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HOW DO I KNOW IF MY BIRD IS FAT?
If I see my birds are getting fat bee-hinds on them, then I cut back on oil and nut meal.
This is a problem usually with sedentary birds and particularly with the larger varieties of Zebras. In fact,
most of my large Zebs only get egg food once a week unless they are breeding or feeding chicks. Laying (but not breeding)
hens will get egg food more often for the calcium.
Some think that bigger is better, but that is not necessarily the case at all.
Particularly when it comes to showing birds. Obese birds tend to put on fat in
the breast region, under the wings and particularly in the vent region. The scary part is that by the time they
are showing fat where you can see it, they've already stored up a huge amount around their liver, heart and other internal
body organs.
| Vent Comparison for Body Fat |
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| Obese (L) and Normal Weight (R) Zebras. Both birds from same flight with access to the same foods. |
Simply put, fat birds don't breed well. Sometimes they are so fat, they cannot even
perform the cloacal kiss. This is problematic in males who must flap their wings, balance their bodies and position
their cloaca just right in order to perform the sex act properly. Furthermore, in humans, obesity has been linked
to infertility problems in women. The fat acts as an estrogen store, ultimately screwing up hormone cycles by releasing
estrogens when normally they shouldn't be present at high levels.
Besides the obvious health implications of being obese, fat birds just have ugly lines.
Given the choice between a smaller bird with a round smooth belly line or a huge obese one with a lumpy belly line, I'd
probably take the smaller bird. A lumpy belly line with the vent drooping all over the perch is no more attractive
in a finch than that sagging beer belly in an aging baby boomer.
How to Determine if Your Bird is Fat:
- Catch the bird.
- Flip him/her over onto his/her back
- Blow feathers away from the vent area
- Observe
IF YOU SEE A HUGE BLOB OF YELLOW FAT (RESEMBLING CHICKEN FAT), WELL THEN YOUR BIRD IS FAT.
Easy enough.
What to Do About Fat Birds?
It's very easy to bulk birds up. It's not quite as easy to trim them down.
Put an end to Fat Eddie's Groaning Board!
The first thing to do is to cut back on nut meal, oils and egg food. All of these are
rich foods where, with a minimal amount of effort, your bird can consume all the calories that he needs in one or two
easy meals. Most of my nonbreeding birds receive egg food only once a week.
Squatty Body Goes Aerobic
Unfortunately, just cutting down on egg food is sometimes not enough. You may also have
to get Fatty Bombatty in motion. Flying burns an amazing amount of calories. So if you can get your perch
potato airborn, he will start to burn off some of that fat.
| Weights on Obese vs Normal Zebra Cockbirds |
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| The same two birds from above, notice the obese bird (L) weighs ~4.5 grams more than the other (R) |
Above Photos: Same birds from above...The left bird is from a cross between two of my
biggest birds. The net result is a male bird that cannot seem to keep fat off his vent. These two males were kept
in the same flight, with access to water and seed mix. Egg food was fed once per week. While the one Zebra had
a normal amount of body fat, the other was obese and couldn't even gain altitude when flying. He is currently free flying
(June 3rd, 2006). Let's see how he does with some more intense exercise. I personally think a lot of his weight
problem is genetics, not diet. But maybe he's just a glutton and very sedentary. Time will tell.
Follow Fatty Bombatty's Weight Loss
(or not)
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06/30/2006
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25.10 g :-(
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07/14/2006
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25.05 g :-(
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04/01/07
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23.2 g :-)
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Update (04/11/07):
Despite Fatty Bombatty being free flying for almost 3/4 of a year, I plopped him on
the balance about a week ago. He is at about 23 grams. And still has a fat rear on him. He is still lazy,
lounges half on his side most of the time and flies only when absolutely forced to. I've come to the conclusion he is
just really lazy and probably has a genetic predisposition to be fat (something I can relate to). Sometimes, I guess
there is nothing you can do to slim an obese bird down to a normal body weight. He's a cutie pie though. Got stuck
on one of the mouse sticky traps a few months back and still looking a bit motheaten. Lucky for him, I found him right
after it happened.
Large Enough Flight?
The best way to get your bird flying is to make sure he is in a flight, aviary or cage where
he has the room to fly. Sadly, some people purchase finches and put them in a 1 cubic foot cage and think that the bird
is going to do well. Finches need to fly to stay healthy and trim. Most of my birds are in four foot flight cages,
and I've come to the conclusion that even these are really too small.
When I have a fat bird in a four foot flight cage who is only getting egg food once a week,
I turn him loose to free fly. The other free flyers will chase him (Zebra Welcoming Committee), and the combination
of a longer flight run (up to 26') plus vertical lift (8') usually results in him burning off the fat in about a month's time.
Not everyone can or wants to let their birds free fly. So in that case, you must be
prepared to provide them with either an aviary setting, a long cage (the minimum size I'd keep bird in is 2') and/or a tall
cage. If you opt for the tall cage, put the food at one level, the water at a second level and the perches at yet a
third level. This way, your birds have to expend a ton of energy getting vertical lift if they want to eat, drink and
perch. NEVER put the cup right next to your fat bird's favorite perching spot. It's like having a refrigerator
stocked with all your favorite junk foods right next to the sofa which is in front of your wide screen TV. Total
recipe for disaster.
Highly Active and Still Fat
Usually, getting your feathered butterball moving is the ticket to weight loss,
but not always! Sometimes and particularly with the larger zebras, even a large flight isn't enough to slim them
down. I honestly wonder whether in the quest for bigger birds, we are not selecting for birds with fat or metabolism
defects; birds which store fat more easily or burn fat less efficiently than a bird with a different genetic
makeup.
Camel Treatment
One method used by some European finch enthusiasts to slim down Zebras which have put on excess
weight involves limiting their water intake. Water is one of the byproducts of fat metabolism. If you
limit water consumption, the Zebra will turn to it's fat reserves to keep itself hydrated. This seems to work for Zebras
because they are desert animals and have perhaps evolved mechanisms to finely control water balance.
I personally have not tried this method, so I am not sure exactly how much water a Zebra
is to be limited to in order to help it burn off the fat, but not die of dehydration. I have seen before and after photos,
and the amount of weight lost in as little time as four weeks was pretty amazing. Birds who were fat and had disproportionate
lines ended up with very trim vents and nice clean, round underlines. I have read that a finch needs as little
as 2 mls of water per day, but exactly how much water is given for this treatment, I confess I'm unsure.
WARNING: Squinting is a sign of dehydration.
If you are using this method and see your finch squinting all the time, he is dehydrated and needs more water. More
severe signs of dehydration include balance issues, listlessness and of course, death.
WARNING: You should not even think about trying the above
method in hot weather where your Zebra can seriously dehydrate and die.
WARNING: As far as I know, this method has only been used
successfully with Zebras - NOT OTHER FINCHES OR BIRDS!!!!
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