entrancedbymyGCC wrote:Are we sure it's safe? I worry about herbs that haven't really been studied in birds. If it is actually effective it is a drug and a largely untested one at that. Personally, I probably wouldn't go that route unless I knew that a lot of birds (dozens if not hundreds) had been on a significant dose for a significant period of time with no negative effects. As Penn Teller said, "The plural of anecdote is not proof" so one or two successful examples wouldn't make me comfortable. YMMV.
By the way, birdvet, we miss you!
Piggybacking a bit here, but I decided to do a little google-fu and see what I could find on St. John's Wort used in parrots.
From http://www.landofvos.com/articles/kitchen5.html
ST. JOHNS WORT-- Hypericum has anti-depressant qualities and can be tried as a substitute for Haloperidol in some feather-plucking parrots. Not all herbs work the same in all parrots so it may be necessary to try more than one for some symptoms. St. Johns Wort could possibly be a problem if administered to parrots that live outside with access to direct sunlight. The reason for this warning is that there were studies of sheep that ingested extremely large quantities of pure hypericum-perforatum and died of phototoxicity. This may or may not apply to parrots. No studies have been published on the use of St. Johns Wort in parrots.
Like that passage says, there have been no studies done regarding the efficacy and safety of parrots and herbal remedies. However, St. John's Wort has a history of phototoxicity in other animals, including humans. If you were to use it in a parrot, I would suggest keeping them all out of direct sunlight during use and for a couple of days afterwards.
- WALL-E 
- Buddy
