Monthly weigh in - February 2016

A little late, but here is the monthly weigh in post for February.

Note much to note, the birds were fairly consistent weight wise.

Average weight (in grams) for February 2016:
Piper - 56g
Shade - 118g
Joey - 127g
Petey - 140g
Zuri - 126g
Pixel - 121g
Léa - 317g


Updated table - average weights for each bird per year:

Year	Piper	Shade	Joey	Petey	Zuri	Pixel	Léa
2009	54	111	124	128	112	-	-
2010	56	115	126	131	124	115	-
2011	59	117	127	131	130	121	303
2012	57	116	128	132	128	120	307
2013	57	116	127	136	128	120	313
2014	57	117	128	139	130	121	316
2015	56	118	127	140	127	122	318
2016*	55	119	127	139	126	122	319

*For 2016, only data from January and February is included.  

Monthly weigh in - January 2016

First weigh in post for 2016 and I think I will keep these going!

There is very little to say about the birds' weight this month. It appears that Shade put on a tiny bit of extra weight (2g), but since I can still feel her keel bone nicely, it is not something that worries me.

Average weight (in grams) for January 2016:
Piper - 55g
Shade - 120g
Joey - 127g
Petey - 139g
Zuri - 126g
Pixel - 123g
Léa - 320g


Updated table - average weights for each bird per year:

Year	Piper	Shade	Joey	Petey	Zuri	Pixel	Léa
2009	54	111	124	128	112	-	-
2010	56	115	126	131	124	115	-
2011	59	117	127	131	130	121	303
2012	57	116	128	132	128	120	307
2013	57	116	127	136	128	120	313
2014	57	117	128	139	130	121	316
2015	56	118	127	140	127	122	318
2016*	55	120	127	139	126	123	320

*For 2016, only data from January is included. 

Monthly weigh in - December 2015

The last weigh in post of 2015!

I know December is not quite done yet, but I felt like posting this now, before the year is officially over.

Last month we saw a dip in Piper's weight, which was explained in the November weigh in post, this month his weight came back up, averaging 55g. He's also fully back to his old self, chirping when faced with something he loves or dislikes, being cuddly, yet still managing to get a little lovebird mischief in from time to time.

This month has seen no weird weight fluctuations, everyone was pretty normal. Some of the smaller Pois might have gained or lost two grams from their average weight from last November, but that is not something I worry too much about, especially since we have been a little less diligent about weighing them in December - while I try to have at least three different measures in a month and try to spread these out, for various reasons, we've only weighed them four times this month and all towards the end of the month.

So I guess a resolution for 2016 is to be more consistent, but we will see how that will go.

Average weight (in grams) for December 2015:
Piper - 55g
Shade - 118g
Joey - 127g
Petey - 139g
Zuri - 126g
Pixel - 124g
Léa - 316g


Updated table - average weights for each bird per year:

Year	Piper	Shade	Joey	Petey	Zuri	Pixel	Léa
2009	54	111	124	128	112	-	-
2010	56	115	126	131	124	115	-
2011	59	117	127	131	130	121	303
2012	57	116	128	132	128	120	307
2013	57	116	127	136	128	120	313
2014	57	117	128	139	130	121	316
2015	56	118	127	140	127	122	318

Monthly weigh in - November 2015

On November 5, I had noticed that Piper wasn't himself. He was quiet and not very active, which worried me. He had been fine up until that evening, so I decided to weigh him.

And sure enough, his weight was off.

Had it been daytime, we would have likely rushed to the vet. However, there was a simple explanation at hand and it turned out to the be the problem.

While Piper does eat his fruits, veggies and pellets, he still eats seeds. Recently, we have experienced trouble finding the regular seed/nut mix we give to the birds so we had to try something different. The Boy bought a bag of this different food and started to give it to the birds. To be honest, if I look at the weights I got at the very end of October, Piper's was slowly going down (but was still within normal) - turns out, he wasn't a fan of the new food and, having taken a closer look at it, it did look like the elements in the food mix were too large for him. So, on November 5, the Boy went to get another mix I knew Piper had eaten in the past and that made Piper happy.

All that to say, having a record of Piper's regular weight, as well as being able to see when things started to go bad and being able to match it with an actual change that happened in the household meant we were able to find a solution.

So let's get to the actual data.

Average weight (in grams) for November 2015:
Piper - 54g
Shade - 116g
Joey - 126g
Petey - 141g
Zuri - 127g
Pixel - 122g
Léa -  315g

Updated table - average weights for each bird per year:

Year Piper Shade Joey Petey Zuri Pixel Léa 2009 54 111 124 128 112  -  - 2010 56 115 126 131 124 115  - 2011 59 117 127 131 130 121 303 2012 57 116 128 132 128 120 307 2013 57 116 127 136 128 120 313 2014 57 117 128 139 130 121 316 2015* 56 118 127 140 127 121 319
*For 2015, data from January to November is included.

Monthly weigh in - October 2015

I know the month isn't technically over, but as I last weighed the birds last Thursday, I don't feel compelled to do so again today and that means I can put up this month's weight post on time!

No big variances that need to be watched, things were pretty stable this month.

Average weight (in grams) for October 2015:
Piper - 57g
Shade - 118g
Joey - 127g
Petey - 141g
Zuri - 128g
Pixel - 122g
Léa - 319g


Updated table - average weights for each bird per year:

Year	Piper	Shade	Joey	Petey	Zuri	Pixel	Léa
2009	54	111	124	128	112	-	-
2010	56	115	126	131	124	115	-
2011	59	117	127	131	130	121	303
2012	57	116	128	132	128	120	307
2013	57	116	127	136	128	120	313
2014	57	117	128	139	130	121	316
2015*	56	118	127	139	127	121	319

**For 2015, data from January to October is included.

Monthly weigh in - July, August & September 2015

So much for wanting to do these posts on a monthly basis. It appears my break from posting much online kept going throughout the Summer, but it did me some good. Now that it is getting colder out, and the fact that I took a break from all of this, I think I'm ready to start posting regularly again - maybe not daily, but possibly on a weekly basis.

In any case, the birds did get weighed even if I didn't post about it for three months. Maybe not as regularly as they should, but nothing in their behaviour really pointed to there being something problematic and they felt the same when picked up.

Looking at what their weights have been for July, August and September, that feeling was right; they have, for the most part, been very consistent. Zuri dipped a little in August, but maintained this weight in September and the dip wasn't very significant for a bird his size to begin with. Léa also appears to have put on a few grams in September, but given that they were truly only weighed once that month, it may be a one off, not that I'm opposed to her putting on a little weight. And again, the difference for a bird her size is nothing to be worried about.

Average weight (in grams) for July 2015:
Piper - 57g
Shade - 118g
Joey - 127g
Petey - 140g
Zuri - 130g
Pixel - 122g
Léa - 318g

Average weight (in grams) for August 2015:
Piper - 57g
Shade - 119g
Joey - 128g
Petey - 140g
Zuri - 126g
Pixel - 121g
Léa - 318g

Average weight (in grams) for September 2015:
Piper - 57g
Shade - 120g
Joey - 125g
Petey - 140g
Zuri - 126g
Pixel - 120g
Léa - 323g


Updated table - average weights for each bird per year:

Year	Piper	Shade	Joey	Petey	Zuri	Pixel	Léa
2009	54	111	124	128	112	-	-
2010	56	115	126	131	124	115	-
2011	59	117	127	131	130	121	303
2012	57	116	128	132	128	120	307
2013	57	116	127	136	128	120	313
2014	57	117	128	139	130	121	316
2015	56	118	127	139	127	121	319

*For 2015, data from January to September is included. 

Monthly weigh in - June 2015

A little late, but here is the June monthly weigh in post.

They were weighed more frequently in June than in May (a few times a week).

Last time, I said that Piper had lost a little weight, but he maintained a very consistent weight throughout the month of June. Everyone else seemed pretty normal as well.


Average weight (in grams) for June 2015:
Piper - 55g
Shade - 119g
Joey - 128g
Petey - 139g
Zuri - 127g
Pixel - 122g
Léa - 318g

Piper, Joey and Pixel's average weight for June was the same as May; Petey and Léa gained a gram, Shade gained two and Zuri lost one.

Updated table - average weights for each bird per year:

Year	Piper	Shade	Joey	Petey	Zuri	Pixel	Léa
2009	54	111	124	128	112	-	-
2010	56	115	126	131	124	115	-
2011	59	117	127	131	130	121	303
2012	57	116	128	132	128	120	307
2013	57	116	127	136	128	120	313
2014	57	117	128	139	130	121	316
2015*	56	118	127	139	127	122	319

*For 2015, data from January to June is included.

Monthly weigh in - May 2015

I've posted a few entries on the blog about the importance of weighing your parrots frequently. Although I've been doing so in a less frequent manner than in the past (I used to do daily), I still try to get to it once a week.

I keep a spreadsheet with all the data, and have it backed up, but thought it would be good to also use the blog to keep track. Unlike my spreadsheet, I'll keep these monthly post to show what the average weight for each bird was each month.

So without much more delay -

Average weight (in grams) for May 2015:
Piper - 55g
Shade - 117g
Joey - 128g
Petey - 138g
Zuri - 128g
Pixel - 122g
Léa - 318g

I also keep a table of the average weights for each bird per year:

Year	Piper	Shade	Joey	Petey	Zuri	Pixel	Léa
2009	54	111	124	128	112	-	-
2010	56	115	126	131	124	115	-
2011	59	117	127	131	130	121	303
2012	57	116	128	132	128	120	307
2013	57	116	127	136	128	120	313
2014	57	117	128	139	130	121	316
2015*	56	117	127	139	127	122	319

*For 2015, data from January to May is included.


Piper has lost a little weight these past few weigh ins, I'll probably keep an eye on that. He is still eating nicely and seem like himself. In fact, the vet would probably be happy with the small weigh loss and I'm fine with it, as long as it doesn't dip any lower too quickly.