need help with my green cheek

[hans]

hello !!

i have two green cheeked conures - one of which is a sweet angel, and one is… not so much haha.

the “problem” bird, cricket, screams throughout the day, even with his needs of food, water, and toys met. he lives in a fairly large cage with my other bird. because i am at school for a large part of the day, i cannot let them outside of their cage until the evening when i get home.

i am wondering if putting cricket on a different diet would help him. currently he is eating roudybush as his main food (in addition to fresh veggies). from what i know, roudybush is high in corn and therefore high in sugar. would switching to another pellet brand that is lower in sugar help him? if so, what are some good and relatively affordable brands that may be better? i am thinking about tops or zupreem, but i’m not entirely sure what would be best in this situation.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

hello !!

i have two green cheeked conures - one of which is a sweet angel, and one is… not so much haha.

the “problem” bird, cricket, screams throughout the day, even with his needs of food, water, and toys met. he lives in a fairly large cage with my other bird. because i am at school for a large part of the day, i cannot let them outside of their cage until the evening when i get home.

i am wondering if putting cricket on a different diet would help him. currently he is eating roudybush as his main food (in addition to fresh veggies). from what i know, roudybush is high in corn and therefore high in sugar. would switching to another pellet brand that is lower in sugar help him? if so, what are some good and relatively affordable brands that may be better? i am thinking about tops or zupreem, but i’m not entirely sure what would be best in this situation.

A diet change may help, as well as some more enriching activities to keep his mind busy. I have to keep one of my conures busy all the time as she gets bored so easily and then just screams all day.

I give mine unlimited fresh foods and then 1tsp mixed pellets (harrisons and pretty bird) and 1sp seeds and they do well on this. I use the pellets and seeds in foraging toys so they have to work for them, and then I'll leave some carrot sticks or broccoli in their cage all day so they can eat that if they get really hungry. Carrot sticks and broccoli are low in moisture so they don't spoil as quickly as fruits would, and they tend to eat most of them anyway. Mine also get a popcorn piece each day as a treat which they love (it's chilli flavoured with no added sugar or salt).

I would avoid tops to be honest as they're not a complete pellet (lacking in vitamin D, which unless you take your bird outside you need pellets or an avian lamp), and someone else on this forum said that their vet has seen problems in parrots fed tops as it's too high in a certain vitamin due to the fact it's made of mainly alfalfa grass. I think the main pellets are pretty comparable in health, your conure may just need more fresh foods and more stimulation.

 

[hiriki]

My vet has told me that he encourages pellets in general over seeds but that of the pellet brands, he prefers Harrison's and LaFeber, because avian vets were involved in coming up with the formula.

I don't think diet is going to be a magical fix for you though. Diet can do wonders for hormonal parrots, and hormones can cause noise sure, but with the info you provided I don't think there's any conclusive evidence that this noise is hormonal. If it is hormonal I would tend to point to sleep schedule first over switching from one pellet to a different pellet... is he getting 12 hrs relative darkness and quiet in your bedroom?

Anyway, if I were a detective on the case, I'd think your conure is bored. Even with plenty of destructible toys, a parrot can get bored, and a bored parrot will scream (sometimes). My suggestions:

1. Plenty of toy variety, with semi frequent cage overhauls (move perches and toys) so that there's always something to explore while you're away
2. Forage toys!!!! I'll post a link to some later today
3. Music or Youtube on a screen while you're away (aviary videos are good, as are colorful cartoony videos with plenty of sound)
4. And of course, plenty of out of cage activity

 

[hiriki]

I like forage boxes/baskets because you can just open em up and put them on the floor of the cage and birds go wild!

Bird Foraging Box - Etsy

Check out our bird foraging box selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our bird toys shops.

www.etsy.com

https://www.reddit.com/r/parrots/comments/n21ca3

(I like this guide, but would personally add paper crinkles to it so the bird has to dig more! These are what I'm talking about: https://www.amazon.com/Crinkle-Packing-Filling-Baskets-Natural/dp/B01MSZSMXH)

Natural Treasures Cage-top Foraging Tray - parrotJOY Natural Bird Toys

Stuffed with a huge variety of natural treasures, this box is sure to delight! Place this foraging tray on the top of your bird's cage or on a table top. Sprinkle with your bird's favorite seed and watch the foraging fun! Natural treasures vary slightly from box to box, but may include: Pine...

www.parrotjoy.com

There's also mechanical forage toys, which are really great--BUT! They take practice, and if you jump to a "high level" toy, you risk frustrating your bird. So make sure you work up to the truly difficult puzzles, and check the size of the toy in comparison to your bird before purrchasing, because you don't want a toy thats too big for the bird to manipulate.

Creative Foraging Systems | Foraging Toys For Birds

Shop our vast range of foraging toys for birds all pet birds including parakeets, budgies, and parrots will love to snack on. Explore our creative foraging systems today!

caitec.com

 

[hans]

awesome, thanks guys!! they have been getting only about 10 hours of sleep every night - i’ll start increasing that. i haven’t really thought about switching out the toys and perches, but that seems like an awesome idea. i’ll start adding a wider variety of veggies into his diet too. hopefully he can get to be a bit happier as i think you guys are right - he does seem very bored!

 

[Chenetaqwa]

awesome, thanks guys!! they have been getting only about 10 hours of sleep every night - i’ll start increasing that. i haven’t really thought about switching out the toys and perches, but that seems like an awesome idea. i’ll start adding a wider variety of veggies into his diet too. hopefully he can get to be a bit happier as i think you guys are right - he does seem very bored!

I have a male and a female green cheeked conure ...
The sleep/awake suggestion is a good start 12/12 is how I deal with my birds light times... also I have them light up with avian lights that give them uva and uvb and that gives vitamin d ... I have them on a timer for convenience.

As far as diet ... I give them fresh veggies and pellets in the morning (zupreem) in the fall they love pumpkin slices...

And I switch out the veggies with a fresh supply in afternoon with seeds added to the remaining pellets .. also a slice of apple or pear
They always have broccoli florets available
Once a week I give them hard boiled egg...shell and all
I keep separated them in individual cages for many reasons...
(fighting .. mating top the list)
And they each get about 1 hour out of the cage time daily
As far as noisy.. mine seem to stay quiet while I'm in the room and make lots of noise when I go into another room where they can't see me.
I hope some of this helps. Good luck

 

[Caitnah]

As far as the pellets, I just had my Pineapple at his Vet for a complete work up and she recommended Zupreme Nut Blend. I was surprised as this has lots of Soy and sugar but will ask her about this.
Anyway, this was her string recommendation.