I have a couple of question about my African grey parrot and the questions are;
My parrot is only eating unsalted sunflower seeds, is this normal?
Another thing is that my parrot has plucked all his feathers off and now isnt allowing them to grow back, is this a problem or does this happen with all parrots and whast can I do to solve this issue?
Hi,
I can tell you 100% that his issues are due to his diet. Sunflower seeds are like feeding him potato chips and candy. He is getting little to no nutritional value from them – all he gets is fat and oil. If you do not convert him to a nutritionally balanced diet very soon, he is going to develop heart disease and die, if he doesn’t die from malnutrition first. He is also under a lot of stress because of plucking his feathers. Feathers use a lot of his resources to grow, and he basically has no resources.
Unfortunately, if he already has the beginnings of heart disease, there isn’t anything that can reverse it. But you can slow or stop the progress by making some major changes. He needs to be eating a nutritionally balanced diet like pellets or our foraging foods. He should also be offered leafy greens, veggies, fruits and some tree nuts. He needs to get exercise which is difficult since he pulls out his feathers, so if this includes his wing feathers, he can’t fly. You really need to take him to an Avian Vet – a vet who treats birds. We offer free webinars, and all of the videos are on our youtube channel. There is an entire series on African Greys, as well as information on feeding your bird and other important care tips. Please visit our channel and start watching these, so you can learn how to feed your bird better and how to care for him. I am also providing the link to our feeding guide.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5SHIeiBIUd7FP3qrDv0HgQ/videos
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
