Stress bars! Eex!

[Wolf]

Since Shrek has to have a formulated diet, look on the package and see if it has calcium listed. Sunlight will help with calcium absorption, There are other minerals such as phosphoros that can reduce the absorption of calcium to such a degree that even if there is plenty of calcium in the diet that it can appear that the bird is deficient in it. This is one of the reasons that we have to do so much research on diet to try to balance these things out so as to keep them healthy. Human nutritional sites that tell you what the vitamin and mineral content of a food are very helpful as all of the nutrients are the same regardless of who eats it.
While I will concede that some of this might be due to the feathers needing replacement and so the molt, I really doubt that this is the reason for this amount of ragged edged feathers, I think it id due to over preening, or barbering, as they are pretty much the same thing and are usually the result of the bird having too little to do to occupy itself with while you are not there for it.

[Chantilly]

Yes, both of her mixes have calcium in them .
I love Shrek... Allot, but perhaps my getting her was not best for her and me letting my 'MBS' take over?
I did not know how she was going to cope with transition of owners... (We have dropped good cleaning supplies and the amount of food that is being served is quite a bit less in quantity... pluss the are more concerned about how the park looks on the outside than the actual birds wellfare... so...there is quite a few things I would change if it was my park)

I had not actually planned on getting another bird, but Shrek I had already made a bond with (or so I felt, we worked together well, I think this may be because I was happy to hold her...) and I would have been so heartbroken to go one week and her ot be there. (I was so close to crying when I saw she was no longer in her cage the week I got her...usually when this happens the bird has died.)

I should probably note the progress she has made in the short while I have had her, she Is much less snappy and slowly loosening up around my family (Mum especially, she likes Mum) , also she is happy to go in her cage after being held for a period of time, I think this is partially because she knows she will be let back out, and that she will not be left alone for a week until she is held again.
She is not the 'brighest' and has dificulty understanding requests such as step up, I think this is partially because she was never taught how, and she just dos'nt understand the message I am trying to convey.
She and Tilly actually quite suprisingly have been learning from eachother and Tilly is trying more things via. watching Shrek do them... and visa versa, it is amazing I think.
Also they seem to have made a truce!. They have calmed down allot and no longer attack eachother when they fly to eachothers cage (which is rare now anyway!) , I probably sound crazy but they really dont attack eachother anymore!! I do not understand what happened to form a respect or just in general acceptance between the two of them!?

Sorry I kind of trailed of topic on this post, and It was probaby quite long and boring

[Wolf]

Actually, I think that you are doing rather well with your lorikeet. Here is a link that might be helpful for you, it is pretty basic, but hey we all got to start somewhere.
http://www.kcbbs.gen.nz/lori/ar/behaviour.html

Believe me you already know more about this species of parrot than I do, probably since I do not have any of them. They require more effort than many other parrot species, but since I already have a couple of birds that require a lot of one to one attention every day I just could not add another bird to my flock, especially one that requires as much attention as a lorikeet. The upside is that they can be extremely entertaining if just a bit on the bitey side. Probably the best thing to do for a lorikeet is to give it a mate as they are very active and playful birds . I would be hesitant to say that this bird is not as bright as another one of a different species, there is probably a bit of difference in their body language from other types of parrots. They hop a lot which most parrots do not do and they tend to be more aggressive than other parrots and seem to enjoy mock fights to a greater degree than most other parrots and one of the biggest complaints that I have heard is when it comes to teaching them to not bite so hard, to be more gentle.

Any way, I hope this link (above) will be of use to you.

[Chantilly]

Thankyou Wolf for your kind words and this link,
The link definately answered a few of my questions on her behaviors... One of hers that has two meanings though is this one.

[Wolf]

In this picture the bird in the center is in a defensive posture as best as I can tell. Note the way the wings are being held slightly lifted and possibly being fluttered slightly, also the feather from the shoulders up through the head are raised and it appears as if the bird is making biting motions with its beak ( opening and closing ). Most parrots use a more horizontal posture for defensive or attack displays, but I don't know if this holds true with lorikeets. There should be some difference in the displayed posture and behaviors that cue the difference between play and real attack, but they are most likely to be very subtle and very easy for us humans to miss and I don't know enough about this species displays to be able to tell you what the difference would be. It could be the angle of the body in relation to the birds normal stance, it could be the degree that the head is bowed, the degree that the feathers are ruffled or even in the manner that it is opening and closing the beak, or whether the bird flutters its wings or not, I just don't know. I just know that there is a visual difference.

[Chantilly]

I will watch her closely when she does it to see if I can spot any differences.

[Wolf]

Because the differences can be quite subtle it might help if you can catch this behavior on a few videos and then watch the videos to see if you can see the difference in them. The main advantage of this is that you can watch them over and over and even compare them side by side instead of just being able to look only once. I used to use this method a lot while training both show horses and race horses to study their movements. I found it very useful in detecting problems before they became actual problems and was able to avoid several injuries to the horses by doing this.

The one area that the body language appears to be identical is when they are excited and when they are angry as both are states of over excitement so the body language is the same. In all other cases there is normally a difference in body language.

[Chantilly]

Because the differences can be quite subtle it might help if you can catch this behavior on a few videos and then watch the videos to see if you can see the difference in them. The main advantage of this is that you can watch them over and over and even compare them side by side instead of just being able to look only once. I used to use this method a lot while training both show horses and race horses to study their movements. I found it very useful in detecting problems before they became actual problems and was able to avoid several injuries to the horses by doing this.

The one area that the body language appears to be identical is when they are excited and when they are angry as both are states of over excitement so the body language is the same. In all other cases there is normally a difference in body language.

Thankyou Wolf, great Idea, I will definately do that!

[Viatrixa]

I have to apologize for the silly question, but what exactly are stress bars?

Are they basically frayed looking feathers the bird ends up "over preening" to give them a particular comb shape? At least this is what I gathered from the few photos here - that the feathers are "visible" as opposed to being uniform and smooth?

[Chantilly]

I have to apologize for the silly question, but what exactly are stress bars?

Are they basically frayed looking feathers the bird ends up "over preening" to give them a particular comb shape? At least this is what I gathered from the few photos here - that the feathers are "visible" as opposed to being uniform and smooth?

This isn't a silly question,
The frayed feather look on all of Shreks feathers is as far as i know normal for the lorikeet species, and it is just their odd feathers... Every lorikeet I have met has the same sort of shape feathers
Stress bars are a clear black marking or watercolour or pattern over the feather that is a visual indication of stress, malnutrition...ect. I am not sure how they get there, I dont think they have to go through molt for them to appear and rather it just gets there over a few weeks.
The next few photos were of google and are pictures of stress bars in different birds, because the bars can differ from species to species.

Stress marks in an eclectus.

image.jpg (59.8 KiB) Viewed 5100 times

Stress marks in a conure.

Stress marks in a (... I am not aure what bird this was of!!)

image.jpg (54.96 KiB) Viewed 5100 times

If you look back at the pictures I posted on pg.1, you can see on Shreks feathers that it has a light watermark over the bottom of the feathers going in a diagonal direction and crisscrossing with the was her feathers actully go... I am pretty sure these are stressbars.
I saw a lorikeet with deep black marks on the ends of some of its feathers once, really big marks and it was injured/ill... So I am thinking that the darker they are the worse it is.
That is pretty much my knowledge on them... Hopefully this helps