Parrots weight

[Tman007]

Here's the thing I was thinking about. Do we really know what the healthy weight of parrots is. You go to the vet and he says they may be over weight by 10 grams. But if you look at wild parrots they don't always get all the food they need. Look at pigeons, you go to one side of town and they are a little lean are they healthy?. You go to the other side of town were there is a lot of food and the pigeons there look great or are they to fat?. In the wild a parrot may weigh 120 grams, is that healthy or could they use a few grams?. So are we just guessing at what would be a good weight for them.? Just asking.

[Wolf]

Like all other animals, including humans, weight alone does not mean that you are healthy or not, in most cases. There is most definitely a range of weights that are healthy and if you are too much thinner or too much heavier then you cannot be very healthy. If the normal average weight of a person is around 200 pounds then it stands to reason that if you are of an average height and build and you weigh 350 pounds that you are not very healthy and are at risk for strokes, heart attacks, etc. Or the reverse is also true if you are of average height and build and yet only weigh 100 pounds you again are not healthy.
Knowing the average weight of your bird can save you a lot of guessing as sudden or drastic weight change is usually a good indicator of other changes in the body that you can't see that could be the result of trauma or disease.

[Tman007]

I understand that I am just saying were do you start if I weigh my parrots. I am looking into getting a scale. So I can keep tabs on them. What I am try to figure out is how do we know what is a healthy weight for him. have they done research to fine a healthy weight for each species?.

[Michael]

Weight is relative to the individual and not very useful when comparing to the species. If a bird was 1000g all its life and then suddenly in 3 days dropped to 900g, the bird is probably sick and something is wrong. However, if it's because the owner forgot to feed the bird for 3 days (don't, obviously), then the bird might not be ill and it can be explained simply by the lack of food. Weight is a quicker and more easy way to track body condition on a day to day level. A vet can determine if a bird is healthy or overweight by feeling the fat deposits and may suggest to try an increase or decrease by X amount of weight. This doesn't mean the vet knows that at the new weight the bird will be ideal but it's a starting point. Once at that weight, the bird can be re-evaluated to determine if the weight ought to be up or down from there. It's just a way to compare the bird to itself and unexplained rapid changes can demonstrate illness. Keep in mind that the scale is USELESS for spotting a sick bird if you aren't weighing the bird DAILY. The people who weight their bird once a month or something like that will most likely be too late. A sick bird will usually lose a lot of weight within 2-4 days and be dead shortly after if it doesn't get better.

[Tman007]

Thanks Michael that's what I was looking for. As soon as I get the scale I plan on weighing them every day, and keep a log so I can keep track. Also they have a well check coming up I will see what the vet says about their weight. On the log I will be keeping track of how much I feed them ,how much they ate. How much they weigh if they gained or lost anything. How their poop looks, and what type of mood they are in. I did that for my snakes when I had them.