Updated Often
Educational Information

Nutrition


is one of the key ingredients for a happy healthy parrot. A combination of fruits, vegetable, grains and nuts as the majority of your parrots diet is important to maintain good health. Seeds are considered junk food for most parrots especially the larger species. Some parrots are extremely susceptible to fatty liver disease and seeds are nothing but fat. Pellets should make up the smaller percentage of your fids diet, most avian vets recommend Harrison's, Roudybush, and Zupreem for a balanced avian diet.

There are a few things that are dangerous to parrots and should be avoided at all times. Apple Seeds, Avocado, Onion, Milk, Caffeine, Alcohol, Unwashed Fruits and Vegetables, Chocolate, Salt, Sugar, Processed Foods, Junk Food or any food with a high fat, salt or sugar content.

Parrots can develop bad habits such as craving junk foods and begging for things that are bad for them, just as humans do.

RECIPES that we recommend Page


   

Educational Informaton
Flocked Forever
Adoptable Parrot of the Month
Links

 

Behavior

Every feather is different just as every gender and species is different. There is lots of information available on the web and in books.

We recommend these sources of information:

The Second Hand Parrot (book)
Companion Parrot Quarterly
Liz Wilson's books and articles
BirdBoard.com - Largest Exotic Pet Bird Owner Community Online (info from personal experiences as well as a few experts)
thebirdbrain.com

Please be careful of any information or advice you receive and be sure to back it up 3 fold.

There are several behavior consultants available and many with different techniques. You may or may not agree with some of them. Try what you feel comfortable with and do what works.

Never Ever!!!! Strike your feather.
Remember any reaction to a bad behavior is only positive reinforcement of the bad behavior.
Use positive reinforcement of good behaviors to correct unacceptable behaviors.

Be careful of where you touch your feather as you do not want to reinforce sexual behavior.

If ever you are in dire need of help with any behavior issues please consult an expert.
We are always available for advice on certain behaviors and can point you in the direction of the correct expert on anything we may not feel comfortable giving advice on.

The key to a happy feather is to change our behaviors to suit the feather. You can not change an undomesticated animal and Parrots are far from domestic.
They are extremely intelligent and will always possess wild behaviors. We live with them, not the other way around.

Stimulation

is extremely important for the mental health and well-being of you parrot. Most parrots spend their time in the wild foraging playing and preening.

A bored parrot can develop bad habits such as screaming, screeching, plucking and self mutilation.

Parrots need a job to do and toys to play with. Look for safe non-toxic toys to put in your parrots cage and play games during out of cage time. Teaching them to do the eagle (spreading the wings) on command and climbing a rope are a great start. Most parrots love to play fetch, they throw and you fetch. This can keep a parrot happy for a good while as well as giving you a chance for exorcise.

Taking walks with a harness and leash is extremely stimulating and very good for socialization.

Toy Ideas:

Sections of phone book, hanging over a plastic hanger in the cage.

Chinese take out boxes (you can get these cheap at walmart, etc...), filled with treats, paper, untreated wood shapes or what ever your parrot like to play with.

A plastic bucket on their play area with shapes and toys in it.

Ropes tied in knots to undo. ('Too's love this)

Register tape throught the bars from the top.

Newspaper woven through the bars.

These are some of the cheaper ideas that can be used daily.

Please check out the other toys available from the bird safe stores in your area and on the web.

Puzzle toys are awesome for keeping a bored parrot occupied.


    Dangers

Dangers in the household are many for a feather including but not limited to:
Open toilets and fish tanks (drowning)
Poisonous plants
Ceiling fans

Flight into widows etc... (some parrots fly well while other just do not, clipping flight feathers may be detrimental to safety especially if you plan to take your feather outside for fresh air and sun)
Other pets in the home (cat saliva is extremely poisonous to birds. Some dogs may prey on birds or if used to playing with squeaky toys may see a bird as a toy)
Watch the floor (birds may tend to wander to the floor, the possibility of not being detected before an accident is high)
Chemicals
Scented candles and air fresheners

Always monitor you feather during out of cage time. An unattended feather can get into anything and everything.
Remember always that what is yours is theirs. If it is in your home it is susceptible to being beaked.
A list of foods to avoid is available in the Nutrition section of this page.

 

Toxic Wood List

ALDER - red alder -
see Alder / Alder Buckthorn paragraph
ANDROMEDA -
(Pieris / Lily of the Valley shrub)
APRICOT
ARROWHEAD VINE
AUSTRALIAN FLAME TREE
AUSTRALIAN UMBRELLA TREE
AVACADO
AZALEA - Related to Rhododendron
BANEBERRY - Actaea
BEANS -
(castor, horse, fava, broad, glory, scarlet runner)
BLACK LOCUST - Robinia
BOX ELDER
BOXWOOD - Buxus
BUCKTHORN -
(Cascara / Alder Buckthorn - see chapter)
BRACKEN FERN
BURDOCK
CACAO
CAMEL BUSH - Trichodesma
CANARY BIRD BUSH - Crotalaria
CANNABIS
CASTOR BEAN
CEDAR - Thuja, Chamaecyparis, Cupressus
CHALICE - trumpet vine
CHERRY see sentence below
CHINA BERRY TREE - Melia / Texas umbrella tree
CHINESE MAGNOLIA - uncertain for safety
CHINESE POPCORN (TALLOW)
CHINESE SNAKE TREE - Laquer plant:
-- sap contact is bad too
COMMON SAGE
CORIANDER - Cilantro

 
DATURA
DAPHNE - it's the berries
DATURA STRAMONIUM - Brugmansia:
- - angel's trumpet
DIEFFENBACHIA
ELDERBERRY
EUONYMUS - Includes burning bush and more
EUPHORBIA
FELT PLANT - Kalancho baharensis
FLAME TREE
FIRETHORN - Pyracantha
FLAME TREE - Brachychiton / Sterculia
FOXGLOVE
GOLDEN CHAIN TREE - Laburnum
GROUND CHERRY
CROWN OF THORNS
HEATHS
HEMLOCK - Tsuga
HOLLY - Ilex
HONEY LOCUST - Gleditsia
HORSE CHESTNUT - Aesculus
HUCKLEBERRY - leaves bad:
- - both evergreen or deciduous
HYDRANGEA
JASMINE
JUNIPER - Juniperus
KALMIA: also called Mountain Laurel
KENTUCKY COFFEE TREE
KUMQUAT
LANTANA - red sage
LAUREL - Prunus
LEUCOTHOE
LEMON
LIME
LUPINE
MANGO -
(fruit okay: not wood or leaves)
MEXICAN BREADFRUIT
MOCK ORANGE -
(fruit, see note in safe list)
MONSTERA
MOUNTAIN LAUREL
MYRTLE - is a broadleaf evergreen:
Is not the same as crape myrtle
NECTARINE
NUTMEG
OAK - Quercus - all parts / tannins
MISTLETOE
OLEANDER
ORANGE - several sources lean toward safe
PEACH
PEAR - some sources lean toward safe
PENCILTREE
PITCH PINE
PLUM
PRARIE OAK - safety uncertain
PRIVET
RAIN TREE
RED MAPLE - see Maple paragraph
RED SAGE - Lantana
REDWOOD -
- - Sequiadendron, Metasequoia, Sequoia
RHODODENDRON
RHUBARB
SAND BOX TREE -
- - sap has been used to poison fish
SOLANUM - Jerusalem cherry or pepino
SOPHORA -
- - includes Japanese pagoda tree & Mescal
SUMAC -
- - not all sumacs are toxic: see paragraphs
TOBACCO
TANSY
TOMATO
UMBRELLA TREE
WALNUT
WEEPING FIG -
(Benjamin Fig or Ficus benjamina - see paragraph)
WHITE CEDAR - China
WITCH HAZEL - Hamamelis
WISTERIA
YEW - Taxus
 
           
               
                             
                                         
  Adoption and Foster Information   Flockable Feathers   Contact Us   Educational Information   Flocked Forever   Parrot of the Month   Links    
© 2007, Flock Haven