Our Vet's Advice on Aggression/Puberty/Diet

[Solo]

Yeah, I guess it was said 10% fruits and nuts, this would be increased a bit. Since she's used to eating peanuts I have not completely cut them from her diet. She gets a couple a day. But the 5lb bag of mainly sunflower seed mixture and equally large bag of purely peanuts concerned me.

 

[Birdman666]

A steady diet of nothing but that would shorten her life considerably...

Why do these people do that to their birds?!

(I know she came to you like that, but I just don't understand why you would get a bird like this, and not even bother to find out how to feed it correctly, much less not knowing how to train it, or handle it... It happens all the time, and I find it truly baffling... ) It's like giving your kid candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner. "Let's see, we had snickers for dinner last night. So tonight we'll have milky way, with a side of M&M's... good stuff, that's just so good for you!"

I generally feed safflower seed... The macaws each get one full scoop from my itty bitty measuring scooper sprinkled over the top, and the rest all get half a scoop. That's it for the seed.

Two peanuts a day, each bird. (The macs get a mix of cashews, almonds, walnuts, hazel nuts, brazil nuts, and pistacios. With the other birds getting that same mix, just again, half as much.)

 

[ZephyrFly]

The breeder's I got my gcc from were being advised by an uncle who is a known avian specialist (the breeder's were a couple). They fed their birds a good baby bird diet ( I asked about it and they were very open about all of it), mostly hands on/bird parents off, but the diet they recommended was a good mixed seed based diet (low sunflower) with multivitamin powder to supplement, this was because the uncle advised it. This said, one of them did say she'd like to give them everything in a real food diet but felt she couldn't provide it. I knew less then and didn't want to rock anything as I'm a first time bird owner. But I did tell them I'd move my bird onto pellets and fresh food, and they've asked me on how the bird has done on it. Their uncle was the one that got them into breeding green cheeks and maroon bellies so they'd never really questioned him I think.

 

[June2012]

i agree with much of what she's says. Some of it for different reasons but most is sound advice. i think you should realize she (as a AV) has a vested interest in recommending Harrison pellets. i'm sure they are very good (and expensive) pellets but they are only available through a vet. The Vet's mark up is protected because harrison will only sell through the Vet's distributor. no chance a pet store can get them and sell them cheaper. Now, if they where available on the open market and a vet recommended them, that would be a different story. Ever wonder why so many AV's recommend Harrisons,they are the only ones selling them! I'm sorry but that throws up a red flag in my opinion.

I never knew this before. Very interesting that vets push pellets so hard because they sell them. I always thought they only sold the "special" RX pellets for birds with liver or kidney disease, not "all purpose" pellets.

I always get reamed at the vets office because I refuse to feed pellets. Doesn't matter I feed tons of fresh produce and a healthy beans/grains mix (or that Kiwi is in perfect health because he eats a nutritionally sound diet) If only the vets knew I also give him (a small amount) of SEED and the occasional NUT too (the horror! the abuse!), though I opt to leave those out of the dietary "discussion"

I tried to buy the harrisons brand in bulk. I use 40-50lb bags. can't be done. I have to buy them through a Vet, and they don't sell large bags, better mark up (more profit) on small bags. With most brands of pellets you can buy direct from distributor with a minimum 200 lb order(and they deliver) . Not with harrisons, "get it though the Vet". That'd cost about 1,000 dollars!

Although you can get it through the vet, what about online? You can order them through their website. I just don't know the prices compared to a vet, and ordering online.

 

[Birdman666]

I wouldn't know anymore... I haven't tried to buy any in well over a decade. Tusk was around 2 years old when I stopped feeding this stuff.

Used to be distributed by the ACV, or a hand full of bird stores.

I don't know about now. I know it was that way years ago... when Harrison's was billed as this revolutionary breakthrough in pellets, and was lauded by ACV's everywhere... WHO ALSO HAPPENED TO BE THE SAME PEOPLE SELLING THE STUFF...

So, it was a good product, BUT...

First two years of a CAG's life are the critical years for diet, and for basic training... SO I went full on, and did the training, and fed the expensive stuff. (And Tusk doesn't pluck!)

 

[Bandespresso]

I had a wonderful AV in Southern California when I first got Espresso. She was knowledgeable and didn't try to push Harrison's (didn't even carry the stuff!) and even commended me on her diet. I even got praise for wanting to make her flighted! AVs of that nature are few and far between, sadly. Anywho...I actually asked her about the whole warm mushy food upping hormones because I had heard of it in the past. She said it was pretty much bull hokey. The biggest cause of hormonal birds is an improper light schedule which is anything but 10-12 hours of dark per day (consistently that is...having to wake up early once in a blue moon isn't going to ruin everything). Additionally, back and belly touching could definitely affect. BUT providing a high-sugar warm mushy diet to an already hormonal bird could probably make matters worse. Harrison's is good stuff but definitely not the only good pellet in the world!

I think snuggle huts and boxes are okay occasionally and only if you don't notice a change in your birds behavior with them. Espresso loves her boxes but she doesn't get them during breeding season. I can usually tell that it is time to take away her boxes when she starts getting territorial of them and spends more time with them.

There unfortunately isn't a one size fits all guide to parrot hormones because they vary soooo much between species and even individual parrots. Your AV has some reasonably sound advice but definitely take it with a grain of salt and custom-fit it to your adorable little Pixie

 

[Birdman666]

Exactly, they regulate seasonal changes by length of daylight. The days start getting longer, the amazons are the first ones to start acting up...

 

[Delfin]

I think that there are a number of things that contribute to aggression / puberty, and believe there is more than seven and each one has a higher or lower impact on the bird. While by themselves they don't cause much of a problem, but when combined, they will trigger hormones within the bird and the fun starts.

Like people, each bird will be affected differently by these things and this why some people experience different issues with their bird and this is clearly not a case of 'one size fits all" there is just too many varieties.

while the AV advice is pretty much generic, it gives a place to start and then adjust to fit your birds requirements.