How to Weigh a Bird

[idlepirate]

Hi everyone:) me again

My harrisons arrived, yey. Just the small pack to try out. Ive tried it already as a treat to Lorenzo with training and he actually ate it to my amazment.
They're so much smaller then I thought they would be!

Anyway ill start feeding them to him in his bowl to see how he likes them but id like to know how to weigh loro, to make sure hes eating ok. How do i know how much hes supposed to weigh.... 8month old blue throated conure male.
I have a a kitchen scale which I guess will do. Do i just weigh him every morning and keep record?

Any advice is much appreciated
Thanks

[captwest]

Yes maam, weigh him in the am before he eats . what's important is to keep track of his weigh. A vet can tell you if he's over or under weight, but you'll know what he normally weighs and can adjust from there.

[idlepirate]

Thank you fellow pirate
So before breakfast...
I guess since I just started the pellets today (hehe usually he eats before he goes to sleep and tonight he went to look in is bowl for dinner and found these mini pellets and just looked at me like "emm I think you forgot something".... i did add in a tiny bit of his old seed mix but really the minimum)
tomorrow I should weigh him before breakfast and id be able to tell if he loses any weigh in the next few days at least. if theres too many changes ill take him to the vet.
Hope hes able to adjust to the pellets before I go on holiday, that way there wont be any problems when im gone.

wow still getting over how small those pellets are, expected them bigger, "fine" size for conures.

[captwest]

I not sure if size matters! Just so long has he doesn't waste them by dropping crumbs. I'm sure he'll be fine on the pellets. I notice birds seem to use more water once on the pellets and sometimes will start ducking them in the water bowl, which is another reason to wean them on to the bottle.just my 2 cents worth. I hope this is not to far off thread but, i put the bottle on the opposite side of the cage from the pellet tray and make them go to the other side of the cage to get water to wash down the pellets, otherwise they stand next to the pellets and pig out because the waters right there. They only eat what they really want.It's hard to keep an amazon on a diet!

[Michael]

I think it is better to weight twice and find the range. Find the lowest and highest weight of the day by weighing prior to eating and after. This way you can see a trend and find out if he's eating or not.

For example:

Day 1 - Only old pellets 100g-110g
Day 2 - Only old pellets 102g-111g
Day 3 - Half and half 101g-110g
Day 4 - Only new pellets 100-104g
Day 5 - Only new pellets 95g-103g
Day 6 - Only new pellets 96g-104g
Day 7 - Only new pellets 96g-106g

Of course the number of days and weights will vary but a normal/healthy transition will look something like this. The weight may at first drop but if it holds on and comes back up (possibly not all the way to the original), you are ok.

This would be bad:

100g-110g
98g-108g
96g-106g
94g-104g
etc

If it continuously drops

If you see:

100g-110g
90g-100g
80g-90g

Then you know the parrot isn't eating the new pellets at all.

Basically as long as the highest weight on new pellets remains below the lowest weight on old pellets, you are pretty safe. However, if the high weight drops below the original low weight, then you'd better stop and get the weight back up.

A technique I used for switching Truman was to feed only new pellets first and then later give him a snack on old pellets. That way when he was hungriest he had to eat some new pellets but I'd keep his weight from dropping too much by supplementing some old pellets later.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

You may want to try mixing the seed with the pellets at first, that's a big switch to make all at once. There are a bunch of threads in the nutrition section on ways to make a switch.

[idlepirate]

Sorry for the delayed replies, been super busy in the last few days and probably will be for a few more

Thanks so much everyone for the replies, I really appreciate it.
So a little update. Ive been weighing Lorenzo and there doesnt seem to be too much change as he eats alot of fresh fruit/veg. but but but...hes rejecting his pellets unless i hand feed them to him:(
Seriously this morning he threw pretty much half of the pellets I gave him on the floor. Just foraging for seeds. I have just covered the base of the bowl to see if he eats those first.
How long can pellets be in the bowl before I should change them?

So oddly enough if I give them to him by hand he eats them like a treat. I think so at least- unless hes just grinding them to dust.
Im really trying to get him converted before I go on holiday but it might not be possible. been paranoid he wont eat so i do mix them with some seed but of course hell only eat the seed and not one pellet.
I know its a big switch and it wont happen from one day to the next. i just know hes very spoilt and fussy that hell just pick out the seed forever. if i reduce the seed it doesnt help.

I think it is better to weight twice and find the range.

A technique I used for switching Truman was to feed only new pellets first and then later give him a snack on old pellets. That way when he was hungriest he had to eat some new pellets but I'd keep his weight from dropping too much by supplementing some old pellets later.

the problem I have is that he considers whatever is in his seed/pellet bowl his dinner which he only starts eating when i cover him. its weird. he eats before he sleeps so i cant weigh him after very easily. ive just been trying ro weigh him in the morning. in the morning i give him his fresh fruit/veg which i guess is his breakfast.so i cant really weigh him after that either because its not pellets.

should i take the pellets/seeds out of his cage during the day and leave him with his fruit and just put the pellets in at night so he knows its dinner time and will be hungry enough to eat them?

which is another reason to wean them on to the bottle.just my 2 cents worth. I hope this is not to far off thread but, i put the bottle on the opposite side of the cage from the pellet tray and make them go to the other side of the cage

you mean the water bottles they use on hamster cages? would they be better to use? just been using a water bowl that came with the cage....it is opposite the food bowl though. he never seems to dunk anything in it- only himself hehehe-. is it better because you have to change the water so much otherwise if they keep chucking pellets in?

Thanks again for all comments in advance