Baby Buddy

[buddy79]

Hi, I've just got my very first bird at 33 years old! A friend found him under her car as he couldn't fly yet. He had one tail feather which fell out 4 days ago, I've had him a week now. He's pretty tame so far, he will let me pick him up, he'll hop on my hand and even fly (a little) to me. He seems to get so excited when I go near his cage, I just love him.

Anyway, my question is how much should I feed him? He seems to be a bit of a guts. He loves grapes and apples. I tried him on lorikeet powder and some wild bird seed. He didn't like the powder, he liked the seed but I read on another website that you shouldn't feed them seeds. He wasn't too keen on strawberries, mangoes or lychees. He did like pomegranate though his poo was bright red! lol

Thanks for your help.

[anzac]

I assume it is a lorikeet?

[avinet]

Welcome the the world of bird keeping They are pretty amazing creatures and can give so much companionship over many years.

I am a bit concerned that he has no tail feathers with the last one falling out after you saved him. What do his wing feathers look like and is his body fully feathered? If you pull out his wings to see the flight feathers are they all there or are there gaps, or are there any flight feathers at all? The wings should look like the image at www.pbase.com/sheila/image/53895544

If it looks more like the image at www.birdo.com.au/psittacine-beak-and-feather-disease.html with stubby wings lacking flight feathers then it may have Psittacine Beak & Feather Disease - PBFD

PBFD is a virus infection common in Lorikeets among other parrot species. It causes feathers to fall out, starting in Lorikeets with the main tail and wing feathers. In some birds feather loss continues until no feathers at all aft on the bird. In others a full apparent recovery takes place. In the majority the status quo remains, no flight feathers but the body feathers remain. Being a virus infection there is no cure.

Hopefully your bird lost its tail from a bird or cat attack and is healthy. If you can post some photos I might be able to tell if PBFD is a possibility.

With the diet, seed is not good for Lorikeets since their digestive system has evolved to cope with nectar, pollen and fruit. It has difficulty digesting seed since the gizzard - which grinds up the seed in other parrots - has become weak and so cannot break up the seed effectively.

Some Lorikeets take a while to adapt to powders - most will quickly take to a wet mix - but be slow to adjust to dry mix. Be sure to give him wet mix made up to a fairly sloppy consistency and maybe offer some on a spoon initially so he can lick it from the spoon to get used to the taste. Also have available dry mix in the cage, but always have plenty of water available since many Lorikeets will take a mouthful of dry mix to the water to make a soup out of it - can be messy The fruit is good - try different ones as they are available but Granny Smith apples and grapes are usually favourite. Also whenever you can, cut a pruning of a nectar bearing flower - grevilleas are best - all Lorikeets enjoy licking the nectar out of the flowers.

cheers,

Mike

[Deleted]

Good info there Mike!! Well done.