parrott

Question
i hav a orange winged amazon parrott which is 2 years old it has been out ov breath wen flying for short periods ov time and wheezing? it also preens itself regulary and wen it does flakes ov skin falls off it i give it plenty ov fruit and veggies regular too compensate the seed?could you give me any advice on these matters please?i hav owned this parrott for 4 months

Answer
Hi, Garry.  Thanks for posting.

If your orange wing is overweight and/or not getting enough exercise, s/he will become out of breath when it flies/overexerts itself.  Amazon parrots are prone to becoming overweight, so be careful with the diet you are feeding (keep calories and fat levels low).  You can tell if your amazon is overweight by looking at it's chest and area between it's legs.  If the chest looks as though your orange wing has clevage, it's overweight (if you can see a crease down it's keel [breast] bone).  Also, look/feel between the legs.  If there's extra "meat" in this area (sometimes looks at though extra skin is hanging), your bird is overweight.

If your parrot is actually wheezing, depending on how much and for what reason, s/he could have some type of respiratory problem.  Is there any type of discharge coming from the nostrils?  This would have to be checked out by an avian veterinarian (a bird/exotic animal vet---not a dog/cat vet).  

Preening is a normal behavior and birds should spend a good part of their day preening their feathers (one of the most important body parts for a bird).  Preening is the act of caring for feathers (not picking of the skin).  Perhaps what you are seeing is feather keratin flaking off when your parrot preens it's feathers.  Keratin is a coating on the shaft of a new feather coming in.  A parrot often times picks this coating off during preening in order to help expose the new feather.  Take a close look at your parrot's feathers and see if there aren't some new feathers coming in which would explain the flaking you are seeing.  Also, if your home/bird room is too dry, this could result in dry skin, which could be a reason for a parrot picking at it's skin.  You need to recognize which of the above two things might be occurring with your parrot.  If room is too dry, add a humidifier or vaporizer for added moisture.  If it's keratin, you don't need to do anything, as this process is normal.

Try getting your parrot to eat pelleted food, as well as veggies and fruits.  Pelleted food contains parrot minerals and vitamins to help keep your bird healthy.  Use seed only as a treat or as little as possible.  Seed contains very little vitamins and doesn't have much nutritional value at all.

Come back if you need to.  Thanks.

Chrys