Parrot shower

[sskmaestro]

I have an alexandrine which is about 10-12 weeks old.
whats the ideal time to shower him/her? its not that interested in taking a dip i water. rather was very much busy roaming in my house(i clipped its tail and wings as my parrot is breaking its feathers in the cage though the cage is much bigger)

my parrot has not yet started eating on its own, it picks up food, just breaks it in to pieces thats it!!! i think it dont know how to shallow.

what is the ideal age for alexandrines to leave them on their own for food? i mean when do they actually eat on their own? i hand feed atleast twice daily.

 

[Terry57]

I am not sure about when to wean an alex, but I have never heard of clipping the tail feathers. How big is your cage?

 

[Betrisher]

I promise I'm not intending to be rude to you, but what is the point of owning an Alexandrine if you cut off most of its body? Alexandrines have a sense for the length of their tails and are very skilled at manoeuvring them in tight spaces. If the tail is breaking in the cage, then the cage is very much too small for your bird. Now that it has been severely clipped, you might consider allowing it to spend part of its day on top of the cage rather than inside. It won't be going anywhere. My cage is 2m x 2m x 1m and my birds are in perfect full feather.

I'm afraid I have never raised a baby Alex so I can't advise you how or when to wean as I don't know. If the bird is hungry, though, then feed it: if it's still dependent on baby food, feed it baby food. I'm sure other members will chime in to help you, but you could always ask advice from the person who bred your bird.

Please don't cut your Alex' tail again! I know you didn't mean it, but that was a cruel thing to do, especially to a young baby who hasn't learned to fly yet. Alexes use their tails for balance and also to know where they are and how far away they are from objects (rather as a cat uses its whiskers). It's a good idea to check with someone knowledgeable before you do something as radical as that to a bird.

About showering: try misting your bird from a spray bottle. If he likes that, he'll spread his wings and fluff up his feathers and obviously enjoy himself. If not, then leave him alone. I assume you provide a large dish of water for him to bathe in? He might eventually learn to take a bath in that, however my birds don't bathe in a basin: they prefer to be misted or to come in the shower with me.

 

[sskmaestro]

I promise I'm not intending to be rude to you, but what is the point of owning an Alexandrine if you cut off most of its body? Alexandrines have a sense for the length of their tails and are very skilled at manoeuvring them in tight spaces. If the tail is breaking in the cage, then the cage is very much too small for your bird. Now that it has been severely clipped, you might consider allowing it to spend part of its day on top of the cage rather than inside. It won't be going anywhere. My cage is 2m x 2m x 1m and my birds are in perfect full feather.

I'm afraid I have never raised a baby Alex so I can't advise you how or when to wean as I don't know. If the bird is hungry, though, then feed it: if it's still dependent on baby food, feed it baby food. I'm sure other members will chime in to help you, but you could always ask advice from the person who bred your bird.

Please don't cut your Alex' tail again! I know you didn't mean it, but that was a cruel thing to do, especially to a young baby who hasn't learned to fly yet. Alexes use their tails for balance and also to know where they are and how far away they are from objects (rather as a cat uses its whiskers). It's a good idea to check with someone knowledgeable before you do something as radical as that to a bird.

About showering: try misting your bird from a spray bottle. If he likes that, he'll spread his wings and fluff up his feathers and obviously enjoy himself. If not, then leave him alone. I assume you provide a large dish of water for him to bathe in? He might eventually learn to take a bath in that, however my birds don't bathe in a basin: they prefer to be misted or to come in the shower with me.

My alex has a big cage, very much big and he can fly freely in it. it sometimes does some mischief things, like stucking its head in between the steel mesh and shouting. off late i observed it is trying to put those long tail feathers into the cage and rotate, this ended up breaking those long tail feathers and i am afraid that it may end up with a curvy tail side ways, so i decided to cut its tail to half of its length. my bird is just 12 weeks age and is a lot chilish. i clipped its wings once it started flying very high onto thr roof top. i am afraid he might injure himself by hitting the walls. i trained him to fly on my hand from about 4 meters distance, but somehow there are lot of childish behaviours for this chap who tend to experiment too much and doesnt bother the danger. so i decided to clip its wings and chop off its tail by 50%.

now he walks so beautifully and you have to see him walk fast. i promise you will laaugh your ass out when he is walking. he is trying to make certain sounds and always comes behind me. may be by the end of 6th month or 7th month, he may start moulting(may be at the age of 1 year, not sure). when he reaches that age, his mind matures a bit and i am sure he/she it may be, will look so beautiful.

i feed it twice, i feed 6 different grains(soaked) like green gram, horse grem, red gram, jowar, maize and barley. besides fruits like apple, dates, grapes, banana, fig and nuts like almonds, pista and kaju. i will give him carrot, spinach, green chillie for chewing. btw, i am attaching its pics. any advices are highly appreciated.