If you want to choose a healthy bird, it is best you that you visit the pet's shop and spend several minutes or hours looking at the birds you are interested in.
In fact, you should also try to visit as many as possible and observe their behavior which will give you an insight into their state of health.
Here are 13 great tips you can use to choose your healthy parrot: • Observe their readiness to fly.
They should appear alert, busy moving about the cage and vocalizing.
If they appear fluffed up, lame or unsteady and seem less ready to fly than their companions, it could be a sign of injury or indicative of a liver ailment.
Sick birds often sit hunched in a corner.
• Look how they hold their feathers.
A healthy bird will have their feathers held tight against its body.
A bird with fluffed-out feathers is either sick, cold or sleepy.
A sleepy or cold bird will quickly tighten its feathers as soon as a person approaches it.
If it continues to sit still with fluffed feathers while you are near, then it is mostly likely to be sick.
• Check for any clipping.
If the flight feathers are clipped, there may be problems with their flight as clipping will handicap the bird's flying ability.
Pay more attention when they fly about in the cage and observe if they are steady in their flight and landing movements.
• Watch how they wipe their face.
As the birds fly around their aviary, watch for that regular wipe one side of their face on a perch.
This may signal an eye ailment, with swelling around the eye being apparent on closer inspection.
In many cases, this may respond well to treatment with a suitable ophthalmic ointment, but it can be a cause of worry.
• Observe how they rest on their legs.
If the bird is resting on both legs, then this could hint at a problem associated with the feet, such as a local infection in the ball of the foot (known as bumblefoot).
A healthy bird normally rests on one leg.
• See if they are overweight.
If the breastbone is totally obscured by flesh, this is a sign that the bird is overweight.
You can locate the breastbone running down the midline on the underside of the body, from the lower chest.
• Check the legs and feet.
Look for any sign of abnormal swellings.
Besides bumblefoot, there may be other disorders such as gout, visible as swellings over the joints, or scaly legs, resulting from a mite infestation.
• Look at the claws.
Make sure they are not damaged or missing.
• Open up the wings.
Ask the pet owner to open up the wings so that you can inspect for any cuts, signs of parasites such as lice which appear as thin, brownish streaks or whether any new feathering is growing.
Poor feathering is a sign of sickness, malnutrition, parasites, or abuse by cage mates.
• Examine the eyes.
The eyes should appear bright and clear with no abnormal swelling.
Examine closely at the dark pupil in the eye which should not show any opacity.
A white sheen is indicative of a cataract, which could be the result of an old injury or the bird may be partially blind.
Sick birds probably have eyes look dull and cloudy, partially closed or even swollen.
• Inspect the beak.
Make sure it is not crusty and that the upper and lower bills meet correctly, with neither being overgrown.
It is not uncommon for seed-eating birds to have overgrown tip to their upper bill, including birds that peck around on the ground, picking up old seeds, which wears down the beak.
• Look at its nostrils.
They should be clear and of even size.
Any enlargement of a nostril or blockage often indicates a long-standing respiratory problem, usually due to lack of Vitamin A? If its tail bobs up and down with each breath, this could be a sign of respiratory distress and disease.
• Look at their droppings.
Healthy birds have droppings well-formed and consists of dark green feces, white urates, and clear urine.
If the droppings are runny, yellowed, or tinged with blood, the bird may be ill.