Q: I know that we should give our birds lots of vegetables, but should they cooked or raw?
– Joseph B., Binghamton, NY

A: I give my birds both, but I definitely serve more raw vegetables than...

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Congo African Grey Parrot

Q:  Is it safe to give my bird meat? -Joann, Athens, GA

A: Meat is not part of the natural diet of a parrot.  However, when offered a piece of chicken, many parrots will accept.  Offer them a cookie, they will do the same.  I think we all went to school with a kid that ate the paste that glued pieces of construction paper together.  I doubt that it was ever on the dinner menu at his house.  Just because a parrot (or kid) eats something, ...

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Congo African Grey Parrot

I was listening to the Ask The Bird Experts weekly webcast the other night.  Liz Wilson was speaking about how little we actually know about parrots.  After so much research has been done about parrots in the wild, there are very few questions that can be answered with absolute certainty.

I have complained in past posts about the fact that there isn’t a formulated diet that can duplicate a parrot’s natural one. This is because we really don’t know what they eat.  A field researcher can spend ...

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Green Pacific Parrotlet

In the many years that I have had parrots, there have been a lot of changes in my life.  Things and people come and go, but the biggest changes have been within me.  My parrots have brought qualities up to the surface that I didn’t even know existed.   For little things, they sure can leave a huge crater of an impact.

1.  Eating better.

My parrots eat well, or I should say I feed them well.  They don’t always eat what I give them.

Years ago, when I first started going ...

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Yellow Budgie

Alright, so this isn’t prettiest topic, but it is one you should know your way around as a parrot owner.  Since birds so completely mask their illnesses, there are really only two ways we have to monitor their health at home.  One is by weighing them frequently, and the other is by watching the quality of their poop. Your parrot’s poop will remain fairly consistent as long as it is healthy.  It only takes me a couple seconds, several times a day to take a look at the ...

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