Free Range Parrots

Seeds as enrichment

2020-05-29

To anyone that has read my articles on diet, I have no love for the bird food manufacturers selling processed food to our birds.

As a background, I feed my birds a diet that is at least half seed, with added chop (dried fruits and vegetables), nuts, legumes, sprouted seeds, and fresh fruit and vegetables.

I’ve long argued that seed is enriching for birds to eat. They enjoy the challenge of opening and manipulating them. But there’s no research to prove that I’m right about my beliefs.

However, I did find one small reference to this on the website of Lafeber, one of the largest bird food manufacturers. In an article written by one of their vets, she says:

Seed-based diets promote normal behaviors such as beak and tongue manipulation of the various foods, sensation of textures for brain stimulation and foraging behaviors.
Nutritional Strategies for the Companion Parrot—LafeberVet—Susan Orosz, DVM—Dec 10, 2008—

Now, this isn’t an endorsement of heavy-seed diets, but a recognition that seed should have a place.…

It’s important to provide your bird with plenty to do to occupy their brains and beaks. Toys of different types are popular to place inside a cage, but you can also attach them on the outside of a cage or anywhere your bird likes to hang out.

It also helps immensely to rotate items around and introduce new ones frequently. But hanging toys can be a pain for many reasons. It’s awkward to reach inside a cage, especially if it is large, or there are already a lot of toys. Also, it’s often very cumbersome to attach the toy, even with two hands.

Here are some typical hooks used to attach toys, with common ones in the top row.

These hooks have one thing in common: they are infuriating. Among the problems:

They often take two hands to manipulate, which means two hands jammed in a cage or one inside and one outside
The opening is too narrow for either the toy or the cage bars
When unscrewing them, it’s hard to remember which way to turn them
It takes a long time to screw/unscrew them and often it’s hard to figure out which way to turn it to screw/unscrew
For an aviary, it’s especially difficult because you only have access to one side of the wire at a time (without an assistant)

I give a special hatred award to the one in the top right, which is not only impossible to use with two hands, it’s also spring loaded for no good reason, adding to the complexity.…

2020-05-15

I previously wrote an article called Learn about your bird in the wild where I stress the importance of not just thinking of your bird as a pet. Think about how they would live in their natural habitat as you make decisions about how to care for them.

Fortunately for everyone, an excellent research paper has been written that covers many birds that people keep in captivity such as cockatiels, amazons, cockatoos, macaws, budgies, rosellas, grass parrots, and lorikeets. Unfortunately, it’s not a comprehensive list, not including popular breeds like conures.

Most fascinating is the diet differences between the same types of birds. For example, different macaws have very different diets.

Nutrition of birds in the order Psittaciformes: A review

Some examples:

Chances are your pet bird or a close relative eat things in the wild that might surprise you or that you’ve never fed to your bird. If you bird eats insects, try some mealworms or crickets or whatever you can find.…

2020-05-14

People that breed birds are disliked and even despised by many bird groups, especially bird rescue organizations. They have a valid point, given that there are many unwanted birds out there, just like there are for dogs and cats.

Some people and groups won’t even speak to them. Despite the obvious downside of making it harder to find homes for unwanted birds, breeders can offer some value to the bird community and I feel it’s a throwing out the baby with the bathwater situation.

Species knowledge

Breeders often have deep species knowledge and know how to create environments where birds will breed. For bird adopters, they often have valuable information about diet and behavior that is lacking.

Spreading love of birds

I don’t believe a rescue bird is always the best option for adding a bird to your life. I strongly feel that we need to encourage bird keeping as a way of encouraging love and caring for birds as they die out all over the planet.…

2020-04-27

This is one of those articles I feel like I shouldn’t have to write. No creature should eat artificial colors, period. Having said that, there’s a ton of research into the hazards of artificial colors to back up my feeling.

The most unequivocal I could find is this one.

This review finds that all of the nine currently US-approved dyes raise health concerns of varying degrees. Red 3 causes cancer in animals, and there is evidence that several other dyes also are carcinogenic. Three dyes (Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6) have been found to be contaminated with benzidine or other carcinogens. At least four dyes (Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6) cause hypersensitivity reactions. Numerous microbiological and rodent studies of Yellow 5 were positive for genotoxicity. […] The inadequacy of much of the testing and the evidence for carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, and hypersensitivity, coupled with the fact that dyes do not improve the safety or nutritional quality of foods, indicates that all of the currently used dyes should be removed from the food supply and replaced, if at all, by safer colorings.

…

2020-04-23

NOTE: This article only applies to those with outdoor aviaries.

The internet is full of safe ideas to deter predators (e.g. raccoons) and pests (e.g. parasites) and they all have two things in common.

They are indeed safe for the most part
They don’t work for the most part

Unlike most articles on this site, there isn’t any hard science backing up much of what I say here. It is mostly based on an acceptable amount of anecdotal evidence, sometimes from me. 🙂 Regardless, before you buy your pepper spray or coyote urine, give this a read.

Note I wrote an article called How do I know who to trust that might help understand why I’m writing a non-scientific article and still considering it to be trustworthy to me.

I’m not reviewing remedies that don’t have enough evidence or that I have experience with so this is not a comprehensive guide.…

2020-04-16

If you’re like me, you may have a lot of:

Birds
Bird cages
Stainless steel food/water bowls

So many bowls

Since I have so many bowls, I don’t hand wash them, I run a dedicated dishwasher load every morning. But then I need two of every kind of bowl I use every day.

So many manufacturers

You’d think this would be simple. There are typically 3 different bowl sizes: 4 inch, 5 inch, and 6 inch. But there are some complications. There are a lot of brands of bird cages. I have four:

A&E
HQ
Avian Adventures
One without any indication what brand it is

Luckily A&E and HQ are interchangeable, but Avian Adventures are frustratingly a tiny bit smaller. If you use an Avian Adventures cup in the cage of another brand, it can fall right through the middle of the cup holder. Frustrating!

Shopping

Then comes the frustrating part.…

2020-04-07

What is flicker?

In its simplest definition, flicker is the constant fluctuation of light output from on to off.
LEDs: Fighting Flicker

In the US, the power that comes in through our outlets cycle at 60 times per second. Instead of one continuous stream of electrons, it goes ON and OFF 60 times per second (referred to as 60 Hz). Many light bulbs also flicker at 60 Hz and cycle towards full brightness and full darkness. We call that the flicker rate.

(I’m going to gloss over this but the circuitry connected to a light source can create light that is a higher flicker rate than 60 Hz. Many fluorescent bulbs are 120+ Hz for example, and some LED lights are even higher than that. This is an extremely technical discussion that you can read more about in the research I’ve referenced in this article).

Many people never notice the flicker, but we probably all know at least one person that can see it in a light bulb or TV or computer monitor.…

2020-03-31

I previously wrote an in-depth article about alternatives to bleach, where several alternatives were compared and fared extremely well against bleach.

Due to COVID-19, the EPA has put up a very comprehensive page on disinfectants that work against COVID-19 and also against more difficult viruses. I’ll highlight just bleach and my favorite, thyme oil, just as a comparison.

These all come from an amazing document called List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2, on the Environmental Protection Agency Website.

First, bleach wipes:

Then, thyme oil wipes:

Note that the only difference is the contact time. But as my other article explains, bleach is an insanely toxic substance and I encourage you to read my whole article. Second, thyme oil is safe to use on children’s toys, on food products, and in food processing. Just spray on, wait 10 minutes.

Why are you still using bleach then? Get it out of your household and dispose of it at your local hazardous waste facility.…

2020-03-30

NOTE: This is based on current scientific information at the time of publication. It’s possible the virus or information will change, but it’s accurate for now.

I hesitate to even comment on this because it’s currently a non-issue, but there is so much information and hysteria about everything related to COVID-19. Consider one of the largest bird rescue organizations in the country, Mickaboo and their COVID-19 response on their main page:

We also want to help the Mickaboo community safely support each other throughout this challenging period to ensure their continued good health and that of their birds.
COVID-19 Response from Mickaboo Leadership—Mickaboo

Granted, it doesn’t come out and say that birds carry COVID-19 and we can catch it from them and vice-versa, but it certainly does imply it. This sort of hysteria and lack of science-based thinking is what leads to panic.

Can we spread the virus to each other

Coronaviruses that infect animals can become able to infect people, but this is rare.

…

How captive birds can have freedom

Seeds as enrichment

2020-05-29

The toy hook to rule them all

2020-05-27

What does my bird eat in the wild?

2020-05-15

Can’t we get along with breeders?