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So hey. If I'm going to be making parrot chop for budgies, how much should I offer, daily? An icecube-sized chunk per bird? And how much pellets should I feed? We feed the tiniest size available, but I'm guessing 2 tablespoons per bird should be adequate, yeah?
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Feb 26, 2015 15:42
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Supposedly they eat 10% of their weight per day so you give them double that to account for dropped food/crumbs, more if your bird likes to throw it's food.
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Feb 26, 2015 15:48
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I have no idea how much they weigh, we don't have a scale and they haven't been to the vet yet, because we haven't gotten them to accept the travel cage yet. 
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Feb 26, 2015 15:59
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chthonic bell posted:I have no idea how much they weigh, we don't have a scale and they haven't been to the vet yet, because we haven't gotten them to accept the travel cage yet. Kitchen scales work well. Mine was 13 bucks for a simple digital one. My Quaker learned real quick to stand on it too. Just give them decent amount and then some in the meantime. Better to waste a bit than starve them.
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Feb 26, 2015 16:04
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I free-feed them right now, but I'm concerned they're overeating. They seem to be almost constantly eating. Is that normal for birds?
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Feb 26, 2015 16:15
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chthonic bell posted:I free-feed them right now, but I'm concerned they're overeating. They seem to be almost constantly eating. Is that normal for birds? Yes it's normal, no they probably aren't overeating.
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Feb 26, 2015 16:28
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That's what mine do all day when in their cages. Eat, preen, nap. If it helps-I give them however many pellets I feel like for Ohtori, a scoop (think it's 10-12g) and a bit of pellets for Inko, and two scoops of seed for Steve. Then they get their fresh food bowls-amount varies and I've never weighed it, but it would usually be about 3-4 tablespoons of mixed foods? I just cut stuff and throw it in. They're such small amounts of food compared to us that even filling the bowls completely every day wouldn't matter. You could get them foraging toys and put their food in that, make things more interesting and slow them down.
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Feb 26, 2015 16:33
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GoldStandardConure posted:I set up a bird feeder a month or so ago, but all it was attracting was pigeons and willy wag tails, until yesterday. A few new friends have appeared! Holy poo poo, that's cool. Make sure you put out THE GOOD STUFF to keep them coming back.
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Feb 26, 2015 16:43
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mikerock posted:The text was pro-click, the pictures were I'm a vet tech student at the moment, stuff like that is super fascinating to me  On the other hand offer to show me, like, skin tags on a human and I flip the gently caress out oh god that's so gross whyyy
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Feb 26, 2015 17:18
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chthonic bell posted:I free-feed them right now, but I'm concerned they're overeating. They seem to be almost constantly eating. Is that normal for birds? Oh, yeah. That's kinda their thing- eat, nap, preen, play, eat, nap, preen, play... I'd say don't worry too much about it. Just feel their keelbone- if you can just feel the edge of it then they're good. If you can super feel it, then they're underweight. If you can't feel it at all, they're overweight. Budgies are pretty high energy (at least Fuji is), so they'll work off what they eat. If yours are anything like Fuji, they also like to throw their food.
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Feb 26, 2015 17:24
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I have a friend who loves birds and he just posted this on facebook, it's pretty funny and made me think of this thread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UUjJysUMTw
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Feb 26, 2015 20:42
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a friend shared this article and I wanted to share it with you guys! A little girl who is brought gifts by crows. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31604026
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Feb 26, 2015 23:01
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:a friend shared this article and I wanted to share it with you guys! A little girl who is brought gifts by crows. The thing about the lens cap at the end is pretty impressive. I've never given crows that much credit before.
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Feb 26, 2015 23:10
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They're crazy-smart animals. Off the top of my head, they've been reported to drop walnuts on crosswalks (specifically crosswalks!) so that cars will crush them, and then wait for a red light before flying down to collect their food.
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Feb 26, 2015 23:11
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Yep. As smart as our parrots are, crows are usually smarter.
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Feb 26, 2015 23:16
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I'm already that dog-dad who posts a million pictures on Facebook, a bird buddy for my best dog friend sounds like such an awesome fantasy (which would never work with my husky/heeler mix's prey drive).
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Feb 26, 2015 23:19
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:They're crazy-smart animals. Off the top of my head, they've been reported to drop walnuts on crosswalks (specifically crosswalks!) so that cars will crush them, and then wait for a red light before flying down to collect their food.
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Feb 27, 2015 00:04
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DarkHorse posted:They have also recognized animal behavior researchers that had disturbed them while on a college campus (I think by checking out their nests and observing the babies as they hatched), and harassed the poor research assistants for years while they still lived on campus. They could recognized individual human faces! Future students were instructed to wear wigs and costumes so they wouldn't be identified and harassed in the future. I don't know if it was the same case you were thinking of, but in the one I read about, not only were the researchers harassed years later, but they were harassed by crows other than the ones they'd bothered (which were trapped and tagged in the case I read). They also did tests with the fledglings of the crows they caught and observed aggressive behavior toward the researchers even when the young crow had never seen them (or their parent's reaction to them) before. So not only do they hold a grudge, they pass that grudge on to their children. Man I love corvids.
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Feb 27, 2015 00:18
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:They're crazy-smart animals. Off the top of my head, they've been reported to drop walnuts on crosswalks (specifically crosswalks!) so that cars will crush them, and then wait for a red light before flying down to collect their food. Cracked did a photoplasty article today about animals acting much smarter than we normally give them credit for. Crows account for about half the article, plus a couple of parrots.
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Feb 27, 2015 00:22
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Not corvids but another wicked cool 'birds are so smart' scientific study. They knew that parrots had names for each other and themselves. Particular noises that a bird would use repeatedly and other birds would use when interacting with that bird. Basically the parrots would walk around going 'I'm bill. I'm bill. Hi paul, I'm bill.' The study was about how they got those names, so they followed a number of breeding pairs of parrots and put cameras in their nests to observe them at a very young age. What they found out was that as the babies became juveniles the parents began to use certain noises around the babies and the babies would pick up on their own noise that would eventually become their own particular call. Basically they found out that parrots named their babies.
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Feb 27, 2015 00:23
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When I first got Amadeus I accidentally got him thinking my name is Baby and his is Bird. He uses Baby to get my attention and contact-call for me, and Bird self-referentially, like when he's pleased with himself or asking for a treat. So that checks out
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Feb 27, 2015 00:32
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Boodge Bum posted:Holy poo poo, that's cool. Make sure you put out THE GOOD STUFF to keep them coming back. sunflower seeds!
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Feb 27, 2015 02:06
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I went and looked up that study about parrot parents naming their babies and it is literally the best thing I have seen so far this year.
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Feb 27, 2015 02:18
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This TED talk references some of the things mentioned so far about crows, and more. Really great talk, 11m33s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXQAgzfwuNQ
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Feb 27, 2015 03:06
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:I'm a vet tech student at the moment, stuff like that is super fascinating to me The page only mentioned one of the birds being euthanized; were the other conditions really not that bad?
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Feb 27, 2015 03:38
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Ivy posted:The page only mentioned one of the birds being euthanized; were the other conditions really not that bad? Based on the article it looked like a lot of them had pretty normal lives after having their beaks dremelled and/or taking some form of treatment. Having an abnormal beak isn't a death sentence if you have a veterinarian keeping an eye on it and treating it as is necessary, it's when you leave the beak to its own devices you might start having more serious problems--things like infections, an inability to open or close their mouths, or that one poor Amazon whose beak punctured his own throat. The photos were of pretty extreme cases, but I still wouldn't leave something like that to develop with my bird. e: I was kind of surprised when BlueDiablo said his vet was unconcerned about his bird's beak. Maybe the photos make it look worse than it is. LITERALLY A BIRD fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Feb 27, 2015 |
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Feb 27, 2015 03:54
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Well, sure the vet was unconcerned, because it's not a cause for concern unless it gets out of hand because you're not getting it trimmed regularly. Even that nightmare fuel article mentions that some normal birds just have beaks that need regular trimming.
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Feb 27, 2015 04:55
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Pile of Kittens posted:Even that nightmare fuel article mentions that some normal birds just have beaks that need regular trimming. I'm saying I think the vet should have trimmed it. LITERALLY A BIRD fucked around with this message at 05:13 on Feb 27, 2015 |
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Feb 27, 2015 05:11
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Dreggon posted:sunflower seeds! Ive been leaving out a seed mix but adding in extra sunflower seeds. There is a lone indian ringneck that lives in our suburb, I hope he starts coming to the feeder.
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Feb 27, 2015 05:43
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTmNerek4A4 Birds are weird. He hovers there as long as he can looking up into that corner. He's been doing it to different cabinets for the past few weeks.
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Feb 27, 2015 05:57
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H110Hawk posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTmNerek4A4 Is this perhaps in preparation for toucan pon farr? 
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Feb 27, 2015 06:09
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He looks like an enormous hummingbird 
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Feb 27, 2015 06:12
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LITERALLY A BIRD posted:I'm saying I think the vet should have trimmed it. Oh, you mean the second vet? Yeah.
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Feb 27, 2015 06:49
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Hey Ohtori, I forgot to weigh the food bowls, so just pose next to yours so I can take a photo as a size reference. ...perfect
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Feb 27, 2015 16:35
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Battle Pigeon posted:Hey Ohtori, I forgot to weigh the food bowls, so just pose next to yours so I can take a photo as a size reference. David Attenborough voiceover: quote:…and here we have the Pyrrhura Goonae in a never-before-filmed foraging mannerism: Be The Food.
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Feb 27, 2015 18:10
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Quick question guys - just how cold do you think it can get in a house before I need to be concerned about the birds? They broke our gas line and the temp in here is plummeting because it's oh, 12 degrees and dropping outside. It's about 68 in here right now which I know is less than freezing but I'm worried about tonight when it drops to the negatives.
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Feb 27, 2015 19:38
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Depends what they're used to and what the difference in temperature would be. Got any thick blankets/towels you can insulate the cages with?
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Feb 27, 2015 19:50
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Battle Pigeon posted:Depends what they're used to and what the difference in temperature would be. Got any thick blankets/towels you can insulate the cages with? our house is normally around 72. I have their cages almost completely covered in blankets, they're pissed it's more dark then they're used to but I'm hoping that it'll keep their body heat in. Our current plan is if it gets too cold we'll just stay up all night and shove them under blankets with us 
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Feb 27, 2015 19:59
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Might be worth looking into getting an electric oil-filled radiator. Albert has one in his room running 24\7 any day the outside temp is below 0c because I'm cheap and an electric heater for one bird room is cheaper than heating the whole house with forced air. Works drat well and you can get a little one for like 60 bucks. That said, sometimes they are shipped with rustproofing so you may want to run it on high for 8-12 hours in a different room first to burn it off.
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Feb 27, 2015 20:34
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| # ? May 21, 2024 22:24 |
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Amaya posted:our house is normally around 72. I have their cages almost completely covered in blankets, they're pissed it's more dark then they're used to but I'm hoping that it'll keep their body heat in. Our current plan is if it gets too cold we'll just stay up all night and shove them under blankets with us  If possible, you can also keep them in a smaller room that you will spend a lot of time in, or one that will have computers or other appliances working. Humans put out about 100 Watts of heat, with similar amounts for incandescent light bulbs and some computers. If all else fails, if you have an electric stove you can turn that on and leave the door open? 
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Feb 27, 2015 23:36
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