AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

We lost our magnificent hand-raised king parrot, Arthur, to an illness last night.

He had a blockage in his intraocular sinus (up near his eye) last October, and we had the avian vet operate to flush his nasal passages. He really picked up well after that (and a course of antibiotics), however a couple of days ago I noticed that he had a weepy eye again, and was having trouble breathing. As it was only on one side I thought it was the same problem as before.

I took him to the vet on Monday night, expecting to put him to sleep as he was really sucking air in - you could see his chest moving with the effort to breathe. The vet gave us antibiotics again, but when there was no improvement yesterday I didn't hold out much hope. He was dead in his cage this morning.

Unfortunately, I think I should have spared him the suffering and had him put to sleep on Monday night. It is likely that he had some congenital sinus problem and that the blockage was always going to return.

He was a beautiful bird - spectacular to look at, and so gentle. In all the times we had to handle him to give him antibiotics he never once tried to bite. His favourite foods were grapes, apple and nuts. We will miss him greatly.

Deb

sorry to hear that but some good news about king parrots is there some new young with a pair down here they are rare down here too.

bad news mate its hard when you lose a pet

So sorry to hear that.


I am so thrilled to see so many flying free up here. Don't get me wrong, I have Indian ring Necks and Cockatiels in aviaries. I love birds and when I lose one it cuts me. The King Parrot is a beautiful bird.
Are you going to get another baby sometime soon?

Hi duckie,

I hope to get another handraised one when I can find one as they are a lovely bird.

I love to see free-flying birds too, and sometimes feel bad for having some in an aviary, but they do have an enormous dome-top aviary with plenty of space to fly and lots of things to chew and play with.

We often get wild king parrots coming to visit here, and they often used to come down and feed on the ground next to Arthur, and hang on the wire talking to him.

Deb

Hi Deb,
That is terrific. I do hope you post a pic when you get one.

We have an aviary partly built. It is 6m square x 3m high. It will have a concrete floor.

I was wondering with such a good size cage can I put my 8 cockatiels in with the 8 Ringnecks. Do you think so or will they fight?

Not sure about cockatiels & ringnecks, but if they are pairs you might have a few arguments.....

Our aviary is 6m x 5m x approx 3.6m high and we have a gang-gang, a major mitchell, a galah, a pair of cockatiels, and used to have the king parrot and a pair of grass parrots (as well as 3 rabbits & 2 guinea pigs). The birds all get along pretty well, but are all immature males (apart from the female cockatiel and grass parrot), so that may change as they grow up a bit.

I've taken the grass parrots out for now as I think the old male is short a few more toes than when he first went out there. I guess that's the sort of thing you need to watch out for.

You know your birds, so trust your instincts I say.

Deb

I'd

Sorry to hear about the loss of your King Parrot. I to have a pair of King Parrots. The female is likes to keep to herself and will only let you lift her in and out of the gade. The male, named Akala, an aboriginal name for King Parrot is completely the opposite. He loves human contact and is most happy to sit on my shoulder and preen me and share anything that I happen to eat or drink. I thought I'd lost him a couple of weeks back when we had him flying around inside the house and one of my sons opened the back door for a bit too long and he flew out. We spotted him at the top of a very tall gum tree abaut 4 doors down the road, Fortunately after about twenty minutes of mimicking his whistles he flew back and landed in our yard and I was able to just pick him up and carry him back inside. They truly are a rmarkable bird Deb and I hope once the pain of loosing your feathered friend eases you'll be able to get another one.
Cheers

Thanks Urban Farmer. They are a beautiful bird - so gentle and graceful.

That's wonderful that your boy flew back to you - he must be a happy bird at your place!

I have a lead on someone who is handraising some kings at the moment, so hopefully we can get one (or maybe a pair) from him soon.

Deb

We picked up a young pair of Kings today!!!!

They are very cute, only about 6 months old. It's hard to imagine the male will ever be as beautiful as Arthur was as he is a funny, scruffy dull green & red boy at the moment but he is very sweet.

They have been hand raised, and properly it seems, as they are already very settled and quite friendly. Normally birds won't feed or drink during transport, however they got stuck into the seed as soon as I put it in the cage, and each had a big drink in the car as well.

The breeder was very helpful and full of information about the birds - very nice to purchase birds from someone like him!

I decided to get a boy and a girl this time as I always felt Arthur seemed a bit lonely.

We have named them Anzac and Dawn, due to the timing of their arrival.

I'll have pics up soon!

Deb