I just have a LOT of questions.

[Vicki5280]

I have a bunch of questions that individually probably belong in another area, but I keep trying to get the posted and keep getting distracted, so I think this is the only way I'll ever get to ask them. So, begging your forgiveness, I'm just going to list them all out... here goes!

1. How do I know how much food (mash, pellets, etc) and how often to feed my birds? Is there a formula anywhere? (They require x number of calories/gram for flighted or nonflighted? Something like that?)

2. For those of you with GCCs - I've heard JJ make a loud noise 2-3 (maybe 4?) times in 10 days. Is this common? Is it because she's young? When did your baby start calling out like a "normal" bird? The only sound she makes sounds like a quiet little "grumble." It's not her baby beg - that was LOUD. And it's not her beak grinding, that's usually more rhythmic - and it gives me chills when she's on my shoulder doing it. It's just a little grumble that I compare to a whisper. Does your bird do that?

3. Does your GCC talk? At all? If so, when did she/he start?

4. How can I keep my flighted GCC from flying up behind me and landing on my shoulder? head? back of my shirt? ponytail? etc.? It's not like I'm abandoning her in the other room, I'm putting her on a tree-stand 12 feet away from me. She just wont stay there. I keep putting her back and she keeps flying to me (unless I'm looking at her with a clicker and a treat asking her to, then she just sits there with her head cocked and stares at me) . I hate returning her to her "bedroom"/cage, but that's just what I end up needing to do sometimes.

5. How cold is too cold in the house (in general)? Our house stays pretty cool, and while I'm quite certain Bucky is fine, I sometimes worry about JJ, and now Posei (Lovebird). Our house is old and poorly insulated, and it can get pretty cool during the winter (low 50's at night). Their cages are on an inside wall, not too near the fireplace, away from the window, away from drafts, it's as temperature-stable an area as I can find in my house that's in a populated area. (Our junk-room would probably be more comfortable temperature-wise, but nobody is ever in there.) Since we're coming into spring/summer, it shouldn't be too bad, and I'm hoping that with their fall molt they'll just grow in more down to compensate for the cooler temperature. Is that a reasonable hope?

Hmm. That's all I can come up with right now, but I know I'm forgetting some. It just seems like the more I read and find out, the more I don't know (a particularly frustrating feeling for me ).

Well, thanks in advance to anyone who may feel compelled to help me out. I appreciate it.
~Vicki

[Miramis]

Heya,

No expert here, but I found this reading very interesting when it comes to general training for flighted birds. I do not know whether or not linking to another place for training is ok here, if not, feel free to moderate the post obviously.

http://www.robharvey.com/information/training.html

Maybe that will give you some hints and tips!

/Nina

[CheekyandMalolo]

1. I use a small stainless steel dish to measure out how much I give our two GCC's, and usually by the end of the day their bowl is not empty, I would much rather have food left over than restrict what they eat. I don't think you'll have much trouble feeding their pellets ad lib.

2. That's just a GCC 'talking' noise, think of it like the way a Budgie chatters.

3. Our first GCC was a girl and lived with two Tiels, she barely made a noise. Now we have a boy and a girl and they chatter and play all day! My boy talks, he says 'Hello Rory', 'Hey Roreeeee!', 'Hello', and just recently 'Step Up!' (more like, step up, step up, step up, STEP UP!!) He's 6 months old now, he's probably been talking since he was 4 months?? Tika just yells when you take Rory out of the room.

4. When you put your GCC down, give it something to focus on. For our two it's always food. Their favourite at the moment is a piece of Cruskit, the bigger the better. Before that it was sultanas, until I ran out. I know, bad mum. Not only are they getting a reward for staying on the perch, but they get something to focus on (and give you just enough time to get out of the room!). For now make it that they only get that something while they're on their perch/cage/whatever.

5. I think you'd find if they're in a constant temperature range, they acclimatize to that temp. At night I would cover them with a polar fleece blanky, but you'll find they should be fine. Sound like they've got the best seat in the house.

Feel free to PM me with any more questions, I love to talk GCCs

[kaylayuh]

My birds are currently on a seed diet. I fill their dishes up about an inch full and they eat all through the day. I give them each fresh foods, which I usually end up throwing away. Those follow about the same measurement. Most food packages should give you a measurement on the side of what the minimum you should be feeding your bird is. Unless your bird is dropping weight and the color, consistency, frequency, and size of their droppings change, you're probably getting it right.

My GCC says some words, I swear. I swear he does, but I think I may be the only one who can hear and/or understand them. I'm pretty sure he's said "stop it", "hey baby", and "hi bird". I try to get him to say it on cue, but he never has. I also don't know how old he is as the rescue found him abandoned in someone's back yard, but I've heard most birds start around a year old.

Be thankful your GCC is quiet for now. Mine is very demanding now that it's hormone season and sometimes I find myself asking what I got myself into. He just goes and goes and goes like the energizer bunny of screaming birds. This is just because he's hormonal, and I'm hoping once spring is over, he'll return back to his normal quiet state.

Once you put her down, give her something to focus on. A favorite toy or some food should do the trick. Other than that, I'm really not sure how to stop it.

This is funny because I was worrying about how hot is too hot. I'd say if the bird's behavior changes, you know it may be too cold. My power went out for about six hours back in February when the temperatures were in the 30s and I tried holding the budgies and cuddling them for warmth. I was freezing so I figured they were, too. They wanted no part of it and seemed fine, still playful and eating. I wouldn't voluntarily let it get that cold around my birds, but in the 50s should be fine. They acclimate pretty well to temperatures if the temperatures don't change too quickly.

[Vikki]

There was actually a really good article in the last Bird Talk magazine about food and feeding practices, how most owners feed too much because they are afraid their birds will go hungry.

The way we feed our birds is that we use a measuring cup and feed the nut and fruit mix in the morning, 1/4 cup for the little guys, a 1/2 cup for the big guys and then when I get home at night they get fresh fruit and veg. That's it. You can adjust their food intake as you see fit or observe their eating and make a judgement call. We used to fill our big guys dishes with probably a cup and a half of the dry mix and it would be bone dry in a few hours and we were like "god, they eat like pigs". But if you sweep up the floor and shovel out the bottom of their cages you will see that probably 60% was dumped. Give your bird less and less until you see very little waste and then you will have the golden number.

[Michael]

I know damn little about gcc's but I'll answer the questions that apply to parrots in general.

1. How do I know how much food (mash, pellets, etc) and how often to feed my birds? Is there a formula anywhere? (They require x number of calories/gram for flighted or nonflighted? Something like that?)

You don't actually know how much to feed and you can't listen to what anyone else tells you (in exact amounts) because each individual bird is different. However, there is a good method of establishing a base line standard (and even this will fluctuate over years and seasons so it must be recalibrated every few months). You will definitely need a gram scale and keep detailed track of the bird's weight. If you have a good memory, you can just become familiar with the weight range. However, if you have multiple birds or a complex situation, then it's good to chart the weights.

There are 3 weights you are really looking for so you may have to weigh the bird 3 times daily for a little while. You want to know the bare minimum empty weight (best time is after it drops it's morning glory), the after meal full weight, and the average weight over time. Most people only focus on the average but I think this one is least important of all. It's more important to know how much your bird's weight naturally ranges from least to most because this also tells you how much food it consumes. However, if you keep water in the bird's cage all the time you could get tricked by water weight rather than food weight. So a few times, leave the water out, weigh the bird before meal, weigh the bird when it lost all interest in food, then give water and weigh again.

For my Cape Parrot this could look something like this.

Morning empty weight: 320g
Post meal weight: 330g
Post water weight: 340g

If I had just weighed him before and after the full deal, I would think he ate 20g of pellets and wouldn't know what role water played. I've noticed that my birds drink about 1g of water for ever 1g of pellets they eat but this can vary. So what I learned is that my Cape eats about 10g of pellets per meal twice a day. If I want a better chance of training him in the afternoon, I may give him 8g of pellets instead. This is more scientific than I actually do it because I can now eyeball how much food to give, but just to give you a sense of how it works.

Of course all of the above presumes a 2 meal a day feeding schedule with no food in between (just water). If the birds eat twice a day, fly, and get exercise, I don't think it is possible for them to get too obese, even if you give unlimited feeding in the morning and evening. However, leaving food in all day can cause trouble.

A safer method of food management I suggest is by time rather than by weight. Give as much food as they want to eat in 30 minutes in two daily meals and that's it. This means they eat what they can/want and no more over eating. I can still train my birds when using this feeding strategy because I simply train them prior to meals and let them make up their caloric balance during the unrestricted meals.

Regardless of method used, you should be able to see the bird maintaining the range you have established during normal feeding. It may take multiple weight measurements to get a real idea of the weight range it goes through.

4. How can I keep my flighted GCC from flying up behind me and landing on my shoulder? head? back of my shirt? ponytail? etc.? It's not like I'm abandoning her in the other room, I'm putting her on a tree-stand 12 feet away from me. She just wont stay there. I keep putting her back and she keeps flying to me (unless I'm looking at her with a clicker and a treat asking her to, then she just sits there with her head cocked and stares at me) . I hate returning her to her "bedroom"/cage, but that's just what I end up needing to do sometimes.

I shake my birds off if they land on me unwelcome. I only give treats or shoulder time for coming for a recall. I try to provide opportunities to recall when I see they are anxious to come anyway.

5. How cold is too cold in the house (in general)? Our house stays pretty cool, and while I'm quite certain Bucky is fine, I sometimes worry about JJ, and now Posei (Lovebird). Our house is old and poorly insulated, and it can get pretty cool during the winter (low 50's at night). Their cages are on an inside wall, not too near the fireplace, away from the window, away from drafts, it's as temperature-stable an area as I can find in my house that's in a populated area. (Our junk-room would probably be more comfortable temperature-wise, but nobody is ever in there.) Since we're coming into spring/summer, it shouldn't be too bad, and I'm hoping that with their fall molt they'll just grow in more down to compensate for the cooler temperature. Is that a reasonable hope?

Prevent drafts and fluctuations of over 10-20 degrees daily and it's fine. Anything over 40, as long as it is consistent, most parrots can deal with. It's the rapid changes in temperature that hurt them. But they're not like mammals. They don't change their insulation seasonally. They just manipulate it to trap more or less air. They can also alter their metabolism to produce more or less heat. When it's a gradual change, they acclimatize (and usually eat more which is why I previously said weight management may need to be readjusted, more food may be necessary to maintain healthy weight).

I do not know whether or not linking to another place for training is ok here, if not, feel free to moderate the post obviously.

Would you consider this spam? Do you see any reason for someone else to consider it spam? If you have a strong personal interest in people visiting this site (particularly if it is not related to parrots or the topic) and your sole purpose is to draw people away from the forum and to that site, then it may fall into the category of spam. If it's a genuine effort to participate in the topic and point to a relevant source of helpful parrot information, then it is totally allowed. However, I do prefer people try to talk about what they are linking to a little by summarizing the purpose of the linked page in their own words. Try to add something of your own to the discussion and use the link to back you up. This way we can keep the discussion going even if people don't choose to read the complete article. But sometimes it's a link back to a previous discussion or something with the same outcome that the poster is unaware of, then it's fine.

[Miramis]

Would you consider this spam? Do you see any reason for someone else to consider it spam? If you have a strong personal interest in people visiting this site (particularly if it is not related to parrots or the topic) and your sole purpose is to draw people away from the forum and to that site, then it may fall into the category of spam. If it's a genuine effort to participate in the topic and point to a relevant source of helpful parrot information, then it is totally allowed. However, I do prefer people try to talk about what they are linking to a little by summarizing the purpose of the linked page in their own words. Try to add something of your own to the discussion and use the link to back you up. This way we can keep the discussion going even if people don't choose to read the complete article. But sometimes it's a link back to a previous discussion or something with the same outcome that the poster is unaware of, then it's fine.

Fair enough, and duly noted.

[patdbunny]

I would like to make a comment on the feeding schedule thing. If you're going to feed a specific quantity or at particular times of day, have a plan in mind of how the bird will get fed if something happened to the primary feeder and the primary feeder can't feed the bird.

I mention this because many years ago I was unavailable and asked my husband to feed my birds for me. He forgot one cage of parrotlets. At that time I was feeding only what would be consumed in a certain amount of time. So when I had gotten back and discovered the parrotlets had not been fed, they had not eaten for about 24 hours. The female was laying on the bottom of the cage and weak. She ate ravenously and recovered.

I'm not sure if the smaller birds have low blood sugar issues. I have only had this type of thing happen with smaller birds, specifically parrotlets and finches.

In a pet household I would be concerned in the event of a family emergency and no one could get home for a day or two to feed the birds. We don't like to think about these things, but they are not outside the realm of possibilities. Some sort of low cal snack available 24/7 might not be a bad idea.

[GlassOnion]

This is how I do it. I make a bunch of small birdie pancakes with pellets, grains, veggies, fruits and an egg. I make them so they're about an inch and a half in diameter and put them in the fridge. In the morning I microwave a pancake, let it cool and feed them on a small plate with some more veggies. That's breakfast.

Then for lunch/dinner they'll get sprouted seeds and whatever else I feel like feeding them that day.

In the evening I try to save the seeds for training.

Ps, birdie pancakes do wonders if your bird won't eat veggies.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

1. How do I know how much food (mash, pellets, etc) and how often to feed my birds?

I have dry food (pellet, seed, dried extras for the GCC and pellet, dried fruit, pasta, spices for the Cape) freely available, although by trial and error I try to only put out what will get used in 24-48 hours. I'm trying to make this more of a foraging opportunity for the GCC and the Cape usually has some nut-foraging thing going on. With the fresh food, I put out about what will get eaten, which I just do by eye based on experience. I weigh the birds occasionally (about monthly) unless I think something might be going on, then I do it more frequently. So far they are maintaining weight without my needing or wanting to manage quantities the way I would with a horse on concentrates.

2. For those of you with GCCs - I've heard JJ make a loud noise 2-3 (maybe 4?) times in 10 days. Is this common? [...]The only sound she makes sounds like a quiet little "grumble." [...] Does your bird do that?

Scooter has several noises I think are natural GCC calls/noises and a number of learned ones. He does a fairly loud "Eeep! -- Eeep! -- Eeep!" that I think is a natural contact call. He has an alarm sound, which is a rapid fire "Ack-ack-ack-ack-ack!" and he has a sort of trilling quiet sound that seems to be a content sound akin to purring. He also has a number of learned sounds, some of which are clear human speech, some are quasi-speech like and some are just learned noises. Early on, we played a monkey-see-monkey-do game and he'd make a sort of "vurrp" ish sound, which I'd mimic, and now when he wants to do this, he says"Vurp!" more the way I do, in rhythym with the movement.

3. Does your GCC talk? At all? If so, when did she/he start?

Yes. He has some very clear speech, and a lot more that sounds speech-ish, but which I can't quite make out. Currently the things he says a lot are "Pretty scoo-scoo", "Pretty scoo-bird", "Thank you, Scoo". When he's in or on his cage and wants to come to me, he will say the "pretty" phrases with increasing intensity, then adding in a sort of sharp summoning whistle, and when he reaches the desperation point, a wolf-whistle. Hard to resist.

4. How can I keep my flighted GCC from flying up behind me and landing on my shoulder? head? back of my shirt? ponytail? etc.?

I can't even keep my clipped GCC from flying across the room to me if I ignore the wolf-whistle too long. I think this is one advantage to clipping though. If the bird is fully flighted, it has to really WANT to stay on the playstand, otherwise it just plain won't. One reason I do trim Scooter is so he can be out more often.

5. How cold is too cold in the house (in general)? Our house stays pretty cool, and while I'm quite certain Bucky is fine, I sometimes worry about JJ, and now Posei (Lovebird).

I don't really know the answer to that. We heat to at least the low 60s when it gets colder than that, and the room the birds are in is the one that heats most efficiently. Do they have an enclosed small area or a protected corner they can snuggle into at night? I do know heaters also pose their own risks. I kept the house colder at night pre-birds because I like to sleep in a cool room -- husband is happier this way.