Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 4:42 pm Post subject: Preening behaviour
Hi, me again with another question about my Kakariki. I've just noticed he doesn't preen his feathers very often. When he first came home from the pet store he did so a few times, and once we saw him using the oil gland near his tail. But I have just been thinking he is a little scruffy-looking lately, he still has all his feathers, I haven't seen any on the bottom of his cage at all, not even the fluffy down feathers, in weeks. But he lacks the smooth, shiny appearance of some of the birds in photos. He goes in his bath almost every day but doesn't get particularly wet. It seems to me he has decided not to preen. His appetite is fine, and he seems to have lots of energy so I don't believe he is ill. I wonder why he isn't preening.
Compaired to our other parrot species kakariki do VERY litle prening
Moult they can get rather scruffy, and again our kakariki dont shead any near as many feathers.
Just personal observations ove the yrs
Deep colours and shiney...We dont feed any suppliments, other than a couple cat biskets every so often
I have noticed in particular our kakariki and crimsons get very deep almost iridesnstant greens when protien (lean meat) and regular citic acid (zpples, pasley) are feed to gether regularly.
with the right bath container with the with right kakariki they will get so wet they cant fly.
Some like deep, to swim from one side to the other
Some like so they can stand
Others get just as wet hanging on the sides .
They are all different.
And I think they prefer cold water, with a chill on it, even on a frosty winter day. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Maybe I'll get him a bigger container. When he's having a bath he gets more water on the floor than on himself. I'll try colder and larger. And I'll try him with some meat. I have formed the opinion that birds sometimes preen when they are nervous. He preened constantly when we brought him home, but now he doesn't do it much at all. Good to hear that Kakarikis don't preen much. I'll stop worrying.
Maybe I'll get him a bigger container. When he's having a bath he gets more water on the floor than on himself.
Think about this.....how would that work?
Dice the LEAN meat up into peices 1/2 the size of a pea...max
Stops them chomp off a bit and dropping and wasting..
We go the same with veggies. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Well... His "bathtub" right now is a little oval ceramic dish. There's enough room for him to sit but the water is only a couple of inches deep so when he crouches down in it and flaps his wings, his wings hang over the edge and only his belly gets wet. Maybe a deep-dish pie plate would allow him to jump into the water with more room to swish around. I don't know. It's amazing how he manages to keep himself clean considering the mess he makes everywhere he goes. I do cut his food into small pieces because he does have a habit of taking only 1 or 2 bites of something and then throwing it on the floor.
his wings hang over the edge and only his belly gets wet. Maybe a deep-dish pie plate would allow him to jump into the water with more room to swish around.
Quote:
Maybe I'll get him a bigger container. When he's having a bath he gets more water on the floor than on himself.
He is going to splash water even more ...
Bigger the contain the more mess
but hey , its just water. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
My kak and I can occasially spot preening late at night while Im reading and she is calming down for sleep but not oftern and very little. She does however bath like a mad mofo! She will soak everything whithin a good meter radius and spend at the very least 10 mins soaking herself stupid,most times she cant fly for 10 mins after. And she seems to bath in what appears to me as the most innappropriate situations, such as she might go two days bright sunny days days with mild temp without bathing, then boom the next day its pouring, black and thundering outside and the wind feels like an ice wind and here she is bathing 3-4 times for at least 15 mins at a time. Crazy!
hi peep
i've tried many different containers for bathing and they still make a mess no matter what. as for the preening i've notice a definite increase since adding various herbs to their diets, mine love mint but have rosemary thyme and many more but tend to prefer the hard stem varieties,
they chew up the stems and shoots and coat their feathers with the oils.
i only do this once a week and they spend most of that day anting. _________________ thanks brucie.....
Yeah they love that mint...a great 'treat' for taming with...give them a bit of a taste and they are addicited....crush some up down wind and they are hanging off the flights front mesh
Rosemary, they have a play about it
Tyme , yeah get into that
Lavander love it, but big caution ..its pionous apparantly....very small bits if any...
Manuka ans kanuka, they love
Sage..found they are more interested in pinapple sage flowers
These are all the type of essentual oils birds use to maintain mites, bugs etc in feathers....just as important to constant balanced diet for good health......and those deep green shiney colours....
Do it more than once a week...my plants cant keep uo with the supply. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
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