As my cockatiels get older, they are spending more and more time on their flat perches. I still provide a variety of standard perches for them, but their tired, old feet always head back to the flat perches before too long.

Flat perches gain a lot of points for offering comfort to my cockatiels in their golden years, but lose points with their constant need for cleaning. The beauty of the design of a standard perch, taken from nature, is that droppings fall from ...

 If you have been following my blog posts, you’ll know that I have a Blue and Gold Macaw who excels at getting into trouble. This has become a significant problem for me, especially since he has...

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Rosebreasted Cockatoos/Galahs

I received a message from a friend asking for help with her Galah/Rosebreasted Cockatoo’s cage setup. In short, she was struggling for inspiration and trying to deal with several problems. She wanted to know what I would do differently? She sent me a photo of the ‘bare bones’ of her cage setup. Which means that she sent me a picture of her cage without its normal arrangement of toys and foliage in order to make ...

As much as I like the cages I have selected for my birds, It seems to me that there is one major flaw in their design. Most birds primarily occupy the top half of their cage and, given this fact, it makes sense that the majority of the space should be in this area. Average inside dimensions for a large parrot cage are about 30″W X 42″L X 60″H. This leaves half of the cage, for the most part, unused. I often wonder why it is so hard to ...

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Q: I will be bringing home my first bird, an amazon, in a few weeks and want to get a cage ready for him now.  I want it to be perfect.  How do I know what perches and toys are right?

Lillian G,  Las Vegas, NV

A:  Since many parrots spend the majority of their time in their cages while their owners are at work, it really does have to be as close to perfect as we can make it.  The two main factors to consider are safety and comfort ...

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Sun Conure

Parrot toes

One of the things that distinguishes parrots from many other birds is their zygodactyl feet.  It sounds really prehistoric, but it simply means two toes forward and two toes back, specifically the second and third toe point forward, and the first and the fourth point back.  This configuration of toes allows for greater ability in grasping and manipulating objects like food and toys, climbing and perching.

Perches

Since they are on their feet 24/7,  many perches should be made available in your parrots cage.  They should vary in ...

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