September 2017
Issue No 31
Our August meeting was attended by over 20 members, so thank you to everyone who came along and also to those who sent apologies. I was great to see some new faces and also some members who hadn’t been to the meetings for some time. As always we are looking to encourage more parrot owners to coma along to the meetings and see what we are all about. So again, if you have a friend or work colleague that you know that has a parrot , please invite them along. Again this month we have had a couple of parrots escape, It only takes a second for them to get out. Fortunately in both instances the birds were found and reunited with their owners, but once again we need to be aware that even if the bird is wing trimmed, they can still fly if they get spooked. So please make sure that you have your bird kept safe. Next month we have the pleasure of having Guest Steve Brookes who as usual will be making us jealous telling us all about his trips around the world along with his videos and photos of Wild Parrots Up Close. So make sure that you come along and see Steve at our October meeting. It won’t be long now before we start talking Christmas party and our usual outside caterer and club member Claire has already been approached to see if she can better last years buffet, No doubt she will excel herself as usual. Any ideas for a discussion at the meetings, come and talk to us and give us your suggestions.
The august meeting of the Leicestershire Parrot Club was once again down on numbers with only a dozen or so members turn up for the meeting. Of course it is holiday time and a number of members may still have been taking advantage of the final week of the school holidays. There were a few new members that turned up and it was lovely to meet them and welcome them to the club. Lynda pointed out again that now there are only ourselves in Derby, The Leicester club and we believe one in Scotland that are still operating under the guidance of the Parrot Society. So what’s your views on why the clubs are not getting the interest The club meets on the last Thursday of each month at
The Co-Op Sports & Social Club, Birstall Road Birstall, Leicester. LE4 4DE
Last month we touched on the subject of feather plucking, this is something that clearly concerns many owners who don’t have a plucker but are always worried that their bird will pluck. So, why do they pluck their beautiful plumage? When you venture onto the good old internet to ask the question as to what causes this, we find that every one has their own views on the subject. Most forums on the world wide web will tell you it is caused by boredom. Unfortunately the internet, although full of very good and useful information it can always be very baffling sometimes, and of course very controversial. Everyone has their own opinion and sometimes we find that they are very opinionated and are not prepared to listen to any other points of view. We all have our points of view, but should respect and listen to others. Every day is a school day. Parrots never pluck in the wild so what makes them pluck in captivity. Here are some of our views and thoughts. First of all diet is always a big issue, a good healthy diet is always good for your bird, we feed our birds on a complete diet although I take out the pellets at teatime and replace it with a small amount of seed. Of course that doesn’t stop your parrot from plucking but a good diet always helps. Boredom is of course a factor but in our opinion not the biggest reason for plucking. Parrots need things to do they need interaction, however like a young child, sometimes, they can get too much just as easy as too little.
We buy a lovely hand reared baby parrot and like a puppy we want to fuss and cuddle it, play with it and spend time with it. The parrot is a companion and not a pet, he is not a domesticated and quite honestly never will be, as many of us have found out. One minute he is our best friend and the next he bites us. That’s a parrot for you.! By giving them too much fuss at the beginning, it can cause them to bond very closely with their owner and of course when the bird is then left on his own he starts to crave for the attention, and as usual we spend a lot of time with our new toy and of course the time we spend with him gets less, that could be the start of him plucking. Parrots are very emotional creatures and can get stressed very easily, for example we have parrot whose owner died suddenly of a massive heart attack. Within two days the owners wife had problems. The bird stopped talking and whistling, in the coming days he started to pluck his feathers , no matter what Julie tried to do Wally continually plucked until the only feathers left were the ones he couldn’t reach. Most plucking we believe is cause by stress, As we all know a parrot can get stressed by a number of things, in fact almost anything can stress a parrot. Apart from disease, most of us can look and think back and possibly recall something that we have done or something which has happened to cause our bird to self mutilate. Jealousy can cause a parrot to take this action and pluck his feathers, we have a him for some time and then decide that he needs a friend, does he really? When we have him on his own he gets 100% of our attention but of course when we get him a friend he doesn’t get all the attention he once had.
As we have already said, a good quality diet is important to your bird, however more important is Ultra Violet or UVb as we know it. The best thing that any parrot can get is natural elements, Ultra violet is very important to your parrot. We often get told that the bird is next to a window. UV does Not go through glass so he is getting no benefit whatsoever apart from being able to see what is happening outside. Most birds have a preen gland which produces an oil that they use to protect and waterproof their feathers, when the oil is subjected to daylight uv the oil converts eventually into vitamin D3 which balances out their blood/calcium levels. A lack of UV can cause the feathers to become dull and dry and of course cause plucking. We need to look closely at what we use in our household which affects them . Cigarette smoke is something which causes plucking as the tar sticks to their feathers and they don’t like the taste or smell, Air fresheners can also cause them problems as can most things which come out of a spray can, They have a completely different respiratory system to us so avoid using your body spray near your parrot . Or in fact any aerosol can. There is so much that can affect your parrot in our household that they completely change your life. If you are unable to get your bird outside then use an arcadia UVb light bulb. When a parrot starts plucking we need to look at the reasons why and not just think he looks horrible and disown him as some owners do, thankfully there are more owners that try hard to find the reason why and try hard to remedy the problem.
K G K R L P E Z Y Y P T R V S Q X Y G L G W A V K A S I G G C U T T L E F I S H R B U Y J K O S H I S B F V L R J W F A T O N N E B W H E E O F M P G F R U G Y N A P L G T P P E H O Y O R O R M Z K R S L C U C O O H P N L Z I Z T E I D C S V G Z E I U N I T Q A T G S C J C S M P C D E R B Y W Q E T J S X P U U A E R U N O C R S K I F T Y N J L J E V N T N W Q X L D Z R Z F U K T O H R I Y G S A A S I C F B O X M L N L R I W J M K I A Q Z Z O X G APPLE, CONGO, CONURE, CUTTLEFISH, DERBY, DIET, HARNESS, PARROTS, PUZZLE, RESCUE,SWING, TIMNEH, TROPICAL, ZOO
Heather will be here as usual with a range of quality parrot foods, toys and accessories
Avian Vets It is always worthwhile to know where and who is your local Avian vets are and keep their telephone number handy. Craig Hunt. Chine House in Sileby. Nr Loughborough 01509 812446 Jonathan Hadley. Vets4Pets, at Eastwood. NG16 3GR Yvette Rowntree, Ambivets, Ilkeston 01159 309729
Just In Case
Membership Fees The annual membership is: £20.00 Per Family £18.00 Per Couple £10.00 per Member Renewable Each February The Entrance Fee to Club Meetings will be: Members £1.00 per member Non Members £3.00 per person Parrots & Children under 14 FREE
Need to get in touch with the club? 01530 263399 - 01159 725965 E: - mail@emparrotclub.org or just contact Heather, Larry or myself