Companion Birds

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Companion Birds
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Companion Birds

• Increasingly popular
• 16 million pet birds
• Great responsibility
• Specific nutritional and housing requirements
• Lifetime commitment
• Many species live 50 to 100 years

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Companion Birds

• Many reasons why birds are ideal pets
• Highly intelligent
• Easy to train inquisitive and smart
• Require minimal grooming
• Highly social
• Fairly inexpensive to feed
• Can be kept in small spaces
• Beautiful animals
• Long-lived companions

https//www.youtube.com/watch?vdKvVaRlz0Y4 Alex
the African grey
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Companion Birds

• Psitticiformes
• Most common companion bird
• Over 300 species
• Parrots
• Macaws
• Cockatoos
• Passerines
• Mostly songbirds
• About 5,400 species
• Finches
• Canaries

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Common Companion Birds

• Amazon Parrot
• Budgies
• Canaries
• Cockatiels
• Cockatoos
• Conures
• Electus Parrots
• Love Birds
• Macaws
• Quaker (Monk Parakeets)
• Parrotlettes (Dwarf Parrots)

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Feathers

• Made of keratin
• Provide waterproof covering
• Facilitate flight
• Arranged in tracts or pterylae
• Unfeathered areas are apteria

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Feathers

• Calamus (quill)
• Below skin level
• Hollow central stalk
• Rachis
• Above skin level
• Barbs and barbules interlock
• Blood feathers
• contain artery
• Molt regularly

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Feathers

• Contour feathers
• Give bird shape and color
• Include flight feathers (remiges), tail feathers
  (retrices)
• Down feathers
• Smaller
• Lack barbules
• Provide insulation
• Powder feathers
• Barbs break down into powder
• Believed to keep plumage clean

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Feathers

• Molting
• Old feathers replaced with new ones
• Most species molt 2 to 3 weeks a year
• Amazon parrot molts year round
• Metabolic rate increases about thirtyfold

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Beaks

• Consist of bones and keratinized covering
• Grows throughout life of bird
• Replaces wearing at tips
• Upper jaw (rhinotheca)
• Lower jaw (gnathotheca)

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Skeletal System

• Light weight
• Maintain strength
• Most are pneumatic
• Hollow and filled with air spaces connected to
  the respiratory system

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Digestive System

• Two-part stomach
• Proventriculus (glandular stomach)
• Gizzard (muscular stomach)
• Terminal end of digestive, reproductive, and
  urinary tracts is the cloaca

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Digestive System

• Esophagus expanded into the crop which stores
  and softens food and regulates its flow through
  the digestive tract
• Stomach
• proventriculus has digestive enzymes
• gizzard functions as teeth

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Circulatory System

• Warm-blooded animals
• Normal body temperature of 106ºF (41ºC)
• Four-chambered heart
• Beats much faster than human heart

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Aviaries

• Provide space for birds to fly freely
• If temperatures drop below freezing, birds must
  be moved indoors
• Requires indoor cages to accommodate ALL birds in
  aviary

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Aviaries
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Common Toxicological Hazards

• Zinc
• Sources include wire, screws, nuts, bolts,
  pennies
• Galvanized cages and dishes present risk
• Can affect kidneys, liver, and red blood cells
• Symptoms include
• Increased thirst
• Diarrhea
• Seizures and death

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Common Toxicological Hazards

• Lead
• Sources include many household items and fixtures
• Paint
• Toys
• Galvanized wire
• Improperly glazed bowls
• Most commonly reported avian toxicosis
• Affects multiple tissues
• Symptoms include
• Lethargy and weakness
• Ataxia
• Circling and convulsions

This radiograph shows normal grit in the gizzard,
but some of the grit looks brighter than normal.
The brighter objects are lead particles, not grit.
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Common Toxicological Hazards

• Nicotine
• Found in cigarettes, cigars, and cigarette butts
• Natural form of insecticide
• Rapid onset of symptoms
• Excitation
• Panting and salivation
• Vomiting
• May be followed by breathing difficulty and
  collapse
• Death is secondary to respiratory paralysis
• Common response to smoke deposition on feathers
  is destructive behavior

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Common Toxicological Hazards

• Inhalants
• Strong odors or smoke are potentially toxic
• Cookware and utensils coated with
  polytetrafluoroethylene when overheated
• Symptoms include
• Acute death
• Breathing difficulty
• Depression
• Restless behavior

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Common Toxicological Hazards

• Avocado (Persea americana)
• Principle toxin is persin
• Symptoms include
• Respiratory distress
• Congestion
• Death
• Onset of symptoms within 12 hours, death within 1
  to 2 days
• Canaries and budgies more susceptible

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Common Toxicological Hazards

• Plants
• Certain plants cause toxicity
• Calcium oxalate crystals
• Cause irritation of oral cavity and tongue
• Symptoms include regurgitation, pain, and
  anorexia
• Signs rarely severe, usually respond to care