Congo African Grey Parrot

1. Dirty Food:

The expression “you are what you eat” is so true.  Since we are in charge of our parrot’s food selection, we have to make sure that it is not only the best quality we can offer, but that it is safely edible.  Thoroughly wash all fresh foods. Even organically grown produce use pesticides, although not chemical ones.

Many of us work full time jobs and are in a rush to get out the door in the morning.  It’s convenient to feed the birds and go.  ...

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Establishing boundaries for your young parrot, one that has yet to reach sexual maturity, is an important first step in laying the groundwork for a happy and healthy co-existence between parrots and people. By setting and adhering to rules consistently, you are ensuring that your older parrot (who otherwise might have become more assertive of his wants) will cooperate with your requests in pleasant and acceptable ways.

Rescues are packed to the brim with unwanted parrots. Many of them have been determined to be a “problem” later in life when owners...

Camelot macaws, blue throated macaw, Galah

Is the mess, the chores, the feeding, and the constant need for attention starting to get to you?  It’s called burn out, and don’t worry, you aren’t alone. There are some mornings that I get up praying that the cockatoos will find it in their hearts to refrain from their dramatics for just this one day. I often don’t get my wish. Today was my day off and I had a long list of things to accomplish.  As I looked over the list, I couldn’t ...

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Blue and gold macaw, Military macaw

So many people I know are learning how to build things for their birds – from foraging trees to play gyms to outdoor aviaries.  Maybe it’s the economy, or maybe we’re just tired of paying extreme prices for the things we know are necessities for our birds, and can build ourselves.  I thought it would a great time to do a post about safe building materials and construction.  Here are some general guidelines to use:

Always use parrot safe woods and lumber. Remember the ...

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Blue throated macaw

PDD is a disease that causes a failure in the parrot’s digestive system. While it is also called “Macaw Wasting Syndrome”, it is absolutely not exclusive to the macaw.  In fact, it has been seen in many species of our companion birds and their wild counterparts.

So that you can better understand the impact of this disease, first let me describe the parrot’s digestive system:  The bird breaks down food with its beak and passes it down to the crop.  The crop slowly delivers food to a two ...

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Rose Breasted Cockatoo

I was looking through you tube videos and came across the title Funny Biting Parrot.  I thought to myself: what can possibly be funny about a biting parrot? and I watched the video.  I did find it funny.

When you watch the video, there are a few clues that tell you this is not aggression, but a game between parrot and owner.  First, the owner is encouraging the bird  and  is clearly unafraid of a serious bite.  Secondly, there is no aggressive body language in the bird – just ...

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