SENEGAL PARROT

Weight Message

The following is a message on Senegal Parrot Weight by Rex Sheasby that was posted on the Senegal List. It details the weights of a significant number of Senegals.

I weighed 26 of my senegals this morning (22 Dec. 1995) with only a small amount of bloodshed (mine of course).

They are on a pellet diet with some seeds. All birds appear to be in good health.

Average weight of all: 144g. s = 17.8 g. (n = 26)
Average weight of the males: 156g. s = 17.6 g. (n = 10)
Average weight of the females: 136g. s = 13.6 g. (n = 16)

Clearly the weight alone is not usually enough to say if a bird is underweight or overweight, or what sex it is. While males are considerably heavier on average, the heaviest female weighed 38g. _more_ than the lightest male.

Some caveats:

1. These birds are from a small number of families, so they are not a random sample of senegals.
2. With 4 exceptions, all birds were parent fed. Parent fed birds gain weight faster than hand-fed, and _may_ tend to weigh more as adults, so these weights _may_ be higher than the average hand-fed senegal.

Data:

D = Domestic, I = Import
Weights were taken by weighing the birds in the same small cage and subtracting the weight of the cage. The balance used is accurate to +- .1g, but weights were taken to the nearest gram.

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