New to site

[Susan Halperin]

Hi
Just enrolled and excited to learn things. I have a yellow-sided green cheek conure (Rio) who is about 6 mo. old. Currently he is really sweet and rarely bites (never come close to breaking skin) although I've only had him a little over two weeks. I'm actually teaching him tricks to make him more polite. He will fly to my finger when called, turn around, go up and down a ladder on command to his play station. I'm trying to teach Rio to hand me a ball but he just slings it.
My one problem is he is having occasional diarrhea and I'm not sure why as he seems very healthy. I feed a mix of foods (a mash) with Quinoa, brown rice, oatmeal, chia seeds, flax seeds, carrots, peppers, a bunch of greens, all mixed up in
food processor. He came to me on a diet of seeds and pellets. I've kept the pellets but have eliminated most of the seed. I also just discovered he likes cut up apple. I'm wondering if I'm giving him to many treats when training him which consist of small sunflower seeds and nutri berries in very small pieces. I train him twice a day for 10 minutes each time so he gets those treats when he does something correctly.
Would love feed back! By the way I give him very small portions at meal time not heaping bowl fulls.

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Sounds like things are going along pretty smoothly. About his diarrhea thou, is it smelly? Bird poop shouldn't smell. There are lots of info out there what healthy poop should look like. Bird's poop will vary so small changes generally aren't cause for concern. But if it is changing dramatically then that's cause for concern. Then it's time to go to the vet's.

Has he been to the vet's for a wellness exam? If not I strongly recommend you do that. It's good to go at least once a year. Plus then if you have an emergency pop up or if your bird gets sick you'll already have establish a relationship with a vet.

I wish you and Rio all the best and look forward to hearing how things are going

 

[Rain Bow]

I agree a wellness exam right away to save you money in the long run. My first thought was chia, flax & pepper. All the oils maybe effecting him, but I don't know much about poop/ diarrehea. Maybe just a few foods @ 1 time. I think your ok w/ the sunflower seed for now as treats but there maybe is a sensitivity to something. Will he eat veggie & fruit chunks? Maybe a few pieces of 2 items @ a time for breakfast lunch& dinner. With your pellets all the time. Till that wellness happens. It may help you zero in on the issue.

silly ? your not using milk in your mash are you? Birds are lactose intolerant. I almost made the mistake in the beginning with scrambled eggs. That's what made me think of it. Not to project an old issue I almost had onto you.

Rain

 

[iamwhoiam]

Could be from the mash. You could stop that for a day or two and see if the diarrhea stops then try only one or two of the mash ingredients and see what happens, then add another back, etc. When did the diarrhea start? Did you immediately change his diet from what the breeder or the pet store was feeding him? Taking him for a new bird check up, which has already been, suggested is a good idea.
He sounds like a very cute and smart bird. Post some photos when you get a chance and welcome to AA.

 

[cassiesdad]

Welcome to you and Rio!

When we adopted Milton (U2 in avatar) we received a whole lot of info on his diet. Seems like his first person was feeding him human baby food and oatmeal along with seeds. We talked extensively with our AV about the situation. She said it was OK to keep offering the baby food to Milty...and to try to convert him to pellets. We converted him to pellets, and he continues to get the baby food daily...we also give him chop, pasta, etc.

Anyway...to get to the point...the baby food does cause rather loose stools...again, our AV said that was to be expected.

If you have concerns about Rio's stools, by all means, talk to your vet about it...that's what they're there for...

 

[Birdlover42]

Welcome!!! And wow Rio is so lucky to have you! I have found that my Quaker has loose or formed stools depending on what I feed her. She eas recently weaned from formula and that made her stools much more formed. She has seeds with vitamns and DHA and Omega 3s . Also pellets and veggies. She likes plain Cheerios as well and will eat apples .she doesnt like fruits much. I would love to hear what your training sessions consist of and what you have done to get Rio to perform all those tricks!

 

[Susan Halperin]

Hi there and thanks for getting back to me! I'm still having problems navigating this site so I hope I'm talking to the right person. I think I have been offering to many new foods. He now loves mash but in order to get him to do tricks I of course have to reward Rio. But what I do to teach him tricks is known as "target training." I have a little perch set up where I train him and when he does what I ask him to do I give him a sunflower seed. I first got him to touch a chop stick and then gradually taught him to turn around by following the stick and immediately rewarding him. I have even taught him to poop at this station and not on me. I also went on youtube which has a lot of fun training stuff particularly "flock-talk". The young woman on that site is remarkable with her parrollets.

 

[Rain Bow]

It sounds like your doing reading & watching, which is a very important part of being a parront. I know that if I give Buddy foods high in liquid content. Ex: Celery, lettuce

His stools will get watery. My guess is Rio's probably fine but you should get a wellness exam as soon as possible. I know kicking out the cash for a new pet then running to the vet seems silly. My guy didn't get rushed, & it was a dumb move on my part. He had what the vet said was salmonella coating his entire mouth. Amazon's don't have the ability fight it off like humans. Their system needs the antibiotic to fight it. Thank goodness other than being uncomfortable he was unharmed but I think between his 1st appt which had to postpone the wellness & the 2nd (wellness & follow-up to illness) was about $500. This yr his wellness was a little more than $100.

If Rio's sick it's better to get him in & checked. Birds can come from petstores & breeders ill too! If he's got a food sensitivity you want to know that too. It sounds like you love & respect one another. It also sounds like he's getting a good diet. Vet's are there to help you find, learn & train from the best places. After Buddy came I thought everything was fine, I learned it was a relief to have the vet's office on speed dial if I needed it. That's where avian vets are really good to see before its emergent!

Rain

 

[zoo mom]

Welcome.

 

[WallyLoopey]

Welcome Susan! Sounds like you are doing a great job so far! Bird poop is naturally kind of ‘wet’. It can become more-so with the addition of fruits and wet foods.

 

[expressmailtome]

Welcome, and enjoy the site!

 

[WendyN]

 

[sunnysmom]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Cynthia & Percy]

welcome fyi apple seeds are deadly

 

[Shezbug]

Welcome