Diet is Key for Healthy Feathers in Pet Parrots

And here we are now a full year later--again in full blown molting.  Ollie just moves now and a feather softly falls out. Feathers that are perfectly formed....not broken or severely damaged.

I am SO relieved this year is totally different from last year and all those years before.  In those dreaded molting seasons of the past, his old feathers would not just fall out.  First of all, whatever old feathers had remained on his body were usually damaged.  Plus the new feathers would break as he was grooming the protective keratin off the shaft. Or he would be itching so badly and act so agitated, he would literally be  aggressively attacking both the feathers and his skin.

He was miserable.  And so were we.

So years ago, the vet decided he needed to be put on an anti-psychotic medication for his agitation.  It made him pretty placid (and sleepy) most of the day but, as it wore off, his agitation resumed. So, while it may have seemed on the surface that the medication was helping reduce his agitated behavior, I couldn't help but wonder if there was something else going on...some underlying thing that was causing Ollie to itch and attack his skin and feathers with such fervor.

Things got SO incredibly bad in spring and summer of 2017 we literally reached the end of our rope.  The nonstop agitation, nonstop eardrum splitting screaming and his total inability to ever just relax turned my sweet parrot into an unrecognizable creature.  His hormones went totally wild.  All he wanted to do was have sex. He wouldn't eat and barely slept. The look in his eye was not that of the Ollie I knew but that of a wild creature in extreme discomfort and literally on the verge of total insanity.

We had two choices.  Either rehome him with avian experts who could figure out what to do with him...or figure out this complex issue ourselves and resolve it without losing our minds in the process. 

Initially, we began the rehoming process. What we discovered, however, was the financial surprise of rehoming.  Our local avian shelter required we had extensive (and expensive) blood tests to confirm he didn't carry any diseases.  The other route was to ship him to the sanctuary in Oklahoma where experts in Eclectus were located and were willing to work with him and keep him there until and if we decided to bring him back home.  That seemed the better option for us, although the entire situation was breaking my heart.

The first thing we needed to do was to slowly wean Ollie off the anti-psychotic medication.  That process increased his agitation temporarily since he was basically going through withdrawal.  But he made it through in a few weeks and was then ready to leave us.

What happened next was pure karma.

Before we could ship him, the soaring summer temps needed to drop significantly.  So, we had to wait to purchase our flight ticket and get the carrier sent here.  While we were waiting for that to happen, I decided to try some other ideas.

Like all pet bird owners, we had been giving Ollie treats from our meals since that tended to distract and quiet him down.  And we also gave him tons of good natural foods--including things like fresh corn on the cob.  We tend to eat pretty healthy food but didn't realize that many of those "healthy" foods still contained added vitamins, preservatives and other surprises.

For a while I had noticed that Ollie seemed more itchy after he had feasted on fresh corn...or popcorn.  And that agitation seemed to increase if he also had been given treats of corn chips, tacos and other things that I later discovered were made with corn oil.  So I decided to eliminate ALL corn from his diet.  And that is when everything started to change.

More to report in the next post.....stay tuned!

Pet Bird Diet and Nutrition--The Key to Healthy Feathers and Skin

Pet Bird Diet and Nutrition:

The Key to Healthy Feathers and Skin

                                26 year old Marbles, our cranky old guy

Before we got Ollie, we had owned a few cockatiels and parakeets over a course of decades.  Each had basically eaten an all seed diet with a few table scrap opportunities.  And none of them lived more than a few years.

The average person thinks of parrots as one big group classification all having the same needs.  After all, while there are multiple breeds of dogs and cats with varying physical characteristics, the food for them is more based on size and weight.  That is because dogs are dogs and cats are cats. But pet dogs do NOT have the same diet or nutritional needs as other canines such as foxes or jackals, nor do pet cats have the same diet as wild felines such as tigers or bobcats.

It is even more complex when it comes to all the different parrot species. with their often not-too-subtle differences.  The way a parrot looks, for example, is as important as its breeding habits and originating natural environment. One great example of this is the various rainforest parrot species.  While rainforests are found in many areas of the world, they all have one thing in common. Not only is the rainforest very humid and warm, it is also dense and vertically tall. This allows different parrot species to occupy different "levels" within it.  And the levels where they live also determine their diet AND breeding patterns since the various forms of vegetation also have different growing levels and needs.  The relationship between everything in an environment is actually pretty darn complex!

There simply is no "one size fits all" diet for all the different parrot species.  While they may live in our homes and be handled by humans when young, every pet parrot is and always remains a wild animal.  Bird species were not manipulated genetically by humans to perform specific tasks, as were domestic dog breeds.  Each parrot specie developed individual characteristics in nature, based on environment, available diet, breeding style and safety from predators in those specific geographic regions.

        Ollie with an obvious mid-meal case of "foodie beak"!


Like most pet bird owners, we had limited knowledge and understanding of what constituted a healthy diet for our birds.  Parakeets (budgerigars or "budgies") and cockatiels both originate in Australia. Cockatiels are actually small cockatoos while budgies are actually more closely related to lories and fig parrots and are only one of the various type of parakeet species found in the world.  While they look very different,  the two nomadic species only have slightly different needs because they both nomadic occupy similar spaces in the arid environments in which they naturally live.  

We were just the average pet owners, relying on pet stores as the "experts" for making pet bird food purchases. Most pet stores, of course, stock varieties of dried, canned and even fresh food diets for dogs and cats. But, in the pet bird aisle, all we ever saw were bags of seed mixes, along with pellets and a few smaller "treats" that usually consisted of seeds and few additional dried ingredients--many of which just resemble sprinkles of dried spices or other mysterious stuff.  Most of our pet birds lived an "average" lifespan for their species in captivity but we never really considered what that meant when we decided to adopt a larger parrot species. 


We knew we couldn't just offer Ollie an all seed diet with a few bits of "table food" once in a while but we had NO idea how much of a specialized diet he would need.   Although we aren't into a junk food diet and tend to eat fairly healthy with low sodium/low sugar  and lots of fruits and veggies, there is much more to this when it comes to the nutritional needs of these upper canopy rainforest birds.

        Example of the complexity of diet we offer our Eclectus parrot.


While we knew we needed to pay attention to offering our Eclectus fresh fruits and veggies, we had no real idea how MUCH we needed to learn about which items would fulfill his natural nutritional requirements and which items could actually prove problematic.   And trust me, we made LOTS of errors while learning.

The obvious things to avoid are things which are toxic to birds.  Since we already had cared for dogs for 25 years, we were aware of some of these already...things like chocolate, avocado and anything with artificial sweeteners like xylitol.  However, while grapes and raisins area a big no no for dogs, these items are just fine for Ollie.  And, while a carnivore diet is great for dogs, it isn't ok for parrots.  They need to get most of their protein and fat sources from plant based sources.  And Eclectus parrots specifically can develop high cholesterol just like humans if they consume too many high cholesterol foods like egg yolks or meat.

My next blog post will address some of the dietary issues we experienced and how we resolved them.

A Baby Eclectus Parrot Arrives...and the Learning Curve is HIGH!

When 4 month old Ollie arrived at O'Hare airport in August of 2009, he was just a little guy.  He was so scared. He had left everything he knew, traveled in a noisy (and probably scary) environment and was now peering at two unfamiliar humans who then brought him into yet another strange place with another unfamiliar human and three unfamiliar wolves. He also saw and heard a young happy cockatiel and a cranky older cockatiel--none of whom were his flockmates.  His cage, surroundings, flockmates and familiar humans were gone. So were his feelings of being safe.

Frankly, I don't know how he adjusted to all that at once.  Change is not something birds enjoy.  Ever.  Even small changes like a new hairstyle on his favorite human or a chair moved to another spot in a room can cause stress. With so many changes all at once and nothing that gave him any sense of safety, this baby parrot must have been totally over the top. As I look back on it all now with the knowledge and understanding I have gained over the past decade, my heart breaks for him.  I also admire his courage and his spirit.  And his ability to adapt.

Most people just think of birds as animals relying solely on instinct.  You know, just...a "birdbrain".  That may be partially true for some bird groups or species, but definitely not for the groups that include crows, ravens or parrots! Research has proven the intelligence of these birds can be higher than that of our pet dogs! Many bird species also feel emotion...which is where some of the problems can start when birds live with humans.

Parrots are very intuitive.  They can pick up on our energy, as well as body language and sound cues. I'm confident Ollie was not sure of us at all...for a long time.  We were all so excited...and also quite nervous and inexperienced with larger parrots.   Our trying to figure out what to do, when to do it and how to move around him created tension, loud voices and inappropriate, scary movements as we learned mainly by trial and error how VERY different an Eclectus was from a cockatiel or parakeet. Or dog.

Even though we had had parakeets and cockatiels for almost 30 years and dogs for almost 25, getting an Eclectus parrot was a whole new experience for us.  We just weren't aware of how much we would need to learn and adapt.  For example, Eclectus are thinkers and need to take time to decide if and when they want to do something...including stepping up, taking food or if they can trust someone or something.  Expecting quick reactions and rushing them only result in losing trust.  So yes, we made mistakes in the beginning that we didn't even know we were doing, and yes, we also had a HUGE learning curve to go through but we eventually started to understand this intelligent creature we had brought into our home.  And Ollie slowly began to see us as less dangerous.

He came to us with a light wing clip that prevented him from flying high and getting into trouble.  BUT...what we didn't realize was that this wing clip was going to create HUGE problems in the long run because we allowed an Exotic vet we had never gone to (who knew nothing about the specific trim needed for an Eclectus) to keep it trimmed.  This was another unknown for us.  We found out too late that it was imperative for Ollie to ONLY be under the care of a specialized certified AVIAN vet who was also familiar with Eclectus.  These two factors set up the beginning of what would become a life-threatening problem for this adventurous green guy.

Stay tuned to learn how Ollie began his path into feather destructive behavior.

A New Beginning: Feather Destructive Behavior

My silence on this blog was unintentional.  I just didn't exactly know how to talk about what we were experiencing with our crazy male Red Sided Eclectus parrot over the past 18 months.  He has almost been rehomed. Twice.

Many of my followers and friends know that life with a parrot can be challenging, but life with a feather destructive bird can be over-the-top impossible.  There are SO many reasons why a bird can begin and continue this activity, even the avian experts and vets cannot make a definite call on why an individual bird will exhibit feather destructive behavior while another bird in the very same flock will not.  The reasons range from behavioral and intelligence to environment and nutrition. And everything in between...and in combinations. Which change with the seasons, emotions...and life circumstances that are sometimes beyond our control.

I will tell you one thing everyone DOES agree on.  Feather destructive behavior is difficult to resolve.  Most people give up before making even one tiny bit of progress because every tiny step forward usually results in several leaps backwards.  And those backward leaps can be literal ones resulting in accidents and even death.

Birds are designed to fly and be able to land and stand on unstable surfaces that require skillful balance.  Without feathers, a bird has very poor balance and no ability to escape danger or correct a fall.  Every time a bird gets hurt, he is stressed and in pain or discomfort. This alone can initiate or exacerbate feather destructive acts because there is a chemical release in their brains whenever they purposefully perform these behaviors.  It then becomes a habit and way to numb bad sensations.  Its like asking a heroin addict to stop injecting the drug that they crave...except parrots are like human toddlers. And we all know how easy it is to reason with a toddler when they want something.

And then there is the frustration because he can't fly.  Which can lead to screaming. Plus the endless feather replacement which has GOT to cause nutritional cravings, as well as just the general discomfort of molting.

So while we DO know the WHEN and WHY Ollie started showing signs of feather destruction, we couldn't figure out why he allowed his feathers to grow at times and totally attacked them without warning at other times.  And why he began breaking off his wing and tail feathers which are ESSENTIAL for balance and flight...and safety. 

My husband saw this as a losing situation and chose rehoming as the only solution to resolve OUR stress and inability to resolve the problem. And trust me, there were times, I agreed.  If the temps hadn't soared to 95+ last summer, Ollie would have been flown to a bird sanctuary in Oklahoma.  But while we waited for the temps to drop, I decided to try some different approaches to help reduce the craziness.

And guess what.....
Something worked.

My next blog post will fill you in on what had led us to us becoming so desperate....stay tuned....