Sexing Lovebirds – On the Cheap
About a quarter of all parrots are sexually dimorphic meaning you can tell the sex by the color or markings of the bird or parrot. Green Eclectus parrots are boys, red ones are girls (as a side note as recently as ten or fifteen years ago zoos were placing 2 red Eclectus together hoping for […]
Does the Plethora of Parrot Perches Produce Puzzlement?
We get a lot of inquiries about perches. We also get phone calls on a fairly regular basis that go something like this: “Hi, I’d like to return the perch that I just got from you.” “No problem why’s that, is it defective?”
Avian Respiration Diseases
Anatomy and function The upper respiratory system (URS) consists of the external nares, operculum, nasal concha, infraorbital sinus, and choanal slit. The nares are paired symmetrical openings with an operculum within each. The nares each communicate with the nasal cavity containing the concha. The left and right nasal cavities are separated by a […]
Change Is Essential for Your Bird to Accept It
Editor’s note: you will read these words later in the post: Hi Catherine. Peaches has always been in my small bird room with the cockatiels, lovebirds, Meyers, Quakers, conures, and a very skittish white-capped Pionus I adopted last year. It’s been a long road to get her to accept me. Peaches doesn’t like to be […]
Don’t Tell Your Bird She’s Eating Pellets So She Can Eat Her Pellets
Bird food pellets developed in the late 20th century have been a definite boon to avian nutrition. They offer a fully engineered diet that can be life-sustaining for most birds over decades. Bird food pellets offer the lowest cost per pound/calorie of any food as well as the least mess. The flip side of that is […]
Email archive of Really Useful Tips for Caged Bird Keepers Sent Every Sunday Morning
Holy Crap We Just Rescued 2 More Birds
File under: riding the cosmic coaster About a month after Popcorn had passed Catherine and I made big plans to get a new bird after we launched the new Windy City Parrot. I casually mentioned that I was thinking of an African bird like a Senegal. Sometimes when we get deliveries of bird food a […]
Let’s Place the Burden of Bird Behavior on Humans Not Birds
I had to jump in and provide a voice on the other side. I remember reading this article last month about keeping birds flighted and feeling very conflicted. My friend’s green cheek conure, who often came to visit, was fully flighted, while my own green cheek is not– our respective choices. His bird, despite […]
What Humidifier Is Right for My Bird?
Hi Jo-Anne Keep in mind there is not a lot of Teflon in humidifiers most are more metal and plastic but if you’re not sure check with the manufacturer. While most studies indicate that PTFEs & PFOAs off-gas at temperatures above 500 degrees Fahrenheit, there is information that some formulations will off-gas between 360 […]
Proper Bird and Parrot Cage Placement
One of the first things I evaluate with a problem bird is their cage. Where it is located, size, shape, and how it is set up. Many behavior problems can be attributed to having your parrot in improper surroundings. Their cage should be a safe haven for them with plenty of things to keep them […]