Oli Fry
Regular Member
Some of you will have followed the saga of Grumpy the African grey and her recent escape and recovery. Thanks again for all the encouragement. Anyway, it seems that absence really does make the heart grow fonder as she and Clayton have been observed mating - for the first time in ten years together. She has a swollen abdomen, is spending much time in her box (which is usually only used for rummaging about in) and is clearly on the point of laying a clutch. I'm guessing that the eggs will probably be infertile as the mating was probably a one-off and there is generally very little affection between her and Clayton - Clayton does his best but is generally sent packing if he tries to preen her or move things past the feeding stage in any way.
Grumps has a slightly bent spine, I think, which leads her tail to to sit at a slightly odd angle (she was calcium deficient as a baby and was quite weak due to, you guessed it, her and her parents being fed poorly by her breeder). I'm a bit worried that this could make her susceptible to egg binding. Does anyone have any advice? It's too late to take her to vet, as she's very fat now and needs to be in her box most of the time. Her diet is good (organic pellets, sprouted seeds, loads of fruit and veg plus scrambled egg, nuts, the odd bit of fish/a chicken bone etc etc).
Grumps has a slightly bent spine, I think, which leads her tail to to sit at a slightly odd angle (she was calcium deficient as a baby and was quite weak due to, you guessed it, her and her parents being fed poorly by her breeder). I'm a bit worried that this could make her susceptible to egg binding. Does anyone have any advice? It's too late to take her to vet, as she's very fat now and needs to be in her box most of the time. Her diet is good (organic pellets, sprouted seeds, loads of fruit and veg plus scrambled egg, nuts, the odd bit of fish/a chicken bone etc etc).