Why Won’t My Parrot Come Out Of The Bird Cage?

The following scenarios describe various manifestations of what are often called cage-bound behaviors that are frequently seen in companion parrots. As with all behaviors, each has a purpose. Nothing happens for no reason, so they become more comprehensible when each scenario is analyzed. 

Scenario 1: Andrew is a 3-year-old male green-winged macaw. Until recently, he has been eager to exit his bird cage in the morning, but now things have changed considerably. Instead of barreling out of the bird cage the second the door is opened, Andrew retreats to the back of the cage to avoid hands that reach for him. He has also started lunging aggressively at hands when they attempt to provide fresh food, water and cage cleaning.

Family members are horrified with the change, and their feelings are hurt by his behavior. They are rapidly losing their pleasure in interacting with their young parrot. Things do not look good for Andrew’s future.

Scenario 2: Dobby is a 2-year-old male quaker parrot that has become incredibly aggressive when his owners try to service his cage or bring him out. The owners joke that putting their hand in his cage is rather like putting one’s hand into a functioning garbage disposal. All family members bear the obvious evidence of aggression, as each sports scabs and bruises on hands and arms.

A female lovebird may become very territorial of her bird cage. Watch your fingers!

Scenario 3: Hobbit is a female lovebird of unknown age. While she is a sweetheart away from her cage, anyone reaching into her domain is likely to bleed for a while. Nicknamed “the shark with feathers,” she sinks her beak into invading fingers and refuses to release. She may be small, but her beak packs quite a wallop. Her owners are rapidly losing interest in handling her.

Scenario 4: Angel is a 15-year-old-plus female umbrella cockatoo. Little of her history is known prior to her arrival at a local parrot re-homing facility, but the assumption is that she has been seriously abused. Foster homes are finding it difficult to make any progress with her. She is not at all aggressive, but freezes and quakes with fear if anyone tries to remove her from her cage.

If no one is near by and the cage door is left open, she will eventually creep out very cautiously and sit quietly on the top of the cage toward the back. Any attempts a human might make to approach her result in a quick scurry back inside, where she sits in the back and shivers with terror. 

Normal Natural Parrot Behaviors
In the first three scenarios, the parrots are clearly guarding their turf. Territorial instincts are extremely strong in the avian world and perhaps even stronger than in mammalian species. Some bird species, such as the large macaws, quaker parrots and lovebirds, are especially known for this behavior.

An example of intense territorial behavior is a phenomenon biologists call “mobbing,” which is easily witnessed each spring. Mobbing is the spectacular and risky behavior in which small birds attack and harass much larger and more dangerous predators. It is a common springtime spectacle to see small birds like sparrows and finches attack larger birds like crows and hawks. The same is true with a mockingbird that makes furious (but harmless) diving attacks at a dog, cat or human. This is a perilous business for the attackers, but a wide variety of bird species are driven to this level of territorial behavior every year as they build nests and raise young.

According to Charles Munn, reputed to be the foremost expert on the wild macaws, a lack of a suitable nest site is the No. 1 obstacle to the reproduction of the large macaws of South America. With that in mind, it follows that a macaw is more likely to be able to replace a mate and make more babies than find another appropriate nest site. Therefore, it is understandable that large macaws are particularly prone to aggressive territorial behaviors in captivity. After all, most of the macaws in our homes are, at most, first or second generation from the wild, so captive breeding has not yet diluted this powerful instinct.

Parrots that are communal nesters, like lovebirds, budgerigars (parakeets) and quaker parrots, also tend toward exceptionally aggressive territoriality. This makes perfect sense when viewed from the perspective of carving out their small piece of turf in close proximity with many others of their species. These bird species spend most of their lives guarding their minuscule realms and squabbling with their neighbors, so it’s understandable when they also bicker with humans about their personal space.

Fear-Based Pet Bird Behaviors
Totally different from the first three examples, in Scenario 4. Angel the cockatoo is not defending territory. Instead, she is afraid to leave her cage, and she exhibits a strong avoidance behavior.

Situations like this were commonly seen with imported parrots that were not properly and gently tamed. They appear to have decided that they are only safe around their cages.

This type of behavior is also seen in domestically bred young psittacine birds that ceased to be handled before they had established strong ties to humans. This situation might occur in a pet store that has little understanding of parrots. Not comprehending just how tenuously “tame” a domestic-bred young parrot can be, the store personnel might handle baby parrots only when feeding them. If a parrot then weans prior to being sold, the store employees might cease handling the bird altogether, and the baby then is allowed to slip into a wild state. As previously mentioned, most domestically bred companion parrots are only first or second generation from the wild, so this reversion to the feral state can happen surprisingly quickly.

This fear-based behavior is also seen when parrots are confronted with something they find terrifying. This could include loud, fast-moving children or large, predatory pets.

I vividly remember a severe macaw that would scream hysterically and cling to the back of his cage whenever the owner’s small daughters approached the cage. The parents saw nothing wrong with the kids banging on the cage bars. They scheduled a consult with me because they wanted him to stop screaming. They did not understand why the little macaw was not friendly to the children, assuming the parrot should recognize that they were kids and that he should be patient with them. After all, they said, their 12-year-old golden retriever obviously understood this, and the pet store had told them that parrots were smarter than dogs!

I have also seen this kind of cage defensive behavior in response to overly aggressive owners who have no respect for parrots having their own opinion about things. For example, these people often expect their parrots to submit to things like petting whether the birds enjoy it or not. I call this the “Dog With Feathers Syndrome.”

Since we do not know the little cockatoo’s history, we have no way of knowing why she is behaving as she is. For whatever reason, Angel has learned that she is only safe when firmly attached to her cage. However, in this circumstance, why the behavior developed is not as important as how the situation needs to be handled.

The Polite Approach
Other than emergencies, a companion parrot should never be forced from its cage against its will. That is, after all, quite rude! Instead, it should be offered a choice.

The respectful approach advocated by parrot behavior consultant Chris Davis is much better for the parrot-person relationship. The human approaches the cage and politely asks the bird, “Would you like to come out?” The parrot will answer this question eloquently with its body language. It may move forward eagerly, look hopeful and friendly, and perhaps lift a foot as a positive response. If so, the person can then open the cage door and offer the hand or perch, and say, “Step up.”

However, the bird often has its own opinion about the timing of interactions betwixt parrot and person. It is not, after all, a dog. Perhaps the bird is eating, or playing contently. Perhaps it is pondering a particularly difficult concept of astral physics. For whatever reason, the parrot chooses to politely decline the invitation. Perhaps it moves away, or turns its back. The message is clear. “No, I do not wish to come out right now, thank you.”

Understanding this gracious response, the human goes away and returns perhaps in a few minutes to repeat the request. Since no request has been made for the parrot to Step up, there is no need to follow through. While a firm believer that parrots should be taught to compliantly step on and off the hand when directed to, I also believe that such commands should be used only when the likelihood of obedience is great. In other words, don’t use the word unless it is likely to be met with obedience. This places parrot and person in a win-win situation.

There is a reason behind a parrot refusing to exit its cage. Once the situation is carefully analyzed and a parrot’s motivations better understood, it becomes easier to figure out how to approach a problematic situation.

With birds that have become cage territorial, having perch and/or T-stand training in place neatly steps around the problem. With the frightened bird, teach it that wonderful things happen when it conquers its fears sufficiently. This is the first step toward establishing trust. Whenever possible, use the positive approach with lavish verbal and/or edible rewards and endless patience. You will be rewarded with years of happy companionship with one of Nature’s most extraordinary creatures.

Want more tips on how to encourage your parrot out of the bird cage? Try these tips here.

Bird’s eye view on parrot sanctuary, education

It’s hard to tell, but Pogo the Severe Macaw has had a rough life.

“Pogo was confiscated in a methamphetamine drug bust out of Nebraska, so she was exposed both to the chemicals to make methamphetamines and the drug,” said Deb Allwein. “Pogo constantly says ‘cracker’ and it’s not because she wants a cracker, it was the slang they used at the drug house.”

But now Pogo is one of 31 parrots in Allwein’s No-R-Birds Parrot Sanctuary – a non-profit dedicated to providing a safe haven for abused or needy parrots that Allwein started in Colorado with her husband Bob Allwein and now continues in the cheerfully lime green basement of her home in Nicholson.

“No-R-Birds” represents what Allwein said she hopes to accomplish through education – ending the need for sanctuaries because birds no longer need to be rescued, relinquished or ransomed – surrendered for money.

Allwein said for the 60 million to 90 million estimated birds in homes across the country, there are only 107 welfare organizations not directly associated with breeders. And her sanctuary is no longer taking in birds.

“We’re closed right now,” she said. “We just don’t have the space, we don’t have the money and we don’t have the time to take in anymore birds.”

Pogo is doing much better, but unfortunately her story is not the only tragic one. Allwein said parrots are the third most popular pet in the United States and that there are no special regulations for the care and upkeep of pet birds besides that they have food, water and shelter.

Carly, for example, is a white Umbrella Cockatoo with a broken beak and a sweet temperament.

“She was actually about five years old when we got her and we were home number six for her,” Allwein said. “And that’s unfortunate but that’s the reality of a lot of parrots. They average about seven homes in their lifetime.”

Then there’s T-Bird the toucan who has iron storage disease because some of his original owners didn’t understand or pay attention to his nutritional needs.

“His liver is extremely compromised, and every day we come down here and T-Bird’s alive we’re just thrilled to death,” Allwein said.

Much of the hardship parrots face in captivity is the result of ignorant owners, Allwein said, especially about reinforcing behaviors.

“They don’t understand punishment so it takes many, many months and years sometimes to earn the trust of a bird and the first time that you hit it or you’re physically abusive you’re start[ing] at ground zero,” she said.

Birds need to be groomed every six months, she said, and their beaks can grow one to one-and-a-half inches in that time.

“We have actually seen birds, looked at birds, where the upper beak had grown down into their neck or their upper beak had grown up around into their head,” she said. “In the wild that generally doesn’t happen because birds that have deformities don’t generally last in the wild.” 

Some birds – like Rio, a Military Macaw – came to Allwein from a loving home. The shift from living with so much love and attention to living with so many other birds caused Rio enough stress that he plucked out all his chest feathers, a common behavioral or medical symptom.

“We’re trying to be as transparent as possible. There are so many welfare organizations that won’t tell you the truth because they think it makes them look bad,” Allwein said. “I am the first one to tell you that these birds shouldn’t be here. They really shouldn’t be here. They should all be in the wild first. And secondly, if they can’t be in the wild and you insist on making them a pet, then make them part of your family.”

But parrots face challenges in the wild from poaching and habitat destruction as well. Allwein said there are more Hyacinth Macaws left in captivity than there are free in South America. Breeding practices threaten potential genetic reservoirs for parrots because people want colorful birds first.

“[With] the loss of habitat and illegal smuggling, we are losing the lineage of parrots,” she said. “We bring them into captivity and we start crossbreeding them. We don’t have any more pure strains of the birds, so what happens when they’re gone out of the wild?”

Nancy Hunter said she has volunteered at the sanctuary every Wednesday since last year after meeting Allwein at a dinner party. She had been thinking about buying a bird of her own but now she said she was waiting.

“I have realized being with [Allwein] that they need even more than at least at this point in my life,” Hunter said. “It just would not be good for me to take on a bird that needs that attention – any bird – I’m just not in a position to do that and that became very clear to me working with Deb. She has just given me a lot.”

Allwein said she initially got started working with parrots in a bird supply store in Colorado. She said she watched the birds in the store, learning how they behaved, interacted with people and to care for them. After two years of watching, she thought she was ready for a bird of her own.

“I’ll tell you what. I don’t care how much experience you have interacting with the bird. You are never ready to make the transition of bird interaction to bird owner or bird companion,” Allwein said. “I wasn’t ready. Fortunately Jesse was resilient enough that all of my screw ups didn’t turn in him into a nasty ugly bird. I made mistake, I still make mistakes. I’m still learning.”

In the past six or seven years, only 16 birds from the sanctuary have been placed with families, Allwein said. None of them have needed to come back.

She also said they were looking for volunteers, especially students, as construction is finished on their outdoor flight and they continue their educational outreach.

The sanctuary is open for tours of five people or less. There is no charge, but a there is a suggested donation of around $100. People can also offer to sponsor birds or donate items like pecans or paper for lining the cages, Allwein said.

“I think Deb’s platform now is to educate people who think they want a bird but you need to know the bottom line about what these birds need before you make a purchase,” said Lynn Jenkins, a retired teacher who also volunteers at the sanctuary. “Don’t just do it on a whim because it’s a life. I guess Deb and her volunteers – we’re just trying to be their voice.”

Allwein said most parrots are an impulse by. Here are some things to keep in mind before purchasing a bird.

Oldham mum offers £400 reward after heartless thieves snatch prized parrots …

By Helen Le Caplain

The mum of a man with Asperger’s syndrome whose two parrots were stolen is offering a £400 reward for information leading to the return of the outstanding bird.

Two parrots were stolen during a burglary on Brierley Street in Oldham, sometime between 6pm and 9pm on January 31.

Police believe the offenders climbed on a roof before sneaking in through an upstairs window, while the 41-year-old victim was downstairs in the living room.

They then searched the bedrooms and stole a purse, jewellery box and the two parrots.

A Blue Macaw parrot was returned in early February however an African Grey, called Arnie, remains missing.

Detective Constable Sam Blackwood said: “The victim’s family have seen what a negative effect this theft has had on him.

“These parrots form an essential part of this man’s life and help him cope with his condition.

“While he was relieved to get one of them back, he still longs for the return of Arnie and his condition has deteriorated in the meantime.

“His mother has therefore gone to the extreme step of offering a reward of £400 to help get Arnie back.

“We hope this reward will encourage someone to come forward and help us find the parrot as soon as possible.”

Officers are appealing to anyone who has recently bought a parrot or had one come into their possession since January 31 to check for the following characteristics.

Arnie has a mark all the way around his beak from half way down. He can say “ring the bell” and when asked if he can whistle he will respond by whistling.

Advertisement

When he was stolen he had a blue ring on his leg that was well worn – in places the blue had worn away to reveal silver underneath.

Anyone with any information is asked to call police on 0161 856 9021 or call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. 

For more on this story and many others, follow Mancunian Matters on Twitter and Facebook.

Uh Oh, the Parrots and the Robots are Teaming Up

Don’t look so innocent, parrot. (Photo: screencap)

Andrew Gray, computer engineering grad student at the University of Florida couldn’t get his parrot, Pepper, to shut up. Pepper would scream whenever he found himself alone in a room. So, as ABC News reports, Mr. Gray built his pet a little robotic buggy, controlled via a little joystick that Pepper pilots with his beak.

It is not immediately clear why Pepper could not just fly to where the humans were.  

Mr. Gray told ABC News that, “It was just an experiment that will maybe get me a job down the road.”

Just don’t be surprised when the parrots go all Planet of the Apes on us, Mr. Gray.

Follow Kelly Faircloth on Twitter or via RSS. kfaircloth@observer.com

This video strongly indicates that parrots will use robots to conspire against us

George Dvorsky

• View Profile
• RSS

Sure, making robots for our animal companions seems like a good idea right now — but just wait until this bites us in the ass. The latest experiment in animal/machine integration comes from an electrical and computer engineering student from the University of Florida who has designed and built a mobile robot that’s controlled by his pet parrot, Pepper. The parrot has quickly taken to the machine, which it’s able to control by manipulating a joystick with its beak.

Called the BirdBuggy, the avian-friendly machine was constructed by Andrew Grey. The four-wheeled rover was part of a project to design robots that don’t require continuous human guidance or remote controls to perform various tasks. The parrot, whose wings are clipped, can move the bot in any one of four different directions. The BirdBuggy also features front bump sensors that prevent Pepper from steering it into objects.

Interestingly, Grey was inspired to build the machine as a way to suppress Pepper’s shrieking — a problem that seems to have now gone away. From the Alligator:

He first tried a robotic squirt gun that would squirt the African grey parrot every time he screamed. But when Pepper started using it as a birdbath, Gray decided to try a rattling device. Pepper eventually ignored the rattle.

The Bird Buggy is the latest in Gray’s attempts to silence the screeches. Pepper is more calm when around Gray, so he wanted to enable the bird to follow him around the house.

The buggy is a square-shaped, four-wheeled metal vehicle lined with newspapers for Pepper’s occasional droppings. In the front stands the joystick, which Pepper can control with his beak, and behind it is the bird’s perch. Sensors in the front prevent the robot from bumping into anything, such as the occasional wall or chair leg.

When not navigated by the parrot, the Bird Buggy will go into autonomous mode and dock itself, a feature Pepper particularly dislikes.

“If you leave him on, he gets really angry because he tries to move the buggy, and it doesn’t respond to him,” Gray said, “so we just take him off. Otherwise, he has a fit.”

Just wait until Pepper hacks into it. Then we’ll see who starts shrieking.

More.

Parrot plots world domination from atop his motorized mech

Few things would be as horrific as a flock of parrots invading your hometown astride mechanized vehicles of death and cuteness. The good news is, they can’t kill us all, someone has to be around to hand out crackers and change the newspaper. If you’ve ever been to home where someone owns a bird or if you’ve ever owned a bird yourself, you know they can be noisy creatures constantly shrieking. A man named Andrew Gray has an African Grey Parrot that was a noisy creature.

Apparently, Andrew tried all sorts of things to quiet the bird including an automated squirt gun that would spray the bird each time he squawked. However, as it turned out the parrot like to get wet. Plan foiled. So Andrew did what any bird owner would do, just prior to reaching for a BB gun, he built the parrot its own little parrot car.

Andrew’s idea was to build a little car that his parrot could sit on that would allow the bird to follow his owner around the house. The wheeled vehicle has what appear to be a pair of remote-controlled monster truck tires in the front and freewheeling casters in the back. It has a perch for the bird to sit on and a joystick that the bird can grab with his beak to steer the vehicle around.

The entire works reminds me quite a bit of one of those robotic vacuum cleaners. The BirdBuggy, as the creator calls it, even has a robotic mode to allow the little vehicle to automatically seek out its charging station using a camera integrated into the design. The buggy also has bump sensors and an infrared collision avoidance system.

[via Jalopnik]

Clever cockatoo invents tools to reach food

This Goffin’s cockatoo named Figaro is believed to be the first parrot ever observed to craft tools for reaching food and other objects.

/

Alice Auersberg

Parrots are not known to use tools in the wild, but scientists say they’ve observed a captive Goffin’s cockatoo named Figaro crafting implements to snatch food that’s just out of reach.

Figaro was spotted playing with a pebble in the aviary where he lives at a research facility near Vienna, and at one point, the bird dropped the stone outside the mesh of his caged enclosure. When he couldn’t reach the pebble with his beak or claw, Figaro grabbed a small stick to fish for the stone, the researchers say. 

“To investigate this further we later placed a nut where the pebble had been and started to film,” said Alice Auersperg of the University of Vienna. “To our astonishment he did not go on searching for a stick but started biting a large splinter out of the aviary beam. He cut it when it was just the appropriate size and shape to serve as a raking tool to obtain the nut. It was already a surprise to see him use a tool, but we certainly did not expect him to make one by himself.”

Auersperg said Figaro successfully got the nut each time they placed it just outside of his reach, and almost every time, he fashioned a new tool or modified an old one to be the right shape and size for the task. [See Photos of the Crafty Cockatoo]

Researchers say it is not clear how Figaro learned to invent tools, but they believe their observations show that large-brained, problem-solving species may have the capacity to make and use tools spontaneously even if they don’t do so habitually.

“Even though Figaro is still alone in the species and among parrots in showing this capacity, his feat demonstrates that tool craftsmanship can emerge from intelligence not-specialized for tool use,” said researcher Alex Kacelnik of Oxford University. “Importantly, after making and using his first tool, Figaro seemed to know exactly what to do, and showed no hesitation in later trials.”

Kacelnik has previously led studies on New Caledonian crows, which are expert tool-makers in the wild and seem to hone their craft by learning from elders. But in one case much like Figaro’s, Kacelnik observed a New Caledonian crow named Betty inventing an unprecedented kind of wire-hooking tool to retrieve out-of-reach food.

“We confess to be still struggling to identify the cognitive operations that make these deeds possible,” Kacelnik said. “Figaro, and his predecessor Betty, may help us unlock many unknowns in the evolution of intelligence.”

The research appears this week in the journal Current Biology.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We’re also on Facebook  Google+.

• Pretty Bird: Images of a Clever Parrot
• Creative Creatures: 10 Animals That Use Tools
• The 5 Smartest Non-Primates on the Planet

Birds of a Feather

If you say “hello” to Kumari, she might say it back—but only if you’re lucky.

If Kumari doesn’t return your salutations, it’s not because she’s being rude. As a 15-year-old African Grey parrot, she has the intelligence of a 6-year-old child, and the temperament of a 2-year-old, said her owner Hilliard Williams, who adopted Kumari from Sean Casey Animal Rescue last year.

Kumari has a handful of phrases at her disposal, including “How are you?,” “I love you,” and “Wake up!” But like most two-year olds, she’s finicky about when she chooses to engage in conversation.

“She’ll only talk when she’s in the mood,” Williams told a group of gawking kids outside Sean Casey’s outpost on East 3rd St. on Wednesday.

Parrots may not be the most obedient pets, but as far as Williams is concerned, they’re the best.

“There’s nothing—nothing—like it,” he said, adding that his relationship with Kumari is so intimate that she cleans the corners of his eyes with her beak. “You have to be a parrot owner to appreciate the difference.” 

Williams, who adopted Kumari from Sean Casey last year after she was found left on the side of a road in the Bronx, said he prefers parrots as pets for their distinct personalities.

“She has likes and dislikes. If she likes something, she shows it,” he said. “If she doesn’t like it, she let’s me know.”

Perfect Parrot Perching

Excerpt from BIRD TALK Magazine, February 2011 issue, with permission from its publisher, BowTie Magazines, a division of BowTie Inc. To purchase digital back issues of BIRD TALK Magazine, click here.

The foot of a bird is really amazing. Except when flying, a bird is standing on its feet all of the time. While standing all night would completely tire out a person or dog, parrot feet and legs are perfectly designed for long-term perching. 

When a bird crouches, due to the anatomical connections between the joints and tendons in the area, the digits (toes) automatically clamp around a perch. In addition to the tendons locking, there are minute projections on the under surface of some of the tendons that interdigitate (interlock) and act like a ratchet on the insides of the tendon sheath.

How cool is that? Then when a bird stands, the joints extend and the ratchet action is released.

Because many pet birds have trimmed wing feathers and cannot consistently fly, they spend 24 hours a day standing on their feet. It is for this reason that proper care of the feet is vital. There is a saying among horse people that goes “No feet, no horse.” To some extent, this is very true when it comes to our pet birds, as well. Of course, there are exceptions.

If your parrot is missing its toes, it won’t stop it from being active.

I have a wonderful little Meyer’s parrot named Keeley that was donated to me as a neonate because his mother had chewed off all of his toes while still in the nest. He had two little stumps for feet and, while he could be considered handicapped, nobody told him that! He toddles around on his deformed feet and plays and has a large vocabulary.

He holds a piece of food down under his foot to nibble at it, and he loves to untie knots in pieces of rawhide using his beak and his little foot stump. I have arranged a long, squat cage for him since he can’t perch. He is a happy, healthy bird. Since he lost the major portions of his toes when he was a baby bird, he knows no other way to be. But, problems involving the feet or toes in an older bird can mean serious trouble.

Take The Pressure Off Your Bird’s Feet
Birds need a variety of perches of differing diameters and textures for optimal foot health. Because of the locking mechanism found in the bird’s foot, they can develop pressure points on the bottoms of the feet from constantly standing on perches of the same diameter. (Bumblefoot is used as an all-encompassing term for issues involving infection or inflammation of the foot.) Over time, this can develop into pressure sores, called pododermatitis. Sores can then become infected, resulting in deep lesions that can be very difficult to cure.

In some cases, infections in the feet can even penetrate to the bone, which is called osteomyelitis. These types of infections can require long-term medical therapy and can even result in the loss of toes or the foot itself. If infection invades the tendon sheaths and bone, bacteria can then get into the bloodstream, resulting in life-threatening bacteremia.

If you notice areas on the bottoms of the feet that are thinning, or if you notice a red area, that is the beginning of a pressure sore. Correct any identified husbandry issues immediately to prevent the situation from worsening. Malnutrition can be manifested by changes to the skin and scales of the toes, foot and hock, which can exacerbate foot problems.

If there is a deep lesion or open sore, seek veterinary help immediately. In addition to changing perches, it might be necessary for your bird to receive systemic medications (antibiotics and/or antifungals). Biopsies and cultures might also be necessary. In some cases, it is helpful to wrap a perch in a tightly woven cloth, and then soak the perch in an antiseptic solution. A ball bandage might be applied to cover and treat the lesion.

Overweight birds are more prone to pressure sores. If your avian vet has advised you to work on weight loss for your bird, this is very important in returning your bird to good foot health (and your bird’s health in general). Purchase a good-quality gram scale, and weigh your bird periodically. Follow your avian vet’s advice for achieving safe weight loss for your bird.

Find The Right Perch
To maintain proper foot health, a bird must be provided with perches that are appropriate for the bird’s feet. The majority of the bird’s weight should be balanced on the ball of the foot, and the toes should curl around the perch at a gentle angle. If perches are too narrow in diameter, it will be difficult for a bird to properly hold on to a perch, so the bird might appear to be rocking back and forth in an attempt to balance. A bird should be able to balance on a perch without the toes completely touching each other in a circle.

It is better to err on the side of having too large of a perch rather than having one that is too small. But to accommodate the feet and prevent problems, a variety of perch sizes is vital. I recommend offering natural branch perches (or synthetic ones that look like a natural branch), which have a natural variation in the diameter. If you choose to collect natural branches, make sure that they are clean and free of insects, fungus or wild-bird droppings. Clean and disinfect them prior to introducing the perches into your cage.

Braided rope perches are a comfortable choice for birds to rest on; however, all porous rope or cloth perches must be cleaned and disinfected periodically to prevent the build-up of organisms within.

For special-needs birds with foot or leg problems, custom perches can be helpful. There are corner flat perches that have a basic triangular shape and allow a bird to rest its feet on a flat surface. Other perches have been developed that have a flat top surface that can help take the pressure off the sole of foot, if there is a lesion in that area.

Give Your Bird A Pedicure
It is important that pet birds have their nails trimmed back and shaped periodically. Overgrown claws can easily become caught in toys or cage equipment and can make perching difficult. I have even seen nails overgrown to the point that they can curl all the way around and actually perforate the skin of the feet or adjoining toes.

Nails can be clipped using people-type nail clippers or cat claw clippers. For the larger birds, claws can be trimmed using a high-speed rotary tool (DremelTM). I only recommend using the battery-operated tool to prevent a bird from accidentally biting the electrical cord. Afterward, it might be a good idea to gently file the nails with an emery board or salon nail file to buff down any sharp points. It is easier to identify the blood vessel in nails that are horn or light colored, but it is impossible to see the vessel in black nails.

If you have any doubts or questions about trimming nails, have it performed by a professional, at least initially. It should be mentioned that if a rotary tool is used to trim nails, a different one should be used for each patient, optimally, or for each family’s pet birds, to prevent the transmission of infectious organisms. It is impossible to completely disinfect the sandpaper heads of a rotary tool. I keep the heads in little plastic bags with the owner’s name on them and change them out appropriately.

Bird Grooming Perches
Perches have been developed using a variety of materials intended to safely file back the points on nails when the bird perches on them. The types of sandpaper-perch covers that are designed to fit over wooden perches are too abrasive for smaller birds’ feet. The softer skin on the bottom of a bird’s foot can be abraded by the sandpaper. Since a bird will end up standing on the abrasive perches continually, this can prove harmful to the bottom of the feet over time. There are better and safer choices of abrasive perches for pedicure grooming.

There are perches made of concrete that can safely wear down the tips of nails when the bird stands on them. I recommend placing the pedicure perch as either the highest perch in the cage or as a perch in front of a food bowl, which will ensure that the bird will stand on it frequently. Pedicure perch swings are also a good choice. Over time these perches can become dull and lose the ability to wear down the nail’s points and if this occurs, the perch should either be replaced or roughed up again.

After installing a new pedicure perch in your bird’s cage, check the bottom of its feet periodically to ensure that it isn’t too abrasive, resulting in irritation to the bottoms of the feet. Perches formed from natural cactus skeletons that have an abrasive mixture applied to the holes are another good choice of a pedicure perch.

Even when working properly to wear down the claw tips, it will still be necessary to have the toenails professionally trimmed from time to time to take back the length. Some birds, particularly African greys and Amazons, seem to chew on their nails, often “sharpening” them.

Ailments Affecting A Bird’s Feet
Birds, especially those that are overweight or geriatric, are prone to developing arthritis of the feet. Arthritis is a term meaning degeneration and inflammation of certain joints of the body, and it can involve the joints of the toes, foot and hock. You might notice redness, swelling or heat in one or both feet. If arthritis or another condition affects only one foot, you might notice that the bird stands on the “good” foot more frequently, holding up the sore foot. The claws often grow longer on the foot that isn’t being used as much, as the nails don’t wear down evenly.

Gout is another disease that can affect the joints of the toes and feet. If the kidneys are not functioning properly, toxic waste can build up, resulting in urates being deposited under the skin, on organs internally or in and around the joints. This is a very painful and serious condition. If you ever notice that your bird is drinking excessive quantities of water, or is developing white, yellow or cream spots under the skin, contact your avian vet immediately.

Liver disease can be responsible for overgrown nails and an overgrown beak, often too quickly. While there are other causes for beaks and nails to overgrow (not chewing or playing with toys that cause them to wear down properly) if you notice that the nails are growing too long within a short amount of time, have your avian vet check it out.

Injury to the foot or toes can result in fractures, dislocations, loss of a toe or nail, or even a split of the nail all the way down to the nail bed. All of these conditions require veterinary attention as soon as possible. If you notice ulcers in the skin, any growths, cracking or bleeding, you should seek a veterinarian’s help as soon as possible.

Certain viruses can cause proliferation of the tissue of the scaly skin of the foot.

Thickening (also called hyperkeratosis) of the skin of the feet is often a sign of vitamin-A deficiency (hypovitaminosis A). Supplementation with foods containing beta-carotene, which is converted to active vitamin A in the body, should be offered, or a beta-carotene supplement can be prescribed by your avian veterinarian. Unlike vitamin A, which can be toxic if overdosed, beta-carotene is completely safe and nontoxic, as it is converted to vitamin A as needed, and the rest is excreted unchanged.

Passerines and the smaller parrots are susceptible to mite infestation (Knemidokoptes) in the skin of the feet and legs. This condition is often called scaly leg and face mite disease. This mite causes a proliferation of the tissue of the skin around the beak and cere, around the eyes, cloaca and on the legs. This can be diagnosed by an avian veterinarian and can be treated with oral or injectable medication.

Foot health is one of the most important areas of avian medicine. While “no feet, no horse” doesn’t really apply to our birds, foot problems are clearly very serious in a creature that spends all of its time standing on them. 

Best Things For Your Bird’s Feet
1) Offering a variety of perches in differing textures and diameters

2) Routine grooming to keep nails of proper length

3) Offering a proper diet containing plenty of nutrients necessary for healthy feet, skin and nails

4) Maintaining your bird at a good body weight so the feet are not overly stressed

5) Providing your bird with plenty of exercise and appropriate toys and swings to maintain foot health

Worst Things For Your Bird’s Feet
1) Offering perches of all the same diameter and texture or using perches that are too small in diameter

2) Offering an all-seed diet or a diet not balanced in nutrients, including calcium, protein and beta-carotene

3) Frostbite, from birds standing on metal perches, or if housed outdoors, with no protection from freezing temperatures

4) Clipping or grinding the nails back so that they bleed, or keeping the nails so short that the bird cannot grip properly

5) Not washing your hands prior to handling your bird, especially if you are a smoker (nicotine and other toxins can be transferred from your hands to your bird’s feet)

Bird Foot Anatomy Health
Let’s go over a bit of foot anatomy so that we can be aware of the similarities and differences found in the psittacines foot. Passerine birds and psittacines birds (parrots) have four toes on each foot. Most birds, including the songbirds, have three toes pointing forward and one backwards (the anisodactyl foot). The anisodactyl perching foot of passerines has all toes freely moveable and the well-developed back toe is fully apposable, which gives these birds a firm grip.

Parrots, also with four toes, have two toes facing forward and two facing backwards (the zygodactyl or yoke-toed foot). The zygodactyl foot is adapted for climbing and grasping. The zygodactyl foot of the parrot has an even better ability to grip and hold because of the two pairs of apposable toes. This is why a parrot can use its foot like a hand and grip food.

The skin of the foot is covered with scales on both the top and plantar (bottom) surfaces. The scales should be uniform in texture and color. Flaking, thickening, hemorrhage, crusting or ulcers can occur on the feet and can be indicative of malnutrition, infections or parasitic diseases.

Psittacine and passerine birds possess a horny claw at the end of each digit. There is a dorsal plate that forms the top ridge and side walls of the claw, and a softer ventral plate on the sole of the claw. The dorsal plate grows faster than the ventral plate, which explains why the claws normally are curved. Each claw has a blood supply and a nerve. If, by mistake, a claw is clipped or ground back to the point that it bleeds, there is always the potential to introduce infection through the wound.

Clipping nails back to make them bleed is a painful procedure and should not be done on purpose. A gel or liquid cautery agent can be applied to a bleeding toenail to stop bleeding. There are some cautery agents available that also contain an antiseptic, such as chlorhexidine, which I recommend, to minimize the risk of infection. In an emergency situation, if a nail is bleeding, use a bit of ice on the tip to cause the blood vessel to contract, or scrape the nail against a bar of soap to seal the tip. A pinch of flour on the tip will also encourage clotting. An old-time remedy that actually works is a spider’s web. Apply a bit of spun silk to the bleeding tip, and it will encourage clotting.

If the claws grow too long, the blood vessel in them will also grow out. This means that it won’t be possible to trim back the nails to the correct length without causing pain and bleeding. It is better to trim back overgrown nails a bit at a time, but more frequently, to encourage the quicks to recede until the nails are returned back to the correct length.

Parrots delight on fair’s final day

Print this Article
Email this Article

Buy This Photo

“;
aryZooms[imgCounter] = “javascript: NewWindow(870,625,window.document.location+’Template=photosimg=”+imgCounter+”‘)”;
var photoCredit = “”;
if (!photoCredit)
{
document.getElementById(‘purchasePhoto’).style.display = “none”;
}
else if (creditCheck(photoCredit)) {
document.getElementById(‘purchasePhoto’).style.display = “none”;
}
else
{
document.getElementById(‘purchasePhoto’).style.display = “inline”;
}
bolImages=true;

“; aryZooms[imgCounter] = “javascript: NewWindow(870,625,window.document.location+’Template=photosimg=”+imgCounter+”‘)”;

Children beamed and squealed as bright yellow, orange and green parrots fluttered around The Expo Sunday, snatching dollar bills from outstretched arms and perching on unsuspecting heads.

“I love parrots,” Brittanny Pohlman said. “I think it’s amazing that they come get the money.”

The Pirate’s Parrot Show was a hit for those visiting the summer fair on its last day. Dressed in pirate’s costumes, the owners of the parrots paraded back and forth on the stage as various parrots flew into the audience or circled around The Expo, squawking overhead.

A sailing ship in the background enhanced the pirate’s theme.

Pohlman, an 18-year-old from Central Point, has her own parrot, Alejandro, which she said enjoys shopping with her at the mall.

“My parrot snuggles on my shoulders and says, ‘I love you,’ ” she said.

When she held up a bill, a sun conure snagged it in its beak, flew to a glass jar and attempted to drop it inside, but the wind picked up and the money flew away.

Pohlman retrieved it, holding it up for the bird again. “I get a redo,” she cried, excitedly. “You didn’t get it in the bowl.”

Two-year-old Lanaya Tripp was transfixed as a sun conure nested on her head for a few minutes. She barely moved a muscle, hoping the bird would stay on her head.

“She absolutely loves birds,” said her mother, Savannah Britton, a 21-year-old from Central Point. “I might have to get her a bird.”

Chris Biro, who dresses in pirate garb and emcees the show, released 30 parrots, from giant hyacinth macaws and cockatoos to the little conures that darted from hand to hand and head to head. Some birds carefully folded the bills, making it easier to drop them in the jar.

Biro explained to the audience that sun conures are an endangered species, and he is working on a program to raise baby conures for release into the wild. Even though they are becoming rarer in South America, the conures are a popular bird raised domestically.

Biro said he has been training birds for 22 years, becoming intrigued after he helped teach a parrot to stop biting.

His assistant, Susan Hilliard, has been working with parrots for eight years at their aviary on Whidbey Island, Wash.

Hilliard and Biro have trained their birds to fly back to them. They’ve even taken them to Moab, Utah, where they soar high above the mesas.

Parrots perched on Hilliard’s head and shoulders, contentedly snuggling against her hair. “I’m mama,” she said.

Melissa Graham, a 32-year-old White City mother, said her daughter, 8-year-old Meleah, loves parrots and was surprised how gentle they were.

Graham said the parrot show was the highlight of the day for her.

“It helps educate people and, at the same time, entertains them,” she said.

Redonna Holtzworth is a 39-year-old mother who brought two of her boys to the Expo. “They liked the rides,” she said.

But Holtzworth was charmed by the friendly birds that added a tropical air to the fair. “It’s definitely the most unique thing I’ve seen in a while,” she said.

Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or email dmann@mailtribune.com.