Over-weight Blue-fronted

Hi, I am new to this forum and would appreciate some advice on my over-weight Blue-fronted amazon parrot.


I rescued two Blue-fronted amazon parrots and they have been with me since the end of November 2016. The male was said to be 17 years old and that he could not fly, but he flies very well. The female should be 9 years old and she is a giant compared to the male. They were sitting out in a barn with farm animals and they got some fresh food and sunflower seeds.


I changed the diet to fresh fruit, vegetables and a mix of pellets, dried fruit, nuts and other food they like. I give them peanuts and dried banana in a foraging toy and walnuts that I just open so they also have something to do. The male looks good and I think the female looks better now but she also has hanging skin on her throat and between her legs so it is hard to say. She is the biggest Blue-fronted I have ever seen and she can fly but is too heavy so it is just a few meters. I wonder if you have any thoughts on her size and how I can get her to loose some weight.


They have been aggressive to me and my other birds and sometimes to each other. But they have connected well with me, scream when I am going out and make noise when I come up in the morning. But they can sit quietly the whole day but start whistling and hooing when they want attention from me. They have been tame and I can get close to them with my face but they are afraid of hands. If I put gloves on they are terrified. I only handle them when they are out of the cage and are trying to get them used to my hands. I get bitten all the time and the female makes it bleed. She is tricky and it is sometimes difficult to understand her body language. The male is more friendly and curious, he wants to be more with me and eat my food. (Some of my other birds do.)

Welcome and be welcomed. What, spsecifically , is the advice you are seeking? Diet? Bite training? Flying lessons? We ahve all sorts of experts on here ( not me), and the search feature on this board is amazing for getting specific advice. WHy not complete you profile, let us know what other kinds of parrots you have, location etc. SOme pics are always appreciated here.

Tompet said:

Hi, I am new to this forum and would appreciate some advice on my over-weight Blue-fronted amazon parrot.


I rescued two Blue-fronted amazon parrots and they have been with me since the end of November 2016. The male was said to be 17 years old and that he could not fly, but he flies very well. The female should be 9 years old and she is a giant compared to the male. They were sitting out in a barn with farm animals and they got some fresh food and sunflower seeds.


I changed the diet to fresh fruit, vegetables and a mix of pellets, dried fruit, nuts and other food they like. I give them peanuts and dried banana in a foraging toy and walnuts that I just open so they also have something to do. The male looks good and I think the female looks better now but she also has hanging skin on her throat and between her legs so it is hard to say. She is the biggest Blue-fronted I have ever seen and she can fly but is too heavy so it is just a few meters. I wonder if you have any thoughts on her size and how I can get her to loose some weight.


They have been aggressive to me and my other birds and sometimes to each other. But they have connected well with me, scream when I am going out and make noise when I come up in the morning. But they can sit quietly the whole day but start whistling and hooing when they want attention from me. They have been tame and I can get close to them with my face but they are afraid of hands. If I put gloves on they are terrified. I only handle them when they are out of the cage and are trying to get them used to my hands. I get bitten all the time and the female makes it bleed. She is tricky and it is sometimes difficult to understand her body language. The male is more friendly and curious, he wants to be more with me and eat my food. (Some of my other birds do.)

Spara​

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Hi and welcome. Firstly I feel I need to ask if you have sought advice and a general check over from an Avian Vet? If the female is overweight there are health problems that could be there also. The general recommendations are below for weight and size. Try an perch/stick if hands are scary, see if less intimidating to them?

Blue-fronted Amazons average 14 - 15 inches (~35 cm) in length (from head to tail tip) and weigh 9.7 to 18 oz (275 to 510 grams) - the average being 14.1 to 15.2 oz (400 to 430 grams).

Keep nuts to a minimum as well as the banana chips and dried fruit. If pellets are taken to readily they can go in the forager. Veggies, pellets before anything else. Try to just get her moving a little in the first instance, will she do stationary flying/wing exercises with you? Build up fitness without the risk of an injury. Yes you can join in and look absolutely nuts but hey welcome to parronthood! Make it fun! Will she dance on her perch with you? Until you know her fitness from the AV go steady but do think about what you are feeding in the short term. Think in terms of you being on a diet, its the the same. Keep us updated.

PS this could help with the body language questions http://www.parrotforums.com/amazons/

Welcome to the Parrot Forums.

Please take the time to visit the Amazon Forum. At the top of the Amazon Forum are two Threads that are high lighted in Light Blue. Consider reading both of them! The "I Love Amazons - ..." will provide the vast majority information that you are asking about. The other Thread: Understanding Body Language is excellent for either bushing-up on your current knowledge or building upon it.

Read both while sitting next to your Amazons' works well, both in that Amazons love to be read too and your gained knowledge.

STOP Feeding your Amazons Peanuts and Sunflower seed! This will help in weight reduction and gain in their general over-all good health.

Anytime you can get an Amazon to flap its wings will increase they're use of stored energy and help to reduce weight.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Amazon's, where Amazons Have more Fun!

Thanks for the advice. I know about the sunflower seeds and such. I think the female has lost weight since I got them, that’s why the hanging skin. I haven’t been able to measure or weigh them as it is difficult to get that close. I would say that the female is way over 500 grammes. She likes to shower so I have to get her in the shower again and then is it easier to see when she is wet. I used a branch to get them into the cage and it worked great. Those who had them before had a “bite stick” and I have tried with a perch before but then they got angry. But a branch did help.

They are not so tame so I can get them to flap their wings. I have got the male to do some exercise with me but not her. When I wake up I go to their room and they start “hooing” and flap their wings to say hello to me. Then, if she is in a good mood, it is whistling and making sounds time. He comes in with his “hooing”. I have to respond to their sounds and it goes on for a while. They don’t stretch their wings in full, only the top of the wings, it doesn’t matter if they are inside the cage or outside.

I was told that the male could not fly but he flies very well in my living room. She is too heavy, I think. I hope I can get them so tame so I can put on a harness and take them outside when the summer comes, maybe they can fly. It is a lot of wild eagles and such around so have to be careful.

I am disabled so I am also limited in what I can do and not with them. But on the other hand, it gives me time to be with them. Around here in Sweden, it is not so many who have birds and I haven’t found an avian veterinarian yet. And I don’t have the economy to travel around either, especially as I can’t drive anymore because of my medications. I eat so much pain killers so I don’t feel so much when they bite, but on the other hand, I also have blood thinner for my heart so even a small wound can bleed a lot.

This is my first Blue-fronted but I have had a lot of different birds before. It is good to learn more about their body language and how to take care of them as it is always coming new things to learn. But I have to say that the female is good in masking her body language, it is much harder to read than the males body language.

Edit:
Maybe I should explain a little. I did know that I was going to be bitten. I wanted to see how close I could come with my hand before they bite. The male didn’t bite hard, it was more like he was testing a branch and I hold my hand still. The female I could touch her beak with my hand without anything happened and other times she was just biting very hard without any reason or showing anything. I could have pulled away my hand in time but didn’t because I wanted her to see it was stable. The biting is not a big thing, I provoked it as a part of trying to make them to get used to my hand. I hope to get them less afraid, less stressed and hopefully so I later can put on a harness and take them outside.

In an effort to get things started and I do understand your complications but feel it is necessary for these birds to see an AV. Stressing it is important without scaring.

https://www.blastjarnan.se/blue-star-animal-hospital

I think you need to read up on Amazon body language and that link I gave previously is the place to start. This is one reason why you got bit one time and not the next.

If you have a bird ladder then you can ask her to climb it for a healthy treat?