Eggs and feathers

[boojman]

I feed Booji a combo of seeds and some fresh veggies (mostly leafy) and I see him drink water alot. I have tried to introduce egg as I think he could use it on occasion - his feathers many times look a bit raggedy and he seems to molt like every 2 months (normal?) so I thought the egg would be good for all that but he doesn't seem to want to even look at it let alone touch or eat it.

Should I just give him more time maybe? I have only tried it a few times and it is in a deep dish (like for seeds) - maybe a plate is better?

Incidentally I would like to keep things as 'natural' as possible so am not really interested in supplements unless absolutely necessary.

Thanks again,
Jackie

[Hezz]

Try him with some dry eggfood , then Jackie. As you well know, they don't necessarily eat what they should, and egg is one of those things that seem a bit hit and miss. My budgies love the egg and biscuit either dry (can sprinkle it over their seed) or moistened with a little water and served on a little lid, is how I do mine.

[stace]

Adding to Hezz. Make yourself a hard boiled egg, and try to feed it to Booj while you also eat some. Give him some of the shell as well. If you peel off a bit of shell, he might just try picking at it.

Or chop the egg up with some fine chopped veges and seed and make a mix of it.

Can't remember where in the States you are, but I know many American homes I've been to have the heating up really high. It's possible that could be bringing on small moults through the year.

[boojman]

Hezz I will try the dry eggfood - again I have not really been serving the eggs for very long, so maybe he will grow to like them. Although it has been my experience that if he likes something he will take to it right away. Stace that is a good idea about sharing the egg- I will try that too. I live in the northeastern US and yes the heat is on and it is dry heat so that is interesting about the molt. I wonder if that is why he drinks alot of water too - perhaps the poor thing is parched! Seriously though if a bird could chug that is what I would say he is doing at his water bottle - I read about birds being so discreet about their drinking and not needing much. Not him! I even checked the spout to see if maybe it was blocked and that is why he keeps going at it, but everything is flowing fine, so just thirsty I guess! Thanks again to you both!

[stace]

Just check to see there isn't excessive liquid in his poop. That is, there are solid bits and the white urates, but also a lot of simple water. It can indicate a problem, as I have just discovered with my Boo.

[Hezz]

Central heating is very drying, so if that is what you have a way around that is to have several bowls of water around the room where Booj is. They will have to be relatively shallow in case he decides to indulge in a dip, but it will add some humidity to the air. Just to make the point, I had a pie dish with about a centimetre of water in it that I had put out for the birds to take a bath. When the birds went to bed I moved it to a desk top near their cage and promptly forgot about it. Now we are in themiddle of our monsoon season with humidity levels around 80%, showers, storms etc so plenty of moisture in the air, but after a couple of days of hot weather I went to remove the dish and there was just a dribble left in the dish, the rest had evaporated. That was in an open humid situation, so imagine how much worse the heating makes things.

With the eggshell, you can boil it for 10 minutes, remove all the membrane, it should just peel off, and crush it up (mortar and pestle) and add it to his seed mix, or offer in a pot of its own. That is something I don't do enough of, but find they are happy to have a munch any time I do.

[boojman]

Feb 26, 2012 5:39:30 GMT stace said:

Just check to see there isn't excessive liquid in his poop. That is, there are solid bits and the white urates, but also a lot of simple water. It can indicate a problem, as I have just discovered with my Boo.

Stace - I just read your thread about Boo - I am SO sorry to hear that and will keep you both in my prayers. He obviously is in the best hands both yours and the vet's and I can certainly understand your concern big time. I am wondering now about Booj though - his poops go back and forth like that too - which I have come to think are his norm but now I am not so sure and then the recent water guzzling. He has recently had a few night frights too which may or not be related but I find if strange they all have been just recently. Anyway I am basically thinking out loud here and was contemplating taking him to the vet again anyway for a re-check so this may prompt me to do that rather sooner than later. Take good care of your little guy there - I will definitely check back to see how things are going.

[boojman]

Feb 26, 2012 9:40:13 GMT Hezz said:

Central heating is very drying, so if that is what you have a way around that is to have several bowls of water around the room where Booj is. They will have to be relatively shallow in case he decides to indulge in a dip, but it will add some humidity to the air. Just to make the point, I had a pie dish with about a centimetre of water in it that I had put out for the birds to take a bath. When the birds went to bed I moved it to a desk top near their cage and promptly forgot about it. Now we are in themiddle of our monsoon season with humidity levels around 80%, showers, storms etc so plenty of moisture in the air, but after a couple of days of hot weather I went to remove the dish and there was just a dribble left in the dish, the rest had evaporated. That was in an open humid situation, so imagine how much worse the heating makes things.

With the eggshell, you can boil it for 10 minutes, remove all the membrane, it should just peel off, and crush it up (mortar and pestle) and add it to his seed mix, or offer in a pot of its own. That is something I don't do enough of, but find they are happy to have a munch any time I do.

I actually was going to start putting out a flat dish with water - more for bathing purposes, because Booji has not really gotten into baths yet - I used to put a dish in his cage but never saw him in it, and it would just became dirty daily and more of a nuisance. So I though if I tried something outside the cage that may be better - and may help with his feathers too no?I like the idea of humidifying the air - come to think of it I even have a humidifier that we don't use! I will boil an egg and grind some shells too - I really sense he needs that right now. Thanks, Hezz!