No-nos

[DrTak]

I apologize if this thread is already here -- I did search and although these topics are scattered throughout, I thought I'd start a specific thread: "No-nos for keeping an African Grey". I am going to start with a few that I have read, or that my bird vet shared. I expect that others have much to add. By no means do I think I am some authority -- I expect disagreement and discourse. I suspect some non-nos are absolute (like toxic foods), and some are relative to bird, owner or environment (behavioral).

 

Never punish your bird (see existing excellent thread! -- the inspiration for this post)

 

Do not feed your bird avocado, pits from stone fruit, chocolate or alcohol. Birdy poisons

 

Do not use Teflon coated pans. They may be safe if utterly unscratched and not overheated, but if either is untrue, it is chemical warfare on your bird. Scented candles, incense, kerosene lamps all generate stuff that may sicken and harm your bird.

 

Do not feed birds fruits or veggies that overly acidic or have been prepared and kept in a refrigerator (frozen until served is fine). Bacterial overgrowth that is harmless to mammals is a killer in birds. Citrus, tomatoes are quite acid, and can provoke nasty digestive issues. Juices and baby foods are culture media, once the seal is broke, despite refrigeration. Birds tolerance is very low for colonized food.

 

Do not get a bird that has not been weaned. Baby birds are too easy to kill.

 

Do not feed your bird dairy (birds have no lactase), or red meat or shellfish (high in phosphorous; may worsen calcium deficiencies) Chicken, egg and finned fish is fine.

 

Do not feed your bird a seed only diet. It is the equivalent of feeding your kid only fast food; it should be an occasional treat, not a 21-meal-a-week diet. Sunflower seeds are particularly regarded as the French fry of the Avian world. Peanuts in shells and dried corncobs can harbor aspergillosis and should be avoided. Pellets without food coloring, and fresh or frozen veggies are the staples for your bird.

 

Do not feed grit, or chemical calcium supplements. Use cuttlebone, whole and ground, balanced pellet diet, and full spectrum high intensity light to fight calcium deficiency.

 

Don't let your parrot routinely perch higher than your head. Although not pack animals like dogs, parrots do have a social order, largely visible by who perches where. You don't want an alpha parrot. Shoulders are similarly problematic; there is a reason those pirates had eye patches. Very few Greys will beak an eye or tear an ear. Those that do are remembered forever.

 

Don't isolate your bird. It wants to spend all day with you, out of its cage. That's not practical for mots people, and you must view it as a toddler that can get into serious trouble unsupervised. That's why toddlers have playpens and cribs, and birds have cages. Neither should be regarded as prison cells. Think about it -- a playpen in the family room is cool. The Hanoi Hilton is not. Which describes your parrot's cage is up to you.

 

Additions, disputes and clarifications encouraged.

[Jayd]

:)This is a excellent Thread, please don't take anything I've posted as personal... Just my opinion's Jayd

 

Do not feed your bird avocado, pits from stone fruit, chocolate or alcohol. Birdy poison

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?137487-Top-10-Common-Foods-that-Can-Poison-Your-Bird/page4

 

Do not use Teflon coated pans. They may be safe if utterly unscratched and not

overheated, but if either is untrue, it is chemical warfare on your bird. Scented candles, incense, kerosene lamps all generate stuff that may sicken and harm your bird.

 

Can kill in less than 1/2 hour!

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?189649-New-Oven...&highlight=teflon

 

Do not feed birds fruits or veggies that overly acidic or have been prepared and kept in a refrigerator (frozen until served is fine). Bacterial overgrowth that is harmless to mammals is a killer in birds. Citrus, tomatoes are quite acid, and can provoke nasty digestive issues. Juices and baby foods are culture media, once the seal is broke, despite refrigeration. Birds tolerance is very low for colonized food.

 

Small amounts of tomato's and tomato juice is fine, baby food ,ones low in iron is acceptable, especially when mixed in Birdy Bread, mixing with Mash and Smash, use normal cautions. Juiced fresh fruit is a excellent treat for our fids.

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?7380-what-did-your-CAG-eat-today&highlight=birdy+bread

 

Do not get a bird that has not been weaned. Baby birds are too easy to kill.

 

Do not feed your bird dairy (birds have no lactase), or red meat or shellfish (high in phosphorous; may worsen calcium deficiencies) Chicken, egg and finned fish is fine.

 

A fid can have a bite of your morning cereal, different spoon of coarse. Small amounts go straight through them. Yogurt, cottage cheese, and small amounts of hard cheese is ok!

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?189737-What-our-Fid-s-eat...&highlight=cottage+cheese

 

Do not feed your bird a seed only diet. It is the equivalent of feeding your kid only fast food; it should be an occasional treat, not a 21-meal-a-week diet. Sunflower seeds are particularly regarded as the French fry of the Avian world. Peanuts in shells and dried corncobs can harbor aspergillosis and should be avoided. Pellets without food coloring, and fresh or frozen veggies are the staples for your bird.

 

It's not that seeds in general are bad for our fids, it's the fact that they lack all our fids need. If a person wants to feed their fids a seed diet, that's fine, they just have to feed other types of food with it. If you read the ingredients of Harrison's pellets, It's seed's, pluse added nutrients. Only one of our fids eat pellets, all the rest eat, 60% veggies and fruits, 20% grains/legumes 10% seeds and nuts, 10% misc. [rough breakdown] 1/2 teaspoon of sunflower seeds a day are great for for our fids, their loaded with "EFA" [Essential Fatty Acid's] as are nuts and peanuts.

Right on shelled peanuts and dried corn cob....Pellets have one major problem, HEAT, they are processed at such high temperature that most of their benefit goes up in smoke, minimum temp, like Harrison's is 350%. so pellets should be part of...

Do not feed grit, or chemical calcium supplements. Use cuttlebone, whole and ground, balanced pellet diet, and full spectrum high intensity light to fight calcium deficiency.

 

Sunlight is the #1 source of calcium absorption, followed by UVB Full Spectrum indoor lighting. Far better than pellets is Dandelion greens, and any Dark Green Leafy vegetable...

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?188081-Calcium-Food-or-Sun&highlight=sunlight

 

Don't let your parrot routinely perch higher than your head. Although not pack animals like dogs, parrots do have a social order, largely visible by who perches where. You don't want an alpha parrot. Shoulders are similarly problematic; there is a reason those pirates had eye patches. Very few Greys will beak an eye or tear an ear. Those that do are remembered forever.

 

This, I'm sorry is a myth!

Shoulder perching, it's up to you!

http://zoologica.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/eight-myths-and-half-truths-about-parrot-behavior/

 

Don't isolate your bird. It wants to spend all day with you, out of its cage. That's not practical for mots people, and you must view it as a toddler that can get into serious trouble unsupervised. That's why toddlers have playpens and cribs, and birds have cages. Neither should be regarded as prison cells. Think about it -- a playpen in the family room is cool. The Hanoi Hilton is not. Which describes your parrot's cage is up to you.

 

My personal feelings is to provide as much "Cage out time as possible"

Edited July 11, 2010 by Jayd

[DrTak]

This, I'm sorry is a myth!

Shoulder perching, it's up to you!

http://zoologica.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/eight-myths-and-half-truths-about-parrot-behavior/

 

[/b]

 

I am interested in opinions on this. I have heard shoulder perching is a bad idea from many people. I am certain Lulu would be happy up on mine, but I have never allowed it. Anybody have experiences? I bet bad experiences are rarer -- anyone have problems with shoulder perching?

Edited July 12, 2010 by DrTak

[danmcq]

Shouldering is an owner decision. If you do allow your bird on the shoulder, make sure you enforce rules at all times for being there i.e. No glasses playing, no pecking, no hard nibbles and most importantly, they step up from your shoulder when requested to. My grey has ridden on our shoulders since he was 14 weeks old. We did have to teach him the rules and he learned we never allowed exceptions to those rules. It did take a few months for him to get them down.

My suspected wild caught Conure also loves to ride on my shoulder now as well and has never tied to beak either of us or guests when on the shoulder. I suppose he simply watched Dayo for 2.5 years and learned the rules from a distance. The conure just started this up-close behavior about 6 months ago.

I must say, I do get tired of reading the horror stories and people using them as a "Never let a bird on your shoulder" justification for their position on thi topic. However, if a person is cautious and applies the rules above that set the expectations, the will learn very quickly if the bird wanting the shoulder ride is ever to be allowed there or not. An unruly bird should never be allowed on anyone’s shoulder.

[Loki'sMinion]

I take into account each individual bird as far as shouldering goes. I had a B&G who used to go everywhere with me and rode on my shoulder. He would even sit on the headrest in the car when we went places. He never once acted badly. I have had Amazons who behaved nicely while shouldered and then again I have had others who acted "not so nicely" and were not given the opportunity to shoulder again.

[Jayd]

Ho Ho Ho Ho a pirates life for me..

Parrots:

Parrots were probably associated with pirates because of the book "Treasure Island". A character from that book named

Long-John Silver, who was a pirate, had a parrot for a pet. This idea, however, caused a great deal of controversy because many people think that the parrots would of gotten in the way of the work that had to be done.

Many people believe that a parrot permanently perched on a pirates shoulder would start a mess and during hard times at sea the parrot would most likely be eaten. So it was very unlikely that a pirate traveled with a parrot or any other pet.

http://www.tqnyc.org/2005/NYC051310/piratesfactfromfiction.htm

 

We let all our birds shoulder perch, except our TOO's, their intimidating.

Dan and Cheyenness Made great points, Always invite you fid to your shoulder!

Jayd

[rbpittman]

Have two greys, two conures, and a U2 and they are all shoulder birds, but they know the rules. Sterling (U2) is pretty intimidating to many I'm sure, so the only shoulder he's allowed on is mine. My husband is uncomfortable with him there, and Sterling knows this and doesn't try to get on his shoulder. LP is too young and moves to fast for my comfort, so no shoulder riding with him, with me, well he loves me so much he just can't stay away and cuddles his body next to my head and just stays there. The fun part is when I take Sterling out for a ride and he sits on my shoulder in the car or now on my bike. Of course he's harnessed with his aviator harness and we went through training to accomplish this. I can honestly say that bike rides at dawn are great with a U2 on your shoulder.

 

Beau and Dixie like to both be on me at the same time. Dixie is always on my left shoulder, Beau on the right. The conures, well they like to get there to harass me, I'm just a stopping off point or a taxi to another place for them. Again, they all follow the rules and the conures were the hardest to get following the rules (they like to nibble on the ear pieces of my glasses). When they figured out I would remove them from my shoulder when they wanted to chew on them, they stopped doing so.

 

All - and I mean all - of the birds will step up on first command from my shoulder. I never have to have help removing them and they will always be welcome as long as they follow the rules. The hardest part of any of this is being consistent, following the rules you set for them, and not sending conflicting messages.

[DrTak]

Sorry. I think I fixed my quote.

[Jayd]

Sorry. I think I fixed my quote.

Thank you my friend...Your questions are Grey't...Jayd