ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 79, © 2003
No reprints without permission

There are some great deals available here to bird owners, from small and large pet cages, to breeding cages, stands, and large flight cages!

The folks at Bird & Cage Co have made it their goal to provide birdkeepers with a great selection of quality cages for great prices - and if you live in the continental US, there's an even nicer bonus - shipping is free!

Read Robirda's birdcage reviews here.

For a full selection that includes some great wrought-iron parrot cages, visit BirdandCage.com.

It's been a year since we offered our CD of Robirda's canaries singing for sale, and it is proving to be a popular choice, as a gift or for themselves. We've received a great deal of positive feedback: here's just a few of the comments.

"The cd is so lovely, cute, uplifting... I could go on and on! Just listening to your little critters makes me smile... one little guy makes a squeak... then another a gurgle, then one by one they start warbling until it's a symphony of sweet, varied songs."

"Just received the Songs from the Birdroom CD - the birds are enjoying it tremendously - our cockatiel is telling them to 'be quiet'!"

"Wonderful!! Professional, shipped with lightning speed. GREAT CD... RECCOMMEND!"

Learn more about our Song CD.

A recent consultee said, "My heartfelt thanks go to Robirda. When I consulted her, I learned things that you will never find in any book... not basics, but detail after detail. She has the uncanny ability to advise without criticism. My suggestion? Ask Robirda. She saved my bird."

Robirda's customers find her answers to be detailed and reliable, caring and supportive. Robirda can help you learn to understand your birds better! Learn more here.

We rely on you to help keep this publication and its associated websites alive. If you find help you need in this ezine or on one of our websites, please consider joining our sponsors.

Sponsor us for $75 or more and you'll get a free lifetime Nest membership! For all those who've helped out in so many ways, thank you for your ongoing support.

If you're looking for something different, don't forget to check our home page at robirda.com for links to all our great products!

Welcome to Robirda's Companion Birds eZine

For breeder or pet bird owners who care.

Hello! Welcome to Flock Talk's 79th issue! Subscribe and unsubscribe information is at the bottom of this page.

This issue we've decided to discuss feather lumps and how to prevent them with you. We hope you enjoy it! Our next issue is due Oct 12th - 'til then, we hope you and your birds stay well, and enjoy the fall. We look forward to seeing you all then!

Robirda
Sept 28, 2003

I try to avoid giving my birds oral medication if at all possible - it is usually so much easier to offer them in a little cous-cous - but if you have no choice in the matter, there is a simple and effective method you can use. To do this properly, you will need to slightly modify the method for holding your canary pictured at www.robirda.com/howto.html

Since you have a finger on either side of the bird's neck, it's fairly easy to get the pad of your middle finger on one hinge of the beak. Then, put the tip of the syringe near the other side of the beak. Make sure that you have blunted the tip so it's not too sharp - you don't want any accidents!

Press lightly on the syringe plunger so that you get a droplet of medication hanging off the tip. Don't press so hard that it falls off, as you want it to hang from the tip so that it will slip off at a touch.

Then use your thumb to press lightly on the hinge of the beak on the opposite side from your middle fingertip. The light pressure should cause the bird to open its beak a little, then you can immediately touch the hanging droplet to the corner of the beak and usually, in goes the drop! (or most of it, anyways)

If the bird is feeling stubborn, it may not open its beak much, but you can still put the drop by the hinge of the beak, and most of it should make its way into the bird's mouth.

Giving small birds medication orally is never easy, but this method makes it about as easy as it's possible to get, I think!

Bird Site Review

Have You Found A Good Avian Vet?

This webpage is not properly a website, but an article belonging to Liz Wilson's area at the UpAtSix.com bird site. But there is so much good advice in this article, that I feel it deserves independant recognition.

This article is one that every bird owner, no matter how large or small their birds, should read. It includes some of the best advice I have ever heard on how to choose the vet you want to work with in regards to your birds.

If you're like me, you will want to bookmark this webpage, so you can refer to this article whenever you need - don't miss it!

Feature Article

Sooner or later, everybody who keeps canaries of any kind is liable to be plagued by a problem with their canaries feathers not emerging properly from the skin, during moult. Theories on causes abound but none seem to be conclusive, and often new owners are left at a loss, wondering just what on earth should be done about their bird's...

by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © Sept 2003

A feather lump - sometimes called a 'feather cyst' - on a bird is the equivalent of an ingrown hair on a human. Feather lumps are relatively much larger in size, of course, since feathers are larger than hairs, and our birds are so tiny in comparison to us.

To date, there has been very little scientific reseach on the cause of feather lumps. Studies to conclusively prove one cause or another have not been done in numbers great enough to produce proper statistical evidence and until they are, widely varying opinions, many contradictory, help only to confuse the newcomer.

Some theories insist that an improper (or incomplete) diet is the biggest source of this problem, while other theories state emphatically that the tendancy a bird shows to develop feather lumps is genetically inherited.

Over the years my experience has indicated to me that while there may be a genetically inherited tendancy towards developing feather lumps, the overall diet of the bird in question does seem to be connected to the results seen.

I myself have owned birds which in other hands, annually developed feather lumps during their moult. But while these birds were under my care, I had no such problem with them.

In particular, a diet including larger amounts of incomplete proteins and rich foods seems to cause feather lumps to happen a little more easily in birds susceptible to them. I should mention here that tradition recommends that birds who develop lumps should not used for breeding, as sooner or later their offspring will usually show the same tendancy to develop these lumps.

The fact is, though, that this problem tends to show up much more frequently in inbred or linebred show stock, rather than just indescriminately. This in turn has caused a great many people to believe that this problem arises from breeding for softer, broader feathers.

Such feathers will help to give a bird that 'chubby' look that is considered so desireable in Glosters, Norwhich, and Borders, which are the breeds most often seen with feather lumps. Yet the breed with the softest, broadest feathers of all - the Mosaic, or Dimorphic Canary - is rarely seen with feather lumps. They do occur in this breed, but far less frequently than would be expected if soft feathering alone was the cause of the development of feather lumps.

Feather lumps can be quite painful for the bird, depending on their placement. If they are situated where they can cause pressure on a nerve or an internal organ, they can cause long-term damage, and occasionally can even kill a bird!

Feather structure is high in silicon, and growing in feathers properly demands a diet with 17 - 20% or so complete proteins while a bird is moulting. There's several different methods used to achieve this in a bird's diet, with varying results.

My best success has been achieved from mix-and-matching vegetable proteins to comprise complete proteins when eaten together. Almost all vegetable proteins are incomplete in and of themselves, but can be combined with complementary veggie proteins to make a complete protein in combination. (Corn and beans is a classic example.)

Quite a lot of research went into designing my homemade nestling food and soak seed mix, so as to allow the ingredients to work together to digest as a complete protein. It's always worked well for me! (see the article at www.robirda.com/soakseed.html )

Many people prefer to use animal proteins, which are more often complete in and of themselves, and that's why so many birdfood recipes are high in egg. But when working with animal proteins, you need to be wary of the high fatty content that is also often present.

The nice thing about animal proteins is that they are already complete. One school of thought theorizes that animal proteins are harder to digest, though, and that combined veggie proteins are more effective, as well as being healthier because of the lower fat content.

As far as developing or not developing feather lumps goes, the kind and quantity of greens fed also seems to be a factor, although there is very little truly conclusive evidence for this; but it has been my observation that people who feed more of the 'softer' greens (romaine or leaf lettuces, celery leaves, etc...) don't seem to get the good feather results that always seems to accompany the abundant use of kale, collards, savoy cabbages, gai lan, and other such cabbage-family plants.

Perhaps this is because these plants have thicker cell walls, and are higher in silicon? I don't know for sure - but I do know my experience has been that it does seem to make a big difference. I once had several birds who had several lumps each given to me for free - I took them because the previous owner was going to 'throw them out the window'... (yeesh!!)

After 6 months or so with me, they looked like different birds. Their feathers were smooth and, shiny, and every bird was completely lump-free! I never saw another lump on any one of them, and some lived with me for several years.

European breeders, who have the advantage of statistical numbers, suggest that the following amino acids especially, contribute to a successful, lump-free moult; methionine, lysine, threonine, and tryptophan. (These are all seperate elements of a complete protein, found in varying amounts in varying foods)

They also suggest that lecithin (an unsaturated fatty acid) also aids in allowing feather growth to occur smoothly. Adequate B vitamins, mineral content (especially zinc), Folic acid and Biotin have also been cited as essential elements required for a trouble-free moult. Methionine and Lysine especially are thought to be particularly important at preventing the occurrance of feather lumps.

In conclusion, it must be noted that there is much yet to be learned about the cause and prevention of the phenomenon of feather lumps in our birds - but in the meantime, this information has proven to be very useful to a large number of bird owners. It is my hope that these thoughts will prove as useful to you as they have to myself and so many other bird owners, with the wish that none of us may ever again see a feather lump in our birds!

by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © Sept 2003

It is widely recommended when buying a bird, that close-banded birds should be the only stock considered. But what happens if a problem develops and a band needs to be removed from your bird's leg?

Safely removing closed bands from a bird's leg takes a lot of practice - it is so very easy to cut the skin or even to break the leg, if you are not sure what you are doing!

If you can't find an avian vet who feels capable of performing this task for you, an alternative is to see if you can find a breeder who's had some experience with this chore who can remove the band in question. Or, you can always bite the bullet, get your own band-cutter and practice with it until you can safely remove a closed band from your bird's leg yourself.

A band-cutter is a tool that it's a good idea to have and practice with - especially if you are going to be breeding and banding birds - because sooner or later, a situation will pop up that will require you to remove a band. Never use a tool that was not designed especially for this chore, only those cutters specifially and solely made for this purpose.

Band cutters can be purchased online from a number of sources, including www.birds2grow.com or www.silversongwest.com - and I think at www.abbaseeds.com too, among others.

Once you have your band-cutter, practice using it on something other than a bird's leg before attempting to remove a band. I found the best method to be the one recommended to me by a breeder with over 70 years experience working with small birds.

At his recommendation, I practiced using my band-cutter by putting closed bands on a green willow stick approximately the same size as a bird's leg, so that the bands fit fairly tightly, about the same way that they fit on your bird's leg.

Then I could practice cutting those same bands off the stick until I could do it easily and without damaging the bark in any way. Once you can do that, you should be experienced enough so that you stand a much better chance of being able to safely remove a band from your bird's leg, should the need arise.