First time looking after a parrot and need some help please.

[Becky12]

Hi I am new here, I am looking after my parents parrot for a quite a while so I am new to the whole parrot thing, he is a blue crowned conure called Charlie and is 25 years old. I had to take him to the vet recently and he was given lots of tests and xrays, they told me he had a repository disease and slightly low protein. I was also told he would need a nebuliser, the vet recommended a childs one. I wondered if anyone here could tell me how I use the nebuliser on Charlie as I would really appreciate the help Also any advice and help on looking after a Conure would be greatly appreciated please as I really want the best for him.
Also my parents never really handled him or had him out of the cage and I know that they should be so I wondered if I would still be able to train him to come out of the cage and be handled even though I know he is quite old. His wings aren't clipped and he does bite a bit but I just want to make his stay as comfortable as possible with us.

[Wolf]

I have never had to use a nebulizer on anything much less on a bird and so I suggest that you either call your vet for proper instructions or take him and the nebulizer in and have the vet show you how to use it.
I don't know what you need to know, but basically your parents should have given you some instructions for his feeding and care and since it is their bird I would pretty much follow their instructions. Birds are creatures of habit and if they are expecting to get the bird back I would not change anything without their consent. If this may be one of those situations where they are thinking of leaving the bird with you permanently then we have a different situation and I will be very happy to assist you in any way that I can. Still, if you care to share their instructions with us, I will try to help you as much as I can. If changes would be required for the wellbeing of the bird, then you can get the permissions required and we can go from there. It would help to know what you need to know or some idea of that so we know where to start.

[ParrotsForLife]

Aw a Blue crowned conure one of my favourites as well as the Movie Paulie with the talking Blue crowned conure.

[Becky12]

Hi, the vet was very brief about the nebuliser when I asked her about it. When I go to pick him up tomorrow I will see if I can speak to another vet and get there advice The instructions I was given was that he mainly only eats sunflowers seeds, they have tried him on others but he just doesn't eat anything other than that, other foods they said to give him were grapes, apple,mango, carrots, lettuce also crackers and cheddars occasionally as well as a bit of chicken. My mum used to fill the bowl half full with seeds and filled it daily as well as fresh water - Is that the correct way to do it? He's such a lovely bird and so talkative which I love. The vet told me he is getting quite old I just want to make sure he is living a comfortable and healthy life with us here

[Wolf]

To be honest with you that is a terrible diet for him or any other parrot. So I would speak to the vet about his diet as well and find out if he is strong enough for a diet change and if so them find out what the vet recommends and let us know and find out if you are going to be allowed to try to improve his diet and we will help you with that. If you are going to give him lettuce get romaine or any of the other leaf lettuces but not the head lettuce, also called iceburg lettuce as it has no nutritional value to it. and never feed a bird avocado or anything that has it in it as it is toxic to birds. The vet is probably less experienced in parrot diets than most of us that have had our parrots for a long time as the vet books only have one short chapter on parrot nutrition which is based on chickens and cockatiels and there are over 350 different species of parrots with their own nutritional requirements. But the vet can tell if the bird is strong enough to start changing its diet to something better without it getting sick from the stresses of the change, plus it would help with getting the permissions needed to do this.

[Becky12]

Okay I will have a chat with the vet tomorrow and see what she says about being able to change his diet. As I say I am not hugely familiar with conures and am new to all this so as much advice and help would be hugely appreciated as I want to do what is best for him

[Wolf]

there are a lot of respiratory infections and diseases to choose from so it would help to know which one he is being treated for. It would help to know what his current scheduling is beginning with when does he get up in the mornings, What he does during the day, how much out of cage time he has both free time and one on one time and when he goes to bed in the evening. It also would help to know if his cage is covered at night or not. Where is his cage located? Is it near a window or not? What is the size of the cage ?
I know that some questions will seem like prying, but they really are not as these things all affect your birds health and wellbeing as well as his behaviors. The more detailed your answers are the more accurate our suggestions to you will be. If you have the time it would be good for you to research for yourself the things that are suggested to you. The reason is for your education and the fact is that there are no experts when it comes to anything related to parrots. The trade in exotic birds did not open up until around 1980 and the research relating to parrots started a few years after that, so most of what we actually know about them is only about 20 to 25 years old. There is so much more that we don't know than what we do know. Given that parrots have lifespans ranging from 15 years to over 80 years, most of the studies and research are short term as there has not yet been time for the long term ones to yield any results.
We will be happy to share what we know with you as well as to answer your questions and make suggestions based on what you tell us about your bird, our experiences and knowledge.

Oh, by the way try and post pictures of your bird, we love to ooh and aah over them and sometimes they can help us to make better suggestions, but mostly because we like them.

[Becky12]

I will ask today, she was quite brief on the phone as I know she had other patients to look at so I didn't want to keep her too long as I'd wrote down a list of questions to ask today.
According to my mother he doesn't like to come out of his cage much even when she's left it open, she said he gets quite territorial and bites at her fingers/hand although he does eat from her hand okay and is happy to take things from us out of out hand. Is there a way we can try and calm him and teach him that it is okay and safe to come out of the cage? We do cover his cage at bed time as that is what mother used to do. He goes to bed at around 8:30 - 9pm and gets up at around 8am everyday, his cage is on an inside wall, the window is on the other side of the room but he can see what is going on. I am at home for most of the day so I'm nearly always sat with him, I talk to him and play with his toys, he has a wooden one that he really loves and when you sit with him he will push it and wait for me to push it back, we also put music on and he likes to dance along with it. He also has his foot toys and he especially loves his rope toys. He isn't as active as he once was though but I don't know if that is due to him getting older or not? These are the measurements for the bird cage - H;142 W;54 L;54cm it is a cage on castors and has an open top too.

[Becky12]

Just thought I'd give an update Charlie is home with us now, he has been given some antiiotics called marbocyl and needs to be given them daily. The vet has said we can use a nebuliser if we wanted too. She said that it is mainly down to his age but she has said that she will get him some Harrisons boost food also for us and that we just need to keep an eye on him. He is still a little unsteady and is sitting in the side of his cage instead of on his perch which the vet said was fine and that he was doing that when he was there. He is eating more now and is more his usual self thank goodness.

[Wolf]

If you have a heating pad then you could wrap it in a towel and place it in the bottom of his cage covered with newspaper to help keep him warm. the heating pad needs to be warm to the touch but not hot. It doesn't need to be very warm as long as it is warm as you don't want him to get burned by it also wrap the cord so that he can't chew on it.