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Help and advice on lost and found Galah, Dubai

Adam Duxbury

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Adam Duxbury
Hello everyone!

I'm Adam and I'm new to this site as well as being a owner to a lost Galah in Dubai.

After finding a very dirty, hungry and thirsty Galah the second week of arriving in Dubai I have posted leafets around the residential area where I'm staying and for 5 weeks no one has come forward.

I'm more than happy to be looking after him and I've try to learn things from the net about looking after them and still need more help and advice if anyone can help?

We spend a lot of the time talking to each other and he's extremely friendly to me and is always wanting to be petted, kissed and taken out of the cage to be played with.

But lately I've been taking him out to play with and his talons / claws are so so sharp they are Pearcing into my arm and leaving puncher marks on me, also I don't know if his beak is too long?

Anyway I'm really bad at writing these kinds of things and sorry for my terrible grammar as I'm dialexic (posh word for stupid)

Please feel free to correct me and advise me to what to do to help look after this beautiful Galah.

Things I have done so far:

Bought a large cage.
Colourful bird toy with wood and fabric on.
Feed him parrot seed and 1 boiled egg a day.
Given 5-7 almonds a day.
Fresh water a day.
Cleaned twice a day.
Let out of the cage 2-3 hours a day (hours are split into one hour at a time at different periods of the day)
Talk to him.
Pet him.
Put the cage on the balcony for an hour or so a day (not in direct sunlight)
At night he stays in my room with a curtain draped over his cage.
I think that's everything?

Concerns:

He has a thick brass looking ring on his right foot showing a series of numbers and letters.
When ever I leave the room he blabbs his head off non stop till I'm back or will start screeching almost like a pig squealing very loudly untill I appear.
He preens himself very often.
He sneezes ALOT but no discharge.
He makes soft tweeting sounds when he's sleepy and yawns with his beak whose open 5-10 times when settling down.
When he's talking to me and is calm he will stop and hiss very often (I don't know what for)
Talons/claws are very sharp (wasn't this sharp when he was found)
Unsure if beak is too long?

That's all I can think of for now so I hope you all can help and advise me to make this Galah's life better for him?

Thanks so much again and I look forward to your comments! :)

Kindest regards,

Adam
 

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Chopper

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Oh gosh - what a beautiful Galah.
Are you able to get some different perches? That will help with the talons and the beak. Get perches that are cement or calcium. (Others will come along and give you exact names...I'm supposed to be working.) But I am drooling over your bird.
 

Sylvi_

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Welcome to AA! He's beautiful, thank you for helping him.

I'll offer what advise I can, but I haven't personally owned any larger parrot.
The cage seems to be an 18x18 and I'd consider the minimum for an active, medium sized parrot like a Galah to be about 24 deep and 36 wide with a similar height - bigger obviously being better. I have roughly that size cage(24x36)for each of my smaller parrots(GCC, cockatiel and lovebird) and they use every inch so a Galah would benefit enormously with a larger cage.

For sure try more toys. Hard woods, soft woods and shreddable materials such as paper etc. I like to keep a minimum of 5 toys in each of my cages, but usually it's closer to 10.
Foraging toys are also a must with parrots especially the larger ones.

I'm guessing you have a straight dowel rod perch in his cage? I would replace that with safe natural wood perches. These are better for birds feet since they have varying diameters, as opposed to a dowel which is the exact same throughout.
If a bird's feet are in the exact same position for an extended amount of time it can cause damage to the feet, so safe natural wood is the best option.
Other good options are rope. Just make sure you cut away loose fibers over time if you use rope perches so they don't get tangled on his toes and talons.

For his diet, lower his protein. One whole egg a day is way too much protein, once or twice a week maximum is best. Fresh veggies and fruits should be offered daily and instead of a seed diet he should be given a quality pellet diet. Seed should remain a small amount in proportion to the rest of his diet.
The almonds are a bit high, so I'd cut
down on them a little too.

For his nails, I get my birds nails trimmed at my avian vet's; so I can't offer advise on how to do that yourself. If you have an avian vet near you that would be the best way I'd think. His beak looks a bit long to me, but again I'm far from an expert on large parrots. A good vet checkup is what I'd recommend.

That's about all I can think of, and I'm sure more knowledgeable and experienced members will offer advice soon. I wish you many happy years with him, do you have a name for the handsome bugger? :)
 

rocky'smom

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he is beautiful, thank you for taking him in. JMO, I would try to find Avian vet, and have him checked out from crest to talons.
and lots of fresh veggies to his diet, all kinds of veggies. some fruit also.
 

sunnysmom

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He's beautiful! :) I'll let some of our Galah owners answer your questions but wanted to welcome you to the forum. Have you tried bathing him? That might help with his sneezing. My tiel likes to be misted but some prefer to bathe in bowls, etc. (And you're writing and grammar are fine. Never worry about that here. :) )
 

Clueless

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We have a member that used to live in your area.

@mythic55 can you give him any advice on vets in that area?
 

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And thanks for taking the bird in....
 

alicat

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Everything sylvie said is pretty much on point. If she's only out 2 hours a day that cage is too small, with not enough in it! even though it is very nice.. they should be able to fly a little in their cage, they're birds after all. They need to be able to stretch their wings. Also lots of toys and different perches.
A bird having one sized perch (one dowel) is like a woman wearing high heels all day-you wouldn't want your foot in that one position 24/7!

She is very lucky you found her though and very gorgeous. congrats!
 

fluffypoptarts

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You are awesome for taking him in and trying to do right by him! Lucky bird to have been found by such a caring person. :) I hope everything goes well with your new companion. <3
 

jmfleish

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Awwww...such a cute little guy! As everyone said, the cage is probably not big enough. Galahs are very active little birds. All the noises he's making are very normal for a Galah, so no worries there. They tend to squeal like piggies when they're happy and having fun!:) They love to chew on some of the softer woods like pine and will shred anything you give them. If you have some cardboard boxes you want to get rid of, just cut them into squares and string them on something safe you can get your hands on. I know that being in the Middle East you probably don't have access to a lot of things. If you can find a bird club, that might help in finding stuff that is bird safe like vegetable tanned leather and untreated sisal and jute. My guys also like stainless steel toys if you can find anything like that...measuring spoons and such that he can clank around.

For the toenails, if you can find what is called a pedicure perch and put it in front of his food dishes, that should take care of that problem. His beak looks fine and once he starts chewing on wood, he'll take care of that himself. I think you're giving him adequate time out of his cage. More veggies in the diet and cut down on the egg and almonds as someone else said. If you can get a pelleted diet of some kind that is made for parrots, throwing a bit of that in would be great.

I think you've got a good start and he looks like a happy boy!

Welcome to AA!
 

Hankmacaw

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@mythic55 - Mythic lived in Dubai and I thought she may be able to help him find sources for a vet and for bird food.
 

Tiel Feathers

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Welcome to AA, and congratulations on your new bird! I'm glad you were able to take him in. He's beautiful and seems happy. It sounds like you're off to a great start, and you have received some wonderful advice so far. I just wanted to add, if he screams when you are not in the room, don't reward him by coming back in the room. Wait until he is quiet. If you come back when he's screaming for you, he will just learn to scream more. Remember, always reward good behavior, and ignore undesirable behavior. I hope you can find a good avian vet near you.

Oh, and also, you seem more knowledgable than some people I know who have had birds for years, and your grammar is just fine! Quite the opposite of stupid I'd say. Don't beat yourself up!
 

Tanya

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Welcome, welcome!

You have made a very good start with your new galah friend! Judging by the feathers you bird is more than a year old. Baby galahs have grey edges to their pink belly feathers. I don't see any thickening of the skin around the eye (male) or reddening of the eye color (female) so my best guess on age is somewhere around 2 or 3 years old. His/her beak looks perfectly normal! To keep the beak trim, offer lots of kinds of toys. It helps to put them within easy reach, even attache to the inside of the cage right at the end of the perch. Rhubarb especially loves pinewood blocks, paper and clean popsicle sticks.

If you can find a perch that has rough sides, it will help with keeping the nails trimmed. We use a Jungle Walk Pedicure perch, installed at her favorite perching spot, with the smooth side up to protect the bottom of her foot.

Rhubarb the galah loves to eat! She gets lots of fresh veggies (squash, carrots, peas in the pod, peppers, organic greens), well-cooked legumes (lentils, beans), some fruit (pears, melon, papaya), grains (plain oatmeal, cooked pasta, brown rice) with nuts (salt-free! pecans, almonds and pistachios) as only a training treat. Really, she's happy to sample most people food. We try to make sure she only gets things that are low in salt. Salt is really bad for birdy kidneys and can cause them to become sick. Fresh foods are naturally low in salt, so we avoid canned foods and check the label on frozen ones. :) She gets unlimited pellets (Roudybush), quite a few fresh seeds (melon, squash, pepper) and about a teaspoon of no-sunflower seed mix per day. Sunflowers were bred by humans to produce oil. They're basically fried chips for birds. And galahs are prone to fatty tumors, so keeping them at a healthy weight is really important. On that topic, it might be a good idea to purchase a kitchen scale and weigh your bird once a week. Keep a little log book of the weight. If it goes up by more than 10 g, time to limit fatty foods. If it goes down by more than 10 g, time to start figuring out what's wrong. Weight loss is often the first sign of illness.

Rhubarb also squeals when we leave the room. It's called a contact call and it's how galah's keep track of one another in the wild. For a wild galah, a lone bird is a dead bird. They need the extra lookouts for predators, especially when they eat. We had to move her cage to the main part of the house, where she can see into all the living areas. This helped her calm down a lot. I'm also really consistent about telling her "I'll be right back" whenever I'm about to step out of her line of sight for only a moment. This lets her know she's not being abandoned. (I tell her "bye, bye!" when I'm about to leave the house for a longer time.)

Sneezing often happens during grooming. Cockatoos are dusty birds and just like humans, they sneeze when they get dust in their noses. Baths help quite a bit with keeping the dust down. If it's happening all the time, and not just during grooming, you might want to consider other possible causes. Does your bird wipe his/her beak all the time (not just after food or being put in the cage)? Is there a clicking sound or tail bobbing when breathing?

Sleepy tweeting sounds are normal. So it yawning. Most birds also make a kind of beak-grinding sound when they are content. It's a scratchy, gritty sound and means your bird is completely at ease and happy. A hiss is more like the sound a human makes when blowing out a candle. Hissing is usually accompanied by a full-up crest and a slow side-to-side head weave with puffed feathers all around. It's a sound to intimidate a potential threat, so you bird will try to look as big as possible when making it. Be careful of hissing, as a bite is next.

The brass ring, called a band, was probably put on by whoever bred the galah. As long as it is loose enough to slide on the leg, I wouldn't worry about it. You only need to be concerned if the band is too tight and restricts blood flow to the foot.

I hope this helps!
 
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jmfleish

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Welcome, welcome!
Sunflowers were bred by humans to produce oil. They're basically fried chips for birds. And galahs are prone to fatty tumors, so keeping them at a healthy weight is really important.
Actually, sunflowers are a natural plant that produce seeds that are incredibly healthy for both humans and birds alike. It's a myth that they are bad for birds. You can read about all the incredible health benefits of sunflower seeds here:

Sunflower Seeds: Benefits, Nutrition & Recipes
 

aooratrix

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Using the info on the band, you might be able to track down the breeder and owner. Thanks for taking him in! Good luck. :)
 

Tanya

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Actually, sunflowers are a natural plant that produce seeds that are incredibly healthy for both humans and birds alike. It's a myth that they are bad for birds. You can read about all the incredible health benefits of sunflower seeds here:
Sunflower Seeds: Benefits, Nutrition & Recipes

You're right. The grey striped seeds are quite good for birds as long as they're part of a balanced diet. What worries me is that the black oil seeds have a very high oil content. This is a very desirable quality for birds that fly and forage every waking hour!
What Is Black Oil Sunflower Seed?

But our sedentary pet galahs are very good at turning themselves into tubby little 'toos. I thought I might take a moment to call attention to a typically unrecognized source of dietary fat. :)

I don't mean to disparage sunflowers! In fact I grow them and give the almost-ripe heads to Rhubarb, who thinks shredding flowers is the bees knees!
 

Macaw Lover

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Hi Adam. I read your post this morning and it made me so very ANGRY. Just because you are dyslexic DOES NOT MEAN that you are stupid!!!!!!! :extremeanger::atomic::tmsmakesme:

Whoever has been telling you that IS the stupid one.

Your grammar is fine and most people who are not in the medical field and deal with all those 'foreign' words, will not know how to spell dyslexia which is no big deal. Heck, how many times have I gone back and re-read a post to see how bad I spelled something.

I hope you stick around and ask a lot of questions. I am not a 'Too person myself but as you can see, many others are and you will find a wealth of information here.
 

iamwhoiam

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Dyslexic does NOT equal stupid. Your posting was very thorough and informative. Thank you for taking the Galah into your home. She/he is very cute. You may be able to find the breeder through the band and then possibly find the owner or perhaps you can do a search on the internet and see if anything was posted about a lost Galah. Consider taking him to the vet for a wellness exam and grooming (nail trimming). Sounds like he/she has found a very good home with you!

BTW, Welcome to Avian Avenue.
 

Adam Duxbury

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Wow this was amazing to wake up to!
Thank you so so much to everyone for all your kind advice and worlds towards me and the Galah! hehe

I will try and take some time to thanh you all individually at some point today.

Once again this has been amazing to see everyone's replies and thank you sooo much!!
 
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