Hello All,
I am hoping that someone can help me. I apologize for the lengthy post, but wanted to cover all the issues I have been having with our 7.5 year old Eclectus.
I have been keeping a log book and since May 22 she has laid 40 eggs. I have tried everything under the sun to help her. I bought a $100+ black bird cage cover and shortened her daylight time. I moved her cage and switched around/removed toys. I tried very expensive realistic fake eclectus eggs. Since I am the object of her desire, I have my wife hold her more and me less and even have my wife as the designated "feeder". I tried all kinds of toys and she has no interest.
Some issues I have had: We live in a split level home and Sophie's cage is in the living room/dining room which is where we tend to be at night. I did try moving her to a smaller covered cage at bedtime in a dark, unused bedroom but I could here her crying (which broke my heart). I also noticed she slept during the day which meant to me that she wasn't even sleeping in that bedroom at night. The avian vet thinks it would be less stressful to go ahead and cover her in the living room even though we watch tv at night and are up until 11-12.
Another issue, she has always had such beautiful feathers, but in May when she started laying, she plucked them out around her vent--I have been told this is normal. But now, she is featherless from her breast down to her vent and that's a first for her. She has been like this for months and when new growth comes in she tends to remove it.
My "bird guy" (not a vet but extremely knowledgeable) said that for all 27 of his birds, he does not have grids in the bottom of the cage. He advised that it is preferable to have her shredding paper than shredding herself. I am unsure of this because she is still featherless in the area mentioned and the paper shredding is all she seems to want to do all day--she also practically lives under the paper. I realize this is nesting behavior, but he said she wants a baby and she will continue laying until she gets one.
I have tried all kinds of toys and diversions but she is not interested. I usually cannot have her on my shoulder for more than 2 minutes before she crawls down my arm, starts regurgitating, and saying any word she knows. She also tried to get in front of my face and move back and forth, remove my glasses etc. She has never been bitey or aggressive though.
She has been to 2 avian vets. The first vet simply gave me advice and didn't do anything at all. The second vet she is currently seeing did blood work and looked down her throat (I forget what the name of the part is inside the throat that he checked but I think it begins with a "c") and he showed me a photo of what a healthy birds barbs (in the throat ) look like. He said that Sophie's are even sharper than the bird's in the photo and that whatever I am doing to feed/nourish her to keep on doing it. He was very surprised at how healthy she is when by the time he saw her she had already laid 30+ eggs.
He has given her 2 shots of depo provera so far, each one is 3ml I think (or 3 mcgs?). The first one stopped her behavior for about a week and the 2nd shot seemed to do nothing at all. The Dr advised he has never had to give a parrot more than 2 shots and he has more than 1000 parrots in his practice. He insists that before each shot he does bloodwork (which has been fine) to check her liver, so she gets the bloodwork and then about 2 days later a shot. Ech time this costs $150. He has other vets/techs in his practice but I insist on seeing only him. I have scheduled a visit with him (he can't see her until March 10 and she is going to lay another egg prior to this, I can tell). I am going to tell him how upset I am with her quality of life. Before this egg-laying she used to be playful (some days ornery) and mischievious (in a cute way). Now she just shreds paper and tries to mate with me. I even stopped wearing cologne. I also want to ask him about upping the next dose of Depo (I read the range is 5-25 and he has given her 3 twice) or trying Lupron which he said he has never used. He is most likely the best avian vet in our state of Pa.
Lastly, her last 15-20 eggs or so have thin shells to little/no shells. Of course I am concerned with egg binding and other issues. I have tried putting crushed calcium in her food, grating cuttlebone, and even tums. But if the slightest bit of foreign substance in her food, she won't touch it. (incidentally she loves Red Delicious apples but won't eat Golden, Gala, Kiku or any other variety-picky bird!). She does eat a small amount of scrambled egg with crushed shell about 2x per week.
A couple of years ago she laid 3 eggs, sat on one for 28-30 days and was done. This time she lets them fall wherever (usually from a high perch in her cage) and every egg breaks. In the beginning she laid some nice eggs but later on I'd see a beak puncture in them.
At this point, I am thinking of putting the grid back in her cage (she's plucking anyway) and putting her in that empty bedroom (where she cries) to hopefully shake her up and stop this craziness. At this point I forget what it's like to have a normal bird!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Joel
I am hoping that someone can help me. I apologize for the lengthy post, but wanted to cover all the issues I have been having with our 7.5 year old Eclectus.
I have been keeping a log book and since May 22 she has laid 40 eggs. I have tried everything under the sun to help her. I bought a $100+ black bird cage cover and shortened her daylight time. I moved her cage and switched around/removed toys. I tried very expensive realistic fake eclectus eggs. Since I am the object of her desire, I have my wife hold her more and me less and even have my wife as the designated "feeder". I tried all kinds of toys and she has no interest.
Some issues I have had: We live in a split level home and Sophie's cage is in the living room/dining room which is where we tend to be at night. I did try moving her to a smaller covered cage at bedtime in a dark, unused bedroom but I could here her crying (which broke my heart). I also noticed she slept during the day which meant to me that she wasn't even sleeping in that bedroom at night. The avian vet thinks it would be less stressful to go ahead and cover her in the living room even though we watch tv at night and are up until 11-12.
Another issue, she has always had such beautiful feathers, but in May when she started laying, she plucked them out around her vent--I have been told this is normal. But now, she is featherless from her breast down to her vent and that's a first for her. She has been like this for months and when new growth comes in she tends to remove it.
My "bird guy" (not a vet but extremely knowledgeable) said that for all 27 of his birds, he does not have grids in the bottom of the cage. He advised that it is preferable to have her shredding paper than shredding herself. I am unsure of this because she is still featherless in the area mentioned and the paper shredding is all she seems to want to do all day--she also practically lives under the paper. I realize this is nesting behavior, but he said she wants a baby and she will continue laying until she gets one.
I have tried all kinds of toys and diversions but she is not interested. I usually cannot have her on my shoulder for more than 2 minutes before she crawls down my arm, starts regurgitating, and saying any word she knows. She also tried to get in front of my face and move back and forth, remove my glasses etc. She has never been bitey or aggressive though.
She has been to 2 avian vets. The first vet simply gave me advice and didn't do anything at all. The second vet she is currently seeing did blood work and looked down her throat (I forget what the name of the part is inside the throat that he checked but I think it begins with a "c") and he showed me a photo of what a healthy birds barbs (in the throat ) look like. He said that Sophie's are even sharper than the bird's in the photo and that whatever I am doing to feed/nourish her to keep on doing it. He was very surprised at how healthy she is when by the time he saw her she had already laid 30+ eggs.
He has given her 2 shots of depo provera so far, each one is 3ml I think (or 3 mcgs?). The first one stopped her behavior for about a week and the 2nd shot seemed to do nothing at all. The Dr advised he has never had to give a parrot more than 2 shots and he has more than 1000 parrots in his practice. He insists that before each shot he does bloodwork (which has been fine) to check her liver, so she gets the bloodwork and then about 2 days later a shot. Ech time this costs $150. He has other vets/techs in his practice but I insist on seeing only him. I have scheduled a visit with him (he can't see her until March 10 and she is going to lay another egg prior to this, I can tell). I am going to tell him how upset I am with her quality of life. Before this egg-laying she used to be playful (some days ornery) and mischievious (in a cute way). Now she just shreds paper and tries to mate with me. I even stopped wearing cologne. I also want to ask him about upping the next dose of Depo (I read the range is 5-25 and he has given her 3 twice) or trying Lupron which he said he has never used. He is most likely the best avian vet in our state of Pa.
Lastly, her last 15-20 eggs or so have thin shells to little/no shells. Of course I am concerned with egg binding and other issues. I have tried putting crushed calcium in her food, grating cuttlebone, and even tums. But if the slightest bit of foreign substance in her food, she won't touch it. (incidentally she loves Red Delicious apples but won't eat Golden, Gala, Kiku or any other variety-picky bird!). She does eat a small amount of scrambled egg with crushed shell about 2x per week.
A couple of years ago she laid 3 eggs, sat on one for 28-30 days and was done. This time she lets them fall wherever (usually from a high perch in her cage) and every egg breaks. In the beginning she laid some nice eggs but later on I'd see a beak puncture in them.
At this point, I am thinking of putting the grid back in her cage (she's plucking anyway) and putting her in that empty bedroom (where she cries) to hopefully shake her up and stop this craziness. At this point I forget what it's like to have a normal bird!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Joel
