BIRDS

Polly want a cracker? Well, here we will talk about teaching birds to talk, which ones talk better, breeding, handeling, grooming, and any other fields we find to fly over. Do birds really understand what they are saying? Stay tuned to find out the answer to this and many other fun and amazing things.

Before you decide on a bird as a pet, make sure you or anyone in your house are not allergic to feathers. This can cause great pain and suffering. Birds have to be kept out of all drafts as they can catch pneumonia. Not only the wings, but nails and beaks must also be trimmed. Find out how to do this yourself or find a pet shop or Vet that will do this for you. You can not be afraid of getting bitten if you are to handle the pet. Work bare handed unless you have what is known as a vulture breed (breed that eats meat). I don’t think you will have to worry about it as only zoos and places like that can have them. These will be your wild birds like, Owls, Eagles, Birds of Prey. Here is what you will want to have BEFORE you bring “Tweety” home.

SUPPLY LIST Cage Bars Food/dishes Grit Floor covering Spray bottle Few toys Vet

CAGE:

The cage should be big enough that the bird can freely spread it’s wings without touching the sides of the cage. If the bird has a hooked bill then a metal cage is suggested as these birds chew. Birds with straight beaks can go in the other cages.

BARS:

This does not mean the bars of the cage, but the bars you buy to put in the cage. Like perches. The bars in the cage should be of different sizes so it will give his feet a wide range of motion. If they only have one size to walk on then they can develop a sort of arthritis in their feet. Be sweet and let him exercise his feet.

FOOD/DISHES:

The food you get depends on the kind of bird you get. I will not go into this because there are just too many different kinds of birds. Ask the pet shop where you are going to get the bird, as to which food is best for that kind of bird. Most birds like some fresh fruits and vegtables. Ours loves most soft fruits and his all time favorite treat is peanut butter. Although he is rather messy with it. When we feed him his favorite fruit we have to be ready to clean the walls, as this is a very messy fruit. The pomegranate. The type of dish you get for the food and water depends on the type of cage you get. Make sure they will fit in the cage. The food dish should be washed at least once a week (unless it needs it more) and the water dish every day.

GRIT:

All birds need grit to grind up the food they eat. Birds do not have teeth to help so they have to have small pieces of grit in their gullet to grind the food up for them. I sprinkle it on the floor of the cage at every change. Our bird likes to eat off of his floor. We put his food in the dish and he takes the dish off of the cage and dumps it out.

FLOOR COVERING:

This again depends on the type of cage and type of bird you get. Some birds do better with corncob flooring and others do better with wood shavings. Ours likes the wood shavings. We did try the corncob stuff but he kept throwing it all out of his cage.

The type of bird you get depends on if you want a bird that chatters, or sings or talks. If you want a bird that sings then get a Canary, or finch, or songbird. If you want one that will talk then get one of the Parrot family, which include Cockatoos, Cockatiels, African Grays, Parrots. Some Parakeets have been known to learn to talk but it takes a lot longer. Your Parakeets mostly chatter, but are a blast to have. For a Canary to sing it must be placed across the room from another one. They will try to out sing the other and they have very beautiful songs. If you do not want to have two birds then tape yours while he is singing and play the tape and he will sing and add more to it. If your bird does not sing then go to the pet shop and ask if you can tape some of theirs that are singing. As I said on the dog page I strongly suggest that you get a book on which ever bird you decide to choose and get some information on them.

At one time I had three Parakeets. Two of the birds were bought at a store and one was given to me. The one that was given to me I named Hudini. He had ways to escape from any cage. I had to go so far as to put little locks on his door to keep him from opening it. He taught one of the other birds how to escape before I realized that no one was letting them out of the cages. I also had to lock his little doors to his food and water dishes. I do let our birds spend about half the time out of the cage. They stay on the cage and don’t bother anything. Yes even when the cat is in the house they were out of the cage.

The bird we have now is our second Cockatiel. The first one I gave to the daycare where I used to work when I moved out of state. Pepper, the one we have now, is a sweety. We got him when he was still eating gruel. I had to feed him from a syringe every three hours round the clock for the first two weeks and then he went to every 5 hours or as needed. He now thinks I am his mother. I do not do any of the trimming of his nails or wings or beak. My daughter takes him to have it done. He can say a lot of things and gets upset if you do not greet him when you come in the house or down the stairs in the morning.

When teaching a Cockatiel to talk do not have any mirrors in the cage. They would rather chatter to another bird instead of learning to talk. After they learn to talk you can put a mirror in the cage. To teach them to talk you have to spend about a halfhour to an hour at a time with them repeating the same thing in the same tone of voice over and over. They will start picking up the words.

I do think they know what they are saying and they understand what you tell them. Our bird will always say thank you when you let him out of his cage or feed and water him. He will also give kisses after getting his special treat of Peanut butter. At night when we call the cat in, we open the door and call “Bilbo”... The bird will always chime in...Here kitty kitty kitty kitty. He has flown to the ground on occation and the dogs are afraid of him. Pepper will run the dogs around the dinning room. When this happens, Scruffers will come and get me to put Pepper back on his cage.

If you have any questions about this animal please e-mail me from the link on the home page. I will be more than happy to help you if I can and if I can not answer your question then I will try and tell you where you can get the information from.