My Swiffer duster really is no contest for oily feather dust.    The oily feather is a little sticky and it dust repels water thereby keeping a wild or outdoor bird from getting soaked and chilled.

At BirdSupplies.com, we’ve got 4 Powder Down birds, birds that essentially throw off an oily based dust.  In order to manage the endless mess, we’ve developed a bathing routine for our birds.

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Birds can groom their own beaks by chewing wood and safe, yet somewhat abrasive items.

How to Trim Your Birds Beak

While different species of birds have different beaks, a bird beak is designed to consume the diet that that particular species eats in its native environment and to groom feathers. Bird’s also use their beaks to feed their young. All beaks are made up of Keratin and dermis woven with vascular layers and supported by bone.

A parrots beak, in particular grows in three directions – from tom to tip from the center to the edges and from inside, deep to the surface. Keratin is the same protein that our fingernails are made of. Hooves and horns are also made of Keratin. Your birds’ beak grows between 1 to 3 inches per year, depending on your birds’ species and its health.

The germinal layer of the beak contains the organs blood supply and it extends from the skull to the tip of the beak. A birds’ beak is a very sensitive yet strong organ.

A Dremel Rotary Tool can be used to trim an overgrown beak

In the wild, birds groom their beak through day to day activities such as chewing abrasive or hard substances, using the beak when climbing and rubbing their beak on branches to clean it after eating.

A pet bird may not have as many opportunities to groom its beak and they may need occasional assistance. An overgrown beak can be trimmed down with the use of a Dremel tool, clippers or a file. Get the lowest power available. We suggest between 6,500 and 13,000 rpm which is slow enough to help you control the device so that you don’t get into the germinal layer or the blood supply.  Should you get into the germinal layer, it is very painful and may cause bleeding.

Consider providing natural ways for your parrot to groom its own beak. First, insure that you are feeding your pet a premium diet such as Harrison’s Bird Food. Also, provide plenty of toys to chew. Wood bird toys in particular wear down the excess growth. Conditioning or pedicure perches such as the Sandy Perch provide safe yet abrasive surfaces that a bird can rub its beak on for self-grooming. Place a pedicure perch near the food bowl so that when your bird finishes eating it can rub food crumbs off onto the perch while filing off excess grown.

You are encouraged to routinely check the condition of your birds’ beak looking for cracks, lesions, unusual colorations and overgrowth. Consult a veterinarian or avian specialist for guidance about any abnormalities or injuries that you notice on your birds’ beak. An over-aggressive wing trim job will cause your bird become unbalanced making it susceptible to falling forward and injuring or cracking its beak. Should your bird chip and expose germinal tissue of its beak you can stop minor bleeding with styptic powder. For more aggressive bleeding consider taking your bird to the vet to cauterize the injury.

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Choosing the right bird perch is critical to your birds health

By Phil Samuelson

Deciding which bird perch to buy for your parrot can be one of the most important choices you make for your avian companion. After all, the perches you arrange in its cage are one of the only surfaces it touches. What works for one bird will be completely inappropriate for another. Perches are more than an area for the bird to stand. If more than one bird occupies the cage, there are social and practical functions relating to perches which often depend on  perch placement, size and material. Variety, safety and durability all are important considerations when selecting perches.

Bird Perch Size

The size of the bird perch is one of the most important considerations. After all, a perch intended for a peach-faced lovebird would hardly suffice for a blue-and-gold macaw. Completely different perch diameters are necessary for these very different parrots. Choosing inappropriate perch diameter is probably the biggest mistake made by pet bird owners. The wrong diameter results in cramped feet, overgrown nails and overall poor foot health. A proper perch diameter will allow the bird to grip approximately 3/4 of the perch so it can get a purchase with the tips of its nails.

Uneven or irregular perches are an excellent addition to any cage or bird playpen. Uneven perches are not one diameter like a dowel, but provide a choice of diameters depending on where the bird stands on the perch.

Bird Perch Material

The range of materials available for perches is surprisingly large. Remember that a bird will use the perch as a tool to clean its beak as well as a place to perch. After feeding, especially on juicy fruits and vegetables, a parrot will vigorously wipe its beak back and forth across its perch to remove any clinging food. This being the case, a perch near the cage food station should be relatively easy to clean.

Wood perches such as a manzanita branch are widely used, with good results. Perches of concrete or pumice also serve many parrot owners well. PVC is yet another popular perch material, and although somewhat slippery compared to other perch materials, it is easier to clean.  One PVC perch, the Safety Pumice Bird Perch is an exception with a proprietary sanded surface.

Bird Perch Placement

The height of bird perches has a great deal to do with the birds’ sense of security, as well as social standing in wild situations and some captive environments. African grey parrots in the wild forage for food at various levels of the forest canopy, even on the forest floor. Not surprisingly, the higher perching elevations provide the safest environment for these birds while feeding and roosting, as well as the highest sense of security. Bird trappers take advantage of the birds being less wary when high in the trees. A paper published in the Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management (Vol.1, No.2, June. 2008) details the trapping methods of African bird trappers. Rather than raiding nesting chambers in trees, these trappers achieve their best results from using gummed bamboo bird perches placed high in the trees. The trappers place a decoy African grey nearby to attract incoming birds as they arrive at their daily roosting spots. The birds are easily fooled by the sense of security the treetop perches provide and quickly become ensnared on the sticky traps when they attempt to perch near their decoy conspecifics.

High perch elevation also provides a sense of security and comfort among pet birds. Within the cage or aviary, bird will usually try to occupy the highest perch possible. Usually, the most dominant bird or pairs of birds will occupy these locations, particularly when sleeping.

Select your bird’s perches carefully. If the cage size allows it, a pet bird owner should provide a choice of perching elevations, but the cage should never be overly cluttered with these roosting areas. When given a choice of a few perches, observing a pet bird carefully will soon reveal its favorite perch and perch location.

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A sick or injured bird needs reassurance and love

Pet birds face many household dangers, and sickness and injury are not uncommon. Whether a bird flies into a window pane and sustains a concussion, gets attacked by a cat, breaks a wing or fractures a leg during a fall, becomes egg bound, has a serious bacterial infection or experiences another debilitating condition, a secure hospital cage is necessary for its recovery.

This cage should be low in height and cannot have perches elevated beyond an inch or two. A typical bird carrier constructed of polycarbonate, like the Wingabago Bird Carrier, often converts into a infirmary cage very easily with some simple adjustments. Since many pet birds have a travel cage already, this is probably the quickest way to provide appropriate housing during the hospitalization period. Converting a travel cage also makes things easy and less stressful when transporting the bird to its veterinarian.

Safety

The hospital cage must shield a pet bird from stressful distractions. Ideally, the cage will occupy a warm, quiet room away from household traffic. This being the case, a solid plastic or even wooden travel cage with a wire front provides the necessary security. No outside motions or disturbances will startle the bird and cause it to thrash about, resulting in further injury. An owner should provide the bird with a low bird perch of appropriate diameter for comfortable grasping and resting. Of course, if a fractured leg is the problem or the bird is unable to perch, soft bedding should substitute for the low perch. If necessary, a cage cover or thick towel will go a long way toward minimizing disturbances.

Warmth

Wingabago Bird Carriers make excellent bird hospital cages for sick or injured birds.

Supplemental heat may be necessary for an injured or sick bird to remain warm enough for a swift recovery. The hospital cage must do an adequate job of retaining heat and be kept away from drafts. The ideal temperature for the bird’s hospitalization period is approximately 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Supplemental heat can come from undercage or interior heating pads or a heat lamp elevated above the cage. Extreme care must be used to not overheat the bird, and no bird should ever be placed in a hot cage. It must be allowed to occupy the cage as it heats gradually to the desired 90-degree temperature.

Nutrition and Hydration

Electrovites help stabilize your sick or injured parrot.

Some sick birds receive supplemental hand feeding or intravenous hydration and nutrition from a vet. If an owner provides any food or water bowls in the cage, they must allow for easy access and no spilling. Hydration is particularly important at these times because a sick bird can easily become dehydrated from diarrhea or regurgitation, and an injured bird may be reluctant to drink. Consult with your veterinarian about proper hydration. Two products that may be very useful to keep in your bird first aid kit include Formula One and Electrovites. 

A Few Words of Comfort

Finally, remember that your bird will be in some distress, and a gentle word can help reassure it that there is nothing to fear. Birds grow very attached to their owners and will appreciate the calming attention. Talk in a low, comforting voice to your avian friend, and assure your pet that he/she will be alright. This is especially helpful if you have had to use restraint to treat the bird and will help your bird understand that you are trying to help. After all, your parrot understands a lot of what you say to it.

And, most importantly, follow your veterinarian’s advice to the letter!

Essential Items and Conditions for the Hospital Cage
• Quiet environment
• Clean travel cage
• Paper lining or bedding that’s easy to change
• Low perch, if necessary
• Supplemental heat from heating pads or lamp
• Appropriate water, nutrition and supplements
• Thermometer
• Cage cover or towel
• Nontoxic antibacterial cleaning solution like Pet Focus

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1 teaspons = about 7 teaspoons of fresh leaf

Heating may result in some loss of important nutrients

Kale

Spirulina

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Learn what wild African greys eat to provide African grey food for your pet.

The beautiful African grey parrot is the Cadillac of talking birds. To many bird enthusiasts they are the ultimate companion pet. The two subspecies of the African grey parrot, the Congo grey (Psittacus erithacus erithacus) and the Timneh grey (Psittacus erithacus timneh), have a very similar appearance, but the West African timneh grey is smaller, with darker, charcoal- gray plumage and a pinkish upper mandible and maroon tail compared to the battleship gray and bright red tail of the Congo grey. African grey food is the same for both species. The care and feeding requirement of both birds are the same, and both can learn to mimic sounds and the human voice with amazing clarity. More than any other species, the African grey parrot can mimic the exact voice of individual people, while Amazon parrots, macaws and cockatoos and other parrots speak in a more generic “parrot voice.”

Providing African greys with the best possible diet can pose some challenges if the bird is unaccustomed to a range of bird food items. As most owners of these birds know, greys resist change and can become fearful of new items in their environment–including new bird foods. Fortunately, most grey owners these days own hand-fed and -raised greys that were produced in captivity, and these birds are more emotionally stable than their wild-caught counterparts. This being the case, they were raised eating fresh vegetables, fruits and pelleted diets like Harrisons Bird Food in addition to a sensible portion–if any–of seeds, sprouts and nuts. Gone are the days of rigid seed-junkie wild-caught African greys that would stubbornly refuse any nutritional, research based pellet bird food diet and only reluctantly eat some other fresh foods.

For such a popular species, surprisingly little is known about African grey food in the wild, although studies do suggest a range of foods and feeding behaviors. Research by the Rainforest Alliance confirms that wild African greys food is much like many parrot species.  Wild African greys climb up trees from branch to branch, instead of flying, to collects seeds, nuts, fruit and berries. The vegetarian diet favors the outer layer of the oil palm nut and the red berries from the Cola tragacantha plant. Wild African grey food also contain grains and African greys have been known to do considerable damage to corn crops in western Africa. A paper (Juniper and Parr, 1998) published in the International Non-Detrimental Findings (NDF) Workshop at the Convention of International Trade In Endangered Species (CITES) claims the species’ preferred habitat is moist lowland forest, but it is also found up to 2,200 meters altitude in the east portion of its range. In this range, the birds feed on Elaeis palm fruit.

Pet African greys have been known to suffer from hypocalcemia (low blood calcium), but feeding excessive amounts of calcium to this species is controversial. Certainly, it can be prudent to feed a fresh supply of calcium-rich greens and fruits (green beans, soy beans, broccoli, rhubarb, orange slices, dried plums and apricots, etc.).

A research based parrot pellet like Harrisons Bird Food is ideal as the base of African grey food. A selection of fruits and vegetables as well as soaked beans, sprouts and a small portion of calcium-rich seeds and nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, etc.) will provide nutrition and mental stimulation to these highly intelligent birds.

These are many commercial diets on the market that will serve the African grey owner well. Crazy Corn mixes as part of the diet are very nutritious, as are the formulated diets by Harrison’s Bird Diets and supplements by Volkman Bird Foods.

When feeding a pet African grey, remember the bird’s keen intelligence and appreciation for mental stimulation. Consistently feeding a range of nutritious foods is the first step in keeping these birds happy and healthy.

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Parrots have zygodactyl feet enabling them to reliably balance on just about any surface.

Wood perches are considered the best perch for all sized pet birds, from Canaries to Large Macaw’s.  We aren’t talking about dowel perches, here.  Dowel perches have a consistent diameter across the length of the perch. Branch style wood perches, though, are actually cut from bird safe shrubs or trees and fitted with hardware to attach them to cage bars. To understand the value of branch style wood perches, it will help to study the anatomy of a birds ‘foot.

To understand, you may need to learn a little about the parrot foot. Notice this large parrots’ feet pictured on the left.  You see that two toes pointing forward and two toes pointing backwards.  Parrots have zygodactyl, feet that are configured for exceptional climbing and grasping proficiency.  These flexible feet are amazingly strong, too, as you know from that tight grip when held or if you’ve ever groomed your bird’s nails.

Take a closer look at Peachy’s foot on the right.  Do you see how each toe is a different length?  The longer the toe length, the more joints and muscles it contains. The longest toe has 4 joints while the shortest toe has only two.  There are a total of 11 joints in the 4 toes of a parrots’ foot. A parrot can grasp a branch and hold its entire body weight with just the one longest toe.   Imagine holding on to a cliff wall at the clay licks in South America to detoxify your body with just a few toes!  Or, flying from jungle tree to jungle tree and having the toe strength to hold any sized branch you’d need to land on. Wild parrots keep their feet in tip top condition every day by grasping a variety of surfaces and sized branches.

Notice how each toe on a parrots foot is a different length with a different number of joints. All this variability makes a parrots foot very strong.

Our captive parrots’ feet have the capability of grasping all types of items; they just don’t have the accessibility of items to exercise their feet and toes.  They can climb the bars of their cage and may have a few perches to stretch and exercise their toes, but nothing near the variability of the wild. Several variable diameter and twisting wood perches will offer your parrot important foot exercise.  We love our Java Wood Bird Stands because they have a number of highly variable wood perches at various heights to exercise foot muscles.

Just like us, if a parrot stands in one position all of the time, their feet get very achy and stiff.  A parrot that doesn’t sufficiently exercise it’s feel on a routine basis will develop painful, stiff and even arthritic feet.  Stiff and arthritic feet affect your birds’ entire health.  So keep your bird comfortable and healthy by offering a number of wood perches.

Wood Perch Comparison Chart

	Manzanita Wood Perch	Dragonwood Perch	Java Wood Perch
	Rock hard manzanita makes a popular wood perch	Dragonwood Perches are hard with an appealing bark	Senegal Parrot on Java Wood Perch
Wood Density	Very Hard	Very Hard	Very Hard
Bark Coating	Slick, peeling bark, picture shown is handscraped	Varigated textured bark fun for chewing	Hand Scrapped – allows foot pads to grip well
Variability	Very good variability, especially with twisted branches	Moderate Variability	Highly variable within each branch

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About Manu Mineral Perch for Parrots

Along the middle region of South America, dense Atlantic rains have deposited high concentrations of minerals into the forests creating numerous clay licks that parrots and other animals rely on to cleanse their bodies of toxins.  The most famous of these clay licks is the Tambopata Parrot Clay Licks.  Three famous clay licks located in the Southeastern portion of Peru attract up to almost 2 dozen species of parrots daily. From Mealy Amazon’s to Blue Headed Pionus to several types of Macaw’s, birds flock to the clay licks.  Their arrival is so predictable that Rainforest Expeditions has set up guided tours.  I’m dying to go on the Parrot Expedition.

The clay licks have been researched for years.  They have been found to carry at least nine essential minerals that promote parrot health and rid the body of toxins from ingesting fruits and rainforest fauna.  You’ll recognize these minerals:

Calcium: Required for strong, resilient bones, proper muscle function, and eggshell production.
Iron: Carries oxygen in the blood and vital for egg production in hens.
Manganese: Crucial for metabolizing fats and sugars; improves hatchability.
Potassium: Essential for normal heart and muscle activity.
Zinc: Needed for sexual maturity in males; involved in formation of feathers.
Copper: Helps keep blood vessels flexible for good circulation and promotes healing.
Magnesium: Initiates enzyme absorption and transportation of nutrients.
Phosphorus: Releases energy from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins and minerals.
Sodium: Assists in absorbing protein and maintains ionic strength of body fluids.

Mineral Content of the Manu Mineral Perch:

Polly’s Pet Products has researched the mineral content of famous parrot clay licks and recreated them in a formula that provides captive parrots with essential nutrients.  Manu Mineral Treats and the Manu Mineral Perch, an edible perch help you maintain the health of your pet bird. Get your Manu Mineral Perch here.

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Helpful new iPhone app helps you track your pets health

Pets+ iPhone App Stores Pet Information at Your Finger Tips

We came across a cool new iPhone app that stores and manages your pets information and helps you to track it’s health. You can even create and set reminders about appointments.  Track your pets gender, name, weight, breed or species, birth date and even it’s microchip number.  This app even finds local groomers, pet parks, vets and pet stores.

Some of us bird lover’s and pet lovers will really appreciate this easy to store pet information app.  Pets+  will store information on all of your pets, no matter what kind or how many you have.  Easily find each pet by it’s photo and name.   At less than $1.00 this app is a great investment.  Never worry about losing your pets information with Cloud technology.

Pets+ has great reviews so we downloaded it and decided to check it out.  With several dogs and birds it is sometimes hard to remember each one’s individual details.  I needed a place to pull up last vet check, date of vaccinations and track weight.  Pets+ offers us a place to store our microchip information plus other good to know information.  I find this app to be very useful however I put a request in for the app to add the ability to track a birds weight in grams.   Most vets recommend tracking a birds weight in grams on a weekly basis so that if your bird becomes ill, you’ll notice quickly.  A bird that looses 10% or more of its body weight should be taken to the vet.  

Visit the website  http://tinyurl.com/ahr9rxd to read the reviews of this fabulous app.

For more information on tracking your birds weight visit http://tinyurl.com/bhectyj

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Sensible, wholesome cooked bird food that adds variety and spice to your birds diet.

Easy, Nutritious Cooked Bird Food

If you’ve been looking for a highly nutritious cooked bird food to add variety to your birds diet, look no further! Find Higgins Bird Food – Worldly Cuisines Blend at BirdSupplies.com

You can find any number of cooked bird food diets from a plethora of manufacturers, but Higgins Bird Food is different because of the ingredient list and the nitrogen flushed bags that maintain freshness while eliminating bugs in the shipped, resealable bags.  Afterall, bugs can’t live in nitrogen!

The ingredient list is full of super foods that will be a boon to your birds health.  While each blend is unique, Worldly Cuisines feature natural, hearty ingredients such as sea kelp, organic couscous, basmati rice, papaya, apples, cranberries, lentils, dates, tomatoes, anise, ginger and more!  Some Worldly Cuisine blends contain organic quinoa, recognized as one of the best sources of vegetable protein.  They’ve even got a specialty blend for birds that require additional fat in their diet – Mundo Brazil.

These cooked bird food blends are easy to cook on the stove top.  Just add water, cook, cool and serve.  You can store Higgins Bird Food in the fridge for several days, just heating it up and stirring to eliminate hot spots.  Of course, you could cook smaller portions or freeze portions in resealable bags, too.

So, click on over to BirdSupplies.com to stock up on some Higgins Bird Food!

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