The Correct Parrot Feeding Is Essential For A Healthy Bird
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When feeding my parrot I used to think that a seed based diet was the way to go for most of the food I fed my parrot and that when I gave him fresh fruit that was only for a change. I soon realized that was so wrong! What I did find out was that when feeding my parrot I had to make sure that the parrot diet was varied and that he was getting a wide range of vitamins, just as I make sure my children get when I am cooking for them.
Just like humans, variety is the key to a healthy diet when feed your pet parrot. Parrots need nutrients and vitamins so when planning their food for the week, make sure that these essentials are covered.
What to feed the parrot.
• Pellets – a minimum of 40% a day
• Grain – about 10% a day
• Fruit and vegetables for the rest of the diet
A parrot has strong taste senses in its tongue and so you may find that there are particular items you offer it that they will not eat. That is alright for now, but re-introduce those foods again at a later date.
How to present the food.
Parrots are a tropical bird so any of the tropical fruits will be very well accepted by the parrot. Foods such as mango, peaches, apricots, bananas, melon, paw paw and so on.
A very important part of the parrot diet to ensure is health is to include leafy green vegetables in the diet. These foods can be given raw or cooked. As far as nutrition is concerned it is much better if the food is eaten raw. Foods in this category that will be good for the parrot are: broccoli, cauliflower, beans and peas. Beans of all types are good for the parrot.
Broccoli is not a ‘natural’ food for the parrot but it has an abundance of just about every nutrient known to man so if you can get your parrot to eat broccoli you can pat yourself on the back. Because it is not a ‘natural’ food for the parrot it might take several attempts before he will start eating it regularly.
Two square meals a day.
In the best interest of your parrot’s health do make sure that he is getting his two square meals a day. It is not a good for him to be picking at food all day long, but concentrate on his two meals each and every day.
If you are going away do make sure that you have organized someone to feed the parrot because they do need to eat every day and to miss eating for a day can severely affect their health.
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Tips for having a healthy parrot
- Image by Tatters:) via Flickr
There are many phases to looking after a pet parrot so that it is a healthy parrot, and most importantly in that mix is the parrot diet. Malnutrition is rife in parrots because so many parrot owners do not understand the feeding regime needed to keep their parrot fed properly.
But having a healthy parrot goes beyond just the diet because there is also the mental aspect of keeping a parrot healthy. Parrots are naturally an active bird by day and they sleep all night. This means that if you are going to have a parrot at home, but not be there during the day, the parrot needs to have some mental stimulation to keep it happy and content. They are not birds that like to be on their own all day long.
Caring for your parrot’s health.
There are several precautions that a parrot owner should take in the best interest of their parrot and they are:
• Keep the parrot out of drafts
• Feed the parrot the correct balanced diet
• Keep the parrot out of the kitchen so that he is not exposed to kitchen fumes, but also to prevent any accidents from hot items in the kitchen
• Don’t spray any aerosols near him
I always found it helpful when I got my first parrot to remember to compare the size of the parrot’s nostrils, eyes, throat, etc to myself. I used to think that if I sneeze at a particular aerosol spray, it must be affecting my parrot so much more because of the smaller size. I found that this constant comparison soon had me changing many habits that I used to take for granted before I bought him.
There are ways to tell if your bird is not well and these are:
• The appearance of his feathers
• He is not acting the way he normally does
• He is using parts of his cage that he normally avoids
• He may be messier than usual with his food
• He may be standing in a strange way
• He may perch on two feet instead of the usual one foot as they do when they are relaxing
• He’s not interested in anything
• He’s not as active as he normally is
These seem to be small symptoms but any one of them would indicate that your bird is not feeling the best, so keep a very strict eye on him.
Most importantly, though, remember that a parrot must eat every day and if he does not touch his food then a trip to the vet is essential and the quicker the better.
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Parrot Care Is Needed For A Happy Healthy Pet Parrot
Parrots are a stunning looking bird and they have so much character. With the range of size and color that they come in, it is no wonder some prospective parrot owners find it hard to decide which parrot to choose to keep at home. Regardless of which parrot an owner chooses, all parrots need good care in captivity.
So, here is a list to help a parrot parent to make sure that their parrot is getting the right care:
• The right size cage or aviary
• Regular cleaning of the cage or aviary so that no bacteria is going to harm the parrot
• The right type of food in their diet with consideration to the right mix of food: pellets, fruit and vegetables, grains such as rice
• Feeding at the right time of day
• Water for bathing which should only be in the cage for a short time so that the parrot to give itself a quick wash down otherwise it will get bacteria in it and be unhealthy for the parrot
• Water for drinking as this is quite separate to bathing water or alternatively mist spray the bird once a day
• Good perches for the bird or birds to stand on and to also clean their beak on
• Toys for the parrot to play with so that it does not get bored
• Good perch for the parrot to use outside the cage
• Cover for the parrot when it goes to sleep at night
When the ‘basics’ of parrot care is covered the parrot owner will find that they have a very happy parrot and not only will the parrot be happy, the owner will find the parrot is more acceptable to being taught to talk and to do tricks. A stressed parrot is not going to learn. Not very different from humans really! We don’t learn well when we are stressed, either.
It smight sound like a lot of work but once you have a routine it won’t be so tiresome. Parrots are reliant on the owner doing all the right things to make sure their life within the family confines is a happy, healthy one.
Share on FacebookParrots need sleep for optimal health
- Image by Guru.kini via Flickr
Parrots are not ‘night owls’ these beloved birds need their sleep!
When a parrot lives in its natural environment its internal clock is set by day and night, or in other words, light and dark.
Parrots need to have 12 hours sleep most nights, otherwise they can become quite unwell. You probably know what it is like to go quite a few nights with only 5 hours sleep. Eventually you crash! You just can’t keep going, and you have difficulty getting through your day.
Well the same is true for your beloved parrot!
The difference being that he can’t tell you he is tired.
So it is up to the ‘parrot parent’ to make sure that ‘missy parrot’ gets enough sleep at night. If you have a parrot that lives inside the best way to do this is to have a ‘night cage’ where you put the bird at night and cover up the cage so that she can get uninterrupted sleep. If your parrot lives in an aviary outside the night and day hours will take care of themselves.
The rewards will be well worth it as you will have a much happier parrot and if you are training your parrot you will have much more success with a parrot that can focus on ‘the lessons’ rather than a parrot that gets aggressive because it is so tired.
African Grey Parrots are popular pets
- Image via Wikipedia
If you understand the appeal of an African Grey parrot you can understand why so many people have this parrot as their parrot of preference for a pet.
Talking features of the African Grey parrot.
One of the truly wonderful features of the African Grey is that they are one of the world’s best talkers. They have an amazing ability to mimic words and sounds. This ability makes them one of the funniest parrots to own. When the proper circumstances are set up and when the parrot is a happy parrot, their ability to memorize words and noises is a real treat that takes their owners by surprise.
Not only can the African Grey talk and talk well, they can develop a large vocabulary and to the extent that you can almost have a conversation with them. Their ability also extends to stringing a number of words together to make a sentence.
Another ability they have is to vocalize the words in the manner that is used when they hear them. This can be good or it can be bad, depending on what they are saying! One word of warning is not to swear in front of them, because before you know it they will be swearing at you and once a parrot learns to speak a certain word, it can be quite difficult to get them to stop using it.
Mimicking sounds.
Their well developed ear allows them to very quickly pick up regular sounds around the house. It won’t be long before a happy developed will learn to mimic the ring of a telephone or the door bell and many a parrot owner recalls how they have been caught with this way.
Companionship.
It is these abilities that make the African Gray parrot the friend that it is to the parrot owner. I think all pet owners like to have a strong interaction with their pets and most certainly if the African Grey is treated correctly, the parrot owner won’t be disappointed.
He is a medium sized parrot of about 10 – 14 inches fully grown, which is an ideal size for a house parrot. He is not as colorful as some of his fellow parrots, but his personality certainly makes up for that.
The African Grey also has a wonderful personality which endears him to his owner. In most cases, like any pet, the more personality they have they will have more interaction with their owner. It will be a win/win situation for both owner and parrot.
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About Parrots as Pets
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Quite amazing isn’t? You talk to some people and they just love dogs, others love cats, others love fish and so on. Then there are those who want to have parrots as pets because their first love is birds and they want to teach a bird to talk and do tricks.
How do you distinguish a parrot from another bird?
Tongue: Parrots have distinct features that you will recognise when you look at your bird. They have quite a fleshy tongue, in fact it looks quite fat as you will notice if you watch one eating. It is used in much the same way as we humans us ours, for tasting, eating, swallowing and making sounds (talking).
Beak: The beak of a parrot is hooked, large in size, very sharp (they can give you quite a nip if they want), thick, hard and in most cases fairly solid. A parrot uses its beak for cracking hard shells on seeds and the larger parrots can even crack the shells on nuts like macadamias. They also use their beaks for pulling themself up branches or other things it is climbing and for helping to keep its balance in various circumstances.
Eye: The upper and lower lid of the eye of the parrot is one continuous lid forming a rounded opening for its eye, which is placed on the side of the head. He often does not blink but contracts his pupil at will, independent of the presence of light or dark.
Ears: The ears of the parrot are placed just above the eye and are under the feathers so they are not noticeable.
Feet: One fascinating and very imporant feature of the parrot is the feet. They are very scaly and in fact sometimes look as if they are diseased because they are so scaly. The parrot has four toes, with two facing forward and two facing backwards. This formation of the toes gives the parrot the ability to get a good hold on his perch and hang on tight. He needs to be able to do this because parrots often sleep on one foot and so they need to be able to get good balance with the other. Their feet are very strong and they pull themself up by their feet and some even hang upside down and they can do this because they are able to get a good hold onto whatever it is that they are hanging from.
If you watch a parrot you will see that they can do quite amazing things with their feet. Also the fact that they have two toes forward and two backwards means that they walk with a funny gait. They tend to swing their bodies from side to side as they waddle along.
Claws: Parrots also use their feet to hold on to food and their strong claws allow them to do this well. If you have parrots as pets you will see them holding on to nuts, corn, apples and other food you may give them as they peck away at it and chew bits off.
Parrot species.
If you plan on have parrots as pets, do some research and see which species would fit into your lifestyle and your environment.
For example, with a larger bird like the macaw or cockatoo, you might find you really only have the room or the time to own one, whereas if you have a smaller species you may choose to keep several of them in an aviary.
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