My grey parrot closed his left eye while eating

[Mina]

Hello everybody,

My name is Mina. I am new in the blog, i just registered now.

I have a wild african grey parrot i bought a week ago, he is 6-7 months. His name is Smoky.

Smoky was fine until today, i wakeup at morning to check and feed him, he is eating, but he close his left eye while he is eating.

Any idea! Is there problem with him! Sick!

Thanx in advance and looking forward to hear from u.

Best regards,

Mina

[liz]

Welcome to the forum.

I don't know but hang in there and you will get the answer.

[Wolf]

First of all, where do you live in the world? I am curious and sometimes it is helpful when answering questions.
I can't think of anything that would be causing him to close his eye when he is eating. To hazard any sort of guess I would need much more information than I have been given.

[Mina]

First of all, where do you live in the world? I am curious and sometimes it is helpful when answering questions.
I can't think of anything that would be causing him to close his eye when he is eating. To hazard any sort of guess I would need much more information than I have been given.

Well first, thank u for ur answer.
Second, I am living in Amman Jordan, the weather here was very hot the last four days "around 41ْ ", but yesterday it was better "around 36".

I will be happy to answer any additional questions.

Have a nice day and looking forward to here from u

[Pajarita]

Ahh, no wonder you got a wild-caught parrot! It doesn't do to encourage poachers, you know - they are evil people who are literally decimating entire populations of wild animals to the point of extermination.

As to your question, they do, sometimes, semi-close their eyes when they are eating soft food but they don't close just one eye so keep your eye on him and see if he closes it more than the other because he might have been hurt in the trap (poached parrots are highly traumatized and suffer terribly not only in the trapping process but also the transport and living in a cage).

[Wolf]

Yes, being a wild caught bird and the resulting trauma could easily be responsible for this action. I think that a vet check with x rays of the head may reveal something that might explain the why of this behavior, but it is doubtful in my opinion that it would provide any answers as far as treating this or of changing it. I think that this is one of those times that time will prove to be the best treatment for this.
While we may not be able to do much about this one issue we may be able to assist you in other ways. With that in mind I would ask for dietary information such as what you are feeding him as well as when. I would also request a brief description of the birds daily routine beginning with the time it gets up in the mornings. Pictures could also be helpful.

[Mina]

Thanx all 4 ur help. 

Smoky is good right now. I think there was something inside his eye and it goes out. I cleaned it with a peace of cotton soaked in a bitter black tea. 

Well, usually he wake up around 5-6 am start singing and shouting in his room then he start walking in the room then fly to stand on the top of window's cage. 

I check him around 8:30 am, give him food and water. Usually he ate sunflower seeds which he likes too much+ some other seeds which he doesn't like so much :/

Then, i put him inside his cage and took him outside in the garden around half an hour, but not in the sun. 

i always try to give him fruits and veg. Some times he eat apple, cucumber, watermilon, sweet green pepper, but not always. Some times he just bite and throw.

He is still aggresive. he eat from my hand, but he doesn't allow me to touch him. 

Only when i put him down and he wants to go up he stands up on my hand, but he never stands up on my hand when he is up already. 

He doesn't like to sit on the same line with us. He fly and sit on the top of window's cage always. 

He can not fly for long distance since the time i bought as 3 of his pinion on each side are not there. 

After that,  myself or my sister start to come and see him every half- one hour, try to say easy words in front of him to learn him. But he doesn't say anything till now. 

We give him the same food whenever he is hungry.  May be five- six times a day.
Today we start to put food and water next to him all the time, so whenever he gets hungry he can eat by himself.

They told me that his age is 6-7 months. I don't know if it is right or not and i don't know in which age he can start talking. 

Around 9-10 pm i put him down on the top of his cage on a long peace of wood then he sleep. 

I hope u can help me with taking care of him.

Best regards

[Wolf]

Are you able to order things from online, things for the bird if you can't find what you need locally? Some people can and some can't so I thought it would be a good idea to ask first.
Some seeds are good for parrots but only in limited amounts, although it seems that because of cost everyone( breeders, or bird sellers) like to get them to eating seeds and not much else. This leaves it all up to the new owner to get the bird to eat a better diet such as fruits and vegetables. With captive bred, hand raised birds it can be somewhat of a challenge to get them to eat a better diet, but this is not always the same with a wild caught bird, sometimes it is easier to get them to accept a variety of fruits and vegetables than the human raised ones. Anyway the best time to introduce new foods to them is first thing in the mornings before they eat anything else. And it is also easier to get them to try new foods when they can watch you eating them and once they get interested enough to start begging for some to share it with them. Of course, you have prepared the food for them and not for humans.
I suppose that it would be easiest to let you know what I feed my birds and when and then go from there. Every morning my birds get a different raw vegetable, fruit and leafy green, This is normally during the first hour after sunrise. This is followed by their main food which we call gloop. Gloop is made from cooked whole grains, cooked vegetables and cooked white beans and lentils. There are several versions of gloop in the diet section of the forum. Then just before dusk I feed them a seed mix. The raw produce and gloop are given in an amount to last all day long and is removed at dinner time. The seed mix is removed when they go to sleep for the night.
This will give you a basic idea of what your bird needs in its diet as well as allow you to vary it according to what is in season in your area. Since you have a Grey you will want to make sure that you feed foods that are a little higher in calcium so that your bird gets enough of this mineral.
How much time are you spending with your bird every day? Is any of this time out of the cage?

[Mina]

Thanx again Wolf.

Well, ofcourse i prefer not to buy online if i can get a free things for many reasons including that if i tried to buy something online either my credit card doesn't work properly or the amount will be deducted from my account without approval from the seller about receiving the money. It is all problem with my stupid bank, so i stoped buying online.

I spend long time with Smoky , but not for long periods.
Like one hour at morning then may be 10-15 min every 2 hours, but my sister is spending time with him also.
I put him in cage for half an hour only "when i take him outside in the garden" and he is out for the rest of the day even when he is sleeping. He is either on the top of the cage where i put a long peace of wood to stand on, or he stand on the top of the window looking for us sitting in the same room with him.

Can u help also with:

1. Does he need and inoculation?
2. How many times per month i should take him to vet usually for checkup and to cut his nails?
3. On which age he can start talking?
4. How to learn him not to bite my finger when i want to play with him?
5. Any additional information will be helpful

[Wolf]

I try to not buy anything online myself, but there is only one place that has any bird things and not only is it very limited it is 35 miles one way. So I have to order things online part of the time.
After the initial check up at the vets, I take my birds in once a year for another check up, unless the bird appears to need to see the vet. I don't know of any preventative inoculations for birds, so I am going to say not to worry about that.
About talking. That is a hard one, I have heard of Greys starting to talk as young as 3 to 4 months old and some of them never talk, preferring to make sound effects. Kookooloo, my Grey is about 15 years old and she talks a little bit. She prefers to sing and dance and to mimic other animals or things that make noise. She also refuses to speak when there is anyone other than myself in the room with her. She is getting better at talking and her words are getting clearer, but I think that her talking is going to take a long time. The more time that you spend talking to your bird and showing him the objects that each word represents the better his speech will be, if he chooses to speak.
If the biting that he is doing hurts then I usually just put them down on the closest place that I can and ignore them for a few minutes and I also tell them " No Bite Me" of something similar. This works because the bird wants to be with and on you. It does take some time while they make the connection between their bites and what you do. It is also affected by how consistent you are with doing this and you must only use one phrase to tell them to not bite or you will confuse them. Generally, speaking it seems that most Greys prefer to grab your finger or hand and try to move it away from them rather than biteing. They also do what is referred to as beaking, especially when they are young. They will sort of nibble your hand, finger or wherever to test it. Beaking is how they explore their world, it is like a puppy chewing on everything or like a human child who puts everything in its mouth. And sometimes they will put too much pressure and it becomes a bite.
It is very important to try to learn your birds body language as well as its normal sounds as this will help you to avoid getting bit because you will be able to tell such things as the bird getting excited. You don't want to handle your bird if he is excited as you are likely to get bitten. Most people seem to get bitten because they don't listen to their bird, they handle their bird when it is excited and/ or they don't spend enough time with the bird.