Behavioral Problems - most often biting or screaming
- Never scream at your bird or hit him
- Just like children, they prefer negative attention to no attention at all - screaming at them or hitting them just encourages poor behavior
- Biting - try not to react at all except to give him "time out" for 5 minutes
- Birds have short attention spans, so longer time out will not be of benefit
- Birds are flock animals and do not like time away from their "flock"
- "Time Out" MUST immediately follow the bad behavior to be effective
- Screaming - do not react, just ignore him - when he quiets down, reward him
Behavioral Changes - signs of illness
Birds hide it well when they are sick -
as soon as you seen signs of illness,
you should address it IMMEDIATELY!
- Inactivity
- Eyes closed most of the time
- Feathers fluffed all the time
- Droopy wings
- Perch posture almost horizontal
- Talking and vocalizing stops
- Eating Stops
- Noisy breathing
- Frequent sneezing
- Discharge from eyes or nose
- Tail bobbing with each breath
- Vomiting
- Soiled / pasted vent
- Perched with neck extended and beak grasping wire of cage (helps breathing by keeping breathing passages straight)
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- Bleeding
- Weight loss
- Swelling
- Changes in water consumption
- Changes in routine and habits
- Change in droppings
- Change in activity level
- Decrease in preening activity
- Frequent flicking of the head
- Remaining at the bottom of the cage
- Self-mutilization
- Regression
- Feathers lost and not replaced
- Dehydration (weakness, sunken eyes, feet cool, ridging of skin over sides of toes)
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