New galah

[elf]

Hello,

I got a galah about 6 weeks ago and I'm interested to hear what more experienced galah people can tell me about him/her. We say 'her' based on the vet's hunch, and we've named her Arwen accordingly, but we're not sure. She was wild caught by P&W in Victoria, and the person I got her from said he had her brought up to Qld 4 months ago when she was supposedly 3 months old. That would make her between 8 and 9 months old now. When I got her she was terrified of people and hand phobic - his idea of interacting with her was to put his hand in the cage and try to touch her. The only way I could handle her initially was to towel her, because she could bite HARD. We've made a lot of progress since then. She'll step up onto my hand or into her cat carrier, sit on my shoulder, preen my eyelashes (scary the first time she did that!), and she'll even roll onto her back when she's playing on the floor at my feet. No scratchies yet, but I'm working on it. I've moved her off a seed diet onto pellets, sprouted seed and fresh fruit and veg. She will do just about anything for a sunflower seed .

I know this is a young bird, but can anyone tell me if the photos are consistent with a bird of this supposed age? The only extra grey feathers I can find are just below the ears. In the photos she looks like her belly is greyish, but it's just because her feathers are paler near the skin. If the age is right she would have hatched sometime in December last year - are galahs breeding then?

What about sexing? If anything I feel like her eyes have darkened since I got her. I'm considering getting the Pet City people to pull a couple of feathers for DNA when I take her in for wing clipping (better they do it than I destroy the trust I've worked so hard to develop by holding her down). I'd like to be sure of the sex, partly because Arwen is a dumb name for a male, partly because I'd like to find 'her' an opposite-sex companion.

Or would we be better off with a bird of the same sex? I have no issues with breeding them eventually - I've raised enough smaller birds that breeding galahs sounds like fun. My concern really is that she have companionship when we're out of the house. There are the cockatiels in the cage beside hers, but it's not the same as having someone to preen.

[avinet]

Hi and welcome to the Forum,

It sounds like you are making excellent progress in only 6 weeks with your Galah - good diet and it is obviously getting very trusting around you.  Having her on a pellet diet means you can control her weight better - Galahs can get fat very quickly - and as you have found, sunflower is a great training aid when reserved for that purpose.

She could well be 8 or 9 months old - the egg laying season in Victoria is basically spring up until the end of the year, so she could have hatched conceivably hatched in January.  However the majority will have hatched by the start of December.  From her appearance I can't give an age - they basically have lost the grey feathers in their initial moult which is completed at around 6 months old.  There is an indication of age for a 6 to 12 month old Galah with the primary wing feathers which tend to have a narrower, more pointed end than in an adults primaries.  However this criteria is subtle and not always accurate.  From her photos I would be accepting of a 8 or 9 month old Galah since her colours seem rather subdued and yet to have the richness of colour an adult has - but that can be just a colour balance issue with the photos.

I can't really comment on the sex yet - her eyes will likely lighten by the end of the year if she is a female, but from the photos I would probably agree with your vet's feeling.  Have you seen an avian vet of a general vet with her - if an avian vet I would be more likely to believe them.  There are several good avian vets in SE Qld - if you don't know one I can recommend one in your area.

Make sure if you take the bird to Pet City that they do a correct wing clip - I no longer know the bird people there (I had a large pet shop on the SUnshine Coast specializing in birds for over 20 years) so make sure they don't take too many feathers off.  Galahs are heavy birds for their wing size and it is easy to over clip making the bird land heavily.  I always made sure in our shop to do a gradual clip with test flights after each pair of feathers was removed so that the bird would fly to the ground with a soft landing.

I tend to prefer getting an opposite sex mate - two females will usually just share a cage rather than be good friends - but you have to be a little cautious if you have an opposite sex mate since mate (male) aggression can be a problem during the breeding season when they are mature.

She looks a nice healthy bird, I'm sure you will have many happy years with her as a companion.

cheers,

Mike

[elf]

Thanks Mike! I will certainly be watching the wing clipping process closely. I'm not at all happy with her current clip. It was done very clumsily by her previous owners with blunt children's scissors, and has left her with short quills that poke into her sides and are difficult for her to straighten out. She's starting to moult them out now.

The vet I go to isn't a specialist avian vet but he's very experienced with birds and has always been very good with mine. He microchipped Arwen without any difficulties, though he said it had been a long time since anyone had asked him to do it. I'm afraid the avian vets are a bit too expensive for us to use them regularly, though I've taken birds to them in emergencies.

Galahs are amazing birds. I had one as a teenager in the 80s, also wild caught, who became tame in the space of about an hour. Instant best friend! She was a lot younger than Arwen, only just weaned when I got her. She only had a few words but she used every one of them with meaning, including calling me by name. And I love how they smell - that musky odour when they fluff their feathers brings back so many memories. I can't wait for Arwen to be tame enough that I can rub my nose against her chest!

[elf]

A couple of weeks later ...

We got confirmation today that she is indeed a girl (DNA), so I can start looking for a boy for her. Next question: is she more likely to bond with him if he comes to us as a baby, or should we be reasonably okay with a bird up to a couple of years old? I've read that mate aggression is less of an issue of they have been together since they were young, so I'd rather not bring an older bird into the family. Or does it all come down to their personalities regardless of their age?