We can take many steps to improve indoor air quality for our birds. Choosing less toxic cleaning methods and safer paints are two that I’ve already written about. However, if you live in an area prone to wildfires, the smoke from these fires can become extremely hazardous and impact human health.…
I have an article on my personal blog about my experiences keeping birds: My Life With Parrots.
When I first decided to breed cockatiels at age 12, there was only one book on the subject that I could find: The Cockatiel Handbook by Dr Gerald R. Allen and Connie Allen. Not to be confused with two other books…
…Research beginning in the late 1970’s shows that window collisions are one of the top sources of mortality for [wild] birds, ranked second only to habitat destruction in terms of impact. Today, collisions are estimated to account for the death of up to 1 billion birds annually in the US alone.
Resource
In my article about full-spectrum lighting, I mentioned that the light you provide for your bird should mimic outdoor light as much as possible. It should be bright, relatively white, and not distort the natural colours of the environment.
Lighting a cage is difficult. Not only does the cage create …
Hopefully, most bird owners are aware of being careful of the chemicals you use around their birds, especially for cleaning. Birds have sensitive respiratory systems, and humans can also have respiratory issues.
Why not simplify matters and clean without chemicals at all!
NOTE! When cleaning cages,…
When researching “alternative” medicine products, you have to wade through an ocean of people making all sorts of claims. The big problem is the sales pitch for a bogus product can sound very similar to that for a legitimate product.
Apple cider vinegar (ACV) is an excellent example of …
Bird owners like to think that their birds are little dinosaurs. But when I was in school, we learned that the dinosaurs had gone extinct. We weren’t really sure why, but one theory said it was because they were ungainly, slow, and stupid. So what’s the story?
This article is not intended to help you diagnose your bird. For that, I highly recommend this excellent PDF on recognizing illness in pet birds. This article is a good resource of information on bleeding.
People don’t like to imagine that their parrots could get sick or even die someday,…
[If you need to help with the decision to get a parrot, I’ve written a companion article called “So you’re thinking of getting a parrot…“]
A lot has changed in dog and cat ownership in the past few decades. Grain-based pellet (kibble) diets have given way to whole food and raw diets. People…
