Recently a resurgence of West Nile Virus has been found in Palm Beach County in flocks of chickens monitored for this problem (and reported in the Palm Beach Post). Warm, humid weather has probably increased our mosquito population.

Species of parrots that are commonly kept as pets can be susceptible to infection and disease, although not as susceptible as other species (i.e. the risk is fairly low). There is a vaccine for horses but it doesn’t have good effectiveness to protect our birds, unfortunately (frequent revaccination necessary for example).

The best way to keep your birds safe is to do your best to keep mosquitoes away from them. Make sure there is very good screening of windows and doors (and close screen doors as quickly as you can entering and exiting), and keep birds indoors during times of the day with active mosquitoes (tending towards dusk and dawn). Control standing water in you yard. There are mosquito controls available as well (disks that go into small pools or fountains).

If your birds stay outside do your best to use mosquito netting around your bird’s aviary. If not possible, since these birds may be at higher risk, it might be worth to consider vaccination even with poor effectiveness of the vaccine.

Parrot species can show only mild non-specific signs which resolve spontaneously, or they can show significant neurologic signs, and the disease can potentially be fatal.

Even water-based latex paints have VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) which at high enough levels can be dangerous for our birds and ourselves. Many brands market themselves as low-VOC containing paints.

For those looking to keep our homes as free of toxic substances for our birds and ourselves as possible might do well to look into BioShield Paints. They produce paints that have no (*NOT LOW*) VOC’s.

http://www.feathersandforage.co.uk/?page_id=8

Aspex will use their Scanning Electron Microscope to take free magnified pictures of anything you want to send them. Reptile scales, bird feathers, whatever!
http://aspexcorp.com/updates/sem-image-gallery-by-aspex-send-us-your-sample/

A study shows the need for our captive African Greys to have access to ultraviolet light in order to keep calcium at normal levels, if vitamin D isn’t appropriately provided for in the diet. This is one of the reasons why they are prone to calcium deficiency disorders (the symptoms of which can be seizures and other neurologic abnormalities, bone misshapenness, feather picking, and many others).

Many AG’s come in with bowed tibiotarsal bones due to calcium disorders that happened when they were a chick; these bones were too weak to support the weight of the heavy bird and the stress caused either a mild fracture in the bone (called a folding fracture- just think of folding a straw how it crimps) or the bone just arched due to the rubberyness; after the initial stress caused the bowing, the pulling and shortening of the tendons down along these bones kept the deformity from straightening out. The bird can’t quite perch as strongly and tends to fall more, and is not as graceful. Victims of this tend to become more fearful and have more behavior issues and I see quite a number become significant feather pickers.

If you would rather get a baby rather than adopting an unwanted older bird, it is best to get your AG from a breeder that pays attention to nutrition of both the parent birds as well as the youngsters. This rewards the breeders that do so, as well as providing yourself with the best chance of a well-adapted happy bird with a lower chance of behavioral problems.

You can keep up your AG’s calcium level by providing a good balanced diet but also by providing a few hours out in the sun a week. Just make sure the bird can’t fly away; provide an option for shade, be careful to ensure that predators can’t get to your bird, make sure the temperature doesn’t get too hot or cold, and don’t go out when biting bugs are out– but ultimately, be wary of any danger.