How many treats are TOO many? PLUS AN UPDATE on "over-preening" Ajax

[Ajax4289]

My little Ajax is spoiled. He is out of his cage a lot since I work from home. 90% of his time out of the cage is spent on his perch by my computer.(which is complete with 2 bowls at either end) After I got him I got lazy and tired of handing him treats every minute so I took to filling one of his bowls with sunflowers seeds and/or pumpkin seeds(all low sodium). The cup can hold a little over 1/4cup of stuff. I drastically scaled back his treats when I noticed he was starting to ONLY eat treats then not touch his food about a month back.(now all that is remedied)

 

Flash forward to today taking Ajax to the vet for his "over preening" problem. FYI: Read below for original thread

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?194683-Is-he-plucking...or-molting&p=243898#post243898

 

The vet was kind of confused to his condition. She says he's not plucking but it's very unusual that only his down feathers are visable and no new feather have started to grow after 1-4months. She suggested switching his food to Zupreem pellets without food coloring AND scaling back on his treats as well as giving him a few more baths each week.(as you guys suggested in the other thread)If this doesn't fix it then it's off to blood testing to see what's going on. She didn't mention how long to wait and I couldn't ask many questions as I wanted to as my voice has been nearly gone for 2 days from being sick and today was the first day I could speak above a rasp whisper.

 

Anywho...on to my ACTUAL question! lol

How many treats perday or per week is a good amount? He is in love with pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. I can very rarely get him to take a few bites of vegetables as well as 1-2bites of some table food(such as yogurt,plain pasta, or whatever I'm eating from a non-teflon cooking pot) But overall he LOVES to eat his treats. HELP!

 

 

On a side note Ajax behaved VERY well at the vet. He is usually very standoffish at home and in his cage(understandably) when strangers come overbBut when we got to the vet he was quiet as usual but let me pet him and give him kisses.(didn't try to bite me or beak me like he does at home when strangers are close) Likewise he was not aggressive towards the vet, he looked almost curious and relaxed.(of course he did get 2 sunflower seeds from her to coax him onto the scale) And when she had to pick him up to examine is spot he was a little mouthy but overall pretty docile. I'm thinking that if I take him out of his "home" and his area he reacts better because he's not in his protective mode(like a dog would be) When we were getting ready to leave he got to ride on my shoulder while I paid the bill and he was preening himself and my hair as he never gets to see my hair not in a ponytail lol.

[DawL]

Honestly I RARELY give any of my birds any kind of sunflower seeds or what have you. These are like twinkies to them, pure junk food. If he simply MUST have any seed, I would use this VERY sparsely. Instead, try offering grapes, a small piece of mango, or even a small piece of millet as his treat.

 

Also, you said that you are filling his bowl with sunflower seed ect. as a "treat". Filling his bowl with it is not giving him a treat, it is feeding him seed. Treats are meant to be just that. He should only get this reward when he does something to earn it. I would say cut waaaay back on the seed. Offer grapes and millet as treats, and give him these during training sessions, or when he behaves himself and deserves one. Oh, and one at a time, not a bowlful.

[Ajax4289]

Honestly I RARELY give any of my birds any kind of sunflower seeds or what have you. These are like twinkies to them, pure junk food. If he simply MUST have any seed, I would use this VERY sparsely. Instead, try offering grapes, a small piece of mango, or even a small piece of millet as his treat.

 

Also, you said that you are filling his bowl with sunflower seed ect. as a "treat". Filling his bowl with it is not giving him a treat, it is feeding him seed. Treats are meant to be just that. He should only get this reward when he does something to earn it. I would say cut waaaay back on the seed. Offer grapes and millet as treats, and give him these during training sessions, or when he behaves himself and deserves one. Oh, and one at a time, not a bowlful.

 

Sadly he will not eat grapes,millet, or mango. I think I spoiled him early with salty snacks! ack!

[Wingy]

Trial and error finding an alternate treat. My DS's quaker will move heaven and earth for a bite of grated horseradish from a spoon. That is her special treat when she's here.

[Dave007]

*****My little Ajax is spoiled.*****

 

That's very true and it's also a bad habit that doesn't do the owner or the bird much good and that habit should be stopped immedioately before more serious things accur.

 

******After I got him I got lazy and tired of handing him treats every minute so I took to filling one of his bowls with sunflowers seeds and/or pumpkin seeds(all low sodium). ****

 

No bird should be given treats on a constant basis ( it doesn't matter what kind of treat it is). After a while the treat isn't considered a treat by the bird. It's part of a varied diet

.

 

******

The vet was kind of confused to his condition. She says he's not plucking but it's very unusual that only his down feathers are visable and no new feather have started to grow after 1-4months. She suggested switching his food to Zupreem pellets without food coloring *****

 

Changing a diet will never help the situation your bird is in. A new type of diet and partially closed shafts have nothing to do with each other. Shafts in that area are partially closed. All the baths in the world won't open a partially closed shaft This is a very common thing when birds are growing feathers back in after long bouts of plucking. The bird who doesn't have that problem and who has never plucked will grow back the exterior feathers in a shorter amount of time. That amount of time could be as long as 2 molts.

******Anywho...on to my ACTUAL question! lol

How many treats perday or per week is a good amount? He is in love with pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. I can very rarely get him to take a few bites of vegetables as well as 1-2bites of some table food(such as yogurt,plain pasta, or whatever I'm eating from a non-teflon cooking pot) But overall he LOVES to eat his treats. HELP!*****

 

I answered above but I'll say it again. There should be no regularity with giving treats all the time and if you're worried about the type of items you're giving, switch to almonds or walnuts or hazel nuts. All have a large amount of vitamins in them and it's a natural food for parrots of all types. With certain species of parrots, that's all they eat. Parrots also given different nuts when they're being trained to do different things such as flight training. It's the same method that's used when training predatory birds but they get raw pieces of chewy meat.

There are birds that won't accept other items such as veggies or fruit when being offered by hand. Those are items that should be given in bowls and it's gonna take a very long time to finally find out which ones are acceptable by your bird. It's a pain in the ass to dump veggies constantly and put in a different kind all the time but that's the norm. And all of these things should be around your bird in food bowls without you being around your bird.

 

*****On a side note Ajax behaved VERY well at the vet. He is usually very standoffish at home and in his cage(understandably) when strangers come overbBut when we got to the vet he was quiet as usual but let me pet him and give him kisses.(didn't try to bite me or beak me like he does at home when strangers are close) Likewise he was not aggressive towards the vet, he looked almost curious and relaxed.(of course he did get 2 sunflower seeds from her to coax him onto the scale) And when she had to pick him up to examine is spot he was a little mouthy but overall pretty docile. I'm thinking that if I take him out of his "home" and his area he reacts better because he's not in his protective mode(like a dog would be) When we were getting ready to leave he got to ride on my shoulder while I paid the bill and he was preening himself and my hair as he never gets to see my hair not in a ponytail lol. ****

 

I hope you're not connecting this to any problems you're having because all birds do the exact same and opposite things even though they're facing the same situation. Example----don't be surprised if your bird really tries to bite your vet the next time.

Your last paragraph all has to do with natural behavior.

PS---I'm surprised that your vet didn't get into the area of feather construction but you said she was a bit confused. I'm gonna assume that she's an avian vet?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2012 by Dave007

[DawL]

VERY well put Dave, I think you nailed every single point that needed to be illustrated here. I hope you and Ajax can get everything worked out, and come to an understanding.