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.

Monday, July 28, 2014

How To Attract Song Birds To Your Yard

Source : Wikimedia Red Headed Wood Pecker
In late winter birds are ready to nest and mate. This is a unique opportunity to draw dozens of species of different kinds of bird to your yard by providing artificial nest boxes. Decide what kind of birds you want to attract before building your bird house.
Robins and phoebes only nest in sheltered but open areas. They prefer simple sheltered platforms.
Wrens, bluebirds and tree swallows are birds who like one unit enclosed bird houses to nest in. Wrens prefer these bird houses be near some sort of cover such as shrubs while bluebirds and swallows prefer more open areas such as along a fence row.
All bird houses should have adequate ventilation on the top and adequate drainage on the bottom. The hole on the house should face north or east to prevent birds from over heating. Ideally they will not have a perch outside the entrance as this entices predators. Mounting bird houses on metal poles instead trees also discourages predators. Also, bird houses should be easy to clean as to prevent the spread of parasites from nest to nest each year.
Making song birds welcome in your yard should be the goal of the placement of all nesting boxes and feeders. There are four elements s that most song birds need to feel comfortable. These elements are food, water, nesting sites, and shelter.
Many of these things are already present in our back yards. We have trees and shrubs to provide nesting areas and place that water pools to provide water. We have insects or grass that has gone to seed to provide food. To make our yard stand out from our neighbors we simply can do a few extra things.

Bird Seed dispenser
We can provide nesting sites by the standards first discussed in this article. The next most difficult element is providing clean water sources for song birds. Avoid placing water in metal bowels but birds do appreciate warm water left in small containers outside for clean drinking and bathing during the winter months. There is a chance that you will get longer glimpse of song birds in the winter near a warm water bath as birds preen after bathing in the winter to keep ice from forming on their feathers.

A good quality seed such black oil sunflower seeds and cracked corn can help songbirds maintain their weight during the winter months and ensure their survival til Spring. Again the type of seed and feeder will determine the type of birds that are attracted to your yard. All bird feeders should be equipped in a way to discourage other four-footed friends in the back yard from raiding the feed. Tubular feeders are a practical feeder that can service a number of different kinds of birds. In nature wild birds never become dependent on just one type of diet. Instinct lets them know that a single food source might dry up. Wild birds have a pretty good system of sampling a buffet of different food sources. We can make it easier on our winged friends in the winter by adding a little variety to their diet.

Bird lovers know the more types of wild bird we can attract the better. Many experienced backyard bird lovers use a tube style bird feeder with black oil sunflower seeds .These seeds are usually found in the pet aisle of your local grocer and are relatively inexpensive. Daily maintenance is required to free the slots of the debris left from the hulls or the seeds or other feed by-product. If you neglect the daily maintenance the birds will no longer be able to easily access the food in the feeder.

Most tubular feeders are made out of hard plastic and offer a variety of different port designs and perches to attract different type's wild birds. They all work on the same principal. The food is put vertically in the feeder and as the food level drops the bird must move to a lower feeding position.
Tubular bird feeders come in many different sizes but there are basically three types. The first type is a more general feeder that can easily dispense sunflower seeds. This will attract a number of backyard birds. The second type is on that has smaller holes meant to allow only Nyjer™ seed to drop .This is to attract finches.

The third type of Tubular feeder has unique perches above the feeding port to give goldfinches a chance to feed without the company of the more plentiful house finches. The upside down design allows the more agile goldfinches more feeding time than their less coordinated cousins.
Songbirds always feed exclusively from tubular feeds. Variety of diet will attract many different types of songbirds. It may take some experimentation with feed to attract the feather friends you are most interested in attracting to your yard. Additions to a tubular feeder are a tray to catch loose seed and plastic caging to discourage four-footed yard residents from feeding on your bird seed.
A well made tubular feeder can provide you and your feathered friend's year round enjoyment for many years.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

The Right Cockatiel Diet

Picking The Right Diet for Your New Cockatiel

Source: Morguefile

You can and should feed you cockatiel fresh fruits and vegetables. Fresh pears and apples are a favorite . They should be feed sparingly as not to cause loose bowl movements. You can also feed your bird spinach, cabbage hearts, carrot tops, and Brussels spouts. Make sure food is fresh and not wilted. Remove the left over from the cage daily. You bird will not eat even slightly aged fruits and vegetables and they just become a potential source of bacteria.

Spray millet and hard yellow cheddar can be used as treats .

Picking the right seed mixture for your cockatiel is important to the overall health and well-being of your bird. In the wild cockatiels eat seeds from a wide variety of grasses. This is the mainstay of the wild cockatiel's diet. In captivity it is best to feed seed mixtures geared specifically for cockatiels as these are those mixtures that most closely mimic their natural diet. Most cockatiels mixes include millets, oats, and sunflower seeds.

To assure your bird is getting the freshest seed it is best to purchase seed in smaller quantities. You can test the freshness of seed mixtures by wetting a small amount in a small bowl and keeping it moist. If the seed is fresh; much of it will have spouted within a few days. Keeping your seed in an air tight container in a dry environment will assure you seed stays fresh for a reasonable amount of time. Check your feed bowl often because it may look full when it is not. Cockatiels eat unshelled seed and the bird eats the kernel and disposes the hull. Be sure the bowl is full of unshelled seed and not just the shells of the discarded hull.

Millet

Source: morguefile

Fresh Fruits and Vegtables

Spray millet and hard yellow cheddar can be used as treats but should only be a small amount of your bird's diet. Yellow cheddar is a good source of calcium essential from your bird's health. A more accepted way to give calcium is from a cuddle bone or grit. Use of grit is controversial in using it as a digestive aid. However, digestible grit is a good source of calcium.

Pellets and Vitamins

Most cockatiels will do fine on a seed diet with an addition of a calcium source. Many owners like to supplement the bird's diet with vitamins. You should consult your veterinarian before introducing vitamins supplements into a bird's diet that has not consumed them before. Pellets are available as an alternative to the seed diet. These pellets are nutritionally complete. A good compromise for those concerned about their birds' vitamin intake would be to do a mixture of pellet based and seed diet. Introduce pellets into you bird's diet very slowly to avoid any digestive issues.

Keeping Consistent With A New Bird

If you adopt a bird from another person or group it is good to maintain the diet and supplements the bird is already receiving if the bird is healthy. If your cockatiel is molting it does not require a change of diet only a more ample food supply. It is best to leave your birds diet alone if your bird is healthy

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Bringing Home Your First Parrot

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Wednesday, August 13, 2014

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

Creating A Controlled Screaming Hours

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Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Common Feather Disorders in Pet Birds

Monday, July 28, 2014

How To Attract Song Birds To Your Yard

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Sunday, July 27, 2014

The Right Cockatiel Diet

Picking The Right Diet for Your New Cockatiel

Fresh Fruits and Vegtables

Pellets and Vitamins

Keeping Consistent With A New Bird

Related articles