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Using Weight to Diagnose Bird Illness
Weighing your bird weekly is the best way to detect illness early. Birds are great at hiding illness and rapid weight change is a positive indicator that your bird needs…
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What You Might Not Know About Bird Lungs
& How They Make Your Bird 1st Cousin To A Crocodile
Last week we chatted about a macaw and the demise of its human lungs. It’s unfortunate but sometimes we are more concerned with our bird’s health than random human beings and I get that so let’s spin 180° and talk about respiratory issues that our birds may have,
First a Popcorn update – this is what you look for in a vet:
Young smiling male seller showing cage with canary bird to girl in pet shop
Ten Things to Consider Before Getting a First Bird
or adding another parrot to your life
Taking care of a parrot is a lot of responsibility. Most of you already know this but a few may not.
Your friends that don’t own parrots probably look at yours and think they want one too, so please pass these points along to them so they can make a wise decision.
Whether you are buying your first parrot or your 10th, you need to think these things through as well.
Sharing life with a parrot is very much like living with a poorly mannered undisciplined 3 year old who will not grow up and go away to college.
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Why has some of my favorite bird food and care products gone missing?
First little housekeeping. Popcorn's off her eggs! Follow her adventures on Twitter This weekend marks daylight savings time where we set our clocks back one hour. My former brother-in-law who…
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I Want My Freakin Bird Back but She’s Held Hostage by Her Eggs
Mark Hagen is to Parrot Knowledge as Dennis Yu is to social media or as Michael Jordan is to basketball.
His knowledge base of parrot breeding is second to none.
He’s got a Master’s Degree in agriculture and runs the largest single parrot research Institute on the planet – HARI.
He IS the creator of Hagen bird food.
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This Is Your Bird on Eggs. Can Chronic Egg Layers Anonymous Help?
“I’ve got a lot of addictions but not a lot of time so I’ve been going to polkaholics anonymous because they offer a two-step program” mitchr
So Popcorn our cockatiel, (pictured above) has become a prolific mom and if we put our hand within 12 inches of her in her cage, my arm will be ripped off by the doting mother sitting on 2 nonfertile eggs. We feel your pain and we are about to embark on a journey trying to figure out why this is happening and how to fix it.
Recommendations are to leave the egg(s) in place for 11 days past the time the last egg of the clutch is laid. Normal cockatiel clutches have about six eggs. Popcorn is sitting on two – does that impact her? (more…)
Two parrot Corella on a background of tropical flowers
Birds and Full Spectrum Lighting. We Got It Wrong.
I was at my first AFA convention last week. It was the 41st annual convention of the American Federation of Agriculture. You’re familiar with the organization – right? Or not so much.
Members of the AFA are the unsung heroes helping solve legal, behavioral and nutritional problems if it has anything to do with an exotic bird or parrot (more…)
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Will Changing the Term “Cage” to “Home” Fix Our Bird’s Behavioral Problems?
In a recent article in birds.about.com, Patricia Sund a “Pet Birds Expert”, states the case that the word “cage” is brutal, antiquated and out of date.
She feels bird cages should be called a “house” or “room”.She compares it to a child’s “playpen” because we never refer to a child’s playpen as a cage (even though the older wooden styles look like a cage) and she actually finds the words to be “a little offensive” and “harsh” terms for your pet bird’s home.
The Rhinoceros Hornbill in nature.
Hornbills those Magnificent Soft Billed Winged Creatures
First, we took a look at soft-billed birds which lead to an exploration of the differences between softbills – hardbills – hookbills & waxbills.
Hornbills are softbills like Toucans but don’t get a lot of press or even cereal of their own.
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How Do I Know if My Bird Is Being Broody?
If your bird is hiding in places like this
She’s probably being broody
Although these little nesting areas your bird finds make adorable photographs they should be avoided in order to help reduce the production of eggs if you’re finding this to be a problem. Especially if you have a mating pair.
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