You’ve been elevated to zookeeper
Dear Mitch,
I need advice in so many “bird” areas that I don’t know where to begin. It seems that all the personal bird stores are disappearing and even the good vets are a rarity. I have been involved with birds for almost thirty years.
I ordered a small crock on Amazon about a year ago and that is how I became “connected” with Windy City, your Sunday newsletters, etc. It is the result of a vision “issue” that discourages me with the computer and I do much better “talking”.
Hello! I have a question concerning Indian Ringnecks.
I have 2 males, ages 9 and 11, both rescues, each very unique, due somewhat to their reasons for rescue.
I just read that soy might contribute to hormonal behavior. Agni, full-flighted, gregarious, toy lover, loves soybeans.
Eats them every day with fruit and other veggies. Should I cut him off in Springtime?
There is no perfect seed, blend or pellet diet for any exotic bird species. Our Senegal parrot Peaches eats whatever broken bags or tubs we get with our deliveries.
She probably has five or six brands in her food storage container currently. I even toss in large parrot food and simply crack the big nuts open for her.
Not all pellets on the same. The concept behind pellets is they are an engineered food containing 100% of all the nutrition that a bird needs. At the Hagen Avicultural Research Institute they have third generation quaker parrots who have been eating Hagen Tropican exclusively for 25 years.
Mitch,
Have you written about “bird sleep”? I watched an eagle chick go from hatchling to fledgling and during the process, both the chick and parents seemed to sleep only periodically, preening much of the night.
Learn Amazon parrot care from one of Windy City Parrot’s customers – who gets it.
Hello, Mitch
I’ve followed your blog for quite a while and always appreciate your perspectives and insights. I was pretty much gutted when I read your article on Sunday … “Birds in cages suffer all their lives.”
I want my bird to have a happy and healthy a life as possible, but I read and hear so much contradictory information that I’m really not sure if I am providing what she needs— and I do try.
Sunshine, my Lutino (Yellow) Indian Ringneck Parrot was by far the best pet bird I have ever had of all the birds we had.
My then husband bought him as an unweaned baby and I completed the process. I found that Ringneck Parrot babies need to be hand fed and beg, but don’t open their mouths to accept the syringe, they require a bit of prying open with the opposite hand’s fingers in order to slip in the tip of the syringe or pipette. Then it was no trouble at all.
Please don’t get discouraged because of one anecdotal story of stupidity. (See other Quora answers below) People die in car crashes every day but most of us still drive.
Here’s a little back story for you. The ancient Greeks kept parakeets. Not necessarily budgies because the Alexandrian parakeet got its name from Alexander the Great. As the story goes Alexander was gifted one of those around 327 BC
File under more money than brains. We all know how crazy the Romans were but not many people know that they would assign a slave to take care of the family bird which was usually a parrot of some sort.
20% – 25% of parrots are sexually dimorphic meaning you can identify their sex by the color of the bird. Male eclectus are green – females are red.
How can you stop screaming–excessive (Question from Quora)
Screaming is never excessive for a bird – they are merely communicating, it’s what they do.
Before I can answer your question I need to know the species, age, sex, the diet and a picture of the cage set up if at all possible – thank you.
Hi Mitch,
Bubba is a 30 yr, old CAG (congo african grey). dna’d male on basically harrisons with nutriberries and healthy people food,.. I don’t know how to take a pix of his cage. 2x2x4 feet – 5 perches – all different materials. at least 5 toys I try to keep changed.
