By Debra Clutterbuck 

A few years ago I encountered a bit of trouble when I lost a hen Hooded Parrot from a long established pair. There was no question of selling the cock – his ‘sire’ was bred by Steve Climpson and his ‘dam’ was a hen bred by Sandy Stewart.
After three years I found my fellow a new mate. In 2006, a big colourful hen approximately 20 months of age took an immediate shine to him. But that is where the problems started.

In March 2007, they went to nest and the hen hatched three young, but wouldn’t feed them. She did the same with her second clutch. The breeder I had bought her from told me she was not parent reared, but because Hooded Parrots are so hard to find, I wanted her anyway. I wondered what to do? I did not want to hand rear the Hooded so I did nothing.


Hooded Parrot family

In March 2008 she went down on the eggs, hatched them and let them die. It was so frustrating—even the cock was unimpressed by the hen’s lack of parenting. She laid again that season and two of the three chicks died, but one was fed diligently. I know it was the hen, not the cock, feeding this chick as I never saw the cock enter the nesting log until 10 days after hatching.

After four and a half weeks I caught the chick peering out of the log. Success! I couldn’t wait to ring the hen’s breeder and tell him the good news. Worried it was a fluke, I needed the hen to raise young the following season to prove she was a good mum.
In March 2009, two fertile eggs hatched and the hatchlings were given plenty of food from day one. The second chick fledged on May 5. Both are alert, perfectly healthy and quiet like their dad.

So it seems it was no fluke. But why did it take so long for this hen’s maternal instincts to kick in? After much thought, my short answer is that, like us, birds are individuals. They are not machines and we should be patient and give them some chances before we label them ‘problem’ birds. I gave my hen time and she is proving to be a fantastic mum - still following her chicks around six weeks after fledging and still trying to feed them! 

I wonder if her breeder gave her parents enough chances to come good over a few seasons, or if he just pulled the chicks after their first breeding season? Was their diet appropriate? Were there any disturbances (such as possums, cats, owls or the wind) at the wrong time?
A recent article in Australian BirdKeeper Magazine concerned the nutritional requirements of chicks, from newly hatched to those near fledging. Their diets varied greatly. I think many ‘problem’ parents are not getting what they need from their keepers when trying to raise their chicks. Are you guilty of expecting parrot parents to rear healthy chicks on a light diet?
My advice when faced with a ‘problem’ breeder is to grit your teeth and be patient. Give your birds a few chances to get it right and talk to others about your problems.

Problem or hand reared birds often bounce from owner to owner for many years before being relegated to an old run down aviary down the back of a yard with the other rejects! This is a bad situation, so hang in there. This could be happening in the wild also—we just don’t know.

Acknowledgements
Once again I thank Barry Whelan, Sandy Stewart and Steve Climpson for introducing me to the Hooded Parrots all those years ago and being willing to share their knowledge; these birds can be a challenge but, boy, are they worth it.


Family of Hooded Parrots

Deborah Monks

Deborah Monks from Brisbane Bird and Exotics Veterinary Service will be regularly posting to this blog now. She’ll be giving us some insight into the interesting cases and controversies she sees in her line of work.

During a residency in England, she was privy to a particularly amazing operation on a five-year-old White Cockatoo named Poppy. She had been playing with a thumbtack around three hours prior to Deb meeting her, and her owners had feared she had swallowed it. The local veterinarian had taken x-rays and confirmed the thumbtack was inside Poppy.

Here Deb describes what their next move was:

‘We anaesthetised Poppy, placed a tube into her windpipe, and began the laborious process to try to retrieve the thumbtack. Frustratingly, we could see it with an endoscope (a camera telescope) placed through her mouth and into her stomach, but we couldn’t grab it with any of our forceps. After a long time trying, we had to go to abdominal surgery to retrieve the thumbtack. To get access to the proventriculus (first stomach), we had to cut through the abdomen and two ribs.
‘As often the case, Poppy stopped breathing during this procedure and needed manual breathing given to her by the nurse assisting the procedure. We then had to cut into her proventriculus, and reach into her ventriculus (gizzard) to retrieve the thumbtack.  Then, we had to close it all up again. It was quite a relief to finally have the offending item in hand when we had finished –the entire procedure had taken 2.5 hours!’
Poppy recovered very well. Deb writes that the case highlights just how inquisitive birds are and how much they can sometimes lack common sense.
‘In the past year I’ve seen birds rip holes in their skin getting caught on sharp points, break wings and legs getting caught in toys, swallow cotton fibres that cause blockages in the gut and even get garlic poisoning from bathing in a saucepan used for sauce the night before.
‘So, keep your birds safe and don’t trust them to recognize hazard when they see it – that’s your job!’ said Deb.
Deb’s next post will cover wing trimming.