Sleep schedule?

[Greenhouseparrots]

I have a very hormonal conure who always seems to be a little bit hormonal, even in the winter months. I've had her on a 12 hour sleep schedule as recommended by most people, with a cage cover to make sure it's dark enough but it's never seemed to work and she's always been hormonal and always been territorial but at the moment it's really bad. Her diet consists of chop (a vegetable and rice mix, some egg, and loads of vegetables with a couple of fruits) in the mornings and then pellets and half a teaspoon of dry mix (seeds, dried vegetable, herbs, flowers) for foraging in the afternoon. I'm pretty sure her diet is fine and not making her worse, plus she goes outside almost everyday for several hours so her vitamin D is fine too.

I've stopped using the cover as I read that that could be making her worse, but the problem now is that she's not getting the 12hrs sleep as she's now up at dawn and goes to sleep at dusk. Her cage is in the same room as me and I can't move it anywhere else unfortunately. She's gotten a bit better since removing the cover but I'm wondering if I'm setting myself up for worse hormones in the future. I saw on another forum that a solar schedule (up at dawn and sleep at dusk, even in the winter where there's less daylight and the summer where there's more) is the ideal sleep schedule. So now I'm conflicted on what to do. She seems happier waking at dawn and staying up all day, and much less territorial, but most places are against this kind of schedule

 

[wrench13]

Several of our members use the natural day/night cycle for thier parrots, Sailboats in particular, and you can't get better info then that! Me, I use 12 on, 12 off cycle with Salty, as his cage is in our living/dining/kitchen open floor plan 1st floor. What is important is that the sleep is relatively quiet - not dead quiet ( the jungle is certainly not quiet at night!), but reasonably and few or no unexpected loudness.

Honestly, i would reduce or eliminate the fruits and sugar bearing items from his diet. Study where your conure comes from and find out the local produce there. Parrots are opportunistic feeders, they will eat a variety of things. Eggs? Rarely. Rice? Not so sure about that either.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Several of our members use the natural day/night cycle for thier parrots, Sailboats in particular, and you can't get better info then that! Me, I use 12 on, 12 off cycle with Salty, as his cage is in our living/dining/kitchen open floor plan 1st floor. What is important is that the sleep is relatively quiet - not dead quiet ( the jungle is certainly not quiet at night!), but reasonably and few or no unexpected loudness.

Honestly, i would reduce or eliminate the fruits and sugar bearing items from his diet. Study where your conure comes from and find out the local produce there. Parrots are opportunistic feeders, they will eat a variety of things. Eggs? Rarely. Rice? Not so sure about that either.

The only sugar they get is from fruit, they're on harrisons pellets and there's no sugar in that as far as I know. Unless you also mean the rice and oats I give them? The rice and vegetable mix is specifically for parrots so I thought it was ok as they were eating a lot of seeds before and I thought that was worse? I also see people recommending to give parrots egg for the protein and they only get one a week shared between 8 birds so I thought that was fine too!

Looking at the diet of crimson bellied conures everywhere says fruit, vegetables, seeds, flowers and nuts so should I just stick purely to that and pellets? I was feeding them this way before but they seemed to need too many seeds which is why I started adding more grain and reduced the amount of seed.

I can definitely change her diet and see if that helps with her hormone issues as it's been an ongoing problem with her that I can't seem to solve.

 

[zERo]

The only sugar they get is from fruit, they're on harrisons pellets and there's no sugar in that as far as I know. Unless you also mean the rice and oats I give them? The rice and vegetable mix is specifically for parrots so I thought it was ok as they were eating a lot of seeds before and I thought that was worse? I also see people recommending to give parrots egg for the protein and they only get one a week shared between 8 birds so I thought that was fine too!

Looking at the diet of crimson bellied conures everywhere says fruit, vegetables, seeds, flowers and nuts so should I just stick purely to that and pellets? I was feeding them this way before but they seemed to need too many seeds which is why I started adding more grain and reduced the amount of seed.

I can definitely change her diet and see if that helps with her hormone issues as it's been an ongoing problem with her that I can't seem to solve.

I agree with @wrench13 on the fruit.
When I first read your post I thought you meant that your CBC gets egg daily.

I give my flock eggs about 2-3 times a month. I think once a week is fine.
I’ve long since quit with feeding rice as I think the carbs are just too high, even in brown rice.
Otherwise, what is the veg/rice mix you’re feeding?

You might consider switching your CBC to a different pellet. I think certain pellets are hormone triggers for certain parrots. My Quaker came to me eating mostly Roudybush pellets and was a mess until I weaned him off of them.

If she won’t try another pellet (I’d look for a soy free one) then maybe you could just decrease the amount of the diet the Harrison’s makes up.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

I agree with @wrench13 on the fruit.
When I first read your post I thought you meant that your CBC gets egg daily.

I give my flock eggs about 2-3 times a month. I think once a week is fine.
I’ve long since quit with feeding rice as I think the carbs are just too high, even in brown rice.
Otherwise, what is the veg/rice mix you’re feeding?

You might consider switching your CBC to a different pellet. I think certain pellets are hormone triggers for certain parrots. My Quaker came to me eating mostly Roudybush pellets and was a mess until I weaned him off of them.

If she won’t try another pellet (I’d look for a soy free one) then maybe you could just decrease the amount of the diet the Harrison’s makes up.

I switch between these two mixes for the rice and then I'll add fresh carrots, broccoli, pepper, blueberries, strawberries etc. to that and also cook an egg into the rice. This mix lasts about a week between eight of my birds, including conures, cockatiels and budgies. They then get half a teaspoon each of a dry mix including seeds for foraging with and then a teaspoon of pellets each. Sometimes the conures will get a bit of extra fruit if I'm eating it and share some with them.

Vitapol Instant Rice & Fruit for Birds and Parrots - 130g

Cook up this tasty rice treat for your bird to enjoy. Simply mix with boiling water and allow it to cool before serving.

www.northernparrots.com

Crazy Good Cookin Jungle Rice Bird Food 1lb

Crazy Good Cookin Jungle Rice Bird Food 1lb A nutritious, cookable snack for birds featuring delicious jungle-inspired fruits and flavors. Sunseed Crazy Good Cookin' adds fun and flavorful variety to your companion bird's diet. Made with bananas, brown ri

www.scarlettsparrotessentials.co.uk

It's difficult to get them onto a different pellet as I have celiac disease so I can't have gluten anywhere near me (I'm incredibly sensitive), and most pellets have some form of gluten in them. My vet actually helped me find the pellets they're on now as I had no luck. These are the pellets and they eat it dry but I usually add some water and probiotics to it.

ADULT LIFETIME MASH

canary, finch, budgie, parrotlet, cockatiel, lovebird, quaker, conure, lory, dove, pigeon

www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com

I really want them on Topps pellets but the barley in them is something I can't have and we all know how messy parrots are

 

[zERo]

Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry! I guess you are very limited in what pellets they can have

Out of those two mixes the second one is better, maybe decrease how much of the first one they get.

What about trying some avian tea? I
give chamomile/roobioos/rosehip/hibiscus/calendula about once a week.
You could also get a blend specifically made for hormones. They’ll usually contain chamomile and raspberry leaves, with other healthy ingredients. My green cheek goes crazy for tea!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I agree with @wrench13 on the fruit.
When I first read your post I thought you meant that your CBC gets egg daily.

I give my flock eggs about 2-3 times a month. I think once a week is fine.
I’ve long since quit with feeding rice as I think the carbs are just too high, even in brown rice.
Otherwise, what is the veg/rice mix you’re feeding?

You might consider switching your CBC to a different pellet. I think certain pellets are hormone triggers for certain parrots. My Quaker came to me eating mostly Roudybush pellets and was a mess until I weaned him off of them.

If she won’t try another pellet (I’d look for a soy free one) then maybe you could just decrease the amount of the diet the Harrison’s makes up.

I
According to this I'm giving my female budgie Rocky egg too often. I make my husband scrambled eggs every morning and always give Rocky a tiny bit finely chopped. She only eats a few bites but she really likes them. She also eats chop and Harrison's super fine pellets plus a small amount of budgie seed. She's very happy and healthy and gets lots of out of cage flying and play time. Should I cut out the scrambled eggs? Is it bad to let her eat some every day? She's sexually mature now at seven months old (brown cere) but I do not intend to breed her. I hope she doesn't lay eggs. I have four male budgies she seems facinated with that she socializes with but has no physical contact with. She has her own cage next to my other four cages of budgies. I don't give her a potential nesting site and don't want her laying any eggs at all.
Other than having a brown cere and paying attention to my boy budgies she isn't acting hormonal or nesty. Am I doing anything wrong?

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry! I guess you are very limited in what pellets they can have

Out of those two mixes the second one is better, maybe decrease how much of the first one they get.

What about trying some avian tea? I
give chamomile/roobioos/rosehip/hibiscus/calendula about once a week.
You could also get a blend specifically made for hormones. They’ll usually contain chamomile and raspberry leaves, with other healthy ingredients. My green cheek goes crazy for tea!

Thank you for your help!

I think I might try and cut that rice mix from their diet and give them fresh food (vegetables and a small amount of fresh fruit) and seed (half a teaspoon each) in their foraging toys in the morning and then give them their pellets and a dry mix (half a teaspoon again) which has some seeds but is mainly dried veggies, flowers and herbs for them to forage for in their cages. I usually work in the afternoons/ evenings and they usually spend the morning outside in the aviary and come in before I go to work.

So they'd be getting a bit more seed than usual but no rice and no egg and more fresh vegetables. Do you think this would be ok?

I can also give them some more herbal tea as I love to drink it myself and they like to have a sip on occasion.

 

[zERo]

I
According to this I'm giving my female budgie Rocky egg too often. I make my husband scrambled eggs every morning and always give Rocky a tiny bit finely chopped. She only eats a few bites but she really likes them. She also eats chop and Harrison's super fine pellets plus a small amount of budgie seed. She's very happy and healthy and gets lots of out of cage flying and play time. Should I cut out the scrambled eggs? Is it bad to let her eat some every day? She's sexually mature now at seven months old (brown cere) but I do not intend to breed her. I hope she doesn't lay eggs. I have four male budgies she seems facinated with that she socializes with but has no physical contact with. She has her own cage next to my other four cages of budgies. I don't give her a potential nesting site and don't want her laying any eggs at all.
Other than having a brown cere and paying attention to my boy budgies she isn't acting hormonal or nesty. Am I doing anything wrong?

This is just what I do with my own birds.
I don’t feed eggs often because I want to discourage nesting behaviors but also have birds housed together that could potentially breed.
I also don’t recommend them daily because of the cholesterol amount.

 

[zERo]

Thank you for your help!

I think I might try and cut that rice mix from their diet and give them fresh food (vegetables and a small amount of fresh fruit) and seed (half a teaspoon each) in their foraging toys in the morning and then give them their pellets and a dry mix (half a teaspoon again) which has some seeds but is mainly dried veggies, flowers and herbs for them to forage for in their cages. I usually work in the afternoons/ evenings and they usually spend the morning outside in the aviary and come in before I go to work.

So they'd be getting a bit more seed than usual but no rice and no egg and more fresh vegetables. Do you think this would be ok?

I can also give them some more herbal tea as I love to drink it myself and they like to have a sip on occasion.

Personally, I think having a bit more seed is healthier than having rice in the diet often.
I think the increase in veg is going to be fantastic too.

I like herbal tea too! Especially hibiscus!

 

[wrench13]

Eggs- I rarely give them to Salty, and even then they are hard boiled eggs ( a tiny bit). Scrambling eggs usually require some sort of oil, butter, margarine or cooking spray or other lubricant so you dont wind up with a mess in the pan ( and DONT use a non-stick pan!). And AFAIK, rice is not native or grown where South American parrots are from, so I don't have any in his diet. Fruits - the thing with fruits is that in their native ranges, fruit come into season at different times of the year, so rarely will a wild parrot be eating the same fruit all year long. And each fruit variety has different nutritional elements. Trying to match that is very difficult and not all S.A. fruits are available commercially in other parts of the world; certainly not in Central U.K., no matter how cosmopolitan it may be .

When you get to your vet, it might be wise to ask for a complete blood panel to be done to identify if there are any noted vitamin deficiencies or excesses. Then you would know what needs to be added or removed from her diet.

 

[PrimorandMoxi]

Are potatoes better than rice?
What about pasta?

 

[zERo]

Are potatoes better than rice?
What about pasta?

I’m not sure which is worse than the other but I would limit consumption of all three of these foods.
Lentil or quinoa pasta is okay as a treat though.
Sweet potato is much better than white but a bite of potato won’t hurt here and there.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry! I guess you are very limited in what pellets they can have

Out of those two mixes the second one is better, maybe decrease how much of the first one they get.

What about trying some avian tea? I
give chamomile/roobioos/rosehip/hibiscus/calendula about once a week.
You could also get a blend specifically made for hormones. They’ll usually contain chamomile and raspberry leaves, with other healthy ingredients. My green cheek goes crazy for tea!

Whilst looking through the forum I found another pellet that they can have and I can easily get some of it! It still has soy in it unfortunately, but I can replace some of their seeds with it for foraging. My conures get bored very easily and don't really play unless there's something in it for them so replacing some of the seed with this new pellet might work for them. It's worth mentioning that the only other pellet they can eat is in powdered form so I can't really use it for enrichment as much.

Since cutting out that rice and vegetable mix, and adding more fresh vegetables, Tequila's hormones seem to be settling down! My other conure seems a lot calmer too, though I never had problems with her.

 

[zERo]

Whilst looking through the forum I found another pellet that they can have and I can easily get some of it! It still has soy in it unfortunately, but I can replace some of their seeds with it for foraging. My conures get bored very easily and don't really play unless there's something in it for them so replacing some of the seed with this new pellet might work for them. It's worth mentioning that the only other pellet they can eat is in powdered form so I can't really use it for enrichment as much.

Since cutting out that rice and vegetable mix, and adding more fresh vegetables, Tequila's hormones seem to be settling down! My other conure seems a lot calmer too, though I never had problems with her.

Wow! This is so good to hear! You must be so relieved that Tequilas hormones are slowing down!

I think soy in pellets is okay as long as the pellets are making up too much of the diet.