New White Fronted Amazon Owner

[Terry57]

Roger was a beautiful boy, I am so sorry for your loss.
Mr. Biggles is beautiful as well, congratulations on your new family member!
I hope he starts eating soon to ease your worries.
It sounds like you are already starting to bond

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Roger was a beautiful boy, I am so sorry for your loss.
Mr. Biggles is beautiful as well, congratulations on your new family member!
I hope he starts eating soon to ease your worries.
It sounds like you are already starting to bond

Thank you...yes he was one in a million was my Roger a character and a half...this boy as yet is quiet very quiet...too quiet which is why I called the vet...I think he is bonding with me but we shall know better when he gets his strength back and gets well and is full of energy again enough to tell me in no uncertain terms to get out of his face hee hee

 

[JerseyWendy]

Sorry to hear he's sick. Did the vet give you meds for him?

Thanks...vet isnt giving him any meds at the moment..he says that as he has improved so much since yesterday that for now rather than try to get meds into him and perhaps put him off the bit of food he is eating we will monitor him but should he get worse I have to call the vet immediately...the WFA (Mr Biggles) is only eating bits of food out of my hand and some Amazon food and licking water off a spoon...Ive been told its not unusual for them not to eat for a day or two in a new home so hope he goes to his bowls soon for he needs to build up his strength and get well....Thanks for the advice on how to handle him.

I'm sorry, I don't agree with that. Most Amazons usually have a hearty appetite. Birds can go downhill rather quickly without proper nourishment. IMO he should be going to his food bowls at this time, especially since he didn't eat much at all yesterday.

 

[Birdman666]

YEAH...

None of the birds I ever owned or fostered (and Kiwi makes NINE) EVER got that memo...

My zons are rather fond of the contents of their food bowls... and they've been known to inquire about leftovers in everyone else's bowls as well.

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Sorry but I must have misunderstood one of the posts from yesterday as I thought someone told me not to worry that it wasnt unusual for a bird not to eat for a few days after a change of home but that he should be eating by day 3 which is tomorrow...did I misunderstand...now Im really worried...only one bird ever before did this hand feeding trick a little Khakariki called Cricket...she always demanded I feed her when she came here first but if I didnt feed her she would eat from her bowl this boy is not eating from his bowl yet he eats with gusto when I hand feed him...he has gone to bed tonight with a full crop..
Hopefully he will eat tomorrow

 

[MonicaMc]

I can clearly hear Roger say "bye bye" and "Hello"! Think I hear "Yankeedoodle" as well! He was an adorable green conure!

It may help to search for "Mexican Green Conure", "Psittacara holochlorus", or what they were previously known as - "Aratinga holochlorus". Here's a couple of links.

https://www.parrots.org/encyclopedia/green-conure

Lexicon of Parrots


This is the guy that I have. He was sold as a green conure, although a breeder I spoke to says he's a young red throated conure... and this breeder breeds both green conures and red throats.

I'm kind of concerned that the vet said that Mr Biggles has a cold... birds can't catch a cold or anything like a cold... usually, when they are sick, they require antibiotics and/or anti-fungals, or other medications.

Did the vet do any tests at all, or did he just look at him?


I'm kind of wondering if he may need to go back to the vet for some tests?

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

I can clearly hear Roger say "bye bye" and "Hello"! Think I hear "Yankeedoodle" as well! He was an adorable green conure!

It may help to search for "Mexican Green Conure", "Psittacara holochlorus", or what they were previously known as - "Aratinga holochlorus". Here's a couple of links.

https://www.parrots.org/encyclopedia/green-conure

Lexicon of Parrots


This is the guy that I have. He was sold as a green conure, although a breeder I spoke to says he's a young red throated conure... and this breeder breeds both green conures and red throats.

I'm kind of concerned that the vet said that Mr Biggles has a cold... birds can't catch a cold or anything like a cold... usually, when they are sick, they require antibiotics and/or anti-fungals, or other medications.

Did the vet do any tests at all, or did he just look at him?


I'm kind of wondering if he may need to go back to the vet for some tests?

Thanks for the links but Roger was a big boy way bigger than my Amazon if you count the length of his tail and slightly bigger than Mr Biggles in the body...I dont think those conures in the link grow to be that big Roger was almost 14 inches from beak to end tip of tail. He wasnt a red throated for sure. Roger was over 20 years old when he died but because he was a rescue and some of his past is unknown we are not sure how much older
Vet said Mr Biggles got cold from being outside in bad weather before he got to me with no flock for warmth and no shelter then the stress of being brought a journey and also the rough handling he got...all this did not help Mr Biggles. The vet did not want to stress him out any more at this point (especially as he had improved in the 24 hours here )and unless he deteriorated was slow to handle him at this point . So for now I watch him and hope he keeps improving. Whether he will need treatment or not at a later stage is as yet undetermined but for now the vet recommends he gets as much fresh fruit and veg as possible and keep monitoring his improvememt and if he shows any sign of getting worse then he will need to visit the vet ASAP...my vet came on a home visit so no tests were done as he did not wish to stress the bird at this point. Once he settles and gets well he can then be brought for a routine visit where any tests needing doing can be one.Mr Biggles has improved a lot from when he arrived ...his breathing is better his general appearance in his cage is better he is nolonger slumped and though he is being hand fed he is,once I hold the food near him eating and will lick his water off a spoon...I tried a cup yesterday but he freaked out so I returned to the spoon but left the cup near the cage where he could see it and see it wasnt a threat...he did not like the look of the vet at all and it was the very first time I saw him fan his tail and do big bird as you describe in your Amazon behaviour...it was nice to see him do this as it was bothering me that I hadnt seen him react at all much in an amazon way. This morning he has started with his water...I feed him as I remember Roger used to eat, first water then veg so thats the way I offer it to Mr Biggles and he has eaten some apple a strawberry cauliflour and Brocolli and shredded a cabbage leaf getting whatever it is they get from it as it is manouvered round in the beak with the tongue doing its thing on it and extracting whatever is yummy there that they all love and although some of the food is flung ( the strawberry wasnt flung it was eaten and livked well by the tingue before it was swallowed ) in all directions he does eat alot of it too and I only finish offering food when he indicates he has had enough. I am glad he is eating but it would be nice though to see him eat from the bowls but its like he doesnt seem to know what bowls are for. He was I believe bullied in the aviary so could he be afraid to go near the food bowls for this reason .

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Forgot to add to the above post...Roger was s good talker and not just words but short sentences too...he had my laugh perfect and knew the dogs names and would call yhem to his cage especially if they were sleeping and then when they came to him he would say Away with you... way with you ...way with you...I dont know where he picked that up but he watched a lot of tv and loved cartoons so he could come out with any expression out of the blue and you just never knew what he was going to say next...and they would all be said at an appropriate time..i was always greeted first thing in the morning or if I came back from somewhere with hello how are you amd I always got bye bye and a wave when Id leave the room he was in...he was indeed a character that is daily sadly missed

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Mr Biggles refused lunch from the spoon so as he still seemed interested I offered him a dried banana chip from my hand which he gently took and for the first time since he came he used his leg to hold the chip while he ate it...well I got anoter Banana chip and broke it in two leading him half way to the food bowl with it then when I had him perched on the food bowl I handed him the remaining banana chip and he again gently took it but because he was perched precariously on the bowl he couldnt get his foot to it so it dropped in the food bowl and he went fishing for it among the rest of the food tossing much of the food out of the way...I shall leave him for a bit now and see if he eats from the bowl now that he has discovered it contains goodies I cant help wondering though what makes a wild aviary BFW behave in this manner that he would prefer be handed food to taking it out of the bowl. It just doesnt make sense to me ..

 

[Terry57]

Sorry but I must have misunderstood one of the posts from yesterday as I thought someone told me not to worry that it wasnt unusual for a bird not to eat for a few days after a change of home but that he should be eating by day 3 which is tomorrow...did I misunderstand...now Im really worried...only one bird ever before did this hand feeding trick a little Khakariki called Cricket...she always demanded I feed her when she came here first but if I didnt feed her she would eat from her bowl this boy is not eating from his bowl yet he eats with gusto when I hand feed him...he has gone to bed tonight with a full crop..
Hopefully he will eat tomorrow

I have taken in many birds, and have never had an issue with them not eating for 2 days. Perhaps others have, but that isn't my experience.
Does he have the same kind of dishes he had in his previous home? If not, I wonder if the new ones are making him not want to eat from them?
I'm so glad he is eating from your hands, hopefully today he tries the goodies in the dish

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Sorry but I must have misunderstood one of the posts from yesterday as I thought someone told me not to worry that it wasnt unusual for a bird not to eat for a few days after a change of home but that he should be eating by day 3 which is tomorrow...did I misunderstand...now Im really worried...only one bird ever before did this hand feeding trick a little Khakariki called Cricket...she always demanded I feed her when she came here first but if I didnt feed her she would eat from her bowl this boy is not eating from his bowl yet he eats with gusto when I hand feed him...he has gone to bed tonight with a full crop..
Hopefully he will eat tomorrow

I have taken in many birds, and have never had an issue with them not eating for 2 days. Perhaps others have, but that isn't my experience.
Does he have the same kind of dishes he had in his previous home? If not, I wonder if the new ones are making him not want to eat from them?
I'm so glad he is eating from your hands, hopefully today he tries the goodies in the dish

He is starting to eat a little ftom the food dishes just today but not a whole lot yet....the guy who had him is not helpful with information...in fact Im not even sure about his diet before I got him...I had asked hom to bring some food with him but he forgot it...it would or might make things so much easier if I could get some info about his diet but sadly it has not been forthcoming. Thankfully I can fill his crop by hand feeding him and by playing with the food around his food bowls he will and is getting the idea...its nearly like weaning a baby ...here is a video taken at the end of his last feed ...unfortunately I missed him taking some food in his foot he dropped it when I switched the video camera on
[ame="https://youtu.be/2MKnA-W3UYc"]Mr Biggles day 3 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Terry57]

I'm so glad he is eating something, even if only from your hand. It is so hard when we can't get the info we need from the previous home to make things easier on them.
I meant to ask before, is your vet an avian vet? The cold doesn't sound right to me, either.

 

[MonicaMc]

Birdigirl, there are different subspecies of green conures, two of which are about 13.5 inches in length. If Roger was about 14, then he could very well have been one of those two subspecies. Those two being....

Psittacara h. strenua
Psittacara h. brevipes (if this one is still considered a subspecies)

The other subspecies are said to be smaller, and Finn, the unknown guy I have, is indeed on the smaller side!

It's great to know that Roger was well loved and cherished!



I was thinking the vet could have run a gram stain using a fecal sample. No reason to hold the bird or stress him out. Watch the bird go poop, then take the sample from that.



I'm glad to hear Mr Biggles continues to eat and hopefully he'll start eating on his own!

You say he was an aviary bird.... I don't suppose if you know if he was parent raised or hand raised? I'm wondering if he might have been a hand raised pet that was then put into an aviary? And maybe that's the reason he's acting the way he is? (and hopefully not because he's sick)

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

He is a very good Avian vet...to handle this bird now could stop him taking the little bit of food he is taking as it would totally stress him out to catch him examine him and treat him...although he doesnt look it in the video nir does he behave so with me he is a wild unhandled aviary bird ( I dont understand his gentleness with me nor does anyone else but Thank God for it because he is eating...maybe my Roger is whispering in his ear) the vet and I discussed catching him and treating him...and we both agreed that it was better to build the bird up a bit before doing anything especially now that he was starting to improve ...and yes birds do suffer from the cold and drafts when they have been left in a drafty cold wet environment with no shelter locked in a small cage that he could not get out of and probably not eating from the bowls in that cage either...I think from what I gather he was at least three to four nights out side in terrible weather ...hes been through a lot this guy...

 

[Terry57]

Poor guy, I'm just glad he's with you now. I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood. I thought you said he had a cold rather than got chilled form the cold.
I'm glad you have a good avian vet, they are so hard to find some places.

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Birdigirl, there are different subspecies of green conures, two of which are about 13.5 inches in length. If Roger was about 14, then he could very well have been one of those two subspecies. Those two being....

Psittacara h. strenua
Psittacara h. brevipes (if this one is still considered a subspecies)

The other subspecies are said to be smaller, and Finn, the unknown guy I have, is indeed on the smaller side!

It's great to know that Roger was well loved and cherished!



I was thinking the vet could have run a gram stain using a fecal sample. No reason to hold the bird or stress him out. Watch the bird go poop, then take the sample from that.



I'm glad to hear Mr Biggles continues to eat and hopefully he'll start eating on his own!

You say he was an aviary bird.... I don't suppose if you know if he was parent raised or hand raised? I'm wondering if he might have been a hand raised pet that was then put into an aviary? And maybe that's the reason he's acting the way he is? (and hopefully not because he's sick)

No the vet didnt mention doing that test but then Mr Biggles was very different and looked very healthy when the vet artived flying at him and basically being an Amazom...the vet had seen a video of him slumped on the perch the day before so he saw an even more remarkable improvement than I did and felt he was improving and asked me to monitor his improvement making sure he didnt deteriorate any...if I saw any deterioration then he would move to examine and treat him...he also had a full crop when the vet came so he lookef pretty good ...he looks even better today taking an interest in his envioronment and exploring a bit more than he has done to date. I actually wondered about the hand rearing myself because he is ever so gentle taking things from my fingers. I was wearing gloves for the first 2 days but I took the gloves off today...The previous owner says no that he was not hand tamed but perhaps he doesnt know how he was reared before going to his aviary. I tried asking Mr Biggles to step up but he just moved away...we will keep trying... one day he will grow to trust me enough for that too .

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Poor guy, I'm just glad he's with you now. I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood. I thought you said he had a cold rather than got chilled form the cold.
I'm glad you have a good avian vet, they are so hard to find some places.

Yes a chilling...sorry its our way of saying it here to use the word cold rather than chill

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Well Mr Biggles taught me something this morning and that is that he has decided that he is in charge of my wardrobe and when I appeaerd in a coloured top this morning he wanted nothing to do with me...I guessed what the problem might be so I went to the laundry and took out one of my green tops(both tops I wore since Mr Biggles came were almost an identical shade of green) I put the green top on me and all was well in the world again...colour is important to Mr Biggles...when I got Roger first he liked me to wear green too but as he grew more comfortable with me he accepted me in colours too so I guess it will be the same with Mr Biggles who is flock answering PeterPan this morning (first time since he came that he answered PeterPan )....yay I have jungle sounds back in the house this morning....I love to hear him answer PeterPan...the house was way too quiet for the past week since Roger went to Rainbow Bridge. I dont like Quiet

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Mr Biggles is finally eating from his bowl...also the vet has just today prescribed some sort of medical cocktail for him which is diuted in water and which will replace his water for the next few days...I forgot to ask about testing his droppings but I shall ask when next I see him.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Great to hear Mr. Biggles is eating on his own!!

Is he playing with toys, too? Or is he being vocal?