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Post by julianna on Feb 23, 2016 14:06:13 GMT -5
Hi all. I know we have discussed this before and I was trying to find the posts but had no luck. Remember when we spoke about the Quakers adjusting their food in the gullet? You know... when they do the action like they want to feed you. We had all agreed that it was normal and is usually nothing to worry about.
Well... my hubby is getting worried now... and so am I a little. Oscar used to do this motion once in a while but for the last week he is doing it between 4-5 times daily and each session lasting anywhere from 15-30 minutes. A little excessive I think.
If I go up to him and rub his chest while he is doing this... he doesn't mind and if I distract him into doing something else.. he is okay with that as well. Could it just be fun for him to do this? Will it lessen in time?
He eating habits are good and poop is fine. There does not seem to be anything physically wrong but with a vet being 4 hours away from me... I was hoping you might be able to reassure me a little?? Have your birds done this that often? Is he wanting to feed me because I am his mate and it is nothing more?
Sorry to make you repeat yourselves ... I really appreciate it and so would my husband. |
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Post by aaron on Feb 23, 2016 15:23:13 GMT -5
Cupcake has had periods of time where she did crop adjusting/wiggling at a frequency that I considered to be too much, similar to what you're describing, although not for 15-30 minutes, probably more like 5-10. This was before we improved her diet and started putting apple cider vinegar in her water 100% of the time. I would wager that when they are crop adjusting so frequently out of the blue, something is definitely bothering them... hard to say if it is serious or not. Things like bread and crackers definitely inspire this behavior in Cupcake, for whatever reason. If I feed her too much of them, she'll start doing it more. This makes me wonder if it's yeast related. The motions for regurgitation and crop wiggling, while similar, are not the same, at least in my experience. Regurgitation is more of a back and forward/up-and-down/beak half open sort of thing, whereas crop wiggling is more side to side (and crop adjusting looks like a yawn or a gasp). Then again, I'm just talking about Cupcake-- no experience with other birds in this regard. That said, if Oscar is doing this for 30 minutes uninterrupted and not successfully regurgitating, then I doubt it's regurgitation that you're witnessing. I'd probably put him on apple cider vinegar... Unfortunately I don't have the appropriate ratio memorized. I think I put 1.5ml in each water bowl every day. You want to use organic, unfiltered, raw apple cider vinegar with "the mother"-- otherwise it won't help-- here's what we use: bragg.com/products/bragg-organic-apple-cider-vinegar.htmlOf course Oscar may object to the taste at first, so you want to make sure he doesn't give up drinking water. It helps that Cupcake is a pellet dunker, because even when she didn't want to drink the vinegar water, she would still dunk her pellets. Now she is used to the flavor and will drink it readily. I feel like it has helped her health substantially. |
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Post by easttex on Feb 24, 2016 6:42:17 GMT -5
I agree with Aaron that the two motions are not completely alike. Could you post a video of it? Fifteen to 30 minutes seems like a long time to be doing either one. Allie tries to regurgitate for me fairly often, but it's linked pretty obviously to something. Sometimes the scritches goes on too long. She will also do it to my foot, after scratching at it for a while. I don't really know how long she would go on doing it if I didn't distract her, because I always do.
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Post by julianna on Feb 24, 2016 13:36:52 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice. Yes... as soon as I can capture him doing it.. I will post it here. Using your description Aaron.. It appears to be more of the regurgitating motion. His head will be down and he will appear to be trying to throw up bobbing his head up and down slightly. Also.... I will make sure he does not get too many crackers or bites of my sandwich and see if this helps. I appreciate the link for the apple cider vinegar... We have a health food store here so I will try that place first.
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Post by aaron on Feb 25, 2016 11:06:11 GMT -5
Interesting... I never let Cupcake do the regurgitation motion for more than a second or two before I distract her with something, but on the rare occasions that I didn't pull it off in time, she was successful in less than a minute of attempting to do so... So I find it odd that he's going for it for so long without getting anywhere... Makes me think it's not regurgitation... but from the way you describe it, it definitely sounds like that motion.. At any rate, hopefully some of these measures help!
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Post by julianna on Feb 25, 2016 14:44:39 GMT -5
Today Oscar has not done it at all... for crying out loud... he makes me worry so much some times. This was going on for weeks and as soon as I ask for advice.. he stops.
I also wondered... perhaps he was regurgitating but then swallowing and doing it over and over? He is so very demanding of my attention that when he was doing this, I just left him to continue cause at least he wasn't bothering me for something.
Now.. I know better. I will distract him when he starts and make sure he doesn't continue. Thanks again for the advice... yes.. it always helps.
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Post by aaron on Feb 26, 2016 11:44:36 GMT -5
Heh... I swear they do that on purpose sometimes! But at least he's not doing it. Sneaky chickens.
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