Senegal too Fat, too fast?

[BirdFace]

My Sennie's average weight is 120 grams. After we came back from a trip two weeks ago, she was at 118. Today she weighed in at 129, most ever by far. Weighed her a few times to make sure. The only difference in her diet was the introduction of Beak Appetit's "Cream of Tweat" (which she attacks like she's never seen food before) and a bit of canteloupe which she hasn't had since last summer. She's had a tablespoonfull of the Beak Appetit for the past 5 days. Any reason for concern and do I need to cut back on the food?

[jimpierce7]

I would keep an eye on it. Zoey has gained 5+ grams in a single meal when she gets into something she really likes. 120 in her normal weight too.

[Wiggi]

I would keep an eye on it too. Sennies are known to be good eaters and tend to be fat. But, 129 grams still seems like a normal weight for a Sennie, and the weight depends on a lot of things. Look and feel at the chest bone (keel bone?), that´s the easiest way to tell if a parrot is fat or not.
My male Sennie weighs 170 grams wich is a good weight for him since he is big and muscular, not fat.

[Pepper's Pa]

I have a 2 and 1/2 year old male Sennie. I've been recording his weight daily since early December. I've noticed a correlation between the length of natural daylight and Pepper's weight. His lowest weight was during the time of the shortest daylight hours of the year. His weight has steadily been increasing as natural daylight time increases. Seeing that we live very close geographically, if the correlation I am observing between daylight hours and weight is correct, your Sennie may be responding to the increase in daylight hours too.
I weigh Pepper every morning before he eats and after his "morning poop". I always weigh him two or three times to confirm the accuracy of the weight. His low weight has been 134 grams and his high 143 grams. From one day to the next he has dropped up to 4 grams or gained up to 6 grams. Most days if there is a difference it is only one gram.
Pepper receives one of five Beak Appetit mixes, rotated each day, each morning. "Cream of Tweet" is the one mix I haven't fed him yet. He does attack his "Nuts for Alfredo", "Cheese Teaser", "Caribbean Crunch", "Calypso Spice" and "Cinnamon Sunrise".
After all this I would say that I wouldn't worry about the weight of your Sennie, but be observant of weight gain or loss trends she shows. From researching I've found various weight ranges as normal for a female Sennie and at 129 grams, yours is currently three grams over the 126-gram average weight I've seen on several occasions. I've seen that a healthy female may weigh between 114 grams and 137 grams. I have not seen weight broken down into the different sub-species of Senegals.
So enjoy your Sennie and watch her weight trends. Good luck.

[BirdFace]

Good to know that the weight gain is not uncommon. This morning she is back down to 125 (after the poo).

Wiggi, you have a BIG Sennie! Any pictures?

I don't know if mine is female or not, just a guess. Interesting to see if the weight gain continues as the days get longer.

Try the Cream of Tweat. Big hit so far. I have the other flavors also, but haven't had a chance to cook it yet. Which one is Pepper's favorite?

Thanks :)

[Pepper's Pa]

Originally Posted by BirdFace

Try the Cream of Tweat. Big hit so far. I have the other flavors also, but haven't had a chance to cook it yet. Which one is Pepper's favorite?

Whichever flavor is in front of his beak at that moment. LOL
Seriously, he eats them all. Sometimes he favors one over another, but I can't say which is his favorite. Now if I was talking vegetables, broccoli was his favorite for about a year and a half. The last half year it's easily sugar snap peas.
When I prepare a batch of Beak Appetit I fill two ice cube trays with the cooked food. After freezing, I then place each tray of food into a Ziploc bags. The next day I repeat the process with another flavor. I do this for the five flavors I've been feeding (I'll have to add "Cream of Tweet" to the routine). After five days, I have enough frozen food for 120 breakfasts. I've had no problems with "freezer burn" or foods going bad.
Each morning I take one frozen cube of food, thaw and warm it in the microwave, add it to a bowl with sweet potato and a monkey biscuit and that is Pepper's breakfast.