avian care

January 5th is National Bird Day

Birds have always held special place in our hearts, which is why we celebrate them on National Bird Day every January 5! While birds are amazing, they're also a massive animal group under particular threat. The phrase “canary in the coal mine” was named after birds for a reason—they’re the barometers of our planet’s environmental health. The fact that so many bird species are under threat thanks to the illegal pet trade, disease, and habitat loss means it’s more important than ever to raise public awareness of the needs of birds. The survival of hundreds of species depends on it.

National Bird Day Activities:

🐤 Read an Audubon book

The Birds of America, created by John James Audubon, is just as much a work of art as it is a seminal work of scientific mastery.

🐤 Build a birdhouse

Birds need housing, just like every other animal. As we continue to deforest large swaths of the planet for development, it’s imperative for us to create birdhouses to make up for – even just a fraction – the loss of habitat they face everyday.

🐤 Feed some birds

Halved grapes, nuts, and seeds. If you’ve got some trail mix you don’t want anymore, birds would love you. In fact, if you have chickens you can actually feed them most food and table scraps and they’ll gobble it right up.


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avian health

Is your bird overweight?

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Believe it or not, there is such a thing as a fat bird. Too many seeds, too little flying or climbing and suddenly you could be looking at a serious health problem. Here’s what you need to know to make sure your bird stays in shape.


Why Birds Become Overweight

Obesity is a common health problem in captive birds, typically caused by poor nutrition and an all-seed diet.

In the wild, birds get a lot of exercise flying from tree to tree, escaping predators and searching for food. In captivity, birds usually have their wings clipped. If they go anywhere, they usually walk or climb. Their diet is frequently high in fat and low in important nutrients. This situation is the avian equivalent of the person who sits on the couch all day long eating French fries and cheesecake!


How to Know If Your Bird Is Overweight

Obesity in birds can lead to a variety of illnesses with the potential to be deadly. The most devastating is fatty liver disease, which is extremely common in Amazon parrots that eat an inappropriate diet. There are also fatty tumors called lipomas, which are particularly common in some of the smaller birds like budgerigars. Here’s how to know if your bird is overweight:

  • Check the breast muscle. The best way to tell if your bird is carrying an appropriate amount of weight is by looking at their breast muscle, which lies over a bone called the keel. When you look at your bird from the front, there should be a bone running down its midline. This is the keel. To either side of that bone, there should be a rounded muscle. If your bird is too fat, they will have “cleavage.” In other words, the keel bone won’t be the most prominent part of your bird’s chest. If your bird is too thin, they will feel bony to the side of the keel and the area alongside the keel will feel concave (curved in) rather than convex (curved out).

  • Look for fat. You can also look for subcutaneous fat (below the skin). Feathers grow in tracts, so there will be areas that are non-feathered. One of these areas is along the side of the neck beginning at the base of the jaw. If you part your bird’s feathers to look at this area, you should easily be able to see their jugular vein. If the vein is difficult to see, and there’s a yellowish tint beneath the skin, your bird likely has subcutaneous fat and is gaining unnecessary weight.

  • Telltale signs. Other less specific signs of obesity may also be present. For example, if your bird gets out of breath with a small amount of exercise, it may be from carrying extra weight. Also, if your bird’s beak grows excessively long, it may be a sign of fatty liver disease, which is caused by obesity.

  • Weigh your bird. Of course, you can weigh your bird periodically using a gram scale. Your veterinarian should also be keeping track of your bird’s weight during their annual physical examination.


Helping Your Bird Lose Weight

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Just as it is with people, it’s all diet and exercise. Get your bird on an appropriate diet of pellets, vegetables, some beans, rice, pasta, and a very small amount of fruit. High-fat seeds and nuts are only for treats (the exception is the hyacinth macaw) and should be given in small amounts (one or two seeds) once or twice per week. Pellets should be left in the cage at all times. Home food should be left in the cage for no longer than 30 to 45 minutes at a time.

Try to increase your bird’s activity. If you have access to an outdoor flight cage, use it. If you’re in a situation where you can bird-proof your house so that they can fly indoors under close supervision, give them the opportunity to fly. Increase the frequency of showers because the preening and movement associated with bath time will burn calories. Increase activity by regularly changing the toys in their cage to increase stimulation. (However, be careful with this – if your bird is afraid of strange things, and is prone to feather picking, too frequent changes can be detrimental.)


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Keep pet birds away from these household toxins: teflon, avocados, lead, and zinc!

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Did you know these three common household toxins—Teflon™, avocado, and heavy metals—present deadly dangers to your feathered friends?

Teflon™

The chemical name is polytetrafluroethylene, but most people know it by the tradename Teflon™. This compound likely lurks in your household not only as the lining of nonstick pans but also as a coating on heating elements, irons, ovens, and hair dryers.

When these appliances are heated, they can release a clear, odorless toxic gas. Unfortunately, most birds that inhale the toxic fumes will die suddenly or after a short course of having trouble breathing.

The products often state that very high temperatures—greater than 500° F—must be reached to release the toxic fumes, but factors such as imperfections in the coating can allow these fumes to be released at much lower temperatures. Birds are particularly sensitive to these fumes, so even a little bit can be deadly.

The best way to ensure that your bird will not suffer from such toxicity is to be educated about what household products are dangerous and to limit your bird’s exposure to them.

Teflon™ gas is a silent, but rapid killer. All bird owners should be educated about this household toxin. If they notice signs of difficulty breathing, including open-beaked breathing, sounds while breathing, a tail bob, and exaggerated chest movement while taking breaths, they should rush the bird to the nearest veterinary emergency room.

Veterinarians can attempt to save the bird with aggressive therapies, such as administering supplemental oxygen and controlling inflammation in the lungs. Affected birds are at risk for developing secondary infections, so they may also be given antibiotics and antifungal medications.

Because of the severity of Teflon™ toxicity, preventing exposure is the best option. The best way to ensure that your bird will not suffer from Teflon™ toxicity is to be educated about what products in your home have Teflon™ and limit exposure to your birds, particularly when those products are being heated.

Some households with avian family members will choose to remove all items that they know have Teflon™ coating and use pans with other non-stick coatings, such as ceramic. Other families will limit exposure by ensuring that their feathered family members are in a distant and well-ventilated room when any Teflon™-coated structures—including the oven—are being used.

Avocado

Avocados contain persin, which is toxic to the heart in several species, but not humans. All parts of the plant—skin, meat, pit, leaves—contain the toxin. The most common signs of persin toxicity in birds are collapse, lethargy, heavy breathing, and sudden death.

A bird that has ingested avocado should be rushed to the nearest emergency veterinary facility. If the avocado was eaten very recently, it may be possible to remove it from the bird’s crop— a pouch in the esophagus where food is stored—before it moves to the stomach and is digested.

Other emergency treatments include giving activated charcoal to bind the toxin and prevent absorption and giving cardiac medications to address any negative effects of the toxin. Again, the best treatment is prevention.

Heavy Metals

Lead and zinc, which are toxic to birds, are heavy metals commonly found in household items. Lead is not a naturally occurring element in the body, and when lead is introduced it interferes with many physiological processes, causing damage. Zinc, unlike lead, is required by the body for the normal function of certain enzymes. However, high concentrations of zinc can cause illness and toxicity, and birds are far more sensitive to the toxic effects of zinc than are humans.

Household sources of lead include older paint, drinking water in homes with lead pipes, food/liquid stored in crystal, stained glass, and other items containing solder, some jewelry, and lead fishing weights. Common sources of zinc include vitamins and supplements for humans, linoleum, galvanized metal, drinking water in homes with zinc pipes, some metallic toys, and some rubber items.

Birds with heavy metal toxicity may display a variety of signs, depending upon the amount of metal they have ingested. Typically the clinical signs are vague and include lethargy, fluffed behavior, and decreased appetite. Birds may also show signs of gastrointestinal tract disease, including diarrhea and regurgitation, as well as seizures and other neurologic signs. Anemia and kidney disease can also result from toxicity.

If you know that your bird has ingested a metal item or you are concerned that they have eaten something in your home that may have heavy metal in it, promptly bring your bird to an emergency veterinary clinic.

The best-case scenario is that the item can be removed from the bird’s gastrointestinal tract before the metal is absorbed. If your bird is acting sick in any way, a visit to your veterinarian should be your first step.

The best way to ensure that your bird will not suffer from toxicity is to be educated about what household products are dangerous and to limit your bird’s exposure to them.

If you have any questions about compounds that are toxic to birds, contact your local veterinarian.


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Common Signs of Stress in Birds

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While it is often difficult for bird owners to tell whether their pet is sick, as birds commonly hide signs of illness, it is even harder for most bird owners to tell if their pets are unhappy or stressed. Birds can certainly feel these emotions and hide them until these feelings become so extreme that they are manifested either physically or through behavioral changes. Birds can express unhappiness and stress in several different ways.

How can a bird owner tell that their bird is stressed or unhappy? Here are some common signs of stress and unhappiness in their pet birds:

1 - Biting

While many bird owners misinterpret birds’ biting as an act of aggression, this behavior is often a sign of stress and fear. Birds will frequently bite and lunge to try to protect themselves when they are afraid. Since biting also may be a sign of pain or discomfort in birds, a bird that suddenly starts biting a lot should have a complete veterinary examination to ensure there is no underlying medical problem for this new behavior.

2 - Screaming

Depending on their species, a bird will make loud noises. However, a sudden increase in screaming and screeching may indicate that a bird is stressed, unhappy, or bored. Just as biting can be indicative of pain or discomfort, so can screaming. Thus, any bird that suddenly starts screaming should be checked out by a veterinarian to ensure there is no underlying medical issue for this behavior.

3 - Decreased vocalization

While screaming can indicate underlying stress or unhappiness in birds, so can decreased vocalization. Birds that suddenly start to vocalize less may be stressed, unhappy, bored, or ill. It is imperative that any bird who suddenly vocalizes less be examined as soon as possible to make sure that there is no medical cause for this change in behavior.

4 - Feather picking

Feather picking is a very common outward manifestation of stress and boredom, particularly in larger species, such as Eclectus parrots, cockatoos, and African gray parrots, but this is also seen in smaller birds, including Quakers parrots and lovebirds. Some birds will start picking as a result of an initiating cause, such as loud noise or the occurrence of construction in the house. They may even continue to pick even when that initiating stimulus is gone. Feather-picking birds should have a thorough medical examination by a veterinarian that includes blood work to help rule out other causes of illness.

5 - Self-mutilation

Some very stressed or unhappy birds will go beyond feather-picking to the more extreme manifestation of chewing on their skin or even dig deeper into muscle and bone, causing severe trauma. These birds must not only be examined by a veterinarian immediately, but also be started on anti-psychotic medication and/or fitted with an Elizabethan collar (the “cones” that dogs wear) to prevent them from doing further damage while the owner and veterinarian try to figure out what’s going on.

6 - Stereotypical behaviors

Some species, but especially cockatoos, manifest stress as stereotypical behaviors such as pacing, toe-tapping, and head swinging. Often, birds perform these behaviors to stimulate themselves because they are bored. While these behaviors may be harmless, they can be a sign that the bird is unhappy, and owners should pay attention to these actions before they progress to more destructive activities such as feather-picking or self-mutilation.

7 - Decreased appetite

Birds that are so stressed that they are depressed may eat less and ultimately may lose weight. Since decreased appetite can also be a sign of medical disease, birds whose appetites change should be thoroughly examined by a veterinarian to make sure they aren’t hiding an underlying illness.

Related articles: 5 Steps to a Better Bird Welfare for ideas


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5 Steps to Better Bird Welfare

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#1 Fresh Food

Provide a healthy and varied diet—not just seeds, but grains, beans, vegetables (cooked and raw), formulated pellets, and some fruit. Harmful foods for birds include chocolate, avocado, highly processed or overly salted foods, human junk food, and caffeine.


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#2 Flight

Think outside the cage. Provide your bird with daily exercise and ample out-of-cage time, preferably in a safe, supervised environment. For day-to-day life, give your bird the largest enclosure possible.


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#3 Fun

Provide toys and enriching activities. No more boring, barren cages. Birds love toys that can be chewed up, so this means buying or making bird toys frequently.


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#4 Flock

Provide plenty of socialization with other birds and/or human caretakers. Birds are social flock animals. In the wild, they are rarely—if ever— alone.


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#5 Freshen Up

Birds need access to water for bathing. Some birds prefer to bathe in a shallow dish while others will enjoy being misted with a water bottle. There are also some that may enjoy perching in a cool human shower.


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Don't forget to subscribe to our email newsletter for more recipes, articles, and clinic updates delivered to your inbox (here). Or, you can keep up to date by liking and following our Facebook page (here).

Related: We have more information under our small animal care & avian resources categories.