Free Range Parrots

For disinfecting cages and toys and other things birds use, bleach is likely the most popular choice. Bleach has a reputation for being an excellent disinfectant, and it’s very effective against both bacteria and viruses.

However, there are significant downsides to using bleach as well as equally effective alternatives.

Birds and inhaled toxins

You’ve heard of expression “canary in the coal mine”? Maybe you didn’t know it’s a real thing!

Well into the 20th century, coal miners brought canaries into coal mines as an early-warning signal for toxic gases, primarily carbon monoxide. The birds, being more sensitive, would become sick before the miners, who would then have a chance to escape or put on protective respirators.

Sentinel species—Wikipedia

There is at least one modern study that suggests the same thing.

Birds are ubiquitously distributed in essentially all of the environments inhabited by humans; thus, if we understood the effects of a broad range of inhaled environmental contaminants (gas and particulate) on a wide variety of avian species, they could serve as highly effective and sensitive monitors of air quality.

… READ THE REST

You know how they used to have commercials where every product was compared against how the “leading brand” performed? It’s easy to compare against something mythical isn’t it?

Well, I very frequently hear diets compared to the mythical “all seed” diet. I hear people adopting or fostering a bird and disdainfully talking about how the bird was on an “all seed” diet and they needed to be rescued.

If you’re in the US, the only way to buy a 100% seed diet is either a wild bird mix or to buy seeds yourself and mix them. With almost no exceptions, there are no 100% seed mixes for parrots. They all have other ingredients such as processed grains and are typically fortified like breakfast cereals.

Just for fun, I entered “parrot seed” as a search term in Amazon and looked at the top 5 results:

1. Kaytee Forti Diet Pro Health Bird Food For Parrots: Seed, processed grains, nuts, dehydrated vegetables, vitamins
2. Wild Harvest Advanced Nutrition Parrot: Predominantly processed grains, seeds, nuts, legumes, eggs, sugar, dehydrated vegetables, vitamins
3. Vitakraft Menu Vitamin Fortified Parrot Food: Seed, processed grains, nuts
4. Volkman Avian Science Super African Grey and Amazon Bird Food: Seeds, processed grains, dehydrated fruit and vegetables, nuts, artificial flavors(!), vitamins
5. Kaytee Supreme Bird Food For Parrots: Seeds, processed grains, nuts, dehydrated vegetables, vitamins

And what does processed (pelleted) food contain?… READ THE REST

Just like humans, parrots can become deficient in Vitamin D and suffer health consequences such as low calcium (hypocalcemia).

Hypocalcaemia is low calcium levels in the blood serum […] symptoms may include numbness, muscle spasms, seizures, confusion, or cardiac arrest […] Common causes include hypoparathyroidism and vitamin D deficiency.

Hypocalcemia—Wikipedia

The following are common dietary sources of Vitamin D.

Animal products
Alfalfa
Seaweed
Mushrooms

Vitamin D—Wikipedia
Alfalfa—Wikipedia
Seaweed Nutrition and Health Benefits—UC Berkeley Wellness

While the typical parrot diet consists of none of these.

“The most important components of most parrots’ diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds, and other plant material. A few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while the lories and lorikeets are specialised for feeding on floral nectar and soft fruits.”

Parrot—Wikipedia

This leaves a few options:

• Sunlight (or equivalent)
• Processed food (pellets) that contains artificial Vitamin D
• Getting your bird to eat mushrooms, alfalfa, or seaweed (!)

The processed food route is undoubtedly the easiest, but beware that hypervitaminosis (overdose) can occur.… READ THE REST