Even if you are very careful with your own birds and make all necessary precautions to keep smoke, teflon, chocolate, avacado, and other deadly substances away from your bird, it’s a whole other story if you have unfamiliar people involved.

In my household everything is basically bird proof and I begin to take it for granted. I don’t have any teflon pans, no avacados, chocloate is put away, no ceiling fans, no toxis plants, controlled drafts, bathroom doors always closed, two doors to go outside of the house, no other pets, etc. I have all the necessary precautions for living with a flighted bird safely.

I started to realize the important of remembering what kinds of precautions are necessary again when I started taking my birds to other people’s houses for visits. What really got me thinking about it was when I saw other people using teflon pans. Because I got rid of all of mine, I no longer even think if pans are safe or not for birds. But in other people’s houses I have to make better precautions with my birds like leaving them outside while folks are cooking and watching that the pans are not overheated.

Here are some other concerns to keep in mind if you take your bird to other people’s houses or have other people visit you. For some reason or another it seems like people are obsessed with sneaking food to your pet. They think they are doing it a favor. Yet they don’t know what they are giving it and what kind of diet the bird is on etc. They may have seen you feed food from the table to the bird and try to do that too. Who knows when someone may decide to sneak a chocolate chip cookie over to your bird thinking that polly must love cookies. Or they could just be interrupting your training diet or food regime.

Some people like to try to pet your bird through the bars or when it is out not realizing it will bite them. Some people might decide your bird is lonely in its carrier and let it out only to have it fly all over the place or cause trouble. Other times you might just run into issues like the other person’s house having mirrors that confuse the bird, ceiling fans, or other things that it may not be used to in a “bird safe” environment. The whole point of taking it to the stranger’s house is to socialize it and desensitize it to things like this but it is important to do so slowly and in a controlled manner.

It is not always possible or practical to try to educate everyone that is near your bird so it’s just more important to keep the bird near you at all times. Unlike in your own household you cannot change the environment or lifestyle to suit your birds so it is important to be aware of the dangers and keeping your birds away from them.

If you’re visiting a household with a lot of people or people who are too nosy, you might want to go to the further precaution of putting a lock on the carrier, and putting some signs on your carrier like “Do not feed” and “Don’t stick fingers inside of cage, bird bites.” I just know from some of my outings with my birds that if they weren’t under my immediate attention all the time, the people I was visiting might have messed around them the wrong way too much.

Warning: You should always take your bird outside on a harness or tether unless it has been properly trained for outside un-tethered interaction by a professional.

If you have a brand new bird that is not accustomed to petting or if yours loves it and is demanding about it, here are some tips for you.

If your bird does not let you pet it doesn’t mean you can’t use a little bit of training to allow you to do it. There is no guarantee whether your bird will like it or not. There is a good chance that it will but needs to give you the chance to do it. If you try to force pet a fearful or aggressive bird, it will only worsen the situation. Of course you may feel that if you just do it, the bird can enjoy it but the fact of the matter is that if you do it in an unpleasant way, the bird will never trust you like that.

One thing to consider is scale. While you may be able to use your entire hand on a macaw, only a few fingers would be more suitable for a Senegal Parrot. On the other hand, with a budgie even one finger can seem large and intimidating. Scale wise a finger might be like getting pet with a first for a budgie. So definitely try to not be too big to the bird when you touch it.

It is likely that the bird does not want to be touched on its wings, legs, or tail. They can preen/scratch all of those areas themselves so they don’t need or want your touch there. However, they cannot reach their own heads and necks. In the wild birds all preen each other as both a convenience and a socialization ritual. Usually birds allow others to preen them as a sign of social acceptance. So of course your bond with the bird can be reinforced by petting its head and neck.

So if you have never pet your bird before, you will want to see how close you can get and try to see if it will accept petting or not. What I often do with a bird I’m unfamiliar with is put my hand about 12 inches over its head and see if it is calm or really agitated. Unless the bird looks like its ready to bite, I will inch in a little at a time and see its comfort level. If it looks more relaxed, I go a bit closer. Within the last few inches is the deciding point. Now it can reach your hand and bite you. If the bird’s head is still down, it is most likely safe to proceed. If it’s beak is practically on your hands then a bite is likely and continuing will only agitate the bird and it won’t be able to enjoy being pet.

One way I’ve taught birds to accept petting initially (to introduce them to it so they could realize they like it) is by cuing them to do a trick. While I am rewarding the bird for doing the trick I hold my hand closer and closer to its head with consecutive rewards. So on the first reward, while the bird is eating out of my left hand, I will put my right hand a certain distance away that the bird does not get distracted and continues eating. If the bird keeps looking at my hand rather then eating, then it is uncomfortable and I back off a little. I continue this until I can get close enough to touch and the first few times I just touch and don’t pet. Finally once I can definitely touch while it is eating, I start gently stroking the feathers. Once the bird seems more comfortable with petting while being fed, I start phasing out the feeding and just offering petting on occasion.

Now on the other side of the spectrum is a parrot the likes getting pet so much that it will bite you until you do it. This is unacceptable behavior and absolutely should not be rewarded with the action the parrot desires. In this case I try to change the petting request language from bite to a trick behavior. For instance cue the parrot to wave and when it does, you reward it with some head petting. Not only does this give you an alternate treat to use to food, it also teaches the parrot to do tricks instead of biting to get pet.

In this video you can also see that I created a pseudo cue for accepting petting for my parrot. I had two issues with her. First off, she would nip my fingers if I didn’t pet her the way she wanted. Second, I often get requests from children to pet her and even if she looks like she will let them, I am worried about her changing her mind and biting them. So what I started to do is to hold her beak whenever I pet her. She wants the petting so she doesn’t mind the beak hold but for me it guarantees that she can’t nip me because I got her. Now when I let others pet her, I hold her beak. This way I know that she can’t bite and if anything it will be me and not a little child petting her.

Usually I either lean the thumb of the same hand I pet her with on top of her beak or I hold her beak between my fingers on the hand she is perches on. This guarantees me that she won’t nip or bite and also it signals to her that enjoyable petting is on its way for her. This way when I want to give other people an opportunity to pet her, I just hold her beak. This signals to the bird that she is going to be pet and takes her mind and worry off that stranger because I just told her that petting is coming and not harm. She lets them pet her and probably won’t bite them because she knows a good thing is coming. And as backup, I got her beak so I know exactly where it is!

Cleaning cage bare, removed all toys and perches.

I started by removing absolutely everything from the cage including bowls, toys, and perches. I got a bucket of hot water that I mixed dish soap and a little Clorox into. I cannot endorse this cleaning method in any way and don’t have a strong justification for this over other methods so it isn’t really relevant, tested, or proven. Substitute whatever cleaning agent you choose to use. Because of my own doubts about the validity of any cleaning solution for bird cages, I just try to use something mild and then rinse very thoroughly to leave no trace. I only use soap on the cage this way about quarterly. Other times I just clean with water and wiping.

Thoroughly washing cage out in bathtub.

Once I get started it’s easier to just keep going and clean everything all at once. Taking the time to do it, preparing the solution, getting wet, and working on it just makes more sense to do all bird stuff together. Usually I team up with my girlfriend and we can get things done much quicker by delegating responsibilities. She will soap and rinse everything in the bathtub while I take cages apart, deliver the parts, and dry thing when she finishes washing.

Washing out climbing tree.

We wash all perches, ladders, grates, and cages this way. I even shower out her climbing tree like this once in a while. It may be easier to hose down cages but since I don’t have access to a hose, doing it in the bathtub is the next best way. Since the perches soak in water and the birds chew them actively, I am especially careful at rinsing them out thoroughly and wiping away any trace of chemicals. Since my Senegal parrot’s cage is bulky, I normally wash it on the spot but the budgie cage easily fits in the tub. However, I’ve decided that once a year I will lug that big cage to the bathroom and stick it in the tub and clean it out completely. It was a bit of work but now the cage looks like new so I think it was worth it.

New cage layout after rearranging.

Since I neither remember nor care about restoring the previous cage layout, I use cage cleanings as a reason for rearranging the cage anew every time. I layout all available perches and swings from my small collection and pick the ones I want to use this time. I always try to arrange the cage differently. If the perches ran across last time, I try to run them depth wise this time. If the last time she had a swing, this time I put a spiral rope. By constantly changing the cage layout, it helps relieve territorial aggression, it keeps the bird challenged, and it makes the bird accustomed to changes. I am confident that if I had to replace her cage or move to another home, she would have no trouble adapting.

While I was arranging the new layout, I let my parrot watch from her carrier. I had to put her in there or she would fly over to check it out every 3 seconds and wouldn’t let me work. So she watched intently and when it was finished I put her in. Rather than panicking, biting, or getting shy as many unaccustomed parrots would have been, she was immediately excited. Her eyes lit up and she looked like a little boy on his birthday opening presents. She just had to climb on every perch, check out every toy, chew on every piece of wood. I know many parrots could have a panic attack from these alterations but if next time you get a bird, you keep this in mind and build this kind of relationship with novelty from the start, you can have a parrot that is  very open to change. And instead of causing them grief, you can give them pleasure in getting new toys and an exciting new cage layout.

Bond With Your Significant Other Through Your Birds

Together with our birds

Previously I wrote about bonding with family by having a separate bird for each member. This article is a bit of a personal story about bonding with my girlfriend, Kathleen, while also having a great time with our birds. Perhaps this will help you spend more time and your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, friends, or family as well as your birds by making it a conjoined effort.

Originally I had my Senegal Parrot, Kili. Unfortunately, Kathleen was not taking much interest in the bird and did not handle it much. She was afraid of being bit and did not know how to handle the parrot. Once in a while she might cue a trick but there was no real connection. Also it almost felt like the parrot was getting between me and my girlfriend because several times a day I would try to spend time with my bird, clean, and train it. Also, Kathleen was getting between me and Kili which would drive Kili’s jealousy and aggression toward Kathleen.

At first I tried to involved Kathleen with Kili more but it did not really work too well because Kathleen is scared of getting bitten and did not want to have to do extra chores like cage cleaning for a bird that wasn’t even hers. I did try to get Kathleen more involved but the distinction of Kili being my bird was more obvious than just my responsibility for her, she also is clearly bonded to me and doesn’t like being handled by others. While I could see Kathleen’s subtle interest in parrots and parrot training, I could also see her disappointment and distance when it came to my bird.

So I tried a different idea. I took Kathleen to the bird store and let her pick out a bird. We were in no way prepared to commit to a large or noisy bird at the time. You see Kathleen is away for weekdays and visits me on weekends most of the year but lives the summers with me, this is why I could not allow her to have an overly demanding bird because I would have to be taking care of it half the time. Naturally the bird would have to be smaller than a Senegal Parrot and cheaper too. I could not afford another bird like that and there was really no need. To help Kathleen overcome her fear of birds, something small and cuddly was the answer. So it came down to getting a budgerigar.

Duke, all white dark eyed clear budgie

Kathleen picked a shy looking little white one. He seemed to be bullied on by the other budgies in the tank but this was probably cause he was smaller and younger. He wasn’t so shy anymore when I reached my hand into the tank to try to take him out. He kept running around and slipping out of my hands every time I’d try to get him. Finally when I did get him out he slipped out of my hands again and jumped to the floor. When I picked him up off the floor he continued to bite me repeatedly. I had no idea that a little budgie that size could hurt from biting but they do it repeatedly and dig under the skin. Didn’t seem all that hand tame for a “hand raised” budgie. I think in the case of these budgies, hand raised really just means not parent raised because they were not tame at all. The “hand raised” larger parrots I’ve experienced are far tamer and friendly around people.

On the drive home we contemplated possible names for our new little feathered companion. Most of them we tried to allude to his all white feathers. You see, this little guy is a very special mutation of budgie. Normally in the wild they are green with yellow but there are special captive bred mutations. However, he is not an albino which is evident by his dark eyes. Instead he is a dark eyed clear which is a blue and white budgie minus all the blue. We ended up on the name Duke, alluding to his all white feathers carrying a regal sort of nature and also the Genesis album, Duke.

Kathleen with Duke

Almost immediately she fell in love with Duke whom I affectionately refer to as “a little mouse with wings.” Taming and training began from the first day home. We wanted him to be used to hands first and foremost because he’d have all the time in the world to get accustomed to his cage. Kathleen got to taming him and was not afraid of his bite. She was able to overcome fear of getting bit by him and nearly as quickly Duke overcame his fear of being grabbed by her. Kathleen followed up on this by teaching him his first tricks: target, turn around, jump through ring.

Kathleen Training Duke

Finally Kathleen had something to do involving birds and felt a part of the experience. While I would spend time petting Kili, Kathleen has Duke to pet. When I train Kili, Kathleen can spend time with Duke. While I work on cleaning Kili’s cage, Kathleen cleans Duke’s, etc. So instead of having periods of time when I would be with my bird and my girlfriend alone, now we both spend time with our birds together. Bird time also became a bonding time for our relationship as well. In effect we spend more time together by spending time with our birds. It even makes mundane things like cage cleaning more fun because we can talk and spend time together in the process. Things get done this way because we watch out for each other and the birds.

Love Birds

Sometimes it may take getting another bird to draw someone into being involved with the whole bird owning lifestyle. It makes sacrifices for the sake of birds more reasonable as well when everyone has a bird they are responsible (like no teflon, chocolate, plants, etc). By giving someone a bird, you give them the responsibility but also the fantastic feeling of being loved by their bird.

I had about 5 incidents where I would be sitting around and hearing weird sounds coming from my bird’s cage area which is out of sight. When I heard the sound of clanging and newspaper tearing, I was certain that something was wrong. I know that there is no way for her to reach the newspapers in her cage because the grate separates her area from the poop pan. However, on top of the cage is a perch and poop pan under that. So by hearing newspaper shredding, I knew she was on top of her cage. She had to have climbed out on her own because I never leave her up there unattended.

I went over to investigate and sure enough she was on top of the cage. The cage door was closed and latched by two independent latching mechanisms so no sign of break out on the main cage door. Both food access doors were closed. But wait a minute, the mastermind criminal had left a clue! The latch on one of the food bin doors was not in the closed position. A little green feather provided further evidence and helped to link the perpetrator.

Evidence left behind at the scene of the crime by the perpetrator

The first time this happened, I wondered how I could have forgotten to close the food doors properly. By the second or third time, I swore that I would be careful to always double checking locking those food doors. By the 5th time it happened, I knew that my parrot was an escape artist.

This is what I think happened:

Opening the food door

The Escape

Making a break for it

Victory Dance

My first instinct was to blame the cage. Blaming the bird, I knew, would be pointless because there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop her from being mischievous. Furthermore, she has all day to herself in the cage to contemplate her escape. And it’s not that she doesn’t like to be in her cage or that there is anything all the interesting on top of the cage, but she just likes to cause trouble. My biggest worry is that she could try to get out some time that I am not home (particularly if I go away a few days) and that she could not get back in and be deprived access to food and water. So I blamed the cage design and decided to look at other cage alternatives and see if they could provide me with either an idea to fix the cage or replace it all together. I found some cages to have a piece of sheet metal block the bars to the latch so that the bird could not reach it, however it did not block access from the other side (the side I suspect she pushed the latch open on). Other cages had gravity assisted flaps that fall locked when the door is closed. Kili’s cage has that as a backup for the main latch on the front door (this is great because there’s no way she can work both latches at once). The woman at the store told me that those aren’t very good and that birds figure out how to swing those latches open easily. I could not find a suitable cage alteration to prevent this from occurring again. I am irritated that the cage manufacturers (even for the good cages) would not have enough sense to make a bird proof door. They did realize the need to make two latches for the front door, leaving escape options to the food doors. If the food doors had an identical mechanism to the front door, all problems would be solved, but they don’t,

So I set off to make my own amends. I considered finding a strap, luggage lock, or other device to add to prevent the door from being opened if the latch were undone. I didn’t want to make it so difficult that I would have to waste a lot of time working it to get it open every time I had to change food. One day I was looking at the metal pieces we use to hand bird toys and thought bingo! It would have to be like that but on a quick spring latch rather than a rotating bolt fixture. So I went to a hardware store and looked for small carabine that I could use. They weren’t small enough in hardware so I looked in key chains. I picked a couple up but they turned out to be too big because the door could open a few inches before they hit the carabine to stop. This could leave a gap of several inches and probably pose a greater danger to the bird than getting out alltogether. Instead I got a spring loaded key chain gadget which worked out perfectly! It is quick to open, simple press down on the lever and it releases. But yet on the bird side, there is nothing it can do to open it. It’s made of metal so the bird cannot chew it up or destroy it (I avoided the plastic ones). Now, opening the food doors is a two step process, however I can have the piece of mind to know that the bird won’t me in danger of getting out. Originally I worried about having to replace the cage alltogether because of the security breach, and instead I found a great solution for $3. While her chances of getting out with the latch were already fairly small, undoing two separate devices is close to impossible, especially because the key chain is spring loaded and would spring back shut upon release. Case closed.

The solution

The culprit locked away behind bars with no chance of escape!

Warning: Observe how your bird is acting around the lock as you do not want your bird too interactive with it. This lock may or may not work for your bird and you may look to other types of locks that your bird will leave alone rather than show interest in. Kili did not show any interest in playing with this lock, but other birds may react differently.

Previously, I have written about the pros/cons of cutting vs. filing parrot nails and about how to file parrot nails. This post will cover how to file the parrot’s beak. Any place I talk about filing beak or nails, filing can be substituted with cutting. But extra care needs to be taken because cutting too much can cause bleeding and there is a higher risk of cutting the bird or yourself. Personally, I recommend taking your bird to a vet or specialist for getting beak/nails cut but to practice by filing them yourself. If you become very proficient at filing your bird’s beak and nails, then you can use the same grip and technique but with a clipper in your hand instead of a file.

Hold parrot on it back with your thumb under mandible and forefinger over maxilla to keep beak shut

So to file a small bird, hold the bird in the palm of your left hand belly up. Put your thumb around the bird’s beck just under the mandible. Apply a small down and upward pressure. This keeps the bird from dropping its jaw while you are filing. Use your forefinger to apply a slight downward pressure on the bird’s maxilla to keep it from being able to open it’s beak. Also this finger holds the head and prevents the bird from turning.

Pass the file across the beak but be careful not to catch tongue

Now you are ready to apply the file. Using your right hand, file across the tip of the maxilla with large motions on the file but not too much pressure. After a few strokes you should be able to see the tip begin to dull out a bit. I recommend approximately a dozen strokes but it depends on how long you can hold the bird and how sharp the beak is. It is better to do a bit less and try another filing session later than over stressing your bird.

After completing the filing, give your bird a treat if it wants it and then relax/reward it by cuddling or putting on your shoulder.

I have been told that not all parrots require beak trimming and that excessive trimming can easily cause pain to the bird as there are nerve endings in the beak itself. You should consult a vet prior to taking it upon yourself to trim your birds beak. Finally, if your bird does require trimming, be careful to never trim too deep. Birds with seriously overgrown beaks could be an indicator of a health problem so take them to the vet. My advice is strictly limited to the technique I use to file my bird’s beak and how it can be done in similarly sized birds that require trimming.