Injured Galah

[graham]

I found a galah recently and no one has claimed her so I've built a cage for her but it was 2days before i noticed something was wrong she had a wing cut of so it couldn't fly. She seems healthy and is full of bites but what I want is any info at all looking after and handling Bubba

[avinet]

Hi Graham, and welcome to the Forum.

When you say the galah has it's wing cut off do you mean the feathers on one side have been trimmed to stop her flying, or that the actual wing (flesh and bones) is cut off? I assume that you mean it has just been wing clipped, in which case those cut feathers will moult and fall out sometime in the summer, and be replaced with new complete feathers and the bird will be able to fly again. A photo of the wing could be helpful, with it pulled out away fro the body to see it properly.

If it has lost some of the actual wing itself - presumably as a result of a bad break meaning part had to be amputated, then of course it won't ever fly again.

Either way it can't fly as a result, so it has very likely escaped from a house close by - it would have had to walk to where you found it, and a bird that can't fly soon gets attacked by dogs and cats. Have you done a quick letter box drop/door knock to your neighbours - say in a 100 metre radius of your house?

If that fails to turns up an owner, then care is pretty simple for a galah. A cage as large as you can manage, natural eucalypt branches as perches in the 3 to 5 cm diameter size range, thickest one as the top perch (that keeps the claws in trim). A selection of toys for it to play with when in the cage.

Food can be a small parrot seed mix - often sold as cockatiel or lovebird mix. A good brand to get is "Bird Munchies" cockatiel mix available at Wollworths or Coles, or your local pet shop will likely have a suitable small parrot mix. Avoid a large parrot mix - far too high in fat for a galah. The mix you want looks like a budgie mix with a little (5%) sunflower and safflower (larger white seed) added. Also some chopped up fresh fruit and veggies each day - avoid avocado though, poisonous! Have a look at the information sheet about caring for pet birds at scas.org.au/html/pet_parrot_care.html which has details of the diet, as well as a photo of the sort of seed mix to look for. It also talks about pellets, a much better diet for a galah which are very prone to get fatty tumours if fed a high fat diet.

As for the biting, the bird has presumably been kept as a pet bird to have a wing clip, so it may well be that the bird is biting just because it is scared in a new environment and after a big scare of being out in the wild. I wouldn't be trying to handle it more than necessary for a few days, just let it settle down, get used to the new situation, and come to realise that nobody is going to harm it. stop and talk to it, make it feel it is part of the household, and see if you can tempt it with some sort of treat - something like a bit of toast crust, piece of biscuit, but not chocolate though! Food is great aid to friendship for most animals. It can take a while but galahs in general want to be friendly and with time it should settle down OK

cheers,

Mike