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My Birds Won't Come Out of Their Cage

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Re: My Birds Won't Come Out of Their Cage

Postby Pajarita » Mon May 08, 2017 4:16 pm

Because every single species of bird on earth has a pre-determined number of daylight hours when they start producing sexual hormones and another when they stop. This is what photoperiodism is all about: the bird's endocrine system reacting to the number (period) of light (photo) hours. When you keep a bird on the same number of daylight hours and the same diet every day of the year, their endocrine system goes out of whack and starts producing sexual hormones all the time.

When we first started keeping parrots as pets, we thought that they could be kept the same way that we keep dogs, cats, horses, etc. - namely, what we now call a 'human' light schedule (meaning NOT following the sun). To put the icing on the cake, we knew NOTHING about their diets and fed them sunflower seeds, peanuts and table food crap with the inevitable consequences: hormonal (read aggressive parrots; parrots that plucked and self-mutilated; birds that died VERY young, etc. Then we thought we had found the solution by keeping them at the 12L/12D (12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark) schedule because -again, in our ignorance- we thought that parrots were all tropical and that, if in the tropics they lived with this schedule, they would be perfectly fine if we did the same. The problem with this was that not all parrots are tropical but also that even tropical parrots are photoperiodic (and we now know from studies that their bodies actually register the difference of 20 minutes there are between the seasons) AND that they use food availability and weather as triggers (in the tropics, you don't have summer and winter but you do have rainy and dry season which determines food availability) while, in captivity, there are no monsoons or food shortages of any kind so they still produced sexual hormones all the time. Fastforward a few years and we realized that even tropical birds will 'revert' back to using photoperiodism as their main trigger if they are exposed to a temperate climate schedule (meaning big differences in the daylength between summer and winter). But even the solar schedule doesn't work well UNLESS you expose them to the different spectrum that happens during twilight - thus, the strict solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk. I go one step further and give them low protein during the winter and higher protein as well as a richer diet during the spring and summer.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: My Birds Won't Come Out of Their Cage

Postby liz » Tue May 09, 2017 4:46 am

ParrotsForLife wrote:I wouldn't be able to remove fertile eggs



I have this problem. I cannot kill anything. That is why I have fake eggs. When the egg is first laid, even if it is fertile it will show clean when candled. If the bird decides to nest (not all do) then I take the egg right away and replace it before it shows any signs.

I have a baby in my flock because I could not kill the egg. It was a disaster because not all birds want to be parents. Tweet like sitting on eggs but would kick the hatchlings out of the nest. It was awful. You can read the stress level of mine and others because of it in Rainbow and Myrtle.
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liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
Number of Birds Owned: 12
Types of Birds Owned: DYH Amazon Rambo
BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
Flight: Yes

Re: My Birds Won't Come Out of Their Cage

Postby ElijahK » Wed May 24, 2017 1:00 am

You just need to be patient. One thing you can do is leave the door open while you are near by and put some food on the table somewhere for them to go to.
ElijahK
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1
Number of Birds Owned: 10
Types of Birds Owned: Pigeons
Flight: Yes

Re: My Birds Won't Come Out of Their Cage

Postby liz » Wed May 24, 2017 5:21 am

Good idea, Eligah.

Welcome to the forum. Give us a introduction so we know who we are talking to.
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liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
Number of Birds Owned: 12
Types of Birds Owned: DYH Amazon Rambo
BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
Flight: Yes

Re: My Birds Won't Come Out of Their Cage

Postby Pajarita » Wed May 24, 2017 10:10 am

Yes, Elijah, tell us about your pigeons! I LOVE pigeons and doves, I think they are the sweetest, prettiest things! I feed a flock every morning and, as they wait for their breakfast on my roof, my house is now known as 'the pigeon house' :lol:
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: My Birds Won't Come Out of Their Cage

Postby liz » Thu May 25, 2017 5:20 am

:lol:

I have been called the bird lady. I am also known as critter woman.

In middle school my American History teacher brought his pet turtle to school and ask me if I could help it. It had been trying to hibernate but he thought it was too little to go without food.
He asked me if I could help it. That one was easy, just increase warmth. How did that teacher know.

My birds do not eat all the seed I give them. I like that because I know their bellies are full. I put the leftover seed at the bottom of a tree in my son's front yard. They wait for me and have a squirrel party when it is there.
User avatar
liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
Number of Birds Owned: 12
Types of Birds Owned: DYH Amazon Rambo
BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
Flight: Yes

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