Asking For Advice & Sharing Information
BY LAURELLA DESBOROUGH
Copyright Laurella Desbrough (eclectusbreeder.com).
All rights reserved by the author.
Asking for Advice
Most of us who keep and breed birds
feel the need to seek advice from
other bird owners from time to time.
Unless the advisor is personally
known to us, the advice, if
followed, may be of little use or
even harmful. Advice should be
followed with caution. What are our
concerns with advice? If we are
asking about the behavior or needs
of breeding pairs, does the advisor
have one pair, two pairs or many
pairs on which he or she bases the
advice? How many years has the
person been working with the
species? Two years, five years or 10
years? Time and experience with a
number of pairs of one particular
species makes a great difference in
the understanding of the species'
behavior. Individual birds behave
differently with different mates and
under different circumstances.
Are the birds housed indoors or in
outdoor flights? Are pairs of the
same species in the next flights or
is the pair next to different
species? What about cage furniture?
What kinds of perches are used, and
where are they located? Are there
any toys in the flights? Where are
food bowls placed? What are the
ingredients in the diet? How much is
fed daily and at what time of day?
What is the age of the pair in
question? Younger than 5 years?
Older than 5 years? How long have
they been together? What is the pair
behavior? Are the birds wild-caught
or domestic-raised? When we ask for
advice on our birds, answers to
these questions are helpful to the
advisor and set the stage for a more
comprehensive answer.
Information Sheets For Clients
Clients who have not previously
owned a bird greatly appreciate
printed sheets with information and
are most likely to read them
carefully prior to or upon first
acquiring the bird. Some pet bird
owners may have several birds, but
without benefit of transition
information. It is important that we
who sell birds give some sound
advice on settling the bird into its
new home.
Caging
First, caging should be correct for
the species in terms of size and
perches. Perches should be useful
for the bird, not only for perching
but also for working their beaks to
keep them properly shaped. Inform
new bird owners that they should
expect to change perches when one is
destroyed. Also, they need to know
that they should scrub the perch at
least weekly because the bird will
clean its beak on the perch.
Locate the cage with its back next
to a wall in order to increase the
bird's feeling of security. Cages
placed in the middle of a room can
cause stress in birds. Cover the
cage at night if the cage is in a
room where the occupants stay late
into the night.
Diet
Daily food content, and amount and
placement of the food dishes is
critical for the successful
transition of a new bird into a new
environment. When the young parrot
is placed in a new cage, it will
select a place to perch that feels
most comfortable, most probably the
highest perch. Food and water dishes
must be placed next to this chosen
spot so that the dishes are easily
accessible, i.e., the bird just has
to reach down and pick up food.
People unfamiliar with the strong
instincts for preservation in birds
may not fully appreciate the young
bird's need to seek the highest
point. I have known of new bird
owners who placed food bowls on the
bottom of the cage and wondered why
the birds did not go down to feed.
Birds that fail to eat sufficient
amounts will become thin, weakened
and vulnerable to bacteria.
Even adult birds, when placed in a
new cage or flight, may refuse to go
down from a high perch to a lower
level to feed. Place the food bowls
right next to the highest perch, at
least until the bird passes through
the anxiety of the transition
period.
The daily diet should contain foods
that are the same as those the bird
is used to eating, prepared in the
same fashion, i.e., sliced or diced
in similar sized pieces, sprouted,
etc. The new owner should be given
an information sheet detailing
information on the diet. New foods
can be offered after a few weeks
when the bird is well-settled. It is
not advisable to change the diet at
the time a bird is moved into a new
cage. Even the color of the food or
water bowl can be disturbing to a
bird in transition. If a bird is
used to a stainless steel bowl,
bright red or yellow ceramic or
plastic dishes can be frightening.
For young birds, bowl shape is also
important; wide shallow bowls are
preferred over narrow deep bowls.
Otherwise young birds tend to drop
foods outside the bowl and cannot
retrieve it.
Moving Breeding Pairs
Depending on the species, it can be
extremely critical to place a pair
in a cage or flight sufficiently
large to accommodate the species.
This cage size is not based on the
size of the bird, but rather on the
species pair behavior and needs.
Successful cockatoo breeders report
that their birds are most productive
in long flights (15 or more feet
long).
The male is less likely to
successfully catch and harm the
female in such a long flight.
Cockatoo breeders in Australia and
other countries where the birds are
housed in large flights do not
report the type of fatalities
related to aggression during the
breeding season. Therefore, it is
very important that the seller
inform the buyer of the size and
type of cage in which the birds have
been housed. Placing a pair of
parrots from a large flight into a
smaller flight can have a very
negative effect on the pair. In some
species, such as Eclectus, this may
result in excessive stress and
aggressive behavior. There are cases
where previously happy and
compatible pairs have become hostile
and aggressive when placed in
smaller cages. It is also important
to place caged breeding pairs above
your eye level rather than below it.
Placing caged birds below your eye
level increases their stress.
Transporting Adult Birds
Preventing aggressive behavior
during transport should be
accomplished by placing each bird in
a separate compartment or container.
Individual birds in even the most
bonded, compatible pairs can become
disoriented, frightened and then
aggressive when placed together in a
crate. In a matter of minutes,
fatalities have resulted from this
ill-advised practice. It is good
management and good business to
prepare for the safe transportation
from one facility to another for a
pair of birds by making sure each
one is crated in its own
compartment.
Smooth Selling —The Importance of
Transition
Birds For Sale
Most of us who breed birds also sell
birds, and sometimes we buy birds.
Probably the majority of birds sold
are young birds, raised to be
companions in a home or family. Some
are young birds raised to be future
breeding birds. Sometimes we also
sell older birds or pairs we have
decided not to keep. Perhaps we are
reducing our breeding stock to
reduce our workload; or we are
removing some species from our
breeding program to make room for a
different species. In all these
situations where birds are sold or
purchased, the birds are going from
an environment with which they are
familiar to an environment that is
completely new and unknown. This is
a major change in the life of pet
birds or breeding birds that should
be considered seriously and planned
carefully by both the seller and the
purchaser.
Background
Field biologists report that in the
wild, young parrots grow up and
learn about their world with
assistance from their parents. After
fledging, they remain with their
parents; they learn the location of
various food sources and how to
collect the food. During their early
development, they learn behaviors
that are appropriate and acceptable
from their parents and the flock.
Although new, unusual and seasonal
events occur in their daily lives,
the locations of food sources remain
relatively constant, and their
same-species daily companions are
known to them. Basically, they live
in a world that contains a great
deal of familiarity.
Hand-Raised Babies
Our hand-raised baby birds go from
the known to the unknown. Weaned
baby parrots are old enough to eat
on their own but still expect to
receive support and guidance from
their parents. Bird breeders who
deal with the public need to prepare
the baby birds and the new owners
for this major transition from their
original home into the new home.
Bird breeders generally have a great
deal of basic knowledge about the
birds they raise, while the person
acquiring a companion bird may have
very little knowledge about birds,
much less "bird" common sense. We
who breed birds often forget what we
originally did not know when we
acquired our first bird. We had to
learn the hard way, sometimes at the
expense of the birds.
Transition Preparation
It helps a young bird feel
comfortable in a carrier if the bird
has had the chance to spend an hour
or more in a carrier on several
occasions with its bowl of food and
a toy. The carrier then becomes
nonthreatening. Young birds that
have traveled in a car feel more at
ease when traveling. When a young
bird is raised with a variety of
toys, it may have a favorite.
Sending a favorite toy home with the
baby bird helps it transition into
the new home. For breeders who have
the time and interest, having the
new owner visit the baby bird on
several occasions increases the
comfort level of the baby bird with
its new owner. This is not always
possible for those of us who ship
birds across the country. However,
there are preparations we can make
which will help the bird transition
well first.
Wing Trims
Over the years I have seen and heard
of some serious problems resulting
from improper wing trims. Of course,
the worst is when the entire flight
feathers are trimped, both the
primaries and secondaries. Although
I do not know of any veterinarian
who recommends this particular cut,
I have known of some veterinarians
who have performed it. Birds with
this cut, when startled, may leap
from their owner's arm or the cage,
only to drop to the floor like a
stone. These birds have damaged
their sternums, and one bird had a
broken back.
Trimming all the primaries very
short has been known to lead to
feather picking as the bird tries
daily to groom the sharp cut ends
sticking into its side. Eventually
this pattern of behavior develops
into the habit of chewing on
feathers. This problem could be
avoided by leaving the first two
primaries uncut, or by using a
shallow cut wherein only the outer
half of the primaries are removed.
With small species such as
cockatiels and budgerigars, this
shallow trim will not work since
their bodies are so light they can
still obtain height when flying.
However, with the larger,
heavier-bodied parrots, this trim
works. Always flight-test a trimmed
bird indoors several times over
several days to determine that the
wing trim is successful in
controlling flight. With some birds,
further trimming may be needed.
Within the avicultural community,
ideas regarding wing trimming are
changing as we learn more about the
results of different types of trims.
Additionally, some pet owners are
keeping fully flighted birds in a
home environment where they cannot
access open doors.
Overgrown Beaks
Sometimes hard perches, such as
manzanita, ribbon wood and
eucalyptus, although attractive, are
too hard for beak work for many of
the small parrot species or the
larger species with soft beaks. If
your birds never chew their perches,
perhaps it is because the perches
are too hard for them. Providing an
additional perch of soft pine allows
the bird to work the beak
successfully on the perch.
Chewing and stripping the soft wood
on a routine basis makes it possible
for the bird to keep the beak in
proper shape and avoids the problem
of an overgrown beak. Sometimes
veterinarians diagnose an overgrown
beak as a liver problem when the
real problem is a rock-hard perch
for the species in question.
Generally, cockatoos and macaws do
not have this problem! Of course,
when birds chew the perch to pieces,
you need to replace the perch. New
cages often come with attractive
manzanita perches. Young parrots in
their first cages may find the
manzanita too hard for beak work,
and thus may not develop the proper
beak-working habits at the stage
when their instincts direct them to
work on the perch. These young
parrots find a softer perch very
desirable.
Banding Exotic Birds
The major reason for banding a bird
is to provide a permanent means of
identification. This identification
is critical in two important ways.
One is as a means of record keeping
regarding hatch date, individual
history, medical records at the
veterinarian's office and ownership.
The second is as a means of quickly
and easily identifying the bird when
it is lost or stolen. I am aware of
two separate events where stolen
macaws were returned because the
band number proved ownership. I also
know of a lost pet African grey that
was brought to a pet store by the
finder. The store owner read the
band and contacted the organization
that sold the band; thus the breeder
was found and the bird was returned
to its worried owner. The states of
Colorado, New Jersey and New York
require that domestic-raised birds
entering or living in the state be
banded. When pet bird owners travel
outside the United States with their
birds, they must be accompanied by
proper documents to enter some
countries and to return to the U.S.
with the bird. A numbered leg band
is a quick and easy way for
officials to identify the bird and
compare the band number with the
number on the documents. The bird's
band number should be included in
its medical history by your
veterinarian.
Cutting Off Bands
One problem associated with the
banding of birds is that some
veterinarians do not seem to be
aware of the importance of the band
to the bird owner. These
veterinarians routinely remove bands
when the bird is brought in for a
health check or a wing clip. A few
veterinarians do not believe that
birds should be banded. This
attitude may arise out of the
problems associated with the
wild-caught birds bearing the open
leg bands placed on them during USDA
quarantine. These bands were
improperly applied, most being
cinched only once where the
directions explicitly state that the
bands must be cinched twice. Some of
these bands were so open that they
caught on cage wire while the birds
climbed around in the cage, thus
resulting in wounds. Breeders today
who use the proper-sized closed
bands should not find them to result
in the same kinds of problems.
