Becca Birdy Bird: August 2014

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Bringing Home Your First Parrot

English: Cuban Parrot (Amazona leucocephala) in Cuba (2007). Pet parrots. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Mature breeding pair of Red-Bellied Parrots (Poicephalus rufiventris) on a perch in a cage. Picture taken by user:Fruitwerks at home. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A pet Sun Parakeet (also known as a Sun Conure) in parrot cage. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Buying a parrot and bringing it home is a much more complicated process than bringing home a dog or cat. These birds are extremely smart and sensitive. They will liven up your household and become members of your family. Having a parrot is a major commitment of time, money and acquiring knowledge.

You should thoroughly research all aspects of owning a parrot before you bring one into your
house. They will certainly give you a life time of memories. Some parrots live to be more than fifty years old
When bringing home your parrot you must remember that birds in general acquire stress related ailments fairly easily. You should time the introduction of your parrot to your home decrease the amount of stress to the bird as much as possible.

Try bringing the bird home when most of your family members are home so your parrot has a chance to meet everyone. This does not mean everyone talking to the bird at once or trying to handle the bird. It does mean every speaking in a normal voice and going about their routine while calmly acknowledging the bird’s presences.

The parrot’s cage should be put in a high traffic area where they can get a good look around their new home. Placing the cage in a corner or against a wall will give the bird an added sense of security. You should also cover part of the cage so the parrot has a sense of privacy should he or she feel overwhelmed by the new situation. It is important that the parrot’s cage be the right size from the start. A baby parrot may injure themselves in a cage that is too large. A cage that is too small will make the new parrot feel cramped and stressed.

The cage should be the permanent home for the adult birds. If you have not acquired the right supplies do not bring home the bird until you have gotten the appropriate care supplies. You do not want to stress the bird twice by introducing him to a new cage shortly after he has just gotten used to another one.

The diet is also something that your parrot should not have abruptly changed even if you feel the last owner was not feeding the bird right. Leave the bird’s diet unchanged at first and slowly mix feed over to the new diet.

Parrots are extremely social birds and must have consistent attention. You should put your parrot in a permanent place where the parrot will have an opportunity to interact with household members throughout the day. You should spend quality time interacting with the bird for at least an hour a day. Learning so basic parrot training will give you and the bird a great deal of personal satisfaction. Each parrot has a unique personality and you will influence the best aspects of the bird’s character by spending time focusing on the bird as a pet.

If you spend a great deal of time away from home , but still are determined to get a parrot you might consider two. You will avoid behavior problems in your parrot is not bored and lonely. Birds have preferences so it would be best to either get two young parrots or two older parrots that have lived together and get on well.

If you are introducing a new parrot to an old you might want to let the new parrot adjust in general to your new household first before you introduce him or her to the resident bird. You should monitor the birds’ interaction for several days before you leave the two birds together for an extended period of time.

Parrots require specific toys, foods beyond seed, and medical care. You need to read extensively on all aspects of Parrot care before making a several hundred dollars investment in a bird you can not care for. Parrots are life long companions that can grow up with your children and grandchildren. They are one of the few family pets that become living and loving family heirlooms.

Sources: http://www.plannedparrothood.com/buying.html: Advice about the buying and care of Parrots and pet birds.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream :A Birdy Scream Time

Bird cluster (Photo credit:) All species of bird to communicate with the of the flock.

English: A finger bitten by a pet bird. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Avoid engaging with your pet bird when they are overly stimulated and screaming. Let the bird have a cooling off period.

Raggiana Bird of Paradise, Paradisaea raggiana (Photo credit: Wikipedia)These birds use screaming as a security system to keep the flock safe.

Unidentified bird in a bird bath . Birds in your back yard find a reason to be loud. Since it is not at 2am we generally don 't notice how loud birds in the wild are.(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Song learning pathway in birds (Based on Nottebohm, 2005) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Why are many pet birds so loud?. One of the things learned from Michelle Karras a parrot expert is silence means danger! If you have a flock of wild birds in trees (in their natural environment) or even a flock of local wild birds in your back yard a flock of birds will make a lot of noises . It is all about the flock. Chirp, chirp, scream, scream bird interaction goes on for hours. What are they communicating about? Same things we do. “Find any food lately? Yeah they had a great sale on worms about a mile from here.”

SILENCE means danger! If you’ve ever seen a hawk fly over a flock of wild birds, you swear you can hear the sound of the hawk’s wings flapping. That’s one of the reasons pet birds’ come in so many colors. If they’re quiet and deep in a tree they are difficult to spot. Wild birds- know screaming now is the wrong to do. When that danger passes its chirp, chirp, scream, scream, among the flock. All this post danger screaming means the coast is clear.

Something we hear a lot of is - people will have a screaming bird (usually newbie’s) and the bird will scream for whatever reason. What does their human companion do? Yell SHUT UP! And what does the pet birds do? SCREAM SOME MORE!

. The bird screams, you scream back. Do you think there may be a slight chance that when you scream back the bird might be thinking “hey – this is great! Someone is finally squawking back at me “hey SCREAM, SCREAM, please scream back some more, I’m lonely you’re my flock and I need to talk to someone than you?”

Excessive screaming is a learned behavior that we teach our birds. Covering your feathered companion with a blanket, teaches him or her that you will cover the cage when scream gets out of hand.

Yelling at a screaming pet birds, gives the pet birds the attention it seeks. Ignoring screaming pet birds is not the answer either. Ignoring bird’s screams could result in finding injuries too late (or water had run out). Options are to make sure all your birds needs are satisfied. Large hygienic cages, clean water, fresh food, working toys are all needed to keep your pet bird happy and less inclined to engage in attention demanding screaming. Remember your bird needs 8 to 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Maybe if you create a more tranquil napping environment for your bird , the bird will not scream and let you actually get some sleep.

You can create aa signal to stop loud pet birds. Ring a cowbell (or bang a pot) in the room next to the screaming bird. They hear the bell (sound), they stop to listen to the noise, because the sound is new and grabs the attention of the bird. If you then, show up from the other room while they are quiet. Now you reward the quiet behavior with treats and attention. This makes the bird much more likely to succeed at learning there is a time and place to make loud noises. If quiet time is rewarded, then being quiet becomes an activity that pays of more to the bird than being loud to get attention. to praise and reward.

Creating A Controlled Screaming Hours

Use a time when you know your birds are quite loud. Distract the pet bird with a loud unfamiliar sound from the next room. Then you come out with some very significant rewards( such as cheese or dried egg) and verbal praise..

Lengthen the time between the signal and your appearance each time. Try and take a whole day at first and only work with the pet birds and the screaming. Initial rewards should be substantial, a known favorite treat. Use the same signal just before feeding fresh food. Not all pet bird’s will quiet down for the same signal so you may have to try several noises before finding the one that works for you.

Note: Do not use your voice. They may try to mimic you.

Scream time is a time during the day that you allow your pet birds to be noisy. This should be given somewhere between 3p.m. and 7p.m. each day. Encourage your pet birds by playing stimulating music. aDance, sing or scream along with them. Scream time should last no less than 15minutes and no more than 1/2 hour each day.

Some pet birds enjoy screaming to the vacuum, this is fine to encourage but play music as well. Find music that your pet bird gets excited over. Use that same song every day for scream time. Change the music from time to time but be consistent overall. When Scream time is over, lower the music volume Talk your pet birds down. Lower the music slowly, turn it off, and play their relaxation code music. Give them afternoon snacks when “cool down” is over.

Birds will wait for their "Scream Time” because they know they will be rewarded for their patience.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Common Feather Disorders in Pet Birds

English: Red Lory (Eos bornea) upper body preening feathers. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A common bird feather, 1400 X (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are millions of parrot and bird owners in the United States who find their relationship with their feathered friends to be as fulfilling, as many people find their relationship with their dogs and cats.
Parrots for example; bond particularly close to their owners. Many times parrots even become possessive of their owners and express jealously to other household members. Birds can offer owners a level of interaction not available with other household pets. This level of interaction is even deeper for the owner when they own birds that mimic speech. One of the major problems with owning any bird is health issues. Few vets are experts in the care and health of birds as they are with the health concerns of dogs and cats.
Birds are fragile pets because feathers do not protect them as well as fur. Feathers leave large amounts of the skin on birds exposed. Therefore, feather disorders can be one of the more common illnesses in pet birds. Excessive preening and picking at feathers can be a sign that your bird has one of three common feather and skin disorders.
Preening is the natural process by which your bird maintains the health of their feathers and skin, Birds uses their beaks to clean and smooth feathers. In the process oily secretions of the precursor of vitamin D are released from the preening gland. This oil helps waterproof the feathers and help eliminate bacteria. Preening is the natural way your bird maintains their healthy skin and feathers.
Feather cysts are common on the wings of birds and can lead to life threatening conditions. This condition of feather cysts may require surgical removal of the cysts by a veterinarian familiar with the care and treatment of pet birds.Behavioral obsessive feather picking is hard to treat. Still, finding what trauma and upset is causing the behavior is important because large loss of feathers leaves skin exposed to other disorders.
One last condition common in feathers of pet birds are polyfollicles. This happens when too many feathers grow out of one follicle. This can lead to serious infection. The condition of polyfollicles itself is thought to be caused by a virus.Become familiar with your birds preening habits and looks for changes and excessive feather loss. Talk to other bird owners and find a veterinarian in your area that specializes in bird care, before you have health issues with your bird.