An old bird

[Wolf]

I don't know, maybe I worry too much but I probably would not use bath water for my birds any warmer than room temperature. I am concerned that too warm of water will wash away too many of the birds skin oils or in the case of powder birds that it will remove too much of the powder. I know that it is cold outside but I use the heater to make sure that they are warm enough and to help them to dry out after bathing.

[Pajarita]

Wolf is correct. Warm water strips the natural oils from the feathers and skin so it's always recommended that we give them cold or room temperature water (there is no warm water in the wild so nature did not give them oils that resist higher temperatures). And, actually, believe it or not, they all seem to love water that feels real cold to us -at least to me, it does (I don't ever take cold showers, not even in the hottest summer day)! I don't even make it room temperature and, in the winter, it comes out real cold out the faucet but they still jump into it with alacrity!

[Harpmaker]

My bird would wait until warm water cooled, until I found out from Pajarita and Wolf that cold water is better. She LOVES bathing with an ice cube in the water. Then she eats the ice cube.

I have met several large parrots in hotels and restaurants. I am also intimidated by large beaks, but I try going up to the cage and making a scratching motion. If they want to be scratched, they will stick their beak out through the bars and you can scratch the top without endangering your fingers. These were birds I didn't know, but most were desperate for beak scritches, even if they had a buddy in the same cage.

[Georges mom]

Oh wow I didn't know that. I'm still very hesitant in touching him just because he bitmy daughter twice. I'm really getting to know him better though for its been two months now and his personality is really coming out. George likes and wants undivided attention. When I'm sitting and playing with him and someone comes into the room he starts to growl. His eyes are always just fixed on me when I'm with him he just stares intently at me when I'm talking to him it's kinda funny cuz he's just so riveted in his stare. He knows I'm mama for he calls out for me when I'm not home ( my husband hears it) and greets me with a loud mama when I get home. He also either learns real fast or he just knows much being 60 yrs old. I do have a question though ...... When George approaches things sometimes he bows his head and walks backwards. Sometimes he'll do that on the bottom if his cage when I'm down on the floor cleaning up. His tail and feathers remain normal during this and then he picks his head up and resumes walking around. What is this?? Also, I will make sure the water is room temp or cool for bathing.

[Wolf]

I really have no idea as to what he is doing, although he might just be looking at something, perhaps something fell through the bottom grating in his cage. It could also be something that he picked up sometime in the past.

At 60 years of age, I am sure that he knows a great deal of things that might appear surprising to us, but don't be surprised at his ability to learn things very quickly as they are very intelligent.

[Pajarita]

He is distrustful of what you are doing. Just stop your motion when he does this and leave your hand exactly where it is until he raises his head, again. This will reassure him and show him you take his feelings into consideration.

[Georges mom]

Ok that makes sense cuz he does it a lot walking around the house when he approaches something new it's really the cutest thing to see. I thought it was an act of shyness or uncertainty which is actually distrustful too. You've all been a great help to me. Thank you for your quick responses

[liz]

He is almost my age. I have a few things that I do automatically that really have no purpose but I continue to do them. I don't have confidence in the pepper shaker and will always screw the lid on tighter even if it is already tight and I did it just a few minutes before.

[Georges mom]

I have a question.... What is this gloop stuff people prepare and give their birds?? Or is it goop? Regardless, what is it and how do you mke it? My vet mentioned something like it too but didn't expound on it. I hear birds loooooove it. Can anyone advise??

[Wolf]

Basically it is a mixture of cooked whole grains, vegetables and cooked white beans and lentils. There are lots of variations of this home cooked food that you can find in the Diet, Health and Nutrition section of the forum. There is a search box in the upper right in each section and if you type in the word gloop it will give you all of the posts containing the word.

For the sake of providing variety and proper nutrition, I vary my recipe pretty often, Sometimes I use different whole grains and other times I change the vegetables in it. As I said, I mainly do this to provide better nutrition to my birds, but I also figure that it gets pretty boring to eat the same food all of the time so I change it. I try to maintain the same ratios for the ingredients mine is about 40% half cooked whole grains, 40% raw or lightly cooked vegetables and 20% thoroughly cooked white beans and lentils. I also use a powdered vitamin/ mineral supplement that I sprinkle on the food weekly and just as an aid for digestion I add an avian probiotic once a month.

I hope that this helps you.