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When Do I Re-Home my Bird?

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Cute Caique

The question of when to re-home a bird is an extremely difficult one. It’s not as simple as just giving up the bird to ensure its happiness, because the very act of re-homing will cause the bird emotional trauma.

Here’s how parrots function: When you move them from home to home, they grieve for their people, their flock. It’s not like giving a dog a new home. After a short period of time, a dog will often be overjoyed with attention; they tend ...

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Why Social Dominance Theory Does Not Apply To Flocks

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Aggressive Senegal Parrot

Dogs and parrots are very different creatures, but as humans, we often try to draw comparisons to their behaviour. Canines being a creature that most everyone has had experience with, a lot of owners will try to draw connections.

For instance: The theory of height dominance. The idea is that birds move up high to try and ‘one-up’ their people.

First, let’s look at a parrot’s motivation for climbing up out of reach. A bird ...

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The Unique Skill Set of the Small Bird Owner

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Cockatiel

 

Before we talk about owners, I think it’s important to talk about their birds first: I do not believe in so-called beginner parrots, or graduating from one species to the next in order of size. This is because I believe that all parrots are made equal. The number of grams they weigh does not define them as ‘beginner,’ ‘intermediate’ or ‘advanced’ – in essence, buying a budgie will only ever teach you how to work with budgies.

My parrotlet is an aggressive, somewhat bipolar fellow ...

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10 Commandments of Parrot Ownership

Blue Fronted Amazon Parrot

While I was going through some old parrot related paperwork today I found this piece. I think that, along with a guide to the proper care of birds this piece should be given to every new owner:

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF PARROT OWNERSHIP

by Jane Hallander, reprinted with the permission of Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary

1. My life is likely to last 20 or more years. Any separation from you will be painful to me. Remember that before you take me home.

2. Give me time ...

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