Newbie Here!

[beco]

Hey Everyone,

Im glad I found this site.

I have just inherited a Pink and Gray Galah. He or she belonged to me 80 year old great Auntie who sadly passed away over the weekend.

So now I have a new friend. I know bird basics ( Have worked in a pet store with budgies, small aviary birds ect, but have no idea where to start with something like a Galah.

I have read on the net that they are prone to obesity.... and to avoid this the amount of seed they are fed should be limited. Only problem is that I think he/she has only ever been given seed and and turned his/her nose up at anything else i have offered. Any advice?

I also read that they can have dominance issues. And was advised never to let him/her sit on my shoulder or be above my eye height. Any truth in this? Because the moment I take him/her out of the cage he/she i straight up on my shoulder giving me kisses or eating my hair. Again any advice?

I hope this is not too long to read. I appreciate any advice or tips.

Thanks ;D
Bec

[vankarhi]

well welcome. Galahs make lovely pets.

As for dominance issues........some people believe in this and many many others now don't. I don't believe in height dominance issues and I do allow my birds to sit on my shoulder as well as on top of their cages or playstands or the boing I have hanging from the ceiling in my dining room, they come to me when I ask them especially if I say "breaky time" and show them the bowl of food and if they are TRUSTWORTHY enough to sit on my shoulder without biting me. Now a days a lot of people say "a safe rule of thumb is not to allow birds to sit on shoulders"........but I still do if they are not biters. Erik my pet eclectus will sit on my shoulder and preen me or just sit there and rub his head on me and talk to me......but sometimes he starts to get a bit antsy ....... so he goes back into his cage or onto his playstand.

I had a pet galah for many years and she was a wonderful pet. She loved to sit with me (or anyone lol) and loved to be patted and scratched forever if possible. lol She was not an aggressive bird in the least.

I would be assuming your birds love for seed is now well and truely engrained in him/her by now but you can still try to introduce new foods to her/him. By the way you can sex a galah by their eyes. Hens have lighter orangey coloured eyes while males have very dark or even black coloured eyes.

For your bird i would suggest maybe introducing a good brand of pellets and mixing at a rate of maybe 70% seed to 30% pellets and slowly increasing the pellets......it might take weeks to wean her/him over to pellets. I would also buy some "small parrot" mix seeds. This sometimes has less sunflower seeds in it and has more seeds that the birds can eat. I have found the "larger or the wild parrot" mixes bought from the shops has a lot of wastage of seeds the birds don't like. Plus they have a lot of sunflower seeds which are not good in large amounts for birds.........and they do become addicted to the sunflower seeds. My little cockatiel is a seed junkie and I had to wean her onto pellets. I could see she was getting a little porky....it took a while and she is only 18 months old and I handraised her from 3 weeks.......but it took probably quite a few weeks to wean her onto pellets but since she has now gone onto pellets she also eats more of her fresh stuff too now.

So as well as introducing her to pellets (your galah) start putting some fresh fruit and veges in with her. You can present them in different ways......like grated, or finely chopped or sliced or chunky or on a kebab etc etc. I would assume your bird might not even know what they are and probably ignore them......but keep persisting as she gets used to her new home she might start to get more adventurous.

My galah (Bo was her name) used to love to strutt her stuff around the yard........I let her out daily and she would "strutt" around the yard and dig around in the gardens for nutgrass and weeds etc. She didn't like eating a lot of "fruit and veges" but she did love corn and apples and sometimes tried other things.......but she did get to eat grass and weeds (we didn't poison our gardens so they were safe). She would literally "toss" the foods out of the bowls she didn't like lol she was funny. I found she also needed time to adjust to new things in her cage........and I have heard a few people with galahs actually say this too.

[silvercloud]

Hi and welcome Bec. Tracey has covered any advice that I would have given so just enjoy your new friend ;D

[beco]

Thanks so much for your reply. She/he is really gentle. I think I am in love.
I am really enjoying reading the posts on the site.

I got a nice big cage toady...full of toys and in a room where there is access to us, but also his own space. I am going to persevere with the fresh veg/fruit...and also got me some parrot Pellets.

Fingers crossed.

Thanks Again

Bec

[vankarhi]

make sure you get a good brand of pellets and there is no artificial colours and stuff in them. I bought some from Veta farm when I was at Parrots 2010 in Brisbane and they smelled like "sugar" to me. I can't remember what they were called but they were very brightly coloured. I fed them to my birds but never bought them again. I am buying Veta farm maintenance at the moment (I get it sent to me from Parrot Society of Australia in Brisbane) and they are not coloured ...... just plain and don't smell "sugary".

Keep persisting with the fruit and veges and take note of what she is eating if she eats any. It might take months or longer to change her diet to a more healthy one.........

She sounds like she is a sweet natured bird.........my Bo was.

[beco]

Hey,

I got some Wombaroo because thats what we sell in the Animal supplies I work in. But He hasn't touched them. But never the less I am a hard mum and I dont care if it takes months but I will get my new friend eating the right things.

Thanks All

Bec

[vankarhi]

Don't just "give" him the pellets on their own.....mix it with the seed and try to get a mix of small parrot seed too.

[pinkdevil]

Welcome from me as well.

[beco]

Oh yes I am doing this. I mixed some pellets in with the seed. And plan to slowly reduce the amount of seed so he eats the pellets. Is this ok?

I did buy small parrot seed because it is lower in sun flower seeds.

[vankarhi]

yes that sounds great. I used to use the large parrot seed and thought it was a total waste but thought my bigger birds had to have it until a few years ago when someone suggested to me that I use the small parrot mix. I was surprised but they actually do eat it and there is no where near as much wastage now. I just had to put my cockatiel onto pellets though because she is a seed junkie and I could feel her getting fat and she wouldn't eat her fresh stuff but now she does and my other birds do eat their fresh stuff and I do give them some pellets now also.....but they are not seed junkies either.

[beco]

Hey,

As I said my new friend is very friendly. He has been spending a bit of time out of the cage in the house with me. Everything will be fine. He will be sitting on my lap or walking on the couch. Then out of know where he starts "screeching" and raising his wings. If i try and touch him he charges at me and bites rather hard. I just have to let him finish then picked him up and put him in his cage and ignored him. He also does the same thing in his cage if my dad walks in to the room his cage is in.
Any Advice.

thanks
Bec

[vankarhi]

This can be just an alarm warning?? Something might have startled him?? Bo used to do that to the hose........I am sure she thought it was a snake lol Because your place is still new to him ...... things might still surprise him. I also remember Bo used to love to flap her wings and roll around but the screeching then was in pleasure not alarm.......you will get used to his calls and what they mean. I knew a certain one meant 'danger' and would run out to see what was wrong........usually it was a hawk or something in the sky that she could see or something on the ground that looked like a 'snake' or something was just unusual to her.

[beco]

Thanks, Just wanted to make sure it was nothing i am doing wrong!

Thanks