Recently inherited double yellow head amazon

[Barney DYH]

Hello all. First time poster here. My father passed away about a year and a half ago. My mother attempted to care for his bird and did not have time for him. Now he lives with my family! Barney (the bird) has probably not been fed correctly in the 30 or so years my father owned him. To my knowledge he has never had a bath and currently smells similar to urine. I would love any advice anyone can offer in regards to providing this beautiful double yellow head amazon a quality life. He only eats sunflower seeds and peanuts at the moment, I'm going to get pellets now!

 

[MommyBird]

The great thing about Amazons is that they love food!
At least start by getting him on better nuts. Peanuts go, they may have aflatoxins.
Almonds give calcium, walnuts give good omega 3 fatty acids (and will help balance the omega 6 from sunflower seeds). Try both shelled and unshelled.
Try things like whole raw sugar snap pea pods, carrots try raw and cooked cut into pennies or sticks. yeah, shape matters.
He should be getting more beta carotenes which the body changes into vitamin A. Deficiencies are not good.
Try whole minipeppers, or cut red bell pepper, broccoli, and many cannot resist red palm oil on a small piece of tortillia or bread.
Keep trying, sometimes it takes months but it works. Eat the foods in front of him and make yummy noises.
MY BFA would ask "Is it good?" which meant he wanted some.

 

[Hankmacaw]

Thank you so much for taking this guy in. You must have a special feeling for him, having been yours dad's bird.
Amazons generally love water and showers. Try a spray bottle set to pretty fine mist first. Spray above him so the mist falls down on him. If he takes to the spray misting, he should be in the shower before too long. He'll stop stinking after a few showers.
What's his name?

Please no peanuts. @MommyBird gave you great advice for a diet for your new buddy.

 

[MommyBird]

I'm sure he does need a bath very much and some of his odor will be due to that.
Be aware though that Amazons, like Pionus, can put off a distinctive smell, especially when excited (either in a happy or upset way). It seems to come first from around the nostrils.
If they are unwell, the smell can sour. Most of us consider it to be a pleasant smell and will admit to being "sniffers" and we inhale deeply around our Amazons.

 

[Cynthia & Percy]

welcome

 

[iamwhoiam]

Welcome to AA. Sorry about the loss of your dad. Wishing you the best with Barney. Thank you for taking him into your home.
It will take time and patience to transition him to a better diet. Agree with no peanuts and also no sunflower seeds but you will probably have to wean him off of these and not go cold turkey unless he is willing to start eating better types of nuts as well as the pellets and a good seed mix.
My Amazons get unshelled walnuts, almonds and pine nuts and shelled unsalted roasted cashews. They don't get each of these every day and don't get a lot of them.
They also like cooked mixed veggies (cooled down a bit). Their main diet consists of Volkman Avian Science Super Hookbill (sadly it contains peanuts but I remove them) and Caitec Oven Fresh Bites Pellets (medium). My YNA, who didn't initially like pellets, loves the Oven Fresh Bites. Lafeber's Avicakes contain both seeds and pellets. I use those for and Lafeber Parrot Popcorn as treats for my Amazons.
You can email some bird food manufacturer's and request free samples of their foods so that you can try things out before you purchase. These vendors include Caitec, Harrison's, Lafeber and TOPS. Not sure about Roudybush.