Ring neck parrot-not eating food

[raulconnected]

Dear friends

We found a parrot at our balcony of our house (Dubai). It was not well and hardly moving. We brought her in and gave her water and food. She might have been tired because of the heat outside. We brought her in and fed her fruits which she was eating. We bought a cage and some parrot food (sunflower seeds) and put it in her cage. We haven’t seen her eating that. She only eats fruits.

We took her to a doctor to examine as we have no experience petting a bird. Doctor gave me some fruit pellets to feed the bird and told not to give her fruits which is leading to diarrhea for the bird.
Also, the bird is head bouting most of the time and so doctor told us there is some nervous system issue with the bird and so have us an antibiotic and told us to give it along with the food.

We have kept the food in the cage and she is not eating it. We tried to feed her after taking her out from the cage and she doesn’t seem to like it.

What should we do? Can you advise based on your experience. She is a young bird (juvenile). How to make her eat food? Look forward to hear from you.

Doctor also advised to let her go as it is a wild bird. We don’t want to let her go now as she will die in this climate and moreover presume these birds travel in flock and so not sure how it will survive alone

Regards
Rahul

[Pajarita]

Hello, welcome to the forum and thank you so much for taking the poor bird in. Now, was any blood work done to determine it is, indeed, a bacterial infection that is causing the problem? Because, although antibiotics are not going to do any harm even if it does not have a bacterial infection, if it's not, it won't do it any good, either. I don't know what you mean by 'head bouting'... is it that it moves its head up and down as in 'head bobbing'? If that is the case, this is what baby birds do when they are hungry but, as I am not sure what you mean and if it's a different kind of head movement, it could be lack of calcium or some other mineral so, if this is the case, add some multivitamin/mineral bird supplement. If the bird is a baby, you might need to handfeed it either baby bird formula or make your own formula with whole grain flour mixed with fruit puree (from baby jars or you can puree the fruit yourself) and a bit of water so it can go through the feeding syringe - if the bird is a bit older, you can try using a spoon.
Fruits do NOT give an IRN diarrhea, it's their natural food as they are mostly fruit eaters. Sunflower seeds (too much protein and fat) and pellets (WAAAYYYY too dry, too much protein for an IRN, soy -bad for animal- and inferior ingredients) are not going to do it for an IRN and much less a wild one. Give her fruit again and get some budgie seed mix or plain millet and, if it doesn't eat it, try soft foods (things like cooked corn meal, old fashioned oatmeal or steel cut oats, cous cous, etc mixed with fruit puree and mashed sweet potatoes or any type of yellow squash or pumpkin). And if it still does not eat this on its own, you will have to handfeed. If you are using a syringe for it, make sure you put the tip of the syringe on the left side of the beak and that it points down to the 'bowl' at the bottom part of the beak. Do not point it toward the throat because it can cause aspiration (food going into the lungs).

[raulconnected]

Thanks a lot pajarita.
Yes. We meant head bobbing. The parrot keeps head bobbing most of the time. So we are worried whether she has some nervous disorder as informed by the doctor.

Is there any chance of it having any viral infection that could spread to human beings? Since doctor informed us that it is wild bird, should we keep it in our balcony or can we keep it in our living room. As the temperature here is around 40 degree celsius, we wanted to know whether it is healthy to keep a parrot outside?

The parrot is very friendly with us and enjoys to be with us when we are in the living room. Does wild parrots be so friendly?

The doctor informed us that the parrot is indian ring necked species. Does it develop the ring around the neck as it grows older. As of now it doesnot have the ring. How to determine the age and gender of the bird.

Regarding the bathing schedule for the parrot, can we bath the parrot everyday? The parrot doesnot seem to dislike the bathing process but not very excited either to bath. She has a neutral stand about her bathing schedule. So we are not sure whether we should bathe or not?

Regarding the food habbits, we can feed it budgie food? We got some zupreem fruit blend flavours pellets with vitamins and minerals is that okay for the parrot? Actually the parrot is finding it difficult to chew the pellets. So we ground them and from last night she is having little bit of the pellets. Is the pellets enough for its nutrients? Or should we feed her something else.

[Pajarita]

The Zupreem colored pellets are, by far, the worst food you can give a parrot. They have all the problems of every other pellet PLUS they are loaded with artificial coloring, flavoring AND sugar - something no bird can eat and which causes diabetes in parrots (of the four parrots I know that have or have had diabetes, three of them were fed the Zupreem colored pellets - I could not find out the diet of the fourth one but I bet it was also these terrible pellets). PLEASE stop feeding this crap immediately! There is nothing healthy about them and the vitamins/minerals it has are all made in a lab - they are not food-derived which is what parrots need to eat, especially IRNs that need a lot of fresh produce. You should supplement it with vitamins/minerals and these will also be lab-made BUT they are given for the Vit D3 (which is not found in any plant material) and as a 'just in case' because the bulk of the nutrition needs to come from real food.

There is no way to know the gender before the bird is over two years old and there is no way to know the age until it starts developing the ring -which will give you an idea of its age but it will not be exact either as some IRNs start developing it when they are 1.5 years old and some start at 2.5.

There is no viral disease that can be passed from a bird to a human. The only disease people can get from birds is chlamydiosis (it used to be called psittacosis) and, if the bird has it, it will get better with a long antibiotic treatment so all you have to do to prevent your getting it is be careful and keep things clean (it's transmitted through the poop becoming aerosolized and your breathing in the particles in the air so, as long as there is no accumulation of poop and good ventilation, there is no chance of transmission). Do not leave it outside in the heat and with the sun beating down on it - it will kill it.

I doubt the bird is actually friendly with you if it is a wild bird... Most likely, it's weak or sick (weak and/or sick birds are always mild-tempered). For parrots to be friendly to people they need to be handfed when babies so they can imprint to humans (and no, your handfeeding it now will not do it because the window of opportunity for this to happen is very small and has already passed). Wild birds imprint to their species and do not recognize humans as part of their family. And you NEVER EVER bathe a sick or weak parrot.

If it's bobbing its head often but the head does not move when the bird is asleep or when it's eating, it most likely means it's hungry and needs to be fed by you. Have you tried handfeeding it and giving it warm soft foods? Because the same way that you do not feed a human baby food meant for an adult, or a puppy adult dog food, you do not feed a baby parrot the same you would feed an adult. It needs food that is soft, warm and easy to digest and soft seeds until it's grown (no free-feeding of seeds after!).