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I haven't posted in a LONG time. My parrotlet Arabella is 9 old years and has been through hell, bird style.
She has always been a bit of a velcro bird, always wanting to sit on my shoulder. She has had her wings clipped when I first got her, but rapidly grew them back and I clipped them twice after that. When the clipping became a problem, because she ended up behind the furniture, I discontinued the practice.
There were no problems, because the only place she really wanted to be was on my shoulder. Then, trying to reach me in the kitchen one day, she ran into the fly paper I have over the garbage can. She lost some feathers when I unstuck her, and I had to use coconut oil to get the glue off her beak. At the time, I thought she was fine, other than no longer wanting to go into the kitchen, (a good thing!!!) Side note...I have a avian vet in the area, but I am on Social Security and living month to month, so there was no way a vet visit was possible.
Her beak started to disintegrate, dying off from the tip, cracking, and splitting. I thought she had been poisoned and that she would be dead soon. ...but she hung on! I trimmed the splitting overgrown areas with my jewelry wire cutters quite often, shaping her lower beak when it didn't match for her seed cracking needs. She was patient, and still wanted to get her skritches and to sit on my shoulder. I had handled her a lot when I first got her, so she was not upset to be upside down, or being restrained.
This happened back in February of 2020. Then she started laying eggs. I had a cockatiel die from being egg-bound when I was a teen, (LONG time ago), so I made sure to adjust the lighting, DARK, no nesting areas, only pets on the head. The problem was, I still had to hold her when I did the beak trimming. So she laid 3 more eggs.
Now, I had not done all the research on diet that i should have, and she had a cuttlebone in the cage that she ignored, a mineral block that she also ignored, and so her diet of ONLY seeds wasn't enough. She needed calcium! Being finally aware of this, I started research on diet. Amazing! Web sites, YouTube videos,(Bird Tricks is GREAT!), case studies... I read and watched them all.
So actually...I tried a piece of broccoli stuck in the cage bars. She DEVOURED it! Now...she has been egg-bound for 3 months, but the poops are huge, she is eating, flying, but a bit grumpy. I was sad, hopeful, frustrated, and sadder yet...BUT, after 4 days of the broccoli, she tried to pass the egg!
That was 48 hours of pure STRESS for both of us!!! I could see the pieces of shell, as evidently when she tried to pass it, it broke. So, every time she tried to pass it, I got out the Q-Tips, the coconut oil, and the tweezers. I flipped her over and removed, gently, the pieces of shell, then gently pushed her cloaca back in and used the oil generously. I did this 4 times!
I had originally placed her back in her cage, 3X3X5 foot, huge cage, but she didn't seem comfortable with the extra flying she had to do to get to her food and water. So, my next step was to get out the small, 6X5X10 INCH, cage, set it up with food, a perch, water dishes and put in a paper towel on the floor to cushion her feet and keep track of the poo. She wasn't interested in the seeds, but was chowing down on the broccoli. I upped the heat in my apartment, and covered her with a towel. Since I have to pee every hour and a half, I checked on her at the same time. When I saw the cloaca out, I knew to take her out and do an assist. Finally, it got to be a hard extrusion, so I oiled it up and "helped" her push. I got stuck partway out, but with the oil and the tweezers I finally got out an eraser-sized pellet of egg shell. After that last bit, her cloaca went back by itself, and I treated the area with oil and Argentyn23. (I researched it thoroughly!!!) She ate, rested, and drank a lot of water for the next 24 hours.
During this same few days, I had bought a LOT of veggies, chopped, diced, mixed...and froze them in 1/4 cup batches. (I also have an older cockatiel that is being transitioned to chop as well)
My chop is a mixture of: Carrots, Butternut squash, Bell Pepper, Lacinto Kale, Radish, Jalapenos, Parsley, Sweet Potatoes, Dandelion Greens, Broccoli, sprouts, and then I added the Steel Cut Oats, chia seed, flax seed, almonds, and a few sesame seeds.
The cockatiel was afraid of the veggies at first, but as of today is also chowing down! I do put a lot more of his regular seed mix into his chop.
Meanwhile, Arabella is taking more interest in being outside her cage, even willing to stay on the "playground" with her chop. (before I couldn't even get her to perch there for even 10 seconds!!!) The playground is in the front window of the apartment as gets some weak late morning sun though the blinds. She is still in the "hospital cage" and doesn't even enter her big cage. Of course, she has flying rights whenever the cockatiel is in his cage. But even that is better, as she would just attack him before. Now she kinda ignores him unless there is food involved...then it is ALL HERS! (I have to carefully supervise when both are out as she is a bully!)
Her beak is re-growing, I just got some calcium supplement to mix with her food as well. (The cockatiel regularly decimates a cuttlebone a month LOL)
I feel hopeful and thankful and SOOOO blessed!
She has always been a bit of a velcro bird, always wanting to sit on my shoulder. She has had her wings clipped when I first got her, but rapidly grew them back and I clipped them twice after that. When the clipping became a problem, because she ended up behind the furniture, I discontinued the practice.
There were no problems, because the only place she really wanted to be was on my shoulder. Then, trying to reach me in the kitchen one day, she ran into the fly paper I have over the garbage can. She lost some feathers when I unstuck her, and I had to use coconut oil to get the glue off her beak. At the time, I thought she was fine, other than no longer wanting to go into the kitchen, (a good thing!!!) Side note...I have a avian vet in the area, but I am on Social Security and living month to month, so there was no way a vet visit was possible.
Her beak started to disintegrate, dying off from the tip, cracking, and splitting. I thought she had been poisoned and that she would be dead soon. ...but she hung on! I trimmed the splitting overgrown areas with my jewelry wire cutters quite often, shaping her lower beak when it didn't match for her seed cracking needs. She was patient, and still wanted to get her skritches and to sit on my shoulder. I had handled her a lot when I first got her, so she was not upset to be upside down, or being restrained.
This happened back in February of 2020. Then she started laying eggs. I had a cockatiel die from being egg-bound when I was a teen, (LONG time ago), so I made sure to adjust the lighting, DARK, no nesting areas, only pets on the head. The problem was, I still had to hold her when I did the beak trimming. So she laid 3 more eggs.
Now, I had not done all the research on diet that i should have, and she had a cuttlebone in the cage that she ignored, a mineral block that she also ignored, and so her diet of ONLY seeds wasn't enough. She needed calcium! Being finally aware of this, I started research on diet. Amazing! Web sites, YouTube videos,(Bird Tricks is GREAT!), case studies... I read and watched them all.
So actually...I tried a piece of broccoli stuck in the cage bars. She DEVOURED it! Now...she has been egg-bound for 3 months, but the poops are huge, she is eating, flying, but a bit grumpy. I was sad, hopeful, frustrated, and sadder yet...BUT, after 4 days of the broccoli, she tried to pass the egg!
That was 48 hours of pure STRESS for both of us!!! I could see the pieces of shell, as evidently when she tried to pass it, it broke. So, every time she tried to pass it, I got out the Q-Tips, the coconut oil, and the tweezers. I flipped her over and removed, gently, the pieces of shell, then gently pushed her cloaca back in and used the oil generously. I did this 4 times!
I had originally placed her back in her cage, 3X3X5 foot, huge cage, but she didn't seem comfortable with the extra flying she had to do to get to her food and water. So, my next step was to get out the small, 6X5X10 INCH, cage, set it up with food, a perch, water dishes and put in a paper towel on the floor to cushion her feet and keep track of the poo. She wasn't interested in the seeds, but was chowing down on the broccoli. I upped the heat in my apartment, and covered her with a towel. Since I have to pee every hour and a half, I checked on her at the same time. When I saw the cloaca out, I knew to take her out and do an assist. Finally, it got to be a hard extrusion, so I oiled it up and "helped" her push. I got stuck partway out, but with the oil and the tweezers I finally got out an eraser-sized pellet of egg shell. After that last bit, her cloaca went back by itself, and I treated the area with oil and Argentyn23. (I researched it thoroughly!!!) She ate, rested, and drank a lot of water for the next 24 hours.
During this same few days, I had bought a LOT of veggies, chopped, diced, mixed...and froze them in 1/4 cup batches. (I also have an older cockatiel that is being transitioned to chop as well)
My chop is a mixture of: Carrots, Butternut squash, Bell Pepper, Lacinto Kale, Radish, Jalapenos, Parsley, Sweet Potatoes, Dandelion Greens, Broccoli, sprouts, and then I added the Steel Cut Oats, chia seed, flax seed, almonds, and a few sesame seeds.
The cockatiel was afraid of the veggies at first, but as of today is also chowing down! I do put a lot more of his regular seed mix into his chop.
Meanwhile, Arabella is taking more interest in being outside her cage, even willing to stay on the "playground" with her chop. (before I couldn't even get her to perch there for even 10 seconds!!!) The playground is in the front window of the apartment as gets some weak late morning sun though the blinds. She is still in the "hospital cage" and doesn't even enter her big cage. Of course, she has flying rights whenever the cockatiel is in his cage. But even that is better, as she would just attack him before. Now she kinda ignores him unless there is food involved...then it is ALL HERS! (I have to carefully supervise when both are out as she is a bully!)
Her beak is re-growing, I just got some calcium supplement to mix with her food as well. (The cockatiel regularly decimates a cuttlebone a month LOL)
I feel hopeful and thankful and SOOOO blessed!
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