Advice required on Alexandrine sp. parrot

Question
Hi,
  I m a Pakistani, living in Lahore n  have got a male parrot of alexandrine sp. of about 1 month of age.I have named it alex...n I keep it in a shoe box with a cotton cushion in it.I was told to feed him boiled n mashed lentil seeds thrice a day(bout 80 seeds at a time)moreover i was also told not 2 give him water separately because moisture content in boiled seeds is enough for a newborn.Is it alright?
Secondly 2 days ago i noticed that it has developed a nasty habit of peckin( and probably eating) its own droppings although i clean its place after each meal..What can i do bout it?Is it normal....and also i read somewhere bout potty training of parrots that can b done only in first 6 months but i dont know how to do it....can u advise me in this regard...
  I am a medical student and live in a hostel n the poor thing has 2 stay alone in the morning when i'm at college. so i often turn on the music before leaving but i noticed that it stops screaming n appears to be frightened with loud music....should i continue 2 turn on the music or not. Also can i use music to train him not to scream..?
 Plz give me some tips if u find me lacking in any aspect.
       I'll be highly grateful for your very needed advice and time........thanx again
                               Waiting anxiously...Aasia.

Answer
Hi, Aasia,

If your baby bird isn't completely feathered yet, you also need to ensure it is kept warm enough.  I don't know what temperature it is where you live, but baby birds that don't have all their feathers yet need warmth.  Also, you can feed this baby bird liquid food such as you would feed a human infant.  You can also mash cooked chicken eggs (scrambled eggs...the yolk and white parts of an egg).  The baby needs water.  At 1 month of age, this baby should start being weaned to fruits and vegetables and you need to teach the baby how to drink out of a dish by gently dipping the tip of his beak into the water so he can get a taste of it and where he can find it.  Don't leave a water dish in the box/cage though as until the baby learns how to drink out of it, it might drown itself.  If the baby is pecking at it's droppings, this can mean the baby needs vitamins/minerals, more nutrition, it's box cleaned out more often, etc.  Usually when a baby bird starts pecking at things in the bottom of it's enclosure, this means the baby is instinctively starting to find it's own food.  You might want to put some small grains of seed in a flat dish on the bottom of the box to see if the baby will start eating on its own.  

To potty train a parrot....each bird defecates at certain times, some birds every 10 minutes, some every 20 minutes, some don't at all when outside their cages, etc.  So what you need to do is observe your bird for periods of time and write down the time interval between each poop.  You may have to do this for days untl you establish an average time.  Once you establish how often he poops, each time you have your bird away from his cage, return the bird to his cage or playstand just before the time he should poop.  Leave the bird there until it does poop.  Then you can take him away from his cage/playstand again.  Keep repeating this over and over until the bird learns to only poop when on his cage/playstand.  I've seen birds trained like this that will return to their cage just to poop, then fly off again.  They make mistakes, so don't be too harsh....sometimes if they get nervous they may poo more often, etc.  

Birds seems to like soft, soothing music.  I do not recommend loud, hard rock or music with screaming voices, etc., because your bird will learn to behave as he learns.  In other words, if you play loud, noisy music while you are gone, your bird will think it's OK to be loud and noisy.  In the same sense, if you/your family are noisy in the home, your bird will learn to be noisy.  Young birds are "clean slates" so to speak....they learn what they live and are taught.

Chrys