Jack has had two instances where it appeared that he was choking on his pellets. One he resolved himself (he shook his head mightily, then a mushy pellet flew out and landed on hubby's plate), the other, I had to help.

He was eating his breakfast one morning when I walked in the room. He tried to squawk and greet me, but nothing came out. After watching him for a second or two, he was keeping his beak open and scratching at it with his foot. He didn't make any noise and didn't seem to be breathing. My first thought was, "Oh my God. My kids' first pet is going to drop dead right here at breakfast". I picked him up and, literally, gave him the birdie-heimlich. I gave him 3 light squeezes to the sternum and out popped a pellet. After that, he was fine and acted like nothing happened (Mom, on the other hand, was a basket case).

We're buying the right size pellets. Is Jack just prone to this kind of stuff? Has anyone else had any experience with this?

TIA!!

Hmmmmmm I have never heard of that before. The first part sounds like he vomited...which is something to keep an eye on. If it persists, get him to a vet asap.

The second part is what strikes me as kinda strange. I've never heard of a bird choking on pellets before (which doesn't mean it can't happen).

I have a few birds (my one tiel will especially do this) that when they are eating, or done eating, they will open their beak really wide and it looks like they are trying to bring something up, but they never do...that is pretty normal. It happens from time to time. Basically they are adjusting their crop.

I'm not sure if that is what Jack is doing though.

The size of the pellets shouldn't matter in that respect. Normally they bite off what they can swallow from whatever they're eating.

I hope somebody will come along who has more knowledge about this but I think I would soak his pellets to keep him safe until I could find a better solution.