Hi all, get a load of this: our DHY Amazon is OVERWEIGHT! She's been put on a diet, mostly veggies as well as her pellets (seeds are horrible for birds, as you probably know.) She's not a veyr happy camper...misses her human food and her fruits. To tell you the truth, it makes me nervous as I should be doing the same thing! (Not the pellets, of course. LOL)
pat
Wow that sounds stressful! Maybe with a little exercise and diet she can have occasional treats again?
You guys could exercise together!!
I did not know seeds are bad for birds. Well, I learn something new every day! Is that just Parrot Amazon birds?
Excuse my ignorance! I don't know alot about birds! But I do like them!!
Pat, is that the bird in the picture with you, that your talking about?
You guys could exercise together!! \:\)
LOL!!! Her "diet" sure seems stressful to me!!! I'm not administering it and i'm grateful for that too! My partner, who is dealing with it, doesn't get it i don't think. I've been thinking about suggesting that she follow the same program so she gets it! Of course, she's never given up sugar/flour and i have so i know how hard it is! (I think i'm really "feeling her [Cupid] pain."
pat :[
Nicola,
Seeds are bad for people owned birds, not wild birds. Wild birds eat seeds as *part* of their diets, along with other things. And the seeds they find in the wild are not necessarily unhealthy. The seeds made for captive (pet) birds are horrible---they have NO nutritional value AT ALL and really just adds fat. Such high fat diets can literally be deadly to birds when it's all they get, especially to female birds. High fat diets tend to make birds hormonal and then they tend to produce a lot of eggs and that (lots of eggs) will kill them. Also the ingredients tend to be breeding grounds for things that cause bacterial infections. (Actually, in all fairness, some avian vets want birds to have some "seed" but they want us to buy "human grade" seed, like from Whole Foods. And, if the bird doesn't have a weight problem they can occasionally have seeds as treats but still better to be human grade.)) The thing is, birds that have been brought up on seeds don't want to switch to pellets any more than i want to give up french fries, etc., and so switching them can be difficult. Some breeds in particular just won't eat and can actually starve themselves. My rescue group talks a lot about getting birds to switch and believe it or not when we do it we have to "count poops" to make sure they really are eating. (There are other things we do to be successful, not just that.) I actually came within minutes once of having a little bird die and i didn't even realize it was because she wasn't eating. With all the feathers they have it can be hard to see that they are thin. (So, weighing them is another way to make sure they are really eating.) I guess that's more than you ever really wanted to know about birds and seed, huh!!! LOL
pat
Yes, Rosie, that's her!!!
hugs,
pat
Ya, she's even better than the pic. Her whole head is yellow (that's why they call this particular Amazon a "double yellow head"), her body is green, there are little red patches at the top if each wing and her tail feathers are green, yellow and red. Ahd she's a real charmer.
pat
Good luck on the birdie diet and exercise program Pat
She's a beautiful bird!