Kris Ahlgrim, DVM

16/07/2024

This sounds like getting a head start on marinating the chicken! 🐔

16/05/2024

Did you know????

09/04/2024

During positive reinforcement training, a clicker can be used to indicate that your bird performed the appropriate behavior, and a reward is coming. The clicker is often referred to as a “bridge,” because it connects the desired behavior with the reward. You can use a commercial clicker, the click of a ballpoint pen, or a verbal click noise for this purpose.

03/04/2024

My reinforcer is cheese! What is yours????

During training, make sure the reinforcer (eg: the reward) is valued highly by your bird. Food rewards are often great motivators for birds. For parrots, a small piece of fresh or dried fruit, single seed, almond sliver, or other small piece of nut often works well. For chickens, try offering a dried mealworm, piece of strawberry, or sunflower seed.

26/03/2024

You can never be too careful!!!!

Not every commercial or homemade enrichment item is 100% safe. Always supervise how your bird interacts with each toy or enrichment item.

01/03/2024

Does your little leprechaun 🦜need a new toy??? Look no further!!

Get Creative2 provides fun and educational avian workshops, focusing on enrichment, nutrition, health and wellness as well as offering a unique line of parrot toys, perches, swings and much more.

23/02/2024

What phobias do YOU have???

20/02/2024

Nothing can beat a nice bath!!!!!

06/02/2024

Just like children, Parrots need someone to teach them how to play the game!

Some birds need to be trained on how to interact and play with a toy. This can be accomplished through positive reinforcement training such as clicker training or target training to get the bird to touch or manipulate the toy. For other birds, like Yuzu the parrotlet, training IS a form of play.

02/02/2024

Pygostyle.......who came up with that word?!

At the end of the avian vertebral column, we find the pygostyle. This is a fusion of the last 4 to 10 (depending on species) coccygeal vertebrae. The tail muscles and tail feathers are supported by the pygostyle.

Photo by Peter Pryharski on Unsplash

05/01/2024

Useful information that may be opposite of what you initially thought!!!!

Potty Training Pet Birds

Birds defecate often. For this reason, some owners will try to potty train their bird.

When a bird receives a reward for defecating on command or at the right spot, they might start pushing more or harder just to get a reward. In extreme cases this could even lead to cloacal prolapse. Another issue could occur when the owner is away and someone else takes care of the bird. The bird might not understand when and where it is allowed to defecate.

Photo by Manfred Goetz on Unsplash

26/12/2023

Happy Holidays!!!!!!!