Posted by angelasfeathers on Wed, 01/25/2006 - 18:34 :: General Discussion
SIB (self injurious behavior).....A Mystery Story Slowly Unfolding
Well the bottom line is scientists are really looking into SIB by looking at the young
monkeys taken away from their mothers , that as they start to get older
start xhibiting biting , screaming, biting, and terrible self biting
injurious
behavior ( this sounding familar?) , thus needing e- collars ,and chickens
who are
not allowed any free range who are plucking and who never knew their parent
and locked in wire cages, .... dogs who bite themselves like their tails,
... and finally looking at parrots who as they get a little older
somehow
start picking, biting , screaming .these parrots have been taken away from
their parents very young. And finding that picking parrots who are given
up as a failed pet are made into breeders and how the incidence of their own
chicks becoming pluckers seems to increase. Who knows .... but they think
their is a correlation between how a bird with a combination of genetics might
be able to deal with certain stresses more in some ways than others might
with a differnt genetics . Like some humans can deal with something better
than others can for example, some of us are just genetically calmer than others
are!
We need to mirror the wild bird ways ...
For example in the wild a black palm stays with
it's parents at least a year!
Notice how now cutting edge breeders sell
dogs much later? Remember when they used to come home with us from the
breeders at 6 weeks or
even
less ...now we know that 12 weeks is better for the pup in the long run
with less behavioral problems that just unluckily might happen. There is a
wonderful person who
has by the goodness of her heart raised a sparrow that is a plucker and her
vet was dumfounded .....you just don't see this in the wild. And when it has
been seen by like for example the wild Hyacinth macaw that had lost
feathers and photograped that finally died and a necroscopy showed was in
fact diseased.
Something IS wrong with what is happening with what is going on currantly
....there are just too many feather pluckers in captivity ...too many
behavior problems too many self inflicked behaviors too many plucking at
their
mates and or inflicking pain on their mates
this is NOT normal behavior ...I worked with Dr. Donald Brightsmith in
Tambopata , Peru, in 2004 and just came back with Dr. Stewart Metz and Bonnie
Zimmermann with Project Bird Watch this last Oct. 2005
You DON'T hear very much of parrots screaming the way you do when you go
into almost any parrot store when you do hear them in the wild they are
almost always alarm calls . What you hear in the parrot stores are actually
the
same screams as alarm calls in the wild are.
....something we are doing is not working.. My gut feeling is leaning toward
parent
rearing and allowing fully fledging the babies and keeping them with their
parents and then after allowing them with other fledglings in a large aviary
and coming in
and giving human contact and not forcing ..but taking it slowly. We used to
tame budgies all the time remember ....they were parent raised and fledged
and we still tamed them ...just takes a little time and kindness and a
relaxed
human friend to convince them you won't kill and eat them....lol
At Parrot Festival 2006 ,the pictures we saw were shown during Dr. Scott Echols talk but the actual hypothesis of the relationship between SIB (Self-injurious) in monkeys and FDB (Feather-damaging) in parrots was presented by Dr. Susan Orosz.
http://www.masaav.org/conference/speakerBio/oroszS.htm
What an epiphany for everyone!! There were pictures of chickens who pluck when in small cages and chickens who when allowed free range ...just never do. There is a member of this list ( or is it the other one?) who has a sparrow who is a feather picker ...her vet was blown away by this behavior ...because we just don't see this in the wild ..right?
The Hyacinth macaw you are referring to died and the necosopy showed it was sick.
You can make yourself crazy with all the information out there ....believe me ...LOL
But the truth is it is just not seen in the wild almost never and if seen it is seen so far there is a medical reason behind it. Ask yourself how many plucked wild birds did you see in a whole year at your bird feeder....in one, in two years...in five ?
In Loro Park their might be an allergy there present.
At Parrot Festival 2006;
I thought it was wonderful the way so many of the talks this year expanded on one another. Dr. Orosz and Dr. Van Sant both discussed the brain chemistries going on during these behaviors while Dr. Scott Echols
Austin, TX - M. Scott Echols (Westgate Pet & Bird Hosp) - 512-892-4463
and EB Cravens demonstrated the improvements seen through enrichment.
At the 2006 Parrot Festival conference people received a complimentary copy of the winter '05 issue of Good Bird magazine
www.goodbirdinc.com
and on page 53 is a synopsis Diane Starns wrote on the FDB Hypothesis which covers a lot of Dr. Susan Orosz and Dr.Scott Echols' talks. There is also a great article on page 42 by Gay Noeth on Enriching Parrots with Foraging Branches.
ciao, Angela Cancilla Herschel
Well the bottom line is scientists are really looking into SIB by looking at the young
monkeys taken away from their mothers , that as they start to get older
start xhibiting biting , screaming, biting, and terrible self biting
injurious
behavior ( this sounding familar?) , thus needing e- collars ,and chickens
who are
not allowed any free range who are plucking and who never knew their parent
and locked in wire cages, .... dogs who bite themselves like their tails,
... and finally looking at parrots who as they get a little older
somehow
start picking, biting , screaming .these parrots have been taken away from
their parents very young. And finding that picking parrots who are given
up as a failed pet are made into breeders and how the incidence of their own
chicks becoming pluckers seems to increase. Who knows .... but they think
their is a correlation between how a bird with a combination of genetics might
be able to deal with certain stresses more in some ways than others might
with a differnt genetics . Like some humans can deal with something better
than others can for example, some of us are just genetically calmer than others
are!
We need to mirror the wild bird ways ...
For example in the wild a black palm stays with
it's parents at least a year!
Notice how now cutting edge breeders sell
dogs much later? Remember when they used to come home with us from the
breeders at 6 weeks or
even
less ...now we know that 12 weeks is better for the pup in the long run
with less behavioral problems that just unluckily might happen. There is a
wonderful person who
has by the goodness of her heart raised a sparrow that is a plucker and her
vet was dumfounded .....you just don't see this in the wild. And when it has
been seen by like for example the wild Hyacinth macaw that had lost
feathers and photograped that finally died and a necroscopy showed was in
fact diseased.
Something IS wrong with what is happening with what is going on currantly
....there are just too many feather pluckers in captivity ...too many
behavior problems too many self inflicked behaviors too many plucking at
their
mates and or inflicking pain on their mates
this is NOT normal behavior ...I worked with Dr. Donald Brightsmith in
Tambopata , Peru, in 2004 and just came back with Dr. Stewart Metz and Bonnie
Zimmermann with Project Bird Watch this last Oct. 2005
You DON'T hear very much of parrots screaming the way you do when you go
into almost any parrot store when you do hear them in the wild they are
almost always alarm calls . What you hear in the parrot stores are actually
the
same screams as alarm calls in the wild are.
....something we are doing is not working.. My gut feeling is leaning toward
parent
rearing and allowing fully fledging the babies and keeping them with their
parents and then after allowing them with other fledglings in a large aviary
and coming in
and giving human contact and not forcing ..but taking it slowly. We used to
tame budgies all the time remember ....they were parent raised and fledged
and we still tamed them ...just takes a little time and kindness and a
relaxed
human friend to convince them you won't kill and eat them....lol
At Parrot Festival 2006 ,the pictures we saw were shown during Dr. Scott Echols talk but the actual hypothesis of the relationship between SIB (Self-injurious) in monkeys and FDB (Feather-damaging) in parrots was presented by Dr. Susan Orosz.
http://www.masaav.org/conference/speakerBio/oroszS.htm
What an epiphany for everyone!! There were pictures of chickens who pluck when in small cages and chickens who when allowed free range ...just never do. There is a member of this list ( or is it the other one?) who has a sparrow who is a feather picker ...her vet was blown away by this behavior ...because we just don't see this in the wild ..right?
The Hyacinth macaw you are referring to died and the necosopy showed it was sick.
You can make yourself crazy with all the information out there ....believe me ...LOL
But the truth is it is just not seen in the wild almost never and if seen it is seen so far there is a medical reason behind it. Ask yourself how many plucked wild birds did you see in a whole year at your bird feeder....in one, in two years...in five ?
In Loro Park their might be an allergy there present.
At Parrot Festival 2006;
I thought it was wonderful the way so many of the talks this year expanded on one another. Dr. Orosz and Dr. Van Sant both discussed the brain chemistries going on during these behaviors while Dr. Scott Echols
Austin, TX - M. Scott Echols (Westgate Pet & Bird Hosp) - 512-892-4463
and EB Cravens demonstrated the improvements seen through enrichment.
At the 2006 Parrot Festival conference people received a complimentary copy of the winter '05 issue of Good Bird magazine
www.goodbirdinc.com
and on page 53 is a synopsis Diane Starns wrote on the FDB Hypothesis which covers a lot of Dr. Susan Orosz and Dr.Scott Echols' talks. There is also a great article on page 42 by Gay Noeth on Enriching Parrots with Foraging Branches.
ciao, Angela Cancilla Herschel