parrotlady

Bobby sure is a little fighter and I am praying he will find the strength to get through the tests and receive the treatment he needs. My thoughts are with you, Matthew and Bobby.

He's making normal Grey whistles and nice sounds to attract your attention. He isn't screaming at all you would soon know if he was. Does he get to spend periods out of his cage exploring? Grey's are very intellegent and they love to be involved with all of our day to day activities.

I recommend to all new owners to continue with a spoon feed for this reason. I have a Grey of 29 years who gets all excited when he sees the spoon coming.

Does Bobby like banana or any other form of soft food? Medicine can often be squeezed onto or inside a favourite food and eaten without the bird realising. Failing that the only other way if your bird is not used to eating from a spoon is to gently towel him and quickly administer the medicine. I wonder with the pellets if he isn't drinking enough to moisten them to digest through the crop. After having been on a seed diet for so long he may not be used to the increased drinking which is required from a bird on pellets. Crop infections are caused by food staying in the crop too long and this could be a plausable explaination. All my birds are fed a very good quality seed with plenty of fresh fruit, veg, pulses, rice, pasta etc.

So glad to hear that you acted quickly and got her the help she needs. I hope the next 5 days will pass quickly for you and she makes a speedy recovery.

Voted.

Good luck. It sounds like whatever it is you've been very observant and caught it right at the beginning. Well done.

I'm afraid that if she were mine I would book an appointment with an avian vet. The fact that she's not eating and all puffed up are causes for concern. How are her droppings? and is she perching properly with one foot up?

Here are my tries.

She sounds like she is doing very well. Her weight is spot on to what mine generally are at that age. Can I just say to be careful with the pine shavings, they can try to eat them and choke to death. It's worth removing them and just placing kitchen roll in the brooder. The wing flapping is perfectly normal and helps to build up her muscles. If she isn't crying for more formula and is gaining weight I don't think you need to increase the amount. Might be worth making it slightly thicker.

Here are a couple of photo's showing a full and and empty crop. The only problem is that as the chick grows and their feathers develop it becomes harder to visualy see if the crop is full but you can tell by touch. Also as the baby gets older and starts to feed itself more the crop won't buldge like it does when they are very young as the food is getting eaten over a perdiod of time and not all in one go.

Many young grey's have a lot of extra red feathering ( a lot of this is due to the hand-rearing formula) most of these grey's moult out the red feathers at first moult and don't regrow any more. Other reasons for red feathers are far more sinister and most Greys with PBFD develope them. Also birds with kidney disease and some who have damaged the feathers regrow them red. Then just to confuse matters you have the adult birds who just naturally have extra red feathers who are 100% healthy. I have one male who has red feathers towards the bottom of his chest, only about six feathers but with every moult he regrows them in the exact same place and has never developed any more. If a mature Grey suddenly developes extra red feathers it is usually always a cause for concern.

Forgot to add a congo grey's weight can be anywhere between 350g-650g most of mine are around the 550g mark and are all fit and healthy. With a clipped bird you can still excersise him by holding him on your hand and holding his toes with your thumb (or finger). Hold your arm high in the air and drop it down (quite quickly). He will automatically start flapping and the flapping will help build up his chest muscles and reduce the fat build up. Just make sure that you are holding his toes securely so that he doesn't fall.

Please do and try to change your Grey's diet. Through your love of him and wanting to give him what he wants you are shortening his lifespan considerably. This type of snacking will lead to kidney disease, gout lack of vitamins and minerals which are essential to his well being. Don't offer any seed in the morning at all instead only give the fresh. This can be vegetables, fruit, pulses etc. When you do give him his seed/pellets (later in the afternoon) only give him a maximum of two tablespoonfuls. This way he will still be hungry enough to want to try the new (healthy) food. Don't worry if he makes a mess of it and throws it around, persevere and keep offering it. He will learn to accept healthy food but you must be persistant.

Thank you all very much for the lovely welcome. My pet Grey's do all live together. It has taken time to get them to this stage but now thankfully we don't have any issues.