Parrot Care Made Easy

There are literally hundreds of different parrot cages for you to choose from, so it is important that you know how to pick the most suitable one for your pet. How it looks, and how well it fits in with the furniture in your home is obviously important, but it definitely isn’t the most important consideration – whether it is big enough for the type of parrot you own is without doubt the number one consideration.

If you choose a parrot cage that is too small, your parrot will become stressed, which could result in unwanted behavior, such as aggression and feather plucking. The bigger the cage the better – you cannot pick a parrot cage that is too big. Note: Baby parrots may be intimidated by a large cage, so it is best to also have a small cage to start off with.

The best way to determine the MINIMUM size of cage is as follows -

• When on any perch, your parrot’s head must not touch the top of the cage, and his tail must not touch the bottom or the sides.
• When in the middle of the cage, he must be able to fully stretch out his wings without touching the sides of the cage.
• He must be able to fly from perch to perch. Parrots fly horizontally, so it is preferable for your cage to be wide rather than tall.

The other main considerations when buying parrot cages are -

• Is it made from strong enough materials for the type of parrot you own?
• Is it made from materials that could poison your parrot (e.g. rust can damage your parrot’s crop)?
• Are the gaps between the bars small enough to prevent your bird escaping, or getting his head stuck?

If you stick to the simple guidelines above your parrot will be more than happy with his home.

photo credit: Orin Optiglot

Parrot training is absolutely vital if you want to have a healthy, sociable, and well-balanced bird, which is why it is something that every parrot owner should take very seriously. Parrots are extremely intelligent, and they have an aptitude for learning new things, which means that parrot training shouldn’t be difficult, providing you follow the simple guidelines below.

• Parrot training sessions should be kept short (i.e. 10 minutes at the most). Any longer than this and you will over-tire your bird, and he will equate training sessions with a negative experience.
• Do the training somewhere that is quiet, well-lit, and without any distractions.
• Don’t commence the training session unless you are feeling relaxed and patient. If you are stressed your parrot will pick-up on it and become stressed as well, which means he won’t learn anything.
• Begin by teaching your parrot how to step-up onto your hand or arm, because this is something that he will have to do often if you plan on handling your parrot – which you should be.
• Begin your ‘bird talking’ teaching as soon as possible. Just pick a simple word (e.g. hi), and repeat it over and over to him. Be patient, and only teach him one word at a time.

If you are patient, parrot training isn’t difficult, and it will be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for both of you. Your parrot will pick things up very quickly, and you will naturally form a strong bond with him. Enjoy!

If you have one of the larger parrot species, you have to be very careful about what toys you choose, because a lot of toys aren’t durable enough for them. This means your parrot might break the toys, and harm himself. You don’t really have to worry about this when choosing budgie toys – as long as a toy keeps him amused, there shouldn’t be a problem.

If you visit some of the online parrot forums, you will probably see a debate about whether or not mirrors make good toys for your budgie. Some people think they are great, because their budgies spend hours looking at themselves in them. Other budgie owners think you should never give a budgie a mirror, because the reason a budgie will spend hours looking into a mirror, is that he is waiting for a response from the ‘other bird’ that will never actually materialize. This can lead to frustration, and possibly long-term mental health problems.

My opinion is that mirrors aren’t a good idea for any pet bird. I once made the mistake of showing my pet cockatiel his reflection in a mirror, whilst he was stood on my shoulder. The minute I removed the mirror, he started circling around my head, and ‘dive bombing’ me. I can only assume that he thought I had harmed his new friend.

In conclusion, if you stick to the usual budgie toys, such as swings, bells, ladders and rings, your budgie will be ‘happy as Larry’ – even if he is called Fred!

• Good Bird Inc *Parrot Training* Talk: Training a Cape Parrot at a *…*

May 31, 2009
- Interesting parrot training article involving the rare Cape Parrot, and a trip to protugal.

• Stealthy burglars pilfering parrots

May 28, 2009
- It’s not the parrots that should be behind bars!

• Gang Gang cockatoo hit by car, stuck in grill, and lives!

May 28, 2009
- And I thought only cats had nine lives!

• Download Budweiser Parrots video – savevid.com

May 25, 2009
- The famous Budweiser talking parrots ad. Funny.

As the name suggests, the Blue Fronted Amazon is a member of the Amazon Parrot species. This species of parrot originates from South America, and it is a medium-sized parrot which grows to be about 15 inches long. They usually live to be anything between 40 and 80 years old.

The Blue Fronted Amazon is predominantly green, but they have blue feathers on their forehead – hence the name. They also typically have yellow feathers on their face, and on the top of their head.

They enjoy human interaction, but they will often only bond with one person. They can also keep themselves amused when you aren’t around, provided that they have sufficient toys to play with. Many of them will become really good talkers, but some of them won’t talk at all. However, regardless of whether or not your pet becomes a talker, you can virtually guarantee that he will be good singer and mimicker, and he will enjoy using this talent frequently – you have been warned!

If you like a fun and playful parrot, the Blue Fronted Amazon is a good choice of pet for you. They are born performers, which explains why this species is so often used in bird shows.

photo credit: Zemlinki!

If you have never owned a parrot before, it is very easy to overlook a number of key parrot accessories which are absolutely vital for both the mental, and physical health of your bird.

The following is a list of the parrot accessories you must have as an absolute minimum. Some of these items might seem obvious, but I have included them for completeness. None of the items on this list should be viewed as being optional.

• A cage that is big enough for your parrot.
• A travelling cage that is big enough for your parrot.
• Perches of various thicknesses and textures.
• Food and water containers.
• A bird bath, or a water spray.
• A selection of parrot toys.
• A parrot stand or parrot gym.

Don’t be a skinflint when it comes to buying parrot accessories, because it will have an adverse impact on the health of your parrot. After the cage and food, the biggest cost will probably be parrot toys, because they constantly need replacing. Therefore, if you are interested in saving some money, and you enjoy making things, you will probably find the book below to be very useful.

The traditional smooth, round, uniform parrot perch is not the best choice for your pet. The reason for this is that it doesn’t replicate what a parrot perches on in the wild – how often have you seen a tree with perfectly round and smooth branches?

You probably don’t realise it, but having perches of various sizes and textures contributes greatly to the health of your pet. The two main benefits are:

1) Constantly having to re-adjust his feet to remain balanced will stimulate and strengthen your parrots’ leg muscles, and keep his feet healthy.
2) The rough textures will naturally keep his beak and claws trimmed.

For the greatest health benefits, put parrot perches of different sizes and textures in your parrot’s cage. I bet you didn’t realise just how important choosing the right type or parrot perch is!

photo credit: The_Gut

Parrot stands are vital accessories if you are planning on letting your bird out of his cage – which you should be! They provide an alternative to your arm, or your best piece of furniture, and (if you choose the right design) they have the added benefit of keeping your parrot entertained.

Parrot stands come in lots of different designs and sizes, so you obviously need to pick one that is appropriate for your bird. My advice is to buy one that has a number of different components to keep your pet amused – don’t just buy a glorified perch! You can get them with a variety of toys and puzzles attached, which your pet will love. A built-in mess tray is also a good idea, for obvious reasons!

Whatever you do, please don’t buy cheap parrot stands. At best, they will wear out really quickly, and therefore not provide good value for money. At worst, they will be made from inferior materials that could actually harm your bird.

photo credit: Arcadiareptiles

Parrots are very intelligent creatures which require a lot of mental stimulation. Parrot toys are an important tool to help to satisfy this need, because you won’t always be available to keep your pet entertained. Therefore, it is very important that you provide your pet with a large variety of interesting parrot toys to play with. There are lots of different categories of toys for you to choose from, and it is important that you provide your parrot with a good selection from each category.

Tips

1. Do not make all of your parrot’s toys available to him at once. If you do this, he will quickly become bored with them. The best thing to do is to only put 2 or 3 toys into his cage, and rotate them with different toys every few days.
2. Don’t overload the cage with toys, because you will make it difficult for you parrot to move around – he may even injure himself.
3. Check the condition of the toys frequently to make sure that they are safe for your parrot, and immediately remove any that aren’t.

The different categories of parrot toys you can choose from are:

• Activity toys.
• Climbing and swinging toys.
• Foot toys.
• Chewable toys.
• Foraging and puzzle toys.
• Preening and shredding toys.

Most parrot toys aren’t expensive, and they really make a big contribution to the mental health of your pet. Therefore, my advice is to make a commitment to buy one new parrot toy every couple of weeks.

The most important thing you can do to ensure your parrot remains fit and healthy is to feed him the right kind of parrot food. There are obviously other things that you need to do as well, such as regularly interacting with him, but none of these other things matter a jot if you don’t feed him the right kind of parrot food.

There are lots of differing opinions amongst parrot experts regarding what is the perfect parrot diet, but all of the experts agree that variety is key. The general consensus is that a good parrot diet should consist of about 10% parrot seeds, 50% parrot pellets, and 40% fresh fruit and vegetables.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are a particularly important element, because, as well as being tasty and nutritious, they also add a certain amount of stimulation at feeding time, due to the fact that your parrot will often have to use his claws to hold the pieces of food.

Carrots, cucumber, sweet peppers, green beans, corn, cauliflower and eggplant are all great vegetables to give your pet.

Kiwi, papaya, banana, pineapple, mangos, apples, oranges, cherries, peaches and grapes are all great fruits to feed your parrot. Just be careful to remove any seeds or pips, because they could be toxic for him.

If you feed your parrot the types of parrot food listed above, you will have a very healthy bird. Be warned – please resist the temptation to feed him ‘human treats’, such as crackers and chocolate, because he will very probably eat them, even though they could kill him!

If you want some great ideas for healthy parrot recipes, the Healthy Bird Cookbook by Robin Deutsch is well worth a read. It’s received tons of rave reviews on Amazon, so lots of other parrot owners like it too!

photo credit: Adam Tinworth