IndianRingNeck.com

Occasionally my IRN makes a strange movement with his beak and head like he has something in his throat, or Is dry reaching. I'm not overly concerned as I've only seen it a Few times and other than this he seems to be very healthy and is growing into a great pet (almost 1yr old). But just wondering if anyone has ever come across this or know why he might be doing it?

I have a quaker that does that before she whistles,I thought she was choking Just keep an eye on it just incase, he may possibly have something wrong but it may be something else he is doing.

odd.

-MissK

He could also be starting the process of regurgitating (which is a natural bird behaviour) and be swallowing it back down again.

Ellie.

Hi everyone,

Well, I've read this thread and searched the forum for any other related posts also, and have come across pretty much the same response all round, about this 'dry retching' being fairly normal behaviour for male birds....our mature male Skittles has been exhibiting some of this same behaviour the last few days....looks like he is trying to regurgitate, but nothing ever comes up. He does this sometimes after eating food, but sometimes does it first thing in the morning when he's still on his 'sleeping' perch.

My question is..........is there ANY other more sinister reason our bird might be doing this? I've heard stories about some birds ingesting foreign objects (like bits of cotton fibres from toys etc), and getting crop infections and the like...??? He otherwise seems quite happy and healthy, is drinking water, eating a varied mix of fresh fruit/veg, dried fruit, steamed/cooked veg, seed mix, and small pieces of millet as a treat every now and then.

Should we be worried?

I had done some research about this because my own IRN was doing the same and i was getting a bit worried as well. I had come across a few websites that said they were most probably regurgitating food from their crop to eat. Being as birds in the wild need to forage their food, so the get food and store it in their crop to consume later, in a place they feel comfortable that it won't get taken from them. I wouldn't be worried unless it looks like this action is hurting your bird. I hope this helps