Galah Questions.

Hello! I have a bunch of galah questions.

How bad is a Galah bite?
How often do they poop? (lol)
All galah be flighted so they do not get fatty tumors correct?
What are some of their favorite foods?
What are their personality?
What should be the first thing to do with a new galah once it comes home?
How often do they poop?
And if there is anything i need to know please tell me. I have been doing a lot of research for galah's. Hopefully one day i can own one.

Thanks!

How bad is a Galah bite?

Compared to an Alexandrine bite or a Budgie bite, Galah bites aren't that bad. Depends on your pain threshold, though.

How often do they poop? (lol)

As often as they need to! Depends on the bird, on what you feed it, on how much it drinks and on its mood at the time. My Galah lives free range in my kitchen and his poop amounts to quite a bit of work each day. Does that answer your question? Oh, and you won't be LOLing when the aforementioned poop is running, hot, green and steaming, down your back. (It will - it happens to all of us at some time or another).

All galahs (need to) be flighted so they do not get fatty tumors, correct?

The best way to prevent fatty tumours is to limit fatty foods (like sunflower seeds). But yes, Galahs are very active in the wild, flying many miles each day and climbing all over gum trees in search of food. Flight is the best exercise, so I'd always recommend keeping a Galah fully flighted. Mind you, there are plenty who may disagree, so you'll really need to make up your own mind on that one. My Galah is fully flighted, but he chooses not to fly all that often. I have to give him chances to exercise because he does have large fatty tumours.

What are some of their favorite foods?

Seed, seed, seed and seed. Oh, and seed. In the wild, Galahs eat mostly cereal grains and the seeds of native grasses along with vegetation (leaves, shoots grass sprouts etc) and some supplementation of insect material when they find it (eg. grubs under the bark of trees). In captivity, we usually feed a pelleted diet to ensure they get all the micronutrients they need, along with daily access to fresh fruit and vegetables. A well-brought-up Galah will happily eat these, but you may need to introduce such a diet slowly if your bird has not been eating like that. My bird had been fed exclusively on sunflower seed (hence the tumours) and so his lifetime diet is now pellets and vegetables. He learned to eat like that by copying my Alexandrines, so that was very useful for me.

What are their personality?

Tops! Galahs are among the most hilarious birds you will ever meet. They are not as noisy as the larger cockatoo species (oh, and please don't call them 'galah cockatoo'! They're unique, that's why they have a unique name: 'galah'. Just 'galah'.) My Dom calls for maybe five minutes in the mornings and five minutes in the late afternoon and occasionally in the middle of the day. The only other time he really raises his voice is when my daughter passes too close to him. He hates her. Dunno why, he just does, - but he's a damaged personality through no fault of his own, so we just accept him as he is. Dom loves the men in the house and so he goes to them for snuggles and cuddles and for fluffing up his little face in the loving way that only Galahs do. He's on and off with me, depending on whether I have food in my hand or not. Oh well. I've taught Dom (whom I inherited at the age of
25 to 30) a few tricks and he learns quickly. The only thing his, he's let me know he doesn't want to bother with all that nonsense, so I don't ask it of him. My Alexes are much more anxious to do party tricks, so I leave Dom alone. Just saying, though, that Galahs are really clever and can learn easily. Mine doesn't speak, but some do.

What should be the first thing to do with a new galah once it comes home?

Leave it alone in a quiet corner for a day or two and then move it to a low-traffic area where it can see its family moving around. ALWAYS move slowly and quietly around any new bird until it's quite at home and limit loud or sudden noises for as long as you can. Obviously, if birdie has a series of heart attacks immediately on arriving home, he's going to take a little longer to settle in and trust you.

How often do they poop?

Since you ask again, I'd estimate that my Dominic poops about once every half-hour and does about a teaspoonful or less each time. Of course, Dom eats mostly pellets with vegetables, so another bird eating a different diet might do otherwise.

And if there is anything i need to know please tell me. I have been doing a lot of research for galah's. Hopefully one day i can own one.

The more intelligent birds (cockatoos, CAGs, Alexandrines, Macaws) are more needy insofar as they require daily interaction and stimulation to maintain mental health. That means, they need a few hours out-of-cage in which they can interact directly with you (playing, training, speaking, cuddling etc). They also require a cage large enough to spread their wings and, preferably, fly from one perch to another. (This is a personal opinion of mine and others will differ). Here in Australia, lots of Cockatoos are kept in cages about two foot by two foot by two foot. This is patently not large enough and the birds eventually go mad, mutilating themselves and developing 'mad' behaviours like continual movement or screaming. So, a large-enough cage containing plenty of challenging toys is an absolute must. Toys can be noisy or colourful or easily dismantled or designed for the bird to hunt out food. Whatever toys you use, you need a lot because birds will destroy them and they need to be cycled so that boredom doesn't set in. My birds love chewing wood, so I get old, untreated wooden pallets and cut those up for chewy toys. I also make lots of my own toys from coloured beads, plastic chain, discarded baby toys etc etc etc. You can search here on the forums for 'toys', 'cages', 'wire spacing', 'diet' etc etc etc.

You're doing exactly the right thing in researching the bird before you get one! Knowledge is power and so many birds have met awful ends because of owner ignorance. As another poster mentioned, I would also caution you that you're at a time in your life where many changes are about to happen. It probably isn't the best time to be acquiring a bird that will probably live as long as you will. By that, I mean that if you go to College, move into an apartment, go through relationship changes, have children etc etc etc, a bird might not be a great inclusion in your life. The obvious thing is to re-home him, but then he will suffer trauma and be on the first step toward being a sad, neglected case like my Dominic. Few people want such birds, preferring a cute young chick that will 'grow up' in their family. Please be clear that acquiring a bird is an unspoken promise to him that he will grow OLD in your family. So be sure you really will be there for him every single day with food, water, toys and play.

I guess that's all. Again, kudos to you for doing the proper research. Please feel free to ask whatever you want to know here: we have plenty of members who are happy to help you.

Thank you so much! Oh and i did not released i said "How often do they poop" sorry about that. Anyways but i absolutely HATE it when people just buy animals without or barley any knowledge of the animal they are buying. Before i got my 4 pets i did MONTHS worth of research from my laptop, books, ect Because of that i feel more mature then some people for doing that and I'm only 11! Most of the time it does not end well. There are too many parrots in shelters because of those people! Especially if they get something like a macaw, or a cockatoo as a first pet.

Oh my! I just realized how many grammar mistakes I made! The spell check is SUPER annoying. Sorry about that.