ShaunaR
Supporting Member
This thread may have been discussed to death previously but we received some information yesterday that was new to us so thought I would share.
Our Vet recommended taking care while our Caique is young not to do certain things so as to avoid any unpleasant "nesting" behaviors/aggression later at puberty time. She was incredibly opinionated and although I will post her advice here I am not sure how I feel about some of the stuff she said so no flames for me please lol!
1. Be careful with providing a large "bed" of any kind for your bird to sleep in. During sexual maturity she may begin to identify that bed as a nest and start guarding behavior as a natural progression to keeping any future babies safe.
2. She did not recommend the daily use of home made "mash" type foods made with whole foods. The reason for this she said was that with a diet rich in mashed up foods encourages mating behavior which leads to possessiveness, cage guarding, preference of one family member over another, etc. as the bird is moved to mate with plenty of mushy food for babies around as the trigger.
3. She discouraged us from feeding certain fruits and veggies high in sugar/starch such as peas, corn, oranges, grapes apples, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, and squashes. She said these foods should be fed on a "treat" basis and not daily as they are often preferred by birds to the point of excluding healthier options when mixed with other foods such as in a chop.
4. No peanuts, ever. This was due to the fact that there is a mold or bacteria found in the shells that can be fatal if transferred to a bird's lungs.
5. Fruits should comprise 5% of the bird's diet as too much sugar content again makes them exclude more healthy options when mixed in a chop.
6. She told us not to carry our bird around the house with us on our shoulder all of the time and instead to also encourage her to perch at least some of the time in an area here she can still see and interact with us. She said that perching on people exclusively encourages "mating" attachment and may facilitate the bird rejecting or becoming more aggressive towards anyone in the home she views as a non-mate.
7. Depending on the day, pellets should comprise 50-85% of the diet with no seed mixes or mixes containing seeds and pellets such as Tropimix which is what we were feeding. She said these mixes were there is a variety of seeds mixed with pellets encourage a bird to selectively eat what they like such as in most cases the seeds, and if you are changing out the food daily, they can end up eating only seeds which of course isn't optimal. Seeds and nuts should be fed on a "treat" basis only. The only commercial food she advocated using was Harrison's(any (any type) with Nutriberries for a treat...period.
Now I do know that so far our bird has absolutely no behavior issues and we have broken most if not all of these rules. The diet we feed is very diverse and Pixie's health is excellent. I think I will adopt some of this stuff and certainly will adjust her fruit intake because I can see we feed probably too much fruit. She said Harrison's was the only food on the market that can correct rising liver enzymes and a whole host of health conditions, once again, in her experience. Whether or not you agree with all of what she said, she has been the only Avian Vet we have seen and we were blown away with the rationale she had at the ready for everything she recommended. She writes a local Q&A column for a local Parrot Association so obviously must have impressed someone to get that gig.
I'll look forward to see what long time parrot owners have to say about all of this!!
Our Vet recommended taking care while our Caique is young not to do certain things so as to avoid any unpleasant "nesting" behaviors/aggression later at puberty time. She was incredibly opinionated and although I will post her advice here I am not sure how I feel about some of the stuff she said so no flames for me please lol!
1. Be careful with providing a large "bed" of any kind for your bird to sleep in. During sexual maturity she may begin to identify that bed as a nest and start guarding behavior as a natural progression to keeping any future babies safe.
2. She did not recommend the daily use of home made "mash" type foods made with whole foods. The reason for this she said was that with a diet rich in mashed up foods encourages mating behavior which leads to possessiveness, cage guarding, preference of one family member over another, etc. as the bird is moved to mate with plenty of mushy food for babies around as the trigger.
3. She discouraged us from feeding certain fruits and veggies high in sugar/starch such as peas, corn, oranges, grapes apples, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, and squashes. She said these foods should be fed on a "treat" basis and not daily as they are often preferred by birds to the point of excluding healthier options when mixed with other foods such as in a chop.
4. No peanuts, ever. This was due to the fact that there is a mold or bacteria found in the shells that can be fatal if transferred to a bird's lungs.
5. Fruits should comprise 5% of the bird's diet as too much sugar content again makes them exclude more healthy options when mixed in a chop.
6. She told us not to carry our bird around the house with us on our shoulder all of the time and instead to also encourage her to perch at least some of the time in an area here she can still see and interact with us. She said that perching on people exclusively encourages "mating" attachment and may facilitate the bird rejecting or becoming more aggressive towards anyone in the home she views as a non-mate.
7. Depending on the day, pellets should comprise 50-85% of the diet with no seed mixes or mixes containing seeds and pellets such as Tropimix which is what we were feeding. She said these mixes were there is a variety of seeds mixed with pellets encourage a bird to selectively eat what they like such as in most cases the seeds, and if you are changing out the food daily, they can end up eating only seeds which of course isn't optimal. Seeds and nuts should be fed on a "treat" basis only. The only commercial food she advocated using was Harrison's(any (any type) with Nutriberries for a treat...period.
Now I do know that so far our bird has absolutely no behavior issues and we have broken most if not all of these rules. The diet we feed is very diverse and Pixie's health is excellent. I think I will adopt some of this stuff and certainly will adjust her fruit intake because I can see we feed probably too much fruit. She said Harrison's was the only food on the market that can correct rising liver enzymes and a whole host of health conditions, once again, in her experience. Whether or not you agree with all of what she said, she has been the only Avian Vet we have seen and we were blown away with the rationale she had at the ready for everything she recommended. She writes a local Q&A column for a local Parrot Association so obviously must have impressed someone to get that gig.
I'll look forward to see what long time parrot owners have to say about all of this!!