A few Questions

[Monty In Ireland]

Im a new owners to a rehomed African Grey called Monty, I have a few questions regarding him and I wondered if anyone can help, I've read a few books but they havent answered my specific questions.

1. At what age will his eyes turn yellow? if at all? His are light grey.

2. All he seems to be eating in his mixed seed bag are the sunflower seeds, Im guessing this might impact on his health??

3. He seems to constantly be rubbing his beak on his perch and sand paper which means his beak is very scratch?!?!? is this good, bad or just ugly?

4. He is occassionally still plucking feathers, this was originally down to neglect by previous owners...any tips on helping regrowth and getting out of the habit? I shower him every other day with a garden spray.

5. beak Grinding.....eck?

6. He doesnt seemt o be using his claws alot to eat, or pick this up..is this down to age?

Thank you, and i apologise in advance for all the questions!

[chapala]

The eyes turn to the straw color after about age 1.5 to 2 years. Re the diet, no it isn't good that he's eating just sunflower seeds, or even just mixed seeds. He needs to have fresh food in the diet, especially the green leafy vegetables, broccoli, carrot, and some fruit such as cantaloupe, mango, papaya, berries. If you have good pellets available, I suggest purchasing some (undyed, NOT artificial "fruit" flavor and color) and introducing those as part of the diet.

You might try soaking the seedmix overnight, draining in the morning and feeding when the seeds are starting to germinate, or better yet sprouted (lots of articles and threads you can check for instructions). That lowers the fat content and starts them growing, healthier that way. I also suggest adding whole grains to the seed mix for sprouting, purchased at a human food store. Then, when he's eating that, begin adding to it very finely minced green vegetables (or better, run through the food processor), a very small amount at first. Gradually increase as he begins eating it. The process can take awhile so be patient, but continue to offer the new foods each and every single day.

Best time to offer new foods is in the morning, no food in the cage at night. You do need to watch the weight to make sure he's not losing any during a diet transition, and you'll want to offer his familiar food a couple of hours later. Also introduce pieces of fruit, leafy greens clipped onto the cage bars, etc. I would add some dry grains to his seed mix also, to reduce the amount of sunflower seeds - buckwheat, hulless barley (not pearl), wheat berries, millet, spelt, etc. Continuing on a 100% seed diet results in malnutrition and shortened life span.

It's natural to rub the beak, not to worry. And beak grinding (usually when they're settling down for the night) is quite normal.

[Monty In Ireland]

thanks very much for the response.

I've been looking everywhere for Pellet food but I cant seem to find it anywhere here :(
He seems to be abit of a picky eater and he wont touch alot of foods, I have cut up smalls bits of fruit and added to his food but he turns his beak up at these. We seem to be very limited here in Ireland as to what parrot foods are avaliable.

The one he currently gets is Harrisons which contains chilis, dried banana, pineapple, mango, all sorts of seeds,is this any good or should I find something else?

I must admit, I know nothing about parrots but we couldnt leave this little fella as he was in a bad way, so we want to do the best for him. I want him to get through the next 50 years with me!