L11 + L12 - Bird Husbandry Flashcards
What are the 5 freedoms?
- Freedom from hunger and thirst
- Freedom from pain, injury and disease
- Freedom from fear and distress
- Freedom to show natural behaviour
- Freedom from discomfort
What kind of food should you feed birds?
In th wild they have a wide rage of food, therefore this variety should be mimicked in captivity
What are the 5 types of diet birds have?
- Florivore - seeds, fruits, bark, berries, nuts
- Granivore - grains and seeds
- Omnivore - seeds, fruit, insects, invertebrates
- Nectarivore - nectar, pollen, seeds, some insects
- Carnivore - chicks, eggs, small mammals
Give examples of birds of each kind of diet
- Florivore - Blue and Gold Macaws
- Granivore - budgerigar, cockatiel
- Omnivore - Sulphur crested cockatoo
- Nectarivore - Lorikeet, Lory
- Carnivore - Hawk, birds of prey, ibis
How much food should you give a bird?
Over feeding is required as a lot of food wastage occurs
What are the benefits of pellet feeding?
Can be used to prevent nutritional conditions such as hypocalcaemia, hypovitaminosis, obesity, gout etc.
How would you convert a bird onto a pellet diet?
- professional advice
- motivation
- perseverance of keeper
- a good conversion method
What are the 4 types of food conversion methods?
- Portion method
- Combination method
- Free choice method
- Alternate day method
Describe the portion conversion method
- fast and safe for all healthy birds, especially larger birds
- pellets mixed with current diet, normal food rationed and pellets mixed in
- % of pellets increases
- different species react differently
Describe the combination conversion method
- suitable for safely converting smaller birds in 5-6weeks
- mix food in a sealable box, 75% current, 25% new - make enough for 1 month
- after each feeding refill box with pellets
- gradually more each day
- only fill tray when empty, birds must be healthy to do this
Describe the free choice conversion method
- simplest
- food amount not limited
- birds are given the option of both types of food, so can take longer
- exceptions = fruit eating birds
Describe the alternate day conversion method
- birds are offered either pellets or seeds during whole days
- number of days pellets are fed gradually increases
- seed feeding days allows the birds to regain some energy
What are the 5 types of bird enclosures?
- Open aviary
- Closed aviary
- Cage
- Walk through aviary
- Mews
Give an advantage and disadvantage to Open Aviary’s
Simple design as birds live on land
Bird flight has to be managed
Give 3 advantages to a closed aviary
- no need for flight restraint - improved welfare
- wild birds cannot access the aviary - cant eat feed or attack inhabitants
- more perches available
Give 3 disadvantage to closed aviary’s
- difficult catching free flying birds
- risk escape due to birds ability to fly
- fully winged birds can injure themselves attempting to fly in enclosed spaces
When is tethering birds used/
Bird shows
works on the theory hat birds only fly for feeding
birds must be exercised daily
What are the different types of mating strategies birds show and how popular is each?
Social Monogamy – pair bonds - 92%
Polyandry – female associates with several males. Takes parental role - 1%
Polygyny – male mates with several females, female only associates with one male - 2%
Promiscuity – indiscriminate mating 6 %
All bird eggs require five environmental conditions to be controlled to enable the correct development of the embryo, what are they?
- egg must be kept at the right temperature
- egg must be frequently turned and carefully positioned
- The humidity of the air around it must be controlled
- there must be a supply of fresh air to the egg
- incubator must provide a clean, disinfected environment.
Why must an egg be turned and carefully positioned?
egg must be frequently turned and carefully positioned so that the embryo passes through fresh nutrients in the egg white, and form in the correct position for hatching.
Why must an egg be kept at the right temperature?
egg must be kept at the right temperature to enable metabolic processes in the embryo to occur at the correct rate
Why must the air around the egg be the right humidity?
The egg loses water through pores in the shell. The humidity of the air around it must be controlled to ensure the right amount of water is lost over the incubation period
Why must the egg be in a clean environment during incubation?
Eggs are susceptible to infection so the incubator must provide a clean, disinfected environment.
Why must there be a supply of fresh air to the egg?
The egg “breathes” so there must be a supply of fresh air to provide oxygen and to remove waste carbon dioxide.
Give 6 features of Precocial chicks
- eyes open when hatched
- covered in down
- leave the nest within 2 days
- will forage for food within hours
- eggs turned less frequently
- poultry and waterfowl
Give 5 features of Altricial chicks
- eyes closed when born
- little or no down
- incapable of departing the nest
- fed by the parents
- eggs are turned more frequently
- birds of prey and parrots
What kind of hand rearing care would you give a Precocial chick and an Altricial chick?
Precocial
- need little management other than offered feed and kept warm and dry
- Feed offered is naturally occurring feeds such as chick crumb and grain
Altricial
- require intensive management
- partially digested seeds mixed with high-protein secretions from their crops
Give 2 problems associated with rearing Altricial birds
Bond created and relationship with the feeder – need to imitate ‘mother’ rather than human if the bird is to survive in the wild - if for releasing
Often associated with reintroduction programmes. Non contact needed from humans
Give an example of non-human contact hand rearing car
The great crane project
How would you use DNA of a bird to sex it
DNA sexing can be performed with blood, feather or eggshell samples. Blood from birds is an excellent source of DNA and for many years a blood sample was the only means used to collect a DNA sample.
Is bird flight restraint okay?
To keep exotic birds in UK captivity they must be prevented from escaping (under the UK Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) it is an offence to release exotic species into the wild).
Therefore, it is almost always necessary to at least restrict flight and in some cases to restrain flight.
BIAZA recommends that if possible flight restriction is not used i.e. birds are maintained in large, complex, but fully enclosed aviaries
However BIAZA accepts that some cases flight restraint may be more appropriate.
What is Pinioning?
- irreversible restraint
- removal of part of the metacarpal bone and the phalanges of one wing of a bird
- ideally of chicks aged 2-5 days old; adults only in extreme circumstances. In birds aged over 10 days anaesthesia is required
Aside from pinioning, give 5 other methods of irreversible flight restraint
Tenotomy – severing the extensors of the wing
Tenectomy – removal of a portion of the extensors of the wing
Patagiectomy – removal of the patagial membrane and apposition of the radius and humerus
Functional ankylosis – fixing the ulna, carpal and metacarpal bones with stainless steel wire
Radical amputation – removal of the whole wing
What are the 4 reversible methods of flight restraint in birds?
Wing (feather) clipping – cutting the distal portion of the primary and secondary feathers
Vane trimming – vanes of some of the primary and secondary feathers are cut, used for young birds until they are old enough to be wing clipped
Brailles – leather or plastic straps fitted around the primaries and patagium
Tethering
How well do birds regain flight after reversible restraint
they vary in how quickly birds can regain flight when the method is removed e.g. brailed birds typically have problems with balance and flight for 2-3 weeks on removal of the brailles, even when they have been in place for only two weeks
What and when does moulting occur?
Birds typically moult once or twice each year
Replacement of all feathers
Influenced by season/health and nutrition
Can take several weeks
Normally occurs at end of summer to get winter ready feathers
When do swans moult?
Swans carry this out while they are incubating their eggs and carry out a full moult in 30 days
What happens if you damage blood feathers?
Caution – blood feathers come in and if damaged can be fatal due to bleeding
When od male flume feathers moult
The fancy male plumes are lost first normally to ensure they are safe while the moult occurs
Which animals should be Micro chipped?
All animals which are part of Joint Management schemes, UK, Regional, EEP or International studbooks
Founder and F1 animals
Psittacines or other species that are likely to be stolen due to trade factors
Animals under permanent quarantaine regulations
Animals to be exported
Animals that have no sexual dimorphism
Chip site selection criteria
Minimum discomfort and risk to the animal
- Reliable reading of the transponder and no migration.
- Ease and safety of implantation for the operator.
- Ease and safety of reading for the operator
Microchip site location in birds
Birds (over 200 g) - i/m left pectoral muscle or base of neck
(Under 200 g) - s/c left side over ribs (through laparoscopy incision if appropriate). Wound should be closed with suture/tissue glue
Ratites - s/c over rump (piping muscle only useful in ostrich farms) or base of neck
What are the general signs of ill health in birds?
Decreased appetite Discharge from the nares Abnormal droppings Huddled Fluffed appearance Closed eyes when very ill
What would you do if a bird had a parasite?
Not normally a major issue for captive kept birds in ‘clean’ environments
Ectoparasites more common – knemidocoptes mites
Attach to the tissue around the legs and nails
Ivermectin drug of choice for
these issues - drops on the
back of the neck
Name and describe 5 common avian diseases
Sour Crop - crop stasis, bacterial or fungal infection, often in hand reared birds that have not had time to empty their crop prior to additional feeding, can be associated with ‘off’ feed.
Tumours of the crop –can be fatal
PDD – Periventricular Dilatation Disease – viral infection that prevents motility within the digestive track
Beak Deformities - Congenital or acquired
Scissor beak – the top leans over to one side of the bottom part of the beak
Cloacal Prolapse -Straining or lay eggs, surgery often only treatment
What is feather plucking?
Feather plucking can be one of the most complicated conditions in avian medicine to accurately diagnose and treat. The causes of feather plucking can vary tremendously
What is bumblefoot?
This is a common and difficult condition to treat.
Causes persistent pressure on the same parts of the sole of the foot which restricts the blood flow to these areas.
This will ultimately lead to hypoxia and death of tissues
