Month: February 2020

Natural vs artificial vitamins

Natural vs artificial vitamins

There’s always a tug-of-war going on over whether Mother Nature can nourish us better than science can. Surely, with our giant brains, we can create foods that improve on what nature can provide.

But there exists solid evidence for humans that processed food has led to a wide range of serious diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. The link above references a book that does an excellent job summarizing scientific research on both sides.

But what about food that merely has added vitamins and minerals? There are bird food brands like Dr Harvey’s and TOP’s that don’t use artificial vitamins and make bold statements about their beliefs.

Other pellets on the market contain fillers such as corn, soy,  peanuts, added minerals and added artificial vitamins. TOP’s contains only real food ingredients.

TOPs Parrot Food—FAQs

And here’s the ingredient list for Dr Harvey’s Colossal Cockatiel blend. Note it follows the common advice of eating food whose ingredients you can pronounce.…

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Thoughts on mixed-species aviaries

Thoughts on mixed-species aviaries

The consensus about mixed species aviaries includes one or more of the following:

  • Don’t ever do it under any circumstances
  • Don’t mix species unless they are of similar size
  • Don’t mix species from different continents
  • Don’t mix softbills in with parrots

I’ve done the first three and have no experience with the last but it seems reasonable.

My species

At the height of my mixed species aviary, I had the following birds:

  • Red-rumped parrots
  • Cockatiels
  • Turquoise parrots (neophema)
  • Elegant parrots (neophema)
  • Splendid parrots (neophema)
  • Rosellas
  • Budgies
  • Bourke’s Parrots
  • Canary-winged parakeet (South American)
  • Rainbow Lory

So, that’s 9 species from 7 genuses, with all but one from Australia. So, almost all from one continent. It wasn’t all roses.

The Rosella liked to chase the grass parrots around, but gave up quickly and didn’t show outright aggressiveness. The red-rumped parrots were VERY territorial, but not aggressive.

Space

I’ll start by saying that much of this isn’t new, but some of it is, and some of it I proved with my own setup.…

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Weighing many birds with the help of a camera

Weighing many birds with the help of a camera

I’m a big proponent of using cameras with birds to solve practical problems.

Weighing birds is a great way to keep tabs on their health and spot potential issues. It’s also another excellent example of employing cameras.

Many birds don’t like to be weighed and if you have multiple birds, it can be tedious and time-consuming to get them to cooperate. I prefer positive reinforcement methods rather than catching a bird and forcing it to stand on a scale.

So, here’s what you need:

  • A scale large enough to accommodate a food bowl
  • Some uncooperative birds
  • Treats

Other than making it easier to record weights, a camera can solve the problem of fluctuating weight readings as birds move around.

For the purposes of making this short, I used three plush toys as stand-ins for birds and a bowl of wooden blocks to simulate the eating of treats while on the bowl.…

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