Why do people not update on their Bird

[Mum2rory]

I agree with all the above. We are not here to criticise, chastise, be a vet etc, but to help, swap ideas and stories etc. This is where we all learn about our birds and sometimes about ourselves.
I just find it frustrating, thats all. If anyone wants to know about my birds or me, just ask. I dont intend to leave unless kicked out. I know I can PM a member, but if they are not posting anymore, chances are, they dont even log on (do they get an email to say they have a pm?) There sure have been some "worrying" posts on here but we will never know what became of them cos they have gone from this forum.

[liz]

"I'm just a soul who's inentions are good. Oh LORD please don't let me be misunderstood."

I don't like to be critisized but I do take constructive critisim very well. When I am affraid for a little creature I fling it out and forget to be tactful. I forget that the other person does not know me. I do go back and appologize though.

I was in a grocery store while a woman with a child in her cart was picking produce. The kid put a plastic vegetable bag over it's head. Reflex - I snatch the bag off it's head. The kid cried. The mother cussed me out for messing with he kid. There was no stopping her so I handed her the bag and left. I only hope she figured it out and prevented it from happening again.

[Maria]

A blow dryer is ok, ONLY IF:

It's set on a very light setting, NOT hot/high, but the lowest setting which has lukish warm air, the setting also which the air is not coming out forcefully, but very lightly, mild, slow. The lukish warm air should not have too much coolness to it either, or the bird could get sick from catching a chill from the cool air when wet. But the air should be a comfortable warm; just a little bit warm, right above cool.

You hold the blow dryer AN ARMS LENGTH AWAY from the bird WITH ALSO FANNING YOUR FINGERS IN FRONT OF THE AIRFLOW (YOUR HAND BETWEEN THE BLOW DRYER AND THE BIRD)

You should bathe the bird early in the morning to give them time to dry out during the day, never put them to bed still wet. Leave them out on perch tree stand to dry out during the day.

The blowdryer in the above fashion can be used to help dry the bird most of the way, but not to where they're bone dry. Let them air dry out the rest of the way. This is because you want to be careful with their skin. You're just using the blow dryer, mainly, to get rid of some excess, to help them dry "some" of the way.

AND - if the bird ever should catch a chill when they're wet from bathing (you'll see them shivering), you need to warm them up real quick, or they could get sick. You warm them up from this by going into a room with them, close the door, plug in a small electric heater to gently and slowly heat up the room. DO NOT PUT THIS AIR FLOW FROM THE HEATER ON THE BIRD. Just let it warm up the room with the bird in the room, until you see the bird has stopped shivering and is back to normal. You have to be especially careful of this in winter time. Do not let your bird catch a chill when wet. In winter make sure your home is not cold when you bathe them.

When you bathe a bird every three to four weeks, you really have to pretty much saturate them down to their skin. BUT GENTLY. The parrot specialty shop where I bought my bird says the best and easiest way to bathe a bird is put them in the bathtub, and using those shower heads that you can take down, that are on a hose, set it to the gentle spray, and spray them down. They can get out of the sink, but they can't get out of the bathtub. The water should be luke warm, not cold, but with just a little bit of cool in it, and some warmth in it. Again, when describing the warmth part, this is a gentle, comfortable warm; not too warm, and not hot. Put a CLEAN wash cloth under their feet for them to step on, while doing this, which is the way the bottom of their feet get clean. Any wash cloth used for this, ALWAYS RINSE IN CLEAN WATER FIRST, GETTING ANY DETERGENT OR BLEACH RESIDUE OUT OF IT, WHICH IS LEFT OVER FROM MACHINE WASHING.

Indoor born and raised birds don't know what bathing is, and learn to love it, and know it's what they need, and how good it feels to their skin, just like outdoor born and raised birds. They will like it and begin to play - you will see signs of them liking the baths, like lifing their wings, and things like that. And you will eventually see the bird trying to take their own bath in their water bowl in their cage, which is too cute and funny, and it's another sign they're learning about baths and liking it - and taking a bath in their water bowl is also a sign that it's time to bathe them. Mine does all these cute kinds of things when bathing, and tries to also take a bath in his bowl. And at times, he will perch on my arm, over the bathtub, while I spray him gently like that, with the showerhead, and he lifts his wings and has the cutest look in his eyes. You will grow to learn the look in your birds eyes, facial expressions, and body language, as to whether they're happy, and even as to whether they're stressed. When I mist him with a water spray bottle, he lifts up his wings and holds them up, and makes cute joyful noises. He loves it, and starts playing. Misting is a nice refresher type, but misting can not necessarily saturate through to the skin, which is what is needed. Misting is more of a playful interaction time for the bird.

The reason(s) for rinsing down (bathing) your bird is so that the oils in their skin doesn't dry out - or else they can get skin irritations - similar to Eczema. You also bathe them because of bird dust. And these reasons are why you see outside birds bathe on their own too, splashing around in puddles of water they find or in bird baths people provide outside for birds to bathe in. If you sat around in a cage all day, you'd get dusty and dirty too LOL. Granted, you also have to have your bird out of the cage, let them play, get exercise, and interact with them, for at least two hours a day as well; but the bathing also cuts down on bird dust. Bird dust is a normal thing for birds.

I hope the lady who washes her bird with soap three times a week and blow drys him, comes back and reads this post for educational purposes. And three times a week, that is just too much, un-needed, and is probably stressful for the bird. Soap, I know, is definately stressful for the bird. If this is being done with her bird, that bird is suffering, and I'm worried about that bird. Goodness, what if the soap is getting in the poor birds eyes too!!!!!!!

I want to know, where ever did she get the idea to use soap to bathe birds!?!?!? That needs to be stopped right away.

[Maria]

(do they get an email to say they have a pm?)

Mum - yes, they get an email to say they have a pm. I have gotten emails letting me know I have "received a private message on/from parrot forum". That's when I logged in and saw I had a PM from someone.

[liz]

A blow dryer is ok, ONLY IF:

It's set on a very light setting, NOT hot/high, but the lowest setting which has lukish warm air, the setting also which the air is not coming out forcefully, but very lightly, mild, slow. The lukish warm air should not have too much coolness to it either, or the bird could get sick from catching a chill from the cool air when wet. But the air should be a comfortable warm; just a little bit warm, right above cool.

You hold the blow dryer AN ARMS LENGTH AWAY from the bird WITH ALSO FANNING YOUR FINGERS IN FRONT OF THE AIRFLOW (YOUR HAND BETWEEN THE BLOW DRYER AND THE BIRD)

You should bathe the bird early in the morning to give them time to dry out during the day, never put them to bed still wet. Leave them out on perch tree stand to dry out during the day.

The blowdryer in the above fashion can be used to help dry the bird most of the way, but not to where they're bone dry. Let them air dry out the rest of the way. This is because you want to be careful with their skin. You're just using the blow dryer, mainly, to get rid of some excess, to help them dry "some" of the way.

AND - if the bird ever should catch a chill when they're wet from bathing (you'll see them shivering), you need to warm them up real quick, or they could get sick. You warm them up from this by going into a room with them, close the door, plug in a small electric heater to gently and slowly heat up the room. DO NOT PUT THIS AIR FLOW FROM THE HEATER ON THE BIRD. Just let it warm up the room with the bird in the room, until you see the bird has stopped shivering and is back to normal. You have to be especially careful of this in winter time. Do not let your bird catch a chill when wet. In winter make sure your home is not cold when you bathe them.

When you bathe a bird every three to four weeks, you really have to pretty much saturate them down to their skin. BUT GENTLY. The parrot specialty shop where I bought my bird says the best and easiest way to bathe a bird is put them in the bathtub, and using those shower heads that you can take down, that are on a hose, set it to the gentle spray, and spray them down. They can get out of the sink, but they can't get out of the bathtub. The water should be luke warm, not cold, but with just a little bit of cool in it, and some warmth in it. Again, when describing the warmth part, this is a gentle, comfortable warm; not too warm, and not hot. Put a CLEAN wash cloth under their feet for them to step on, while doing this, which is the way the bottom of their feet get clean. Any wash cloth used for this, ALWAYS RINSE IN CLEAN WATER FIRST, GETTING ANY DETERGENT OR BLEACH RESIDUE OUT OF IT, WHICH IS LEFT OVER FROM MACHINE WASHING.

Indoor born and raised birds don't know what bathing is, and learn to love it, and know it's what they need, and how good it feels to their skin, just like outdoor born and raised birds. They will like it and begin to play - you will see signs of them liking the baths, like lifing their wings, and things like that. And you will eventually see the bird trying to take their own bath in their water bowl in their cage, which is too cute and funny, and it's another sign they're learning about baths and liking it - and taking a bath in their water bowl is also a sign that it's time to bathe them. Mine does all these cute kinds of things when bathing, and tries to also take a bath in his bowl. And at times, he will perch on my arm, over the bathtub, while I spray him gently like that, with the showerhead, and he lifts his wings and has the cutest look in his eyes. You will grow to learn the look in your birds eyes, facial expressions, and body language, as to whether they're happy, and even as to whether they're stressed. When I mist him with a water spray bottle, he lifts up his wings and holds them up, and makes cute joyful noises. He loves it, and starts playing. Misting is a nice refresher type, but misting can not necessarily saturate through to the skin, which is what is needed. Misting is more of a playful interaction time for the bird.

The reason(s) for rinsing down (bathing) your bird is so that the oils in their skin doesn't dry out - or else they can get skin irritations - similar to Eczema. You also bathe them because of bird dust. And these reasons are why you see outside birds bathe on their own too, splashing around in puddles of water they find or in bird baths people provide outside for birds to bathe in. If you sat around in a cage all day, you'd get dusty and dirty too LOL. Granted, you also have to have your bird out of the cage, let them play, get exercise, and interact with them, for at least two hours a day as well; but the bathing also cuts down on bird dust. Bird dust is a normal thing for birds.

I hope the lady who washes her bird with soap three times a week and blow drys him, comes back and reads this post for educational purposes. And three times a week, that is just too much, un-needed, and is probably stressful for the bird. Soap, I know, is definately stressful for the bird. If this is being done with her bird, that bird is suffering, and I'm worried about that bird. Goodness, what if the soap is getting in the poor birds eyes too!!!!!!!

I want to know, where ever did she get the idea to use soap to bathe birds!?!?!? That needs to be stopped right away.

I can't imagine where she got the idea. Her father helped her wash it. I don't think she has come back since we told her not to wash it that way. I think she was trying to impress on us how clean she keeps her bird and we didn't accept it.

[cml]

I am not going anywhere, and I'll try to keep you fellas updated on Stitch and us. However, I'm not a frequent poster, but I try to give input where I can!

CML and Stitch out.

[liz]

Thank you. We would miss you and Stich.

[Maria]

The importance of bathing birds.

Regular bathing controls the bird's dander, applies critical moisture to the feathers and skin, softens the new pin feathers, keeps the bird clean, and provides a source of extreme pleasure to your bird. Regular bathing has been known to cure feather-plucking in some birds.

Every three to four weeks. The bath should be given early in the day (in the morning) so the bird will be completely dry by evening and bed time.

Bathing also keeps their skin/oils from drying out. Or else they can get like similar to “Eczema” of the skin (a skin irritation). This is an itchy and soreness type of irritation, and very uncomfortable. Signs your bird has these types of skin irritations is if you see the bird scratching and/or plucking at their skin a lot, etc.

The four main areas of grooming with pet parrots are clipping their wings, clipping their toenails, trimming their beaks and bathing. The wings, nails, and beak filings I would have professionally done only at specialized parrot shops or at your avain vet. I would not try to attempt these things yourself, because you may hurt the bird. Professionals know how far to go, how far to cut, which feathers to cut and not to cut, how far not to cut when clipping the nails (taking care not to clip beyond the blood vessel that runs into the nail), how far not to cut when clipping the wings, which are the blood feathers and which are not, all of this type of stuff. The bathing you can do yourself, just know how to properly do it, as explained in above posting. When bathing, be careful not to get water in ears, nostrils, eyes as much as possible.

The beak is not "dead" material, like hair or fingernails. It is a living organ, the tip of which contains a bundle of sensitive nerves. The beak itself consists of keratin. Directly above the beak is the cere, which is the soft skin containing a parrot's nostrils.