Conure
Pictures of Conures Video (Heal The World)
Conures are New World Parrots, which means they are native to the Americas. Their native environments include a wide variety of climates and terrains from savannahs to tropical forests and cooler mountain areas. They are peaceful birds who live in large flocks.
Before you bring your feathered friend home, you have a lot of shopping to do. Selecting your conure’s cage will be one of the most important decisions you make for him. You must also decide where he will live in your house or apartment.
Here are some of the signs that a conure is healthy. Keep them in mind when you are selecting your pet, and reject any birds who do not meet these criteria:
- bright eyes
- clean cere (the area above the bird’s beak that covers his nares, or nostrils)
- clean legs and vent
- smooth feathers
- upright posture
- quiet breathing
- full-chested appearance
- bird is actively moving around the cage
- good appetite
- Remember that healthy birds spend their time doing three main activities — eating, playing and sleeping — in about equal amounts of time. If you notice a bird who seems to only want to sleep, for instance, reject that bird in favour of another whose routine seems more balanced.
A conure requires care everyday to ensure his health and well-being. Birds are happiest when they are secure and comfortable in a safe environment. You can help your conure feel more secure by establishing a daily routine and performing the same tasks at around the same time everyday. This way, your conure knows his needs will be met by people he considers to be his family.
Be alert to Conure’s Health Problems
The conure’s droppings require daily monitoring because they can tell you a lot about his general health. Conures will produce tubular droppings that appear green in the center with a whitish edge. These droppings are usually composed of equal amounts of fecal material (the green edge), urine(the clear liquid portion), and urates(the white or cream-coloured centre).
As part of your daily cage cleaning and observation of your feathered friend, look at the conure’s droppings carefully. Learn what is normal for your bird in terms of colour, consistency, and frequency and report any changes to your avian veterinarian promptly.
A parrot’s beak contains a surprising number of blood vessels. A suddenly over-grown beak may indicate that your bird is suffering from liver damage, a virus or scaly mites, all of which require veterinary care.
Feeding Your Conure
Ideally, your conure’s diet should contain about equal parts of seeds, grains, and legumes and dark green or dark orange vegetables and fruits. You can supplement these with small amounts of well-cooked meat or eggs or dairy products.
Introduce young conures to healthy people food early so that they learn to appreciate a varied diet. Some adult birds cling tenanciously to seed-only diets, which are not healthy for them. Offer adult birds fresh food too in the hope that they may try something new.
Harmful Food
Among the food that is considered harmful to pet birds are alcohol, rhubarb, avocado (the skin and the area around the pit can be toxic), as well as highly salted, sweetened, and fatty food. Avoid giving your bird seeds or pits from apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, pears and plums, because they can be harmful. Chocolate contains the chemical theobromine(which birds cannot digest as completely as people can) and it can kill your conure.
Grooming Your Conure
Although birds preen and maintain their feathers on their own, the conure need your help with several grooming chores. First, he should be able to bathe regularly, and you need to arrange his bath for him. He will also need to have his nails and flight feathers trimmed periodically to ensure his safety.
At least once a year, your conure will lose his feathers. Don’t be alarmed because this is a normal process called molting. Many pet birds seem to be in a perpetual molt, with feathers falling out and coming in throughout the summer. You can consider your bird to be in molting season when you see many whole feathers in the bottom of the cage. You may also notice that your conure is a little more irritable during the molt; this is to be expected. Some birds may benefit from special conditioning food during the molt. Check with your avian veterinarian.
Links to Know More About Your Pet Birds, Conure
Why Choose A Bird?
Characteristics of Conure
Facts About Conure
History of Conures
Avian Senses
Feathers
Conure Health Concern
Conure Droppings
Conure Diseases
Can You Catch Avian Flu From Your Bird?
Zoonotic diseases, or diseases that can be passed between animals and people, have gotten a great deal of attention in the first part of the twenty-first century, when the avian flu outbreak came to the public attention in late 2003.It is unlikely that the conure is a carrier of avian flu.
Avian flu is a greater concern for poultry farmers and bird breeders than it is for the average pet bird owner. Avian flu is an infectious disease that is caused by Type A strains of the influenza virus. It infects mostly waterfowl, such as ducks, and it can spread to domestic poultry. Wild birds worldwide may be carriers of avian flu. Carrier birds often do not show signs of illness, but they shed the virus through their droppings, nasal secretions or saliva.
Avian flu is of particular concern to poultry farmers and people. People can catch avian flu by coming in contact with the droppings of infected birds or with the birds themselves. Symptoms of avian flu in people can range from typical flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, and muscke aches, to eye infection, pneumonia, and other life-threatening complications. Clinical signs in birds can vary, from birds who show no signs of illness to any of the following: lack of energy and appetite, decreased egg production, soft-shelled or misshapen eggs, nasal discharge, sneezing, a lack of coordination, and loose droppings.
