After 25 years of using an old mechanical postal scale to weigh the Rb, the dang thing finally broke. Towards the end, it started giving very questionable results, so I was already being very irresponsible by not replacing it. Next, to make things worse, I repeatedly offended the bird by abruptly introducing new/different scales (various sizes of flat scales, a new perch-affixed scale). He repeatedly flew away and became suspicious of anything that remotely resembled a scale.
Soooooooooooooo... I finally realized I needed to slow down and remember the parrot basics. My husband built a little t-perch, and I got the Rb used to stepping on it. Then my ol' man added a base, and I got the Rb used to that. Then we found a very flat, wide kitchen scale, and little by little I was able to get Rb on the perch, set the perch on the scale, and... ta-da!!!
So if you don't yet weigh your bird, maybe that would work for you. In other threads, members have shared their success with flat scales or special bird scales which you can purchase (the only ones I saw had the perch permanently affixed, and the Rb wouldn't perch on such a strange thing).
I started a log a few weeks ago. The vet suggested weekly measures, but I'm doing it twice a week. Lately, a lot more! I've actually gotten a little fascinated with it. The Rb consistently weighs 233 first thing in the morning. Towards afternoon, he's at about 240.
Then I really started nerding out. I weighed his pellets at morning and night, and figured out that he eats (or tosses, or shreds) about 25 grams of Harrison's a day. The average green chile weighs 80-90 grams, and then 50-60 after he's done gutting it. Hmmm... what could I weigh next? I'm thinking up a method for figuring out the maximum weight with which he can fly. Come on, bird nerds, you know you wanna do some of this stuff!
I'm really glad I'm weighing the Rb accurately and regularly again!
Soooooooooooooo... I finally realized I needed to slow down and remember the parrot basics. My husband built a little t-perch, and I got the Rb used to stepping on it. Then my ol' man added a base, and I got the Rb used to that. Then we found a very flat, wide kitchen scale, and little by little I was able to get Rb on the perch, set the perch on the scale, and... ta-da!!!
So if you don't yet weigh your bird, maybe that would work for you. In other threads, members have shared their success with flat scales or special bird scales which you can purchase (the only ones I saw had the perch permanently affixed, and the Rb wouldn't perch on such a strange thing).
I started a log a few weeks ago. The vet suggested weekly measures, but I'm doing it twice a week. Lately, a lot more! I've actually gotten a little fascinated with it. The Rb consistently weighs 233 first thing in the morning. Towards afternoon, he's at about 240.
Then I really started nerding out. I weighed his pellets at morning and night, and figured out that he eats (or tosses, or shreds) about 25 grams of Harrison's a day. The average green chile weighs 80-90 grams, and then 50-60 after he's done gutting it. Hmmm... what could I weigh next? I'm thinking up a method for figuring out the maximum weight with which he can fly. Come on, bird nerds, you know you wanna do some of this stuff!
I'm really glad I'm weighing the Rb accurately and regularly again!
next is how much he drinks, perhaps?? This sounds like such a fun experiment!!
).
