Falling out of "bed"??

[cindy]

I offer two mesh nest to parents with young.

To make them I cut and secure into together the ends by overlapping the mesh and securing with a zip tie then hang at the top securing it with a zip tie also.

[kenny]

hi cindy
i dont want to carry this debate on any further,but if all this tendon stuff is true and birds are not actually grasping the perch....why when i would pick my baby canaries up and set them on my finger did i feel a grasping sensation on my finger to keep the bird steady,and some of them sat on one leg i cant imagine that they where not actually putting some kind of grasping motion into play.by the way this is not an argument aimed at anyone its just that i seem to see it differently


ken

[cindy]

Funny Kenny, I did not see it as an arguement and it was directed towrds giving them an alternate spot to roost seeing how they were previously roosting in their nest.

I owned several large parrots and always gave them different perches/platforms to stand on to help excercise the feet and toes to avoid feet issues. So there is no grasping when a parrot holds something in it's foot to eat or play with? Looks like they grasp, close their toes around the objest. Or parrotlets and linnies who hold onto the bars, hang upside down and walk, across the inside top of the cage...that is grasping, either that or parrots must have an ability that smaller birds like finches and canaries do not.

Bottom line is the feet of any bird needs to be excercised and given something other than dowels to stand on or roost on.

My shaft tails are the same as Sandra's, during the day they roost at certain periods on branches and either all head to the bottom of the cage to roost or into the mesh nests. I had issues with them ending up on the bottom at night but since using the mesh nests they stopped. It is a little startling to see all 6 at the bottom when lights go on until you see they are just roosting.

[kenny]

hi cindy
i am sorry if it seemned like i was questioning anyones ideas,but as you have said birds do grasp things with thier hands therefore they must grasp a perch when they are on it ,but sometimes a little to much science creeps in and makes it more like a debate rather than just an advce forum...as i have said we all have our own ideas as to what happens.....but it seems to me it is easier to say a bird has perched than a full blown story how the tendons and such works....hope i am not treading on toes here but keep it simple is my motto as a lot of the members on here are rookies and it is complicated enough for begginers without having to absorb extra information

ken

[debbie276]

From everything I read it explains it as a involuntary reflex.
The only reason I posted was to explain how the birds grasp the perch, how something like a charlie horse would be very unlikely. There are many web sites that may be able to explain it better then I have, just search flexor tendons in birds.
The finch have type 7 flexor tendons and the parrots have type 1. From what I'm reading perching birds are type 7.

[cindy]

My whole point was just simply saying....to just provide alternative roosting areas but it is not abnormal for shaft tail to roost on the bottom!

Thank you for the insight!

[debbie276]

My whole point was just simply saying....to just provide alternative roosting areas but it is not abnormal for shaft tail to roost on the bottom!

Believe it or not I agree with you!! Didn't realize explaining simply how the tendons work in the birds would cause such a ruckus. I agree, birds should be given alternative perching sites and a variety of branches sizes.

[cindy]

I just always went by giving them alternate standing or roosting areas no matter what the species was good....never really got into the mechanics of it all...more of a prevention thing