New to the neighborhood

[NancyT]

Hi I am new to this site but not new to having feathered family members. Just browsing through the forums it looks like I have so much to learn about posting and how to find the info I am interested in.

I have a 13 year old female B&G macaw named Lilly. We purchased her from a breeder when she was still being hand fed. She has the condition called "scissor beak" which requires frequent grooming at the vet. The condition has not required anything out of the normal for her care other than the frequent grooming

I joined this site to learn how to help distract her from her feather picking which she recently started. So far providing her with different types of toys seem to help. She especially likes shredding cardboard so I am interested in either sites where I can purchase cardboard toys for large birds or make some for my girl. I am going to have to set aside some time to flip through all the posts. But I am glad I joined.

 

[newatthistx]

.......Welcome to the Avenue

 

[GuineaPigster]

Welcome!! Our many macaw lovers will be happy to help you and Lilly!

 

[expressmailtome]

Welcome and enjoy the site!

Matt

 

[Macawnutz]

Welcome to AA Nancy. You are not that far from me.

There are SO many causes for FDB ( Feather Destructive Behavior ) sometimes it hard to know where to start. I'm sure you have seen your vet. What vet have you been using? I go to Niles IL to see Dr. Sakas with my flock. This is one of my favorite articles regarding FDB. The Basics of Feather Picking

My favorite part of this article is the questions. Copy down the questions and answer them in great detail. Think really hard and ask family to help answer them, sometimes they are trick questions. Next time you see your vet bring the Q & A to him, it might help you a lot.

1.What diet is the bird offered? What does he eat?
2.What type of cage does the bird have? What toys? Is there exposure to heavy metals, especially zinc?
3.What is the source of the bird?
4.Does the bird live with any birds? Has he ever lived with any birds? What kind(s)?
5.What is the age and sex of the bird?
6.Any viral or chlamydia test results?
7.Is the bird vaccinated?
8.How long has the bird been featherpicking?
9.What month did featherpicking start?
10.Has the bird feather picked in the past, stopped, and then resumed picking? a.Is there a seasonal pattern? b.Is the picking associated with the molt? c.Is there an association with perceived reproductive activity?
11.Do you see the bird actually picking?
12.Does the bird pick when you are absent?
13.If the bird picks when you are present, how does he act? a.Itchy or not itchy? b.Does he scream or vocalize when he picks? c.Will he interrupt a favorite activity to pick?
14.Is there a time of day when he picks?
15.If you see him picking, how do you respond?
16.Does the bird entertain itself?
17.From a personality standpoint, how would you characterize your bird? (You can choose more than one response.) a.Relaxed b.Anxious c.Playful d.Fearful e.Aggressive
18.Where does the bird sleep? How much sleep does the bird get?

Again, welcome to AA. Ohhh... and we LOVE pictures. Hint Hint

 

[Clueless]

Welcome!

 

[Anne & Gang]

 

[TalkinTimneh]

Welcome on board! I'm sure you'll enjoy your time here and finds a lot of helpful information concerning birds and if you can't find something, a friendly member will jump in help.

 

[Kay_belle_12]

Welcome to the Avenue!

 

[Marlene]

and Glad you joined us!

 

[WeasleyLover]

Hi, and Welcome to the Avenue!!!

 

[Cara]

Welcome! I bought some fabulous cardboard toys for large birds a while back. I got them at a store - I'll see if I can find them on-line for you. I work at a publishing company, and a lot of our sales materials are packed with corrugate sheets as filler or padding. I skewer them or hang them on chain along with wooden blocks, and have happy campers. I also have a large supply of ARC's (Advance Reading Copies) which are basically manuscripts bound up into book format. Once the actual book is published, the ARC's become wonderful shredding toys.

 

[Cara]

The toys that I bought were a brand called Fun-Max.

Here's a link to Busy Beaks. The folks there are awesome, if you've never tried them.

Hanging Toys

This is the one I got for my B&G, who likes to shred but tends to take his time with toy. If I gave this to my Harlequin, it would be gone in a couple of hours.

Rainbow Shred X

And this is the I gave to my CAG, who carefully picked it into pieces about the size of a dime.

Shred X

And they even have refills now.

Shred X Strips

 

[Stormcloud]

and I hope the many macaw owners here can be of assistance to you.