Outdoor aviaries have become all the rage in the avian community. It’s a great thing. There are untold benefits from getting our birds into just a few minutes of moderate, natural sunlight daily:

• Sunlight interacts with the oils from our parrot’s uropygial gland (which are spread throughout the feathers during preening) and converts to vitamin D3 in the body. Vitamin D3 has a large role in the body’s ability to maintain normal calcium levels in the blood and to absorb calcium, which in turn determines our bird’s bone, feather ...

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Just like people, parrots sometimes find themselves in a place in life where they have a hard time getting around. This might be the result of a deformity, an injury or the struggles of old age. And, just like people, parrots learn to adapt to their circumstances with a little help from those around them.

To most people it makes sense that a parrot hatched with a deformity would be better able to learn to get by. After all, it has never known any other way. ...

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I feel it is important to admit to and talk about my mistakes. It is a learning experience for you readers, and a humbling reminder for me. Yes, even we who spend our days trying to coach you on the whys and whats of bird ownership blow it from time to time. In a classic idiot manoeuver, I indirectly caused an injury to one of the Womach budgies.

The smallest birds live in the house upstairs in what I call the spare birdroom. My cockatiels and quaker are still a bit ...

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There have been so many pictures posted on the the Facebook page recently depicting parrots playing with the family pets that I thought a post on the subject was a needed. I know this is is going to make me seem like a killjoy, but I feel it’s necessary to warn you of the dangers of allowing members of your feathered and furry family to interact.

When I was younger, I always had any number of different animals sharing my home. Most of them were not species that ...

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For those of you with outdoor aviaries or cages for your birds, I am sure the consideration of insects has crossed your mind. Can they be harmful to your parrot?

BEES:

Bees are not terribly fast moving and are really no match for the speed of your parrot. Any bee that gets close enough to your bird will be moving right on it’s way as soon as it realizes the speed and agility with which a parrot a parrot can manoeuvre that snapping beak. And if a bee were ...

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MBS is a powerful affliction as symptoms can manifest even without the other birds being physically present –  cute photographs alone can cause flare ups. The main symptom is an uncontrollable urge to add just one more bird to the flock ...

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