Replay call on egg laying and PDD

Having had trouble recently with so much egg laying this winter (over now, knock on wood!) I thought this would be an important talk for anyone going through, or trying to avoid, the same problem. It is a replay 0f Dr. Greg Rich, and will probably be up until Wednesday or Thursday. He really goes into fairly well how to avoid egg laying, or how to deal with it once they have started laying. He even brought up the diet issue, discussing how females being fed high energy (carbs, sugars, and fats) diets, are much more likely to think it is a great time to lay! He did not mention pellets, though. Pellets can really support hormones and egg laying, as they have very high (many say way too high) protein levels, and are full of simple carbs, as well as soy, which can mess with the hormone levels and really aggravate things. I have frequently read about, and have had pretty good success, switching hormonal birds to a high fiber, low protein and low fat diet. Any pellets fed the rest of the year should be natural ones, like TOPS. Very healthy (many, including myself, consider it to be the best, certainly one of the best, pellets!) and less likely to cause problems (not only hormones, but the multitude of other issues associated with pellets, like kidney and liver failure, vitamin toxicities, etc.)

He also talks extensively about PDD, something that is important for everyone with birds to know about. He really explains what it is, what the symptoms are, diagnostics, etc.

Update on budgie diet

Well, Luna is as stubborn as ever, and has refused to try anything new, even cooked seed. However, Oscar seems to be coming around! He ate all the cooked seed, and has since then conceded to gobble up red rice (which happened to be what I had) and cooked grains, and has even eaten little tastes of the birdie bread and vegetables/fruits! He refuses to eat more than a few bites of the birdie bread or veggies/fruits, so he is not really converted, but from my position just outside the room, I have definitely seen him come up from the food dish, munching, with some hanging from his beak. So that brings Oscar's list of "edibles" to:
-'parakeet' seed mix
-millet
-lettuce
-egg
-sprouted 'parakeet' seed mix
-cooked seed
-cooked grains
-rice
-bits of birdie bread and bits of veggies/fruits

A nice list!

On top of that, Oscar is getting to be very playful. For the longest time, he would only sit on his perch, looking bored, but he has finally started playing and chewing on everything! Luna is also getting a bit more playful, though he prefers bouncing around the cage yelling to sitting and chewing on something. As long as they are both enjoying themselves!

Smarts, training, and budgies

I have always said budgies are just as smart as larger parrots, and can be just (or even more) trainable than larger parrots, depending on your bird's personality. However, many people seem to be of the opinion that budgies do not even make great "pets", let alone being just as smart as their larger counterparts.

I recently heard Dr. Irene Pepperburg speak about Alex and her studies, and was thrilled to hear her opinion on the trainability and intelligence of not only other Africans Greys, but also other parrot species. To sum up: Alex was likely not an "unusual genius" but rather, an African Grey that loved learning through speech, and that had 8 hours of training a day (which makes a huuuge difference, obviously!). She went on to say how the other two greys they are working with are just as smart, but with different learning styles, so they therefore need different teaching styles and can learn different things from Alex. She also said that other species were just as smart as Greys, but again, would probably have to be taught in a different manner that worked with their particular personalities. And finally, she mentioned that though they had tried working with budgies, the shorter attention spans (and life spans) were more difficult to work with in her studies. I can't say I really blame her on that score, but I was very happy to hear how much she did love budgies, and that though they were not right for her studies, she does not feel them to be unintelligent.

However, a shorter attention span does not mean they can not be trained. I recently saw this video, and thought it portrayed exactly how amazing budgies are! Aren't they adorable?

Switching diets

I was always so grateful, reading about other people's diet switching trouble, than I never had much issue with that. Eventually, they always switched, at the most, after a month. I just put the new food in their dish with a bit of the old mixed in, and fed them that for breakfast, with their old food for dinner. No issue. Perhaps I had to work harder to get them to eat certain foods, or to get them to eat fresh instead of cooked foods, large pieces instead of chopped, etc., but it was never, at least in my book, too much of an issue to switch the diet and get them eating fresh food, even with the little guys.

Until these foster budgies.

I have tried all the usual methods I have heard of, many I have never tried before. Still, unless it is sprouts of their regular seed mix (specialty seeds are not wanted here, not that I don't keep trying) or a piece of lettuce hanging from their cage (that is barely nibbled at, I think), it is ignored. No, moaned over and complained about would be more accurate. But not tasted.

I know I am not alone, lots of other people have trouble switching their birds diets. Still, it is frustrating. And it is harder with birds that are still "not very tame." Sure, they will get up on my shoulder or hand if they are feeling particularly brave, but look to me for what to eat? Not quite there yet. As they are in separate cages (they do not get along at all), side by side, I am trying to convince them that the other is eating the food, so it must be safe. I put the new food in one cage, and the seed in the other, hoping that the first budgie will see the second budgie eating, assume it is the same food, and dig in. I have been trying this for a week (before I gave them the same food, so if one was at least digging in the dish it gave the same impression) but no luck yet.

I will keep at that, but today I am trying cooked seed mix. A bit odd, I know, but millet is often served cooked for people, so I assume the other seeds in there can stand a bit of cooking, too. I also added some amaranth, just in case today they would try a new seed. And because I couldn't resist adding some veggie, I added some chopped parsley. Just a little, and cooked it all in cranberry juice (unsweetened, try not to pucker reading that!) I am hoping, if they eat this, they will get used to cooked foods, so I can start adding other cooked items. It didn't work (yet) using sprouts to get them used to fresh food, so I will try it the other way around!

I have also read that macaroni and cheese, mixed with shredded carrot and chopped broccoli tops, with a bit a seed squished in the top, has been amazing for switching little birds. That I have not tried. I wasn't sure I wanted to feed them something so unhealthy, but I might come around to trying that. Maybe. If I get really desperate.

Or, as a last resort, I will put them with my cockatiels, so they can see other birds eating fresh food happily (and believe me, Yo-yo eats anything happily. Usually while whistling or giving kisses.)

Any new ideas out there?