Looking for a clicker?

For starters, in our training courses we include one with your order! It looks exactly like the one in the photo above that Cressi is modeling. Except, they come in a variety of colors from us so you don’t know which color you’re going to get.

You also got one if you attended the Total Transformation Training Seminar we held in Orlando, Florida. Remember in your goodie bags?

But… if you still don’t have one after those two strikes, here are some places I can tell you about that also carry them (I know I’ve been through a few!)

You can usually find them at your local chain petstores for under $2 such as Petco or PetSmart. It’s best to ask for a “dog clicker” as most people know them as dog clickers instead of bird clickers… it’s the same thing.

It also helps to do a “dog clicker” search online. These dog clickers are the same as bird clickers so don’t worry your silly little heads about the title!

$1.49 clickers at Pet Expertise, $1.85 clicker from Clicker Training, $3.99 Triple Crown Clicker from Pet Pharmacy, and so many more. Honestly, just type in “dog clicker” to whatever search engine you prefer and choose your fancy model of choice!

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What to do about a boring budgie?
I got my budgie over 2 weeks ago, which is enough time for her to be settled in, which she definitely is. but she just isnt as lively and happy as other budgies that i’ve seen. she doesn’t usually move around her cage and she NEVER chirps. is there anything i can do to change this, or something maybe wrong? i just want a happy, perky bird!

- Courtney

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Anytime you get a new bird you should always take it to the vet for a full exam to make sure it’s completely healthy. I am going to assume you did this and everything turned up clean, and if you didn’t, it’s the first thing you should really do to rule out health related problems.

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If you got a budgie (or any bird, for that matter) for the sole purpose to watch it in the cage as it proves to entertain you throughout the day… boy were you mistaken to bring the little fella home.

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Put yourself in your budgie’s situation – you most likely got it from a home where it was around tons of other birds of its kind where it constantly socialized, talked and played and interacted with these other birds. Now it’s alone with no one who speaks its language, what’s to be happy about?

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This is why BirdTricks.com works so hard? to beat it into our customers heads to trick train your bird! We don’t tell you to do this so that you have a performing parrot on your hands – we tell you to do it because in the process of training you are also taming your bird – you are showing it a good time! You are building the bond with it and showing it that you’re a heck of a lot of fun to be around! Training is stimulating and fun for birds, they NEED the challenge of it and the constant interaction and learning process it gives.

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Training your bird makes for a more lively, friendly pet parrot. If you entertain him, he will entertain you. But if you simply stare at him and wonder what’s wrong with him, he will do the same thing to you.

What do I put in my cockateils cage?

I just bought him/her (to young to find out sex) and I need to know what to put in the cage for him/her to be happy.

-Jenn

Your cockatiel needs a variety of toys, but not just any toys, a mix of shreddable and food finding parrot toys. This will keep him from getting easily bored and plucking or over preening. The difference between the two are that shreddables are toys that he can completely destroy which is fun for birds. Food finding toys are ones you can put his treats and pellets inside for him to find. This is something they do in the wild that keeps them busy throughout the entire day – it also helps them learn in the future for when you begin to train him to step up and talk, or anything else you may want to teach your new cockatiel. He will catch on much faster if he is already used to figuring out how to get to his food on a daily basis.

Other than toys, cockatiels need an array of perches with different textures, diameters and more. You can get ones he can chew on such as cuttlebone/calcium perches, sandy ones for his nails and regular wooden ones. You don’t want too much of one or the other as this can cause foot sores and arthritis.?

Rope perches and boings are great for smaller birds, too. In the video above you can see my parakeet’s travel cage has many of them, at least 2 boings. One is white and one is yellow. They are twisty, curvy rope type perches that swirl.

The best way to keep fresh water in your bird’s cage is to use a water bottle and it makes it great for traveling with your bird in the future too (spilling water in a travel cage isn’t that great to live in). You’ll also want to find out if your cockatiel prefers to bathe on his own in a dish inside his cage or if he’s a fan of misting… there are many ways for a bird to bathe so once your determine his preference you can provide him with that accordingly.

Once your cockatiel’s cage looks good enough that you are excited about it, it’s ready for him!

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OMG! I just accidently ripped off my bird’s tail! WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN!?!??!?

I have a conure, which is a small parrot. I was letting her out of her cage and by accident sat on her tail when she was walking around my lap. Since it’s her feathures, neither her nor me noticed that I sat on them.
Then I accidently startled her and she flew off rapidly causing all the feathurs to rip out.

- JayJay

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I’ve seen this happen with Dave and a dove before. This is a defense mechanism that birds have in case they are ever caught by a predator (such as a cat) or other animal that will step on their tails in order to stop them from going anywhere.

You bird is perfectly okay, and it didn’t hurt it but you are going to have to be patient while new feathers come back in and refurbish the place!

Birds have the ability to “release” their tail feathers. They literally just eject them right out so that they can make a clean escape from the situation alive. Your bird might be a little nervous with the idea of you checking out her back end for right now because it wasn’t the most pleasant event to happen… but they will come back in soon enough.

Anytime pressure is on a bird’s tail feathers and they are startled by it – thinking whether or not they will be able to get out of the situation – they are likely to eject the feathers to get out of the situation.

It can be hard to switch your parrot’s diet to organic – some people have it easy and their parrots love it more than the first diet, others really struggle with getting their bird to even look at the new pellet. It’s so important for your bird’s health to be on an organic pellet that I’m going to offer some helpful tips in getting your bird to eat our healthy pellets from Feed Your Flock.

All of my parrots eat this organic pellet. My birds love the fact that he crumbles so easy – parrots love chewing things apart and this pellet allows for that while they eat it. Also, there is no waste from this pellet! You can literally take the broken up bits and mix them into a recipe of birdie bread for your parrot. Birdie bread is a HUGE hit among all pet parrots… all of them love it from budgies to macaws.

You can make your own at home and mix in the organic pellets. This is a great way for your bird to develop a taste for the new pellets while eating something it loves. And yes, there is organic birdie bread, too.

Now, birdie bread is fairly high in fat (averages 15%) so it’s not something you want your bird soley on as their diet but it is a great way to get them to start eating healthy organic pellets so give it a try!

What do I feed?my parrot?

- JC

The true answer to this? No one really knows.

But here is what we do know… we know parrots eat newly sprouted grasses, flowers, clay licks, fresh rain water, fruits, seed, nuts and many other things. They also eat things in the wild that they can’t have in captivity because of the difference in environment. For example, many birds can eat toxic foods because they drink the natural rain water (like distilled water) which carries toxins out of the body, flushing them clean. But people feed their pets tap or bottled water. And it’s not always distilled that carries that magic touch. For instance, there is a substance within trees in the rainforest where the water gathers that toucans drink which carries iron out of their bodies so they can eat bugs and other small mammals higher in iron than their normal fruit diet. We just can’t possibly mimic natural to perfection in captivity… but here is what we can do!

We can feed them foods that are organically grown and as natural as possible. The idea is to stay very close to nature in your feedings. Raw veggies and fruits carry the most nutrients for your bird – so they are getting the most out of them if nothing is cooked. However, sometimes they won’t always go for that.

You can start with a purely organic pellet diet. We started our organic pellet diet due to our rose breasted cockatoo, Bondi, developing some low level foot tapping. As soon as we changed her diet from an all pellet diet that was non-organic, it stopped 24 hours later!

Other important foods in your bird’s diet are things like cooked brown rice, cooked pastas and beans… these foods should be cooked as it gives better texture and there is talk that uncooked pastas and rices will expand in the stomach. Better to be on the safe side if you ask me.

If your bird isn’t taking a liking to healthy foods, try changing the temperature or texture. For example, here are some foods I use as “temporary transitional foods” to get my birds to like the really healthy stuff.

Creamed Corn – This is a great food that birds will normally eat if warmed a little. It gives the texture and temperature of baby bird formula and is easy for them to eat while giving them a taste for corn. Eventually, you can move to corn kernals and then straight corn on the cob!

Mushy Berries – I will take a variety of berries and push them together to make them all mushy and delicious. Something about the texture makes the birds love this – I’ve never had a bird not like it! I normally use blue berries, raspberries, black berries and strawberries.

Sweet Potato – Parrots love these, especially if they’re boiled so they are soft, too. The softer textures seem to really have an impact on getting a bird to try something new. Especially if they are picky.

In the above picture, this was Cressi’ first experience with a boiled sweet potato. There was no looking back!

The advantage with mushy foods is also that you can push treats into them to get your bird to have to dig for the treat they really want, and in the process they get a taste for the healthy stuff. This works great in foods like oatmeal, flowers, wheatgrass, birdie bread, pasta, rice, and more. Get creative!

Your bird should be eating healthier than you – fruits, veggies and even meats if they like it. My birds love a little (cooked) fish or steak here and there. Everything is best served to a parrot plain and bare of any sauces, spices, etc. Keep it as natural as possible. Raw is best, but sometimes you will just need to boil it or cook it (then cool it so there is no burning of the crop) just to get your bird to come around and try it.
Putting healthy foods on birdie kabobs is a great way to make them play with their food and get some in the process. You can fit tons of things on these – celery, olives, bread, and many other fruits and veggies.

So basically? As much organically grown fruits, veggies and meats as possible along with an organic pellet diet. Always consult your local avian specialist on your bird’s specific diet as each species varies and each birds can vary from there. They all have different bodies even if they are the same species – just like humans. The same diet wouldn’t work for all of us or have the same effects on all of us so make sure you are catering to your bird’s body when looking into the proper diet.