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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 2 years
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This post is outdated (I can’t believe I wrote it four years ago now) and I’ll be the first to admit that some of the things I said are wrong and that I’ve learned a lot since then and changed the way I think about and use the different types of operant conditioning. The one I really want to talk about today is what’s called the “constructional approach” to animal training/behaviour modification, which I came across while renewing my Avian Fear Free Veterinary Certification (course created by world-renowned animal trainer Barbara Heidenreich)!
Yes, positive reinforcement is a great tool and what we’d ideally like to use in most training scenarios. However, it’s contingent on the animal’s willingness to accept reinforcers (treats, toys, attention/affection, etc) from their trainer, and the reality is that this just isn’t always possible. This is usually the case for animals who are “over threshold” (i.e. experiencing very high levels or fear, anxiety, and/or stress). For example, a parrot in a new, stressful environment such as a vet clinic may be too stressed to accept treats or scritches even from its owner, and similarly, a fearful-aggressive dog with a history of being abused probably won’t be keen on being approached with snacks and pats right off the bat. This is where careful application of negative reinforcement can actually be used quite effectively. As a refresher, negative reinforcement involves the removal of an aversive or undesired stimulus in order to increase the likelihood of a certain behaviour being performed. Let’s break down the components of negative reinforcement in the case of an animal who’s over threshold:
The behaviour that we’d like to see more of/that’s being reinforced is calm, relaxed behaviour.
The aversive stimulus is the presence of the trainer/whoever wants to get close to the animal – this is what’s causing fear/anxiety/stress.
So, we can use distance from the trainer as the negative reinforcer for calm behaviour!
Example that I’ve done in real life: There was a hawk at the raptor center I used to work at who was a new arrival and showed fearful-aggressive behaviour in response to being approached by people he wasn’t familiar with. He would get into a defensive position and crouch, holding his wings out and puffing up his feathers to make himself look bigger and poised to attack. What we wanted to see from him was calm behaviour – feathers in a relaxed position while standing normally or just doing his own thing. Rather than invading his personal space while he was already being defensive to toss food and treats his way in the hopes that he would eventually form a positive association with us and relax, we made the process a lot faster and less stressful by using distance from us as a negative reinforcer. We would observe him to make sure that each session started off with us being far enough away for him to remain calm and relaxed without interrupting whatever he was doing. Then, step by step, we would slowly approach him – but immediately stop as soon as he changed his behaviour and showed any sign of fear or anxiety toward us. Next, we would stay completely still and quiet while waiting for him to shift his attention away from us and perform any other behaviour, even if it was something as small as just looking in a different direction, shifting his weight from one foot onto another, etc. As soon as he did, we would calmly walk away until he couldn’t see us. And we repeated this process over and over again until we were able to stand right in front of him without any signs of his previous aggressive behaviour, at which point we switched over to using positive reinforcement with food rewards to get him to step up, and so on.
The point is that in the beginning, he was able to understand that in order to get what he wanted, which was distance away from the scary thing, all he had to do was remain calm, and we would respect that and leave. When negative reinforcement involves the use of mild aversive stimuli and excellent attention to body language, it can be an effective and ethical method of training an animal and gaining their trust. Previously, animal trainers/behaviour professionals (myself included), avoided using negative reinforcement whenever possible because of its tendency to cause animals to be less enthusiastic to engage in training and even worsen aggression caused by fear/anxiety/stress. And this is definitely something that’s still valid – negative reinforcement is not ok or ethical when the aversive stimulus is significant and not something that already exists in an animal’s environment. For example, tightly squeezing/applying excessive pressure to a towel wrapped around an animal while attempting to restrain them for an exam/other procedure and decreasing pressure only when they stop struggling or “calm down” (this can actually cause chickens, parrots, and other small prey animals to succumb to heart attacks if they are not used to being handled).
I also wrote about my utter disapproval of punishment before, but negative punishment (taking away something that an animal enjoys/desires with the intent of discouraging a certain behaviour) can also be used ethically in some situations, as long as it’s also done very carefully and followed up almost immediately with positive reinforcement. It’s particularly useful for animals exhibiting attention-seeking or playful-aggressive behaviour – parrots, kittens, puppies, etc. who suddenly bite your finger too hard after playfully mouthing at your hand. When this happens, you can punish the biting behaviour by taking away what the animal wants in that moment  - playing with you/your hand. Immediately stop playtime and take your hand away (this is when a gentle verbal cue like “no” can be used as a marker, as long as it’s not too loud/aggressive so as to startle and frighten the animal), keeping in mind that this “time-out” period should only last a few seconds. Then, quickly switch to positive reinforcement, either by asking the animal to perform a behaviour they already know (e.g. step up) and offering a reward, or by waiting for them to demonstrate calmer behaviour (nudging/licking your hand) and reinforcing that by resuming play, giving attention/treats, etc. This provides clear communication to the animal about what behaviour is and isn’t acceptable in order for them to get what they want.
I could go on and on about lots of other examples and more (like how even positive reinforcement can have a "dark side" when used in a coercive manner…but I think this is a good enough update for now!
Hi, is it bad to do a negative reinforcement when the animal doesn't do the desired behavior, if it is verbal? For example, is a strong verbal "no" harmful to the animal or the teaching?
Thank you for the ask!
First of all, that’s not an example of negative reinforcement, so I’ll do a quick breakdown of the types of operant conditioning :)
Positive  reinforcement  is a consequence that occurs during or immediately after a behaviour that increases the chances of the animal performing that behaviour again. This is ethically the best type of conditioning that should be used during training, because by adding something the animal likes and will work for, you give it control through choice, because it does not have to participate if it doesn’t want to. Example: giving treats, attention, affection, to a dog for sitting; giving toys, stickers, or praise to a child for doing their chores; saying thank you to someone for doing any nice thing (this is, coincidentally, why I say thank you in response to every question I get here!)
Negative  reinforcement  is also a consequence that occurs during or immediately after a behaviour that increases the chances of the animal performing that behaviour again. (Basically, any type of reinforcement aims to increase the likelihood of a certain behaviour occurring again). The difference is that, instead of giving or adding something the animal will work for, you are removing something it will work to avoid. This still gives the animal some choice, but animals trained with negative reinforcement will usually only operate at the level necessary to avoid the negative reinforcement stimulus. Example: the annoying noise your car makes until you put your seatbelt on (putting it on is reinforced by taking the annoying noise away); yelling at an animal to go to a certain spot.
Positive punishment is a consequence that occurs after a behaviour, and is intended to decrease the frequency or intensity of that behaviour by adding/giving something undesirable or perceived as harmful. Classic example is hitting an animal because you want it to stop barking, biting, etc.
Negative punishment also has the purpose of decreasing the chance of a certain behaviour being performed, but by taking something away from the animal that it enjoys/needs. This includes things like starving an animal for doing something “bad”, or taking away video game privileges from a child for being rude, etc.
Your example (a strong “NO”) sort of blurs the lines between negative reinforcement, if you think it’s going to make the animal more likely to do the behaviour you want (which it absolutely will not), and positive punishment, if you’re trying to eliminate other behaviours that you don’t want. No professional/contemporary/ethical animal training company/facility uses punishment for the following reasons:
The animal isn’t given any control. 
This method has  no  predictable  outcome  because  it  does  not  teach  the  animal  what  it  should  do, which is also just inefficient.
The  act  of  punishing  is  often  reinforcing  to  the  punisher. Those who rely on nothing but punishment, whether it’s with human or animal relationships, will only continue to do so because they think the punishment is working, and because it gives them a sense of control, power, etc.
Many animals  do  not even understand  punishment. Especially if the punishment is horribly timed - for example, yelling at your dog when you come home and discover hours later that it pooped on the carpet. The dog is not going to make the connection between what it did hours ago, and you yelling at it now.
It  can  produce  serious  side  effects, like depressive, anxious, avoidant, and aggressive behaviours.
In short, unless the animal you’re training happens to be another human, non-human primate, parrot, or any species that explicitly understand human language, a strong verbal “NO” is essentially useless, because it will simply not understand you. Aside from that, there might be no harm to the animal as long as you’re not yelling at it and causing fear and stress, but there is harm to the training process by slowing it down and not making any progress at all. Punishment and negative reinforcement may seem like the easiest way to get what you want from an animal, and it is what humans usually turn to first, but positive reinforcement is the most beneficial to both the animal and trainer. It is also the more efficient way, if you’re willing to put in the small amount of time and effort at first to learn to be empathetic and try to imagine how the animal perceives you and what you’re asking from it.
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 2 years
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Owl Intelligence, and Respecting Their Way of Thought
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For those of you who have followed my (original) blog for some time, my stance on owl intelligence should be clear. I am of the mind that owls are just as intelligent as a hawk or a falcon, and the pervasive reputation of these birds as being “lazy” and “stupid” animals is one of my biggest pet peeves.
The Myth of Owl Stupidity
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In a cruel twist of fate, this mischaracterization of owls as being “slow” often comes from those who work with owls professionally because owls do not respond to the same training as their diurnal counterparts, but if you are constantly trying to shove a square peg in a triangular hole, it may not be the peg that’s unintelligent.
Diurnal raptors are only distantly related to owls, so it should not be a shock the two groups have more differences than similarities. A hawk is straightforward; they react to visual stimuli much like humans do, and they are at their peak confidence during the daylight. A hawk will look around, see no danger, and feel perfectly content to preen or eat from the glove. They burn off a lot more energy than owls as well since they capture prey by chase and have to be very active in searching for visual queues. A hawk will enter a dark room or have a hood slipped over its head and become almost catatonic because a lack of visual stimulus queues the hawk to feel calmed and stay in place much like they would to roost.
Owls see with their ears, not their eyes. An owl is also an ambush hunter rather than pursuit, every part of their instinctual wiring is geared to ensure they are not seen. If they are not seen and if they are not heard, they are safe, and they can be fed and they can relax in their invisibility. Because of their desires to remain unnoticed, they rarely show the same dramatic flight response of their diurnal cousins. Unlike the hawk, a frightened owl will not attempt relentlessly to take flight, a frightened owl sits as still as possible.
If you’re training a hawk and find it standing in place and looking at its surroundings without apparent urgency, it is a sign the hawk is confident; it needn’t watch you as you aren’t a threat, and it needn’t flee because it is safe and you will provide it food sufficiently. It can take time to look around at other things.
If you’re training an owl and it exhibits a similar behavior of standing firm on the glove and turning its head away from you to look at something else, this is a sign the owl is uncomfortable and worried, it’s not looking around out of curiosity, but to find an exit or a better hiding spot since it feels very visible on fist in the open.
Point of View of the Owl
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When training hawks, the mutual relationship between man and bird is obvious. You are providing the hawk a secure roost, food, water, and freedom from disease. The hawk is more than willing to humor you in standing on your glove as though it were a tree limb and take time to look curiously upon whatever new sights you have to offer it, or to chase game you flush for it in the field.
Owls are more complex because the idea of being paraded in front of a crowd of humans or hunting game your noisy feet will scare away are very disagreeable to the owl for good reason. As I said, an owl is comfortable when it is not observed. Owls have a slower metabolism as well, meaning they do not hold food in the same esteem as the hawk. There is little urgency in an owl’s need to eat if all it has to feed is itself and it’s finished growing. Therefore, the only benefit a human can provide an owl is security. If you are not keeping the owl safe from scenarios that frighten it, you are not meeting your end of the bargain, and the owl views it as a betrayal because to be seen and to feel unsafe is torturous to these birds.
Owls find being companionship to be disagreeable as well, and do not enjoy physical touch or constantly being around a human or other animals. They only spend a few months of the year with their mate and owlets, the exception being burrowing owls who are more tolerant of company, but do not particularly crave it either in many cases. They simply hold it with indifference rather than displeasure.
Because of the strictly solitary nature of owls, they may become disagreeable in turn if you don’t give them their space. An owl prefers to be alone in its enclosure for most of the day and night undisturbed, and the only parts of the owl that should be touched are the keel (to determine body condition) and the talons (to ensure anklets can be placed in a way that will minimize stress). The face of the adult owl should never be touched unless it’s to briefly help it get something off, like residue from food or dirt that would be more irritating if left caked on the bird. Any touch at all to the bird should only be done for clinical reasons.
All of this is what makes owls incredibly unethical to keep as pets. Invariably, videos of pet owls show the birds being relentlessly stroked like dogs, forced to interact with humans or other pets, and taken to noisy places like a living room with the TV on or a store. Some even go as far as dressing them up in costumes.
Owl behavior and cognition in terms of how they see their world are complex enough that I can’t fully cover it in a tumblr post, but if you take away nothing else understand this much: owls are not cats, they are not dolls, they are not pets. An owl is a wild animal misunderstood even by self-proclaimed experts and many of us in the field are only just recently actually seeing them. There are so many misconceptions about owls that lead to them being abused and traumatized by being treated by something they aren’t.
In many ways, an owl is very much a wise animal because they devote all their time to silently observing. What people mistake as the bird simply “zoning out” is actually the bird analyzing everything it’s hearing and seeing. They don’t need to look around to observe, their ears see even more than their very keen eyes. They make silent note of everything you do in their presence, and if you misstep and cross them, they will remember it.
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Owls may not have a “complex” language humans can quantify, and they may not use tools, but they also don’t need to. These should not be the end all be all of how we measure intelligence in animals. In solitary animals, there is no push for them to develop a language, and in animals as well adapted as an owl, there is no push to learn to use tools. They have every tool they need attached to their bodies as is.
Their way of thinking is alien to humans, as we are diurnal animals which require socialization to survive, but this in no way means they are not intelligent. They are simply different. An owl is very smart at being an owl after all.
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 2 years
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Could a zen habitats enclosure modified with a soft top and more ventilation work for button quail? If so how would you make these modifications?
Thanks for the ask!
I'm not too familiar with these enclosures, but Google seems to be telling me that these are traditionally used for reptiles? You could definitely make that work - a soft top can be anything that the quail won't hurt themselves on if they were to fly and bonk their heads off the ceiling (while keeping them securely contained, of course). With glass/wooden tanks (i.e. as opposed to cages with open bars), you're right to be concerned about ventilation but I've found that as long as they're kept in a well-ventilated area and you do a complete cleanout/substrate change on a regular basis (more frequently than you would with a cage), you should be ok.
Hope this helps!
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 2 years
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Hello,
I have been following your blog for a few years and enjoyed it very much.
I am now getting close to keeping chicken myself, it's the phase of planning and reading but with a realistic approach because I have the space and land for it.
I obviously would like healthy happy chicken and I obviously want to avoid mistakes in coop design and husbandry. I always learned bits and pieces from your blog but now that chicken are realistic during the next 1-2 years I wanted to ask you if you could recommend books and/or other resources for me to learn from?
Thank you very much for your time
Hello, thanks for reaching out! Very exciting that you'll finally be getting your own chickens in the near future, and I love that you're being thorough in preparing yourself!
The first book that comes to mind to me is "Raising Amazing Chicks" by Dr. Scott Gillingham. He's a commercial poultry veterinarian but he wholly supports urban/backyard chicken-keeping (and obviously has his own flock at home) - all around very knowledgeable and happy to educate folks about responsibly raising your own chickens. Here's the link to the book, there are also a ton of other great resources on his website like online courses and podcasts which I would also recommend checking out: https://www.ichicken.ca/raising-urban-chickens/
Poultrydvm.com is also a fantastic resource used by veterinarians but it's also very much geared towards bird owners as well, they post regularly on Facebook and Instagram with useful tips on keeping your flock safe and healthy, general husbandry, and lots of other good stuff.
Lastly there are lots of other blogs out there that post about keeping chickens (and probably do a better job of staying on top of asks I'm so sorry)! I'd feel bad if I posted a list here and forgot someone, so I encourage people reading this to leave their recommendations in the replies!
Thanks again and good luck!
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 2 years
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So excited to read your posts, so much great info! I have a 4 y.o. Easter Egger hen, Ethel, who has an odd behavior. Ever since she was a pullet, she randomly walks backward with her head down to one side, head jerking, then she snaps out of it and goes back to her normal scratching and pecking. She does this many times daily, has been checked over for mites lice, her ears are clear. Have you ever heard of this? She enjoys her chicken life and does not seem to have pain associated with this. She lays pretty green eggs and is about the middle kf the pecking order of 10 hens, no rooster.
Thanks fornyour thoughts!
-Robin
aka, @themichiganchickenlady on IG
Thank you!
Unfortunately even with all the excellent information about Ethel that you've provided, it's difficult to know exactly what's going on without being able to directly observe the behaviour and physically examine her, not to mention the fact that it would be illegal for me as a veterinarian to give a definitive diagnosis over the internet. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way...
At the very least, I can say that the walking backwards and especially the abnormal head position and movements strongly point to an inner ear problem. Aside from its obvious role in hearing, the inner ear is an important part of the nervous system that regulates an animal's balance. Any disease process that disrupts the function of the inner ear can cause a lack of balance and coordination which can manifest as an inability to maintain proper position of the head and limbs. This can include chronic infection, tumors, injury, etc., of the inner ear, which may not be visible at all from the outside (i.e., they could still be present even if Ethel's ears look clear to you).
Your best bet is to have Ethel personally seen by a veterinarian so that they can decide what diagnostic tests need to be done to try and pin down a cause, which will then determine what treatments are needed to help her start feeling better. The PoultryDVM website has a directory of veterinarians who will see pet chickens, and you can even look them up by selecting your state - looks like there are possibly 7 clinics you might be able to go to in Michigan: http://www.poultrydvm.com/poultry-vets.php
Hope this helps a bit, thanks for the ask!
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 2 years
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This is not supposed to be an attack and I'm sorry if it comes across this way - I'd love to hear more about your opinion on crow collars, please! I'm a pet chicken/general avian vet who's just starting out and so far every vet I've worked with who sees pet chickens has a strong dislike for crow collars, but I know I'm going to come across folks who use them for their roos so I want to educate myself and understand better. Thank in advance!
Its alright i actually follow you and look at your stuff all the time!
I try to be very open about my use of crow collars and i can also understand why a lot of people do not like them so ill just ramble about the information i know.
Personally what my vet has said is that she would prefer no rooster have to wear one but she understands that the alternative is usually death for alot of roosters out there. So its like your taking a risk using them but that risk is better then the risk of surgery or having to rehome the bird.
So Ill tell you what i have been taught what crow collars do and what do they help with.
Crow collars basically soften and quiet a crow via compression. Some people say its just the compression that is causing it, others say that it prevents the rooster from expelling all the reserved air in his air sacs like normal during a crow which is what diminishes the crow. Personally i just think its just the compression because if you know where to hold you can quiet a rooster crowing in your arms by just holding his neck in a certain area. I think this is why some people think its actually compressing their voice box or something but i dont know.
So crow collars do not stop the instinct to crow but they help curb the behavior. Some people think that putting a crow collar on a rooster will stop him from crowing and wanting to crow but it wont. Crow collars just quiet a crow to a reasonable level. If a rooster tries to do a loud crow the collar makes it uncomfortable trying to get all the air out at once so the rooster learns to not go all out but some roos do stop crowing so much in general. It doesnt seem to stop them from making other chicken noises like the egg song,alarm call, or tidbitting noise
(Now im gonna talk about the risks)
The biggest risk with any sort of thing around an animals neck is choking and there are definitely cases of a rooster choking due to their collar especially if it isnt on properly.
A crow collar should be snug but not tight. You should be able to get the tip of your pinky under it easily but you dont want it to loose because it makes it easier to get caught on things. I dont like the crow collars that have that mesh material because i know that it could get caught on anything. A snug collar is a safer collar I actually prefer rigid velcro for collars due to this.
I believe that crow collars are not something you can just put on the bird then forget about it needs to be cleaned often and it also needs to be checked at least twice a day to make sure it is safe and comfortable. When you adjust a crow collar you should observe the bird for 5-30 minutes to make sure the bird is comfortable.
So to help prevent choking an owner should check the collar multiple times a day, keep the collar hygienic, feed a crumble feed and avoid large pelleted feed, and keep the collar snug.
Something else to keep in mind with crow collars is ingrown feathers and feather damage around the area the collar sits. The best way to avoid that is give the rooster a break so he can preen the feathers. Keeping the collar hygienic will help prevent ingrown feathers.
Something else that gets brought up sometimes due to crow collars is that they can increase the risk of respiratory infection. I think its moreso if a rooster gets a respiratory infection while wearing a collar the collar can make it worse especially if the roosters airways are comprised (like with canker) by the pathogen. So i think the way to prevent that is to just check the collar often and always remove the collar if the bird is sick for any reason.
An example of a crow collar used improperly is Urban Rescue Ranchs ayam cemani rooster Gamer. His bird was obviously sick and likely suffering from a respiratory infection but he kept the collar on the bird for a long time over multiple videos (likely unsupervised for days at a time) intill the bird was visibly in very very bad shape. He said he thinks his neck muscles atrophied when in reality the bird was likely so weak at that point he could barely move in general. I think Gamer is a good example of what neglectful use of a crow collar can do to a bird.
So thats the information i have on crow collars. I have used them for every rooster i have had and they are definitely something that requires management and knowing the risks vs rewards. Nugget is healthy happy little guy and the crow collar only really seems like a minor annoyance to him at most, but im also a very attentive owner. I think most crow collar users once they know the risks are attentive owners so if someone approaches you as a vet about crow collars i would tell them the risks but also that it can definitely be a way to keep them from being a nuisance due to their noise that doesnt require surgery.
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 2 years
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Your button quail are so cute! Do you think they make good pets?
Hello, thanks for the ask!
I think it depends on what you define as being a "good pet". Personally, I love observing my pets and all their quirky little behaviours, and button quail pack a ton of quirky little behaviours into their tiny bodies. I could watch their bullsh*t for hours and genuinely be entertained by that alone.
If you're hoping for a more hands-on, "cuddly" pet, however, I would say that only button quail who have been hatched and hand-raised by humans from day 1 and socialized every day would fit this bill. Under these conditions, human-imprinted button quail can become very attached to humans and enjoy being scritched and held, etc., but otherwise they are quite skittish, being the teeny tiny prey animals that they are. That doesn't mean that you can't work with them to become more comfortable with your presence (and even train them to do little tricks)!
Hope this helps!
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 2 years
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Could you give a quick rundown or like point where are your posts talking about why owning owls and raptors as pets is unethical? I couldn't find much info online and i just wanna be more informed
Owls are strictly solitary animals which devote their entire lives to remaining invisible to other animals. Being seem stresses them out. Eye contact is considered a threat. Being touched is the prelude to attack. Being in the constant presence of other animals (humans included) makes them miserable. Because they devote themselves to being unnoticed, they have very subtle visual queues when they are uncomfortable with a situation. These queues are not noticed by pet keepers and are thus ignored until the owl develops learned helplessness and shuts down completely.
Owls are wild animals. Their dietary and environmental needs are highly specific and not easily accommodated in captivity, and accommodating this in a household is impossible to do without the owl shutting down. They do not like noisy places, and humans or other animals vocalizing causes sensory overloads. Captive owls forced to engage with humans, even imprinted owls raised from the egg by humans, were found to be very frequently producing high levels of cortisol, the hormone which controls the “fight or flight” response in animals.
It is horribly traumatic for the owls, and larger owl species are incredibly dangerous as their grip strength is disproportionately high in comparison to their size. A large owl can grab your hand in its talons with more force than a lion would apply biting it. Mind you, owls do not have the mass to follow that up by pulling your entire hand off as a lion would, but they do have very long talons which leave a curved, triangular wound that can get infected VERY easily, not to mention the fact they can break your bones. Owls also do not expend any energy by continuing to hold their grip firm and could theoretically continue footing you for hours if they felt it necessary. Their bites are less impressive, but will certainly break and tear the skin if they have a good angle.
There is no positive aspect to having a pet owl. The owl is miserable, the human is in danger. There is no point to it and keeping a pet owl is always animal abuse.
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 2 years
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Hi! I am the founder of parrotjunkie. com, a very new educational site about parrot care. I'd like to inform you that I am using your keel bone image in one of my articles about parrot weights. I have given full credits to you but still want you know that it was a fantastic image and very helpful. I hope it is alright with you that I have used it and credited it in this way. If you are not comfortable with it, please contact me at contact@ parrotjunkie. com and I will have it removed. Thank you!
That's totally fine with me, thank you for letting me know and crediting me!
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 2 years
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My first chicken surgery!
I got to do my first ever bird surgery while on placements this past summer during my final year of vet med school :)
Lucky is an 8-week-old (at the time) Red Sex-link cockerel with a 5-week history of crop stasis, also known informally as “sour crop”. On physical examination, he did indeed have a distended crop with a doughy consistency (even after he'd been fasted for almost 18 hours before his appointment), and when I palpated his keel I found he had a body condition score of 1.5 out of 5 with quite a bit of muscle wasting, meaning that he was fairly emaciated. His owners also noted that although the distension did not cause him any apparent discomfort, he was smaller and had been growing at a noticeably slower rate compared to his brothers and even his sisters.
First off, what is crop stasis/sour crop? In birds, crop stasis is a common indicator of disease characterized by impaired motility and delayed emptying of the crop. There are several conditions that can lead to its development, including physical obstruction or impaction of the crop, which is typically caused by the ingestion of tough, fibrous vegetation or other foreign material that birb definitely should not have eaten, but did anyway. Decreased crop motility can additionally be the result of high environmental temperatures, prolonged time between feedings, heavy metal toxicosis, Marek’s disease, and many other things.
In order for me to figure out which of these things was going on with Lucky, I offered to perform a biopsy of his crop, which involves surgically cutting out a 1cm x 1cm square of the actual crop. And I figured, while I'm in there anyway, why not do something called an ingluviotomy? "Ingluvi-" referring to the crop, and "-otomy" meaning to cut into an organ or body cavity, usually with the intention of getting a good visual of its interior - and in the case of suspected impaction/foreign body obstruction, looking for said foreign body and safely removing it. (I was going to make a passionate plug in this post about how it saddens and terrifies me that people will attempt to do this "surgery" on their own at home without pain control or maintaining any sort of sterility but this post is long enough and that is a horrifying can of worms that I won't go into today.) Luckily for Lucky (heh), his owners were able to give me the ok to go ahead with this procedure, so I took him back to the hospital, sedated and anesthetized him, blocked the nerves around the area I'd be cutting into, took a biopsy sample, and did the ingluviotomy. This is what I took out of his crop.
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Long blades of grass and/or pine needles, bits of sand/gravel, and a whole wasp-looking insect (black thing in the top/middle left). Once I finished digging all of that out, I gave Lucky's crop one last flush with some saline, gave him a dose of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication, and closed up his crop. Here he is waking up from his surgery, still feeling a little high and wrapped up in a towel with some heat pads:
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I put the crop biopsy sample in some formalin and sent it off to my school's animal pathology lab, in along with a fecal sample and a swab I'd quickly taken of inside of his crop. The final report I got back a week later wasn't too exciting - no evidence of parasites and/or their eggs in the swab or poop sample, and microscopic evaluation of the biopsy just showed signs that the bird hadn't eaten in a while (which we already knew) and some inflammation, which also wasn't surprising. But here's the histology photo anyway, because it's pretty.
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After returning home, Lucky was eating liquid food and taking his oral medications like a champ. The plot thickened though when his crop just filled right back up by the end of the first week following his surgery. So, I asked his owners to bring him back in for another exam. This time, his crop seemed to contain sludgy, liquid content only, but his body condition score was a 2.5 out of 5 and he'd put on a bit of muscle weight. I wasn't happy that his crop was still distended though and wanted to try to get to the bottom of it, so I sedated him again and took my first chicken x-ray:
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Aside from the tennis-ball sized crop which seems to be filled with partially digested feed pellets and some grit, this is pretty much a normal x-ray. I was specifically looking for enlargement of the proventriculus or any other section of the GI tract that would indicate that there was a blockage somewhere along the line, but there's no evidence of that here. So, I sent Lucky back home with a prokinetic medication, and recommended that he start wearing a crop-supporting birdy bra (https://crazy-k-farm.myshopify.com/products/birdy-bra-crop-supporter-chest-protector).
It's been 2 months and Lucky's crop is still enlarged, but he looks great otherwise. He's gotten taller and started growing in his big boy feathers, and eats and drinks and behaves just like the other chickens in his flock. So why is his crop still like that? We really don't know. Secondary to crop stasis, the crop can become pendulous, i.e., enlarged and filled with an excessive amount of fluid. The exact cause of pendulous crops hasn't really been scientifically studied, despite their being a pretty common presenting complaint by owners of backyard poultry flocks. A few old studies suggest that there is a genetic component that results in poor muscle tone of the crop. I've also heard avian vets say that even after you fix the underlying cause of crop stasis in a bird, it can still end up with pendulous crop afterward if it was distended for a long enough period of time that the physical stretching and pressure on the crop wall damaged the nerves and muscles within. It's also possible that I might have accidentally traumatized one of these nerves during the biopsy and surgery, to be completely honest. Or, there could be some sort of unknown disease going on with Lucky's muscular system - certain muscular dystrophies in dogs and cats can result in impaired function of the esophagus (which the crop is a part of, in birds).
Whatever the cause, crop bras seem to be pretty popular among backyard flock owners who have the odd chicken or two with pendulous crops. Anecdotally, these birds seem to be more prone to re-developing crop stasis, but can apparently maintain a good quality of life with regular monitoring of appetite and body weight. It's been so far, so good for Lucky, at least!
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(All photos belong to Lucky's owners and myself, please do not repost without permission)
References:
1. Worrell AB. Current trends in avian pediatrics. J Exot Pet Med 2012;21:115-123.
2. Morrisey JK. Gastrointestinal diseases in psittacine birds. Semin Avian Exot Pet 1999;8:66-74.
3. Greenacre CB, Morishita TY. Backyard poultry medicine and surgery: a guide for veterinary practitioners. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: John Wiley and Sons, 2021:292-293.
4. Ramesh R, Vijayanand V, Gopalakrishnand A, Ayyappan S. Crop impaction and its surgical management in a domestic fowl. J Entomol Zool Stud 2020;8:259-260.
5. Rigdon RH. Pendulous crop in the chicken: a pathologic study. Am J Vet Res 1961;22:379-381.
6. Rigdon RH, Ferguson TM, Couch JR. Spontaneous-occurring muscular necrosis in the chicken. Poultry Sci 1962;41:398-409.
7. Almeida EA, Silva FHA, Crowe TG, Macari M, Furlan RL. Influence of rearing temperature and feed format in the development of the pendulous crop in broilers. Poultry Sci 2018;97:3556-3563.
8. Brinkley C, Kingsley JS, Mench J. A method for guarding animal welfare and public health: Tracking the rise of backyard poultry ordinances. J Commun Health 2018;43:639-646.
9. Gosbell M, Fowler A. Gastrointestinal obstruction: a review, its diagnosis and treatment. Twentieth Association of Avian Veterinarians Australasian Committee Annual Conference Proceedings 2012:129-136.
10. McAtee BB, Heseltine JC, Guo LT, Willard MD, Shelton GD. Dysphagia and esophageal dysfunction due to dystrophin deficient muscular deficiency in a male Spanish water spaniel. Vet Quart 2018;38:28-32.
11. Gaschen F, Jaggy A, Jones B. Congenital diseases of feline muscle and neuromuscular junction. J Feline Med Surg 2004;6:355-366.
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 2 years
Note
Hi I just saw your post with Torchic on vet checkup training and I am super inspired to work with my pigeon on similar behaviors. I really want to ask you for some tips on training patience, if that's possible.
My birb doesn't like it when I stop petting him for more than half a minute, or if I leave the room for a few. I want to be able to work with him so he can know "wait" or w/e means I'm not going to leave for long and there's no need to stress out.
The man in question:
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Hi, thanks for the ask!
I think training patience in a case like this would be pretty similar to dealing with separation anxiety, so the main goal is to reinforce desired behaviours such as settling down, relaxing, and showing independence, while ignoring any attention-seeking or following behaviours.
You can start off with training pidge to target to a station (remember from my previous posts that targeting is a behaviour in the animal is asked to orient all or part of its body to a specific object or location). This could be a training perch, a crate, etc. Then, you need to focus on getting him to stay at the station in a relaxed manner. You can gradually shape this behaviour so that he remains settled for longer and longer periods of time - start with a few seconds, and then slowly work your way up until you're able to leave the room without him stressing out. Regardless of the length of time, at the end of each period, you can reinforce with treats or whatever else he really wants (all the pets) ONLY if he stays calm. It is really important to ignore any attention-seeking behaviours at this stage, because you really want him to learn that quiet and settled behaviour is the only way to earn reinforcers such as the attention and affection that he craves.
If you're planning on being out of the room for longer periods of time, giving him some enrichment (that you already know he's used to and enjoys) can help him develop some independence. It will keep his mind stimulated and distracted until you come back to give him some lovin'!
Hope this helps!
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 3 years
Note
Hello! Do you have any fixes or suggestions for roosters who are aggressive toward humans? In particular, I have the curious case of my own rooster, who is 5 years old now and has always been very sweet with people, will eat out of my hand, I can walk over and pick him up at any time, he will literally climb in my lap if I'm sitting in the yard so he can snooze in my lap. He has been handled extensively and never mistreated in any way. But there are certain approaches, like if I move directly toward him or turn my back too close to him and move away, that provoke him to attack me. Obviously I try to avoid this. But is this something that could be trained out of him? He's an asil cross and likely to live another 3-5 years.
Most of the time, I tell people to simply pen or get rid of a human-aggressive rooster if they aren't emotionally attached, because I've never seen manfighting trained out of them. But I am attached to mine, and he's lovely most of the time.
https://raptorsandpoultry.tumblr.com/post/176308855227/last-week-i-had-someone-ask-me-for-tips-on-how-to
https://raptorsandpoultry.tumblr.com/post/176344447322/i-just-saw-your-rooster-post-and-i-have-a
https://raptorsandpoultry.tumblr.com/post/178858982977/im-submitting-on-behalf-of-a-friend-i-dont
https://raptorsandpoultry.tumblr.com/post/177594896037/hey-quick-question-lately-my-roo-bites-me-when-i
https://raptorsandpoultry.tumblr.com/post/625170214238175232/using-systematic-desensitization-and
Hello, thanks for the ask. Here is a list of links to every time I've written about this topic/answered a similar ask! TLDR from the first post:
"So, how do you get the rooster to stop performing aggressive behaviour without using punishment? The simplest, and again the most ethical way is to simply not reinforce it. This means that you need to identify what the reinforcers are for those undesired behaviours. As I also said in last week’s post, reinforcers come in many forms, other than treats. In this case, any antagonistic or fearful behaviour that you exhibit to the rooster will be reinforcing. But, everyone understands that when a behaviour is performed, and there is no consequence for it, there will be no reason for that behaviour to keep occurring. This is called extinction. To extinguish the rooster’s aggressive behaviours, he needs to realize they are not having any effect on you. This does not mean that you have to stand there and take all of his hits (although, this is what I did with my adopted rooster for 10 days after I brought him home, and I ended up with some decently painful bruises and scratches from his spurs. It’s up to you, but I’m not endorsing it!). However, you can try your best to calmly dodge his attacks. Apart from that, try and present yourself in the least threatening and confrontational way possible. Be as quiet as possible - if you want to talk to him, do so in a soothing manner. Don’t try and make yourself look bigger."
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 3 years
Note
Why is it not a good idea to feed birds bread? If you have already been asked this just link a post you’ve made.
I don't think I've actually posted about this yet, so thanks for the ask! Feeding bread as an occasional treat is ok, but it becomes a serious issue when it starts to make up the bulk of that bird's regular diet, which is what classically happens with wild waterfowl in parks and that sort of thing.
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Bread itself isn't terrible. A bit of whole-grain bread in your diet is healthy, even. But it's not a nutritionally complete and balanced food on its own, so you can't eat it all day every day. If you did, your body would begin to suffer the effects of certain nutrient, vitamin, and mineral deficiencies. Birds are no different.
Overfeeding bread results in "angel wing deformity' in young waterfowl, in which the feathers and bones of the carpal joint grow at uneven rates, and it becomes excessively pronated, or flipped upward. If left untreated, this deformity becomes permanent (and obviously, the bird is unable to fly). Geese in particular are especially prone to this issue, as their natural diet largely consists of less nutrient-dense grasses and forage, leaving them more sensitive to the harmful effects bread, which has a relatively higher protein content. In other types of birds, especially granivorous (seed-eating) species, excess dietary protein can cause gout. Birds with chronic gout experience great pain due to waste products from protein metabolism being deposited into their joints. This process is irreversible, and death usually follows a few weeks later.
If you still really want to feed the local ducks at the park, healthier alternatives such as seed (suitable for feeding wild birds), cracked corn, grapes, etc., are great options!
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 3 years
Video
Golden pheasant care sheet
Chrysolophus pictus, also appropriately known as the rainbow pheasant (Happy Pride month!) - the ones I’m feeding are yellow mutations, here is what the “wild” type males look like (the females are the brown ones with dark barring):
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(Photo from eBird)
Diet:
Like nearly all pheasant species, goldens are omnivorous, feeding on seeds and vegetation, as well as insects and other invertebrates in the wild. Pet golden pheasants do well on game bird feed, supplemented with plenty of bird-safe fruits and vegetables, in addition to protein boosts like mealworms and boiled eggs. As with any backyard poultry, feed needs to be stored in pest-proof containers, and any uneaten food should be removed and properly disposed of every day (or even more frequently, e.g. fruit given on a hot summer day will get mushy and stinky from being stepped on and attract All The Flies). Depending on the environment, grit may not need to be supplemented, but better safe than sorry if you notice undigested food material in their feces. And finally, as always, fresh water is a must!
Housing:
In my experience, golden pheasants are flightier and much more delicate than standard chickens, so they should be kept within a spacious but secure aviary-style enclosure with no (or VERY closely monitored) opportunity to free-range in order to avoid predation incidents. Outdoor enclosures with access to grass and other plants that are safe to forage on, as well as wild insects and worms, are ideal. Golden pheasants can physiologically adapt to living outside in different temperatures/climates, and some can actually do well even in Canadian winters! That said, a sheltered area with a roof and appropriate insulation is a must in colder weather. Hens require nest boxes as well. They are excellent fliers and the males love to sprint around when performing their courtship displays, so a minimum enclosure space of around 10 x 10 feet with lots of perches of varying materials and heights is best for a male with 1 or 2 hens.
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(Photo from ThylacineAlive on zoochat.com)
Enrichment:
As ground-dwelling birds, pheasants will spend much of their waking hours foraging on the forest floor in the wild, so be sure to regularly provide plenty of novel and fun foraging opportunities! Hide treats inside toys they can peck at! Scatter feed into “unusual” substrates (shredded paper, straw, peat moss) for them to scratch and kick around in! Boredom can lead to problems with aggression between birds, such as abnormal feather-pecking behaviour. If there are no patches of dry, bare dirt in the enclosure, you will also need to add in a small square of peat moss or sand to dust-bathe in. And last but not least, here is my shameless plug for positive-reinforcement training! Even if you have “skittish” pheasants that were not raised by humans since hatching, with time and patience they can eventually be trained to step onto your arm and fly to you on cue. Rumour has it that sunflower seeds are a hot-ticket reinforcer (but should only be reserved for training sessions due to their high fat content)!
General health:
Healthy pheasants are very active and constantly run or walk around in search of food, occasionally flying up to a perch for a brief nap or preening session. Both sexes, but the males in particular with their long tail feathers, will molt heavily during late summer - otherwise, plumage should look smooth and bright.  Eyes, nares, and cloaca should be free of discharge, and birds kept outside are usually able to keep their beak and nails straight and worn down to a proper length on their own. Pheasants need and deserve proper veterinary care just as much as any parrot or other pet bird, so please make every effort to take them to a licensed avian veterinarian if you notice any of the following signs: lumps and bumps or abnormal swelling anywhere on the head or body, plucked or consistently dirty feathers or unnaturally “ruffled” looking appearance, lethargy, difficulty breathing, abnormal feces/urate, lameness, discharge, and loss of appetite, among others. Depending on where you live, you may be able to find avian or poultry veterinarians who will be able to vaccinate (against Marek’s disease, coccidiosis, etc.) and/or give preventive medications (e.g. de-wormers) specifically for backyard poultry.
This care sheet was requested by @attackash! As always, I’ve likely missed a hundred other important points, so feel free to reblog with suggestions or give me a shout in my ask (which is also open for other requests and questions)!
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 3 years
Note
Hi! I saw your button quail guide, and was wondering if you have any specific recommendations for caging/housing, or at least what you use?
Hi, thanks for the ask!
I'm not sure if you can tell from this video but basically I let my birds rule my entire life and my entire desk/counter space in my room has been netted off and designated for the buttons. This way they can fly as high as the ceiling if they please, and I just unhook the netting on one side when I want to interact with them. The only drawback is that they tend to kick out a lot of debris off the edge of the counter, but it's nothing a bit of regular vacuuming can't take care of.
I have seen other people use large rabbit cages/hutches - with these you just need to make sure that the top is lined with something soft to prevent injuries when the quail do decide to fly and hit their heads. It can also be a bit tricky at times to find a large enough cage that also has bars spaced narrowly enough that the little buggers won't squeeze through. They will also kick all the things out between the bars too, so prepare for lots vacuuming with cages as well.
Large glass or plastic tanks/terrariums can work well too, again making sure that the top is soft. Easy to keep clean since everything stays inside the tank, the only issue I found back when I went with this method was that it was a bit cumbersome to train the quail because I had to lean in and struggle to keep my hands in the right positions, if that makes sense. Obviously if you're not into training, this isn't a real problem. Glass tanks are also just hella heavy.
Outdoor pens/enclosures are also an option depending on where you are. Same precautions as above, and probably best to add on an extra fine wire mesh around the whole thing to prevent escapees and predator attacks. I don't have much experience with keeping small birds outside, though, so maybe someone else can comment on that.
Hope this helps!
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 3 years
Note
Do you have any more info on choanal papillae? Specifically, pics of healthy vs unhealthy would be awesome! I haven't had any luck just googling it :/
Yes! (I am s l o w so for those of you who aren't familiar, this was in response to a post I reblogged many weeks back, so here's a quick little intro):
When avian veterinarians examine a bird's mouth, there is a slit-shaped opening in the roof of the mouth called a choana, and it connects the nasal and oral cavities. Mammals have one as well, but it's mainly in birds that this opening is narrow and slit-like, as opposed to wide and rounded. Bird choanae have small serrations on either side called choanal papillae, and blunting or shortening of these is a sign of vitamin A deficiency due to an improper diet. Not all species will have very obvious choanal papillae, however! For example, most pigeons have naturally short/barely visible choanal papillae, and that's completely normal.
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Some healthy lookin pointy bois (Photo from Hagen Avicultural Research Institute)
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Pointy bois have mostly disappeared in this birb, likely because they were fed too much seeb (Photo from avianmedicine.net)
Hope this helps, thanks for the ask (and for the long wait sdfkljalsfzkd)!
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raptorsandpoultry ¡ 3 years
Text
Blue-breasted quail (AKA button quail) care sheet
Excalfactoria chinensis, AKA Chinese painted quail, king quail, etc., (not to be confused with hemipode buttonquail, which are actually a group of strange and tiny shorebirds!) These little guys are the smallest species of true quail, which are part of the pheasant family, and can live a little over 4 years under proper human care. Full-sized adults are no larger than a standard day-old chicken:
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(Photo: mine)
Diet:
Two thirds of a daily adult blue-breasted quail ration should be fresh game bird pellet (they can learn to eat whole pellets, but ideally these should be ground/broken up into smaller pieces) or chick starter crumble. The remaining third should consist of fresh, bird-safe fruits and vegetables (mine personally prefer Romaine lettuce and grapes), supplemented with extra sources of protein such as live mealworms and boiled egg during periods of heavy molting or egg-laying. Any uneaten food items should be removed well before they get a chance to spoil/rot - quail are messy eaters and will scatter food about and kick bedding/waste material all over it, even if it is given in an elevated food bowl. Grit must be supplemented as well, in addition to calcium for laying hens. Most hens actually do well with a cuttlebone to peck at (it sounds like they’re playing a tiny xylophone and it’s probably one of my favorite things ever). As with any other bird, fresh water should be provided and changed daily. It can be offered in a shallow bowl with marbles/pebbles at the bottom to prevent drowning; alternatively, quail can be trained to drink from hamster-style water bottles.
Housing:
To minimize physiological and psychological stress, a quail enclosure should be placed away from anywhere it could be exposed to extreme or fluctuating temperatures, high-traffic areas, or perceived predators such as dogs and cats. The more space, the better - I would personally recommend at least 3 square meters or 10 cubic feet for a pair or trio. Their behaviour will indicate whether they’ve got enough space AND hiding places. If they spend the majority of their time repetitively walking/running along the edges of the enclosure, something needs to change, and if abnormal feather-pecking behaviour develops (more on that below), then they definitely do not have enough space. Blue-breasted quail will burst into flight when frightened (or do a shorter sort of flutter when they simply want to exercise their wings), and while they can reach impressive heights, they are pretty terrible at controlling which direction they go. They will be able to overshoot the walls of any enclosure you try to put them in, so a lid/cover is a must, and it needs to be soft enough or lined with soft material underneath to prevent head trauma when they inevitably hit their heads on it. Cleaning and disinfection of the entire enclosure with bird-safe agents needs to be done regularly, how frequently depends on many factors such as stocking density and the type of litter/bedding being used. Wood shavings/pellets, shredded paper, chopped straw, newspaper/paper towel (with small areas of substrate they can dig and forage around in) all work well, but the best enclosures will offer a variety of substrates to provide the quail with lots of choice as to where they can perform specific behaviours. Which leads nicely into the next segment...
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(Photo: floridabuttonquail.wordpress.com)
Enrichment:
Quail *love* to dust-bathe. Chinchilla dust or sand are ideal for helping them get excess oil off their feathers, but they will bathe in other substrates as well, such as wood shavings, dried moss, etc. Small toys, when introduced carefully and with some treats scattered on or around them, will also stimulate these curious little birds. I give mine tiny whiffle balls stuffed with dried mealworms to encourage foraging behaviour. Furniture for the enclosure can include things like natural or artificial branches/twigs, leaves, and lots of small rock caves and plant pots for hiding places as well. Like any other pet, quail can be trained using positive reinforcement! Here are a couple videos of mine being target-trained. This can easily be extended to teach them to spin on cue, run obstacle courses, and much more! Lack of mental stimulation in quail can lead to abnormal feather-pecking behaviour, in which one or more quail begin to focus their activities on actively chasing their flockmates, then pulling out and eating their feathers. This can easily be prevented by providing plenty of environmental enrichment as described above, as well as appropriate social enrichment - quail absolutely should not be kept alone, and blue-breasted quail in particular do best in male-female pairs or one-male-two-female trios.
General Health:
A healthy blue-breasted quail will spend most of its day foraging and eating, as well as dust-bathing, napping, and gently preening itself and its mate. A quail with healthy plumage who is not molting should basically just be an orb when its feathers are smooth and fluffed out comfortably. Its eyes, nares, and cloaca should be free of discharge, and its beak and toenails kept at a proper length with the help of an appropriate foraging substrate and accessories such as cuttlebones. When they do grow too long, they should be trimmed by a veterinary professional or someone with extensive experience caring for quail (beaks especially should not be trimmed by someone other than an avian veterinarian as there is huge potential for error leading to beak deformities). Despite their small size and often cheap price, quail need and deserve proper veterinary care just as much as any parrot or other pet bird. Please take your quail to a licensed avian veterinarian if you notice any of the following signs: abnormal lumps on face/feet, plucked or consistently soiled feathers, lethargy, difficulty breathing, abnormal feces/urate, lameness, any discharge or swelling, excessive preening or scratching, and loss of appetite, among others.
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(Photo: mine)
This care sheet was requested by @eclectus-mom! It just occurred to me that this is the first care sheet I’ve ever written, and I just know I missed a ton of points so please feel free to add them on if you are experienced with quail care! And my ask box if always open for other requests and questions :)
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