Rose Breasted Cockatoo

Your best chance at a healthy and successful diet for your parrot is in the variety of foods you put in her bowl. By rotating the different foods available in the different food groups such as vegetables, fruits and grains, you increase the chances of hitting upon just the right combination, at the right time, for your individual bird.
In the wild, some birds will dine on the same food source for weeks until it is used up, or gone out of season. They then move on to another food. In our homes, birds don’t have the luxury of choice. They get what we serve, and may not always be what they need at that time.

Every species has different requirements for their diet. A macaw needs a diet that is lower in protein and higher in fat than a cockatoo who requires the opposite. Amazons need abundant vitamin A, african greys need calcium, and so on. Even this is a generalization. Within the macaw family, for instance, the hyacinth needs an even higher fat percentage than the average blue and gold. To further complicate things, each individual bird has nutritional needs unique only to them.
This creates a lot of challenges for parrot owners. Since we aren’t able to determine the exact set of needs in a particular bird, and since you will never hear your bird say “Polly want a vitamin D3 supplement”, there’s a lot of guess work involved. The best way to cover all the bases is to offer a bit of everything. Your bird knows what she needs. When she goes through a picky phase, she may be telling you that she needs a change in her diet.

Try stepping outside your comfort zone by trying veggies that you are unfamiliar with. I had no idea what bok choy or kohlrabi was before I had parrots. Throw in the left over parsley. Serve whole carrots and beets with the tops attached. Give a piece of whole grain toast for breakfast, or with peanut butter later in the day for a snack. Has your bird ever tried a parsnip? Mine love them. Try to change the menu as often as possible and include as many foods from as many groups as you can.Your bird will have a healthier diet and be more willing to try new foods in the future.

Blue and gold macaw, Scarlet macaws

There are any number of things wafting through the air in a home where a bird lives.  Dust, dander, seed hulls and even airborne particles of dried poop occupy more than just the the immediate air space. It settles on and into everything creating the need for a higher standard of hygiene. Floor or ceiling fans and open windows seem to aggravate the problem more than solve it as it blows the settled dust back into the air.  Some of the better home air conditioning systems will trap a great deal in its filters, the rest just lies there in the vents.
Whether you need to invest in air filtration depends on your circumstances.  If you have multiple birds, have a few birds that you live in close proximity to or if you have allergies, I would recommend a good air purifier.
Among the dustiest birds are the cockatoo, the cockatiel and the african grey.They all produce a powder down that is finer in texture and more difficult to deal with, leaving a white film over anything that it lands on, in which you can write your name after a few days, if that interests you.  If you have one or more of these birds (I have 4) a separate air filtration unit is your best bet to ensure good air quality in your home for both you AND your birds.
It’s important to note here that it is not recommended that you house any of these dusty birds near your macaws, especially the blue and gold, who are very susceptible to a respiratory disease called Pulmonary Hypersensitivity Syndrome resulting from poor air quality which has led to deaths in the blue and gold and some other macaw species.  Further, Birdkeeper’s Lung is a human disease that can come from the inhalation of bird dander and other related particulates over a prolonged period of time. The particulates infiltrate the small air sacs in the lungs causing inflammation.  As exposure continues, the lungs lose their capacity and the damage as irreparable. It has also led to deaths.  Although macaws have different respiratory systems than humans, the outcome is basically the same.
pet dander

There are several different types of air filtration available. When you live with birds, a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter is really what works best, since particulates are the main offenders. They range in cost from about $70 to $500+.  The economical shopper is saying: “Where do I get the $70 one.”  Before you run out to Target, let me point out that you will not really be saving money with these inexpensive units. Besides being questionable in their ability to really clean the air, they have filters that require constant replacement, mostly because they aren’t very good filters to start with. The cost builds up.  And with birds, the filters need changing more often than recommended. Try to remember that the point of this is clean lungs.
Avoid anything ionic. These purifiers create ozone in dangerous amounts.  In fact, The Sharper Image, who created the Ionic Breeze recently faced a huge class action lawsuit for knowingly deceiving the public as to just how much ozone was manufactured with the use of their product. I know this because it was the first air purifier I bought, and threw out.

Following this, I contacted my friends with multiple birds and asked them what they use.  Most referred me to the Austin Allergy Jr.  One person told me hers had been running 24/7 for 14 years and works as well as the day she got it. I bought one and LOVE it. There’s no question as to how well it’s working, I know it’s doing its job.
The unit I have cost about $300.  In a non-bird household, the filter, which you will vacuum with your upholstery brush a couple of times a week to clean, needs to be replaced every 3 years (they cost about $125). With multiple birds, you will want to replace it more often.  I replace mine about every 18 to 24 months because I have several of the most dusty birds.
When buying an air purifier, look for companies talking about the filtration.  Forget about how pretty it looks in the wood cabinet, chances are more time was spent on that design.  All that matters is how well it cleans the air.  Mine incorporates a HEGA (High Efficiency Gas Air) filter that removes allergens, chemicals and gases from the air.  It also removes, bacterias, germs, molds and smoke among other things.  Air is filtered from all sides of the unit.  If you’re going to buy an expensive unit, compared with the $70 ones, it should do all of these things.

Congo African Grey Parrot

There are countless sources of information about parrots online.  There are online forums and web pages that are dedicated solely to the specific bird you are looking for.  There are sites for conures, macaws,  cockatoos, eclectus, you name it.  Within each group you can learn the habits of the individual species.

The behavior differences between a macaw and a cockatoo are enormous, but even within a family of birds, different species behave differently.  For instance, the goffins cockatoo species is entirely different from the umbrella cockatoo.  Then when you throw in the independent personalities of each bird, there’s a lot to consider before you buy.  If you do your homework by looking into the natural inclinations and behaviors of a species that you are interested in, you are less likely to have a parrot that doesn’t fit in your household.

Ask yourself these question.  Within each question are more question to break it down further.  I will use a “typical” african grey as an example of how this species might or might not work in different households:

Congo African Grey Parrot

1.  Which parrot will fit with my my lifestyle?

• Do you live in a noisy, chaotic home that is filled with children and other pets? This may not be the best environment for the typical african grey, which has a tendency towards fearfulness.  A calm home that is not full of surprises is a better match.
• Do you live in an apartment or have neighbors in nearby? Since they are not considered to be loud parrots, african greys are great apartment birds.  This is not to say that they can’t raise the roof, it’s that they generally don’t choose to.  Be prepared for morning and evening vocalizations with whatever species you select.
• Do you work out of your home? This is the ideal situation for an african grey.  Since they are quiet(ish) as parrots go, you can go about your paperwork and phone calls without much interruption.  And your bird will get to have you around all day!

2.  What kind of owner am I going to be?

• Are you looking for a bird that might talk? Needless to say, the african grey is at the head of the classwith its ability to talk and comprehend.  Know, however, that yours may not.  Some prefer to imitate sounds  like the telephone, car alarms, kitchen timers, dripping faucets, and the alien spacecraft that apparently landed in your backyard recently.  (Half the fun in this is trying to identify the sounds and figure out where he picked them up.)
• Do you want a bird that enjoys being handled? Not all greys like to be handled. While there are some snugglers out there, this is not a typical trait.  Some prefer to watch from a distance.
• Will you make time to devote to a pet that requires a lot of care and interaction in order to thrive? The african grey is very intelligent and perceptive, perhaps even hyper-aware of its environment.  It requires a lot of interaction and needs to be included in the life and energy of its owner.
• Can you bring up a parrot the right way? African greys are are no different than other species in their need to be well-adjusted.  How your bird behaves in general depends on being taught him how to play independently to occupy his time on his own.  A parrot that feels bonded to its people, and has a sense of security, will find no need to play attention getting games.

Congo African Grey Parrot

There are many more questions to ask with regards to your environment and level of care you are willing to give.  There are some situations that are preferred for this particular species, but it will vary from bird to bird.  I know greys that are quite outgoing and love a house filled with craziness.  I know one that has never uttered a word or imitated a sound.  Some prefer multi-bird homes, others prefer to be the only child.  Your birds personality plays a big role in how well it will adapt, but knowing the probabilities will help you make the right selection.

After you’ve done all your research and found a great species match and your cockatoo turns out not to be a snuggler, or your cockatiel  prefers to hang out in its cage instead of in the family room, will you be accepting of that?

Military Macaw

My work days are sometimes very long and it often feels like bedtime the minute I get home.  I want to have plenty of time to spend with my birds since that is the highlight to my days.  Bird related chores and meal preparation sometimes cuts into our fun-time so I try to get these things done with the most efficiency possible.

I want my birds to have fresh foods everyday, but there are some mornings when I know that I will be running against the clock and 20 or so  minutes of washing and chopping just won’t fit into the schedule, especially when the chopping has to accommodate 4 different sizes of birds.  These are the days when I have to rely on what I have in the freezer.  I try to always have a stock of frozen meals prepared that require only that I remember to put them into the refrigerator for thawing the night before.  Not only do these meals offer convenience and big savings, but they add variety to the menu.

15 Bean Soup Mix: In the dried bean section of your supermarket, you will find 20 oz packages of 15 bean soup mixes.  It makes an awesome slow cooked soup.  Quite often, though, I will buy a package that I use only for the birds.  The greatest thing about these packages is it gives me a huge variety of beans in a not so huge quantity – just enough to cook and freeze without any spoilage.  The packages contain different kinds of kidney, lima, black, navy, and pinto beans, split peas, black eyed peas, lentils and more.  I soak the beans overnight, rinsing a few times before I go to bed and then again in the morning.  I fill the pot up with fresh water and cook them for about 40 minutes until they are tender.  Small birds have no trouble biting into the whole cooked beans.

Multi Veggie Chopped Mix: You can get really creative with this.  With a small food processor and a variety of raw veggies you can make the most nutritionally complete and economical meals for your birds.  Simply mince the foods and put them into a fine mesh strainer so that excess liquids can drain out (it will freeze and keep better).  There is no limit to the number of veggies you can use in a single batch, in fact, the more the better.  Sprouts and cooked grains also mix in perfectly. Try adding parsley, carrot tops and cilantro…use your imagination!  The more things you add, the better balance this diet will offer.

The best thing about this mix is that since the foods are chopped so small, they will often eat things they didn’t intend to because the foods will cling to one another, which will sometimes add a new option for foods they will eat and enjoy.  And it’s cut small enough to work for any sized birds from a parakeet to a macaw. I have a couple of birds that don’t care for celery, green peppers, or garlic.  I  don’t add these to the mix, only because they are so strong in flavor that they tend to permeate the rest of the mix and have caused these birds to turn down the entire meal.  Sometimes I will freeze these foods separately for those who appreciate them.  I know many people who serve their chopped mix everyday.  If your parrots love it, it will provide them with a nutritious and varied meal.

Rose Breasted Cockatoos

Freezing And Thawing The Meals: A Seal-A-Meal type of vacuum sealer works great for these meals, but Ziplock freezer bags work fine too.  Since my birds all get fed the same thing everyday, I put enough into each bag to serve them all, but the serving sizes can vary however you need them to.  As I mentioned, the dryer the chopped mix is, the longer is will last in the freezer, so drain it well before bagging it.

As long as you get as much air out of the bag as possible. the meals will last 3-6 months in the freezer.  The trick is to remove as much air from the bag as possible to avoid freezer burn.  Linus, my umbrella cockatoo, bit through the cord of my unplugged Seal-A-Meal a couple of years ago and I have yet to replace it.  So I resort to a trick my mother taught me years ago, although, I laughed at the time.

When I was a kid, my parents had a deep freezer, which is a freezer that maintains a temperature below 0 degrees, as compared to the  below 32 degrees that regular freezers are kept at.  Being one of six kids, my parent learned to shop economically, buying larger quantities of food for less and storing it in the deep freezer.  Since, unlike the freezer in the kitchen which was opened and closed constantly, the deep freezer was only opened for the retrieval of food for dinner, and everything kept beautifully.

Long before the invention of vacuum sealers, my mom figured out that the foods kept better if air was eliminated from the bags.  I remember watching her process of preparing the food for the deep freeze.  She would seal off a plastic bag, except for about a 1/2 inch in the corner, with the edge of a  cool iron.  Then she inserted a straw, sucked out the air, and managed to seal off the remaining 1/2 inch without letting more air into the bag.  Pure genius.  Of course, her technique was revised with the invention of  Ziplock bags.  As much as I giggled at her, it worked, still does.  Of course, you have to be careful to suck the air out, and not blow your germs in all over the food!

She also taught me to wash and reuse the Ziplock bags.  I go through a number of them, and this alone has saved me a ton of money.  Just be sure to dry them thoroughly before your store them for re-use.

Thawing your parrot meals is easy.  Just take the bag and place it in the refrigerator overnight.  The pieces are tiny and will thaw quickly, even in the fridge, and once thawed they will keep there until you serve them in the morning.  Sometimes, I will pop them into the microwave for a few seconds to take the chill off.  Make sure you stir the mix or beans up well so there are no hot spots.

Less time we spend in the kitchen means more time for fun with the birds!

Quaker Parrot

There was a family that lived near me in Austin that had a large front yard that always seemed to be filled with playing children and puppies.  It seemed like several times a year this family was enjoying a new, cute, fluffy little playmate, and it occured to me at some point that I never saw any grown dogs.

One day, when I was walking by the house, I struck up a conversation with one the adults.  I told her how cute all the puppies I’ve seen there have been and asked where all the rest of the dogs were.  She told me that she wouldn’t let her children play with grown dogs because she thought they were too dangerous for them.  Again, I asked her where she kept the dogs, and she said:  “Oh, we don’t keep them when they’re not puppies anymore.”  I asked her:  “Where do you bring them?”  hoping I was not going to get the answer I feared.  “Hill Country.”  she said.

Just so you know, Hill Country is not the name of a 5 star hotel for dogs.  It is the wooded, rural area outside of Austin city limits, where people like her routinely drop off unwanted pets.  I was having a hard time keeping my temper in check but managed to stay calm as I said:  “And that’s okay with you to leave an animal out there to die?”  She snickered at me and said:  “They’re wild animals.  They can fend for themselves.”  The conversation deteriorated rapidly after that point.

Over the course of several centuries, man has bred dogs to adapt to our environment, making the woods as foreign to them as it is to us.  With no wild dogs around to teach them to locate a food source, these poor, once loved dogs died a slow, lingering death either of starvation or a combination of that and exposure to the elements.

Amazon Parrot

Which brings us to parrots, and the people who would toss their birds out the front door when they have had enough of the noise, the mess or the financial strain. I would prefer to see a bird euthanized, than suffer the fate of those who have been thrown away.

Some people feel that their bird would live a better life if it were free.  I understand this feeling.  There are times when one of my flock is hollering for something, and I, as a human, can’t figure out what it wants.  There are times when they want to come out and play as I am running out the door to work.  I get a case of the guilts often.  Let me assure you, though, that the only chance of survival your released parrot will have is by the intervention of another human, and another cage.

Parrots are not domesticated and still have their wild instincts intact, this is true.  However, in order for your parrot to survive in the great outdoors, it must find another of its OWN SPECIES, if it is lucky enough to be accepted, to show him what and where the possible food sources are.  Wild parrots learn everything they know from their parents and other flock members: what is food and that which is poisonous, how and where to stay warm and safe from predators.  None of these things are hard wired into them, especially if they were captive bred.  Those parrots that were wild caught are no longer in their native land where food sources might be familiar.  They have to find new things to eat that will satisfy their dietary needs, and this requires the help of an experienced bird.

Another huge consideration is the climate.  Our parrots have adapted to the temperatures of our homes and its feathers grow in to insulate it for those temperatures and conditions.  If you were to release your bird in the dead of winter, or the scorching heat of summer, it would likely not last long.

Mitred Conure

There are flocks of feral quakers and mitered conures scattered throught the US whom have learned to adapt and survive in our country.  These are hardy species who have manged to gather into flocks.  The quakers can be found in the harsh temperatures of the northeast.  Others species of parrots are not as adaptable in these conditions.  The white cockatoos, for instance, do not do as well in the cold as the others in that family.

Several years ago, there were a few different groups of people who released small flocks of parrots (african greys and macaws), with the well intentioned idea of creating larger wild flocks.  They thought it would be wonderful to adapt these species to a wild life in North America.  Not one of these birds was seen again after several days.  With any luck, they located sympathetic humans who took them in.

In the best of situations, where habitat is not being destroyed, life in the wild is no picnic.  It is a continual search for food and nesting spots, under the constant threat of predator attack, in all types of bad weather.  With disease, parasites and daily stresses, and no access to vet care, a wild parrot’s life span is notably shorter than that of their captive counterparts.

If you are unable to cope with your parrots needs, or have the feeling that yours is not thriving in your home, call a rescue for help.  Not only is it illegal to release a non-native species into the wild, but your parrot cannot, and will not, survive.

Camelot Macaws

Parrots need tons of baths, I can’t ever say that enough! As much as they’re willing to take them, you should offer them. While touring around and being on the road, it is hard to find time to jump out and bathe our birds. However, our tent set up has really simplified that. As well as our newer permanent aviary set up since they can get the natural rain from it should they choose to.

But when we didn’t have that set up, I was using our tent and would bring 4 birds at a time into it and bring out the spray bottle. If one bird got into it, the others would more than likely to join in which made the only problem… running out of water!

My camelot macaws, Comet and Tusa, were the first to take a bath once we joined the circus and parked at the Tampa fairgrounds for rehearsals.

Camelot Macaws

Many birds like to drink out of the water/spray bottles and this helps them get into the mood of taking a bath. Not only is natural sunlight a big deal when keeping their plumage healthy, but regular bathing is JUST as important too. You have to make time to give your birds lots of baths to keep them as healthy as possible.

Here are some tips on bathing your bird:

1. Birds are more likely to bathe when it’s warm out
2. It can get a parrot in the mood to bathe when they hear water running (ie: rain)
3. Try different temperatures of water; warm vs. cold as some birds have a specific preference
4. I prefer bathing my birds outside when it’s sunny out so they can dry off naturally and in a warmer environment. The wind also helps take unneeded feathers away during the drying off/preening process
5. Regular baths help reduce and even cure plucking in some parrots