of the throat and found this diagram:

Please note this is a generic reference and not intended to give guidance for hand feeding. But it does illustrate how the esophagus and trachea are accessed through the beak.

If you observe this frequently, a vet exam might give better insight!

AmyMyBlueFront · May 13, 2016

Amy has done that once or twice..Ya, the beaky opens up,and it looks like she is "hucking" :11:..I never did find any remnants of anything she might have been choking on tho..that's a good question.

Jim

ScooterMcTavish · May 13, 2016

I was concerned when I saw Monty doing this. When I looked it up, apparently the bird may be doing this when rearranging their croup.

Considering how robustly Amazons feed, and especially considering how dry pellets are, this wouldn't surprise me if this was all she was doing.

kozykitty · May 13, 2016

That sounds about right. It's just happened once since we've had her (early January). It -passed within a couple of minutes and she went right back to chowing down! She's not a young thing so I worry when I see things out of the ordinary.

choking?

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