Alice Wender

Psittacosis may not be the most common disease in your flock, but it is the one you need to be most aware of. This is because Psittacosis (or more technically Chlamydiosis or Chlamydia) is the one disease your birds may give to you, and unless recognised, it can be fatal! The Chlamydia organism, which is … Read more

I receive lots of calls and visits from pet bird owners. All of them with the same question, “My sweet bird is beginning to pluck feathers. What do I do?” The first thing I ask them is, “Have you had them examined by your avian veterinarian?” Most of the time, the answer is, “NO.” whenever … Read more

The first thing that a breeder must have accomplished before attempting to breed is to have healthy, well exercised stock that has been fed a nutritionally balanced diet. Depending n the size of your breeding operation, it would be advisable to select a few breeders and have them checked by a good avian vet. Cultures, … Read more

Breeding is not a decision to be made lightly. If you haven’t read the article about deciding whether you should breed yet please do, otherwise, read on. Cockatiel breeding is not especially difficult but it will require time, commitment, and thought. First of all you need a pair of suitable birds, a male and a … Read more

You may be thinking “Breeding is natural isn’t it?”. Or maybe one of your question would be, “What can possibly go wrong?”. I’m here to tell you, if you can think of it going wrong, it’s most likely a potential problem. Breeding cockatiels is often very simple but sometimes it just doesn’t succeed. Some things … Read more

In the past five years, as I have continued to increase my knowledge about birds, and have become enriched by my contacts with other aviculturists, I have become fascinated with a subject which has rarely been addressed in the literature. That subject concerns how and why birds behave the way they do, and the ways … Read more

Several recent inquiries have alerted me to the fact that many Eclectus owners are unaware of signs of sickness in their birds. Most knew that birds’ instincts make them experts at hiding signs of sickness and that it may be difficult to detect symptoms. In the wild, if a bird shows signs of sickness, that … Read more

Two years ago, I sold Stitches to a very caring gentleman who can no longer care for him. Stitches has been barbering his tail feathers, and his owner does not feel he has the time or ability to treat him as I had suggested. So I brought Stitches home to care for him. Stitches is … Read more

Each of us should try to make it as difficult and time consuming as possible for someone who is unfamiliar with our aviary to accomplish his dirty deed. Many times the professional methods are not necessarily the best. Use of cheap but effective equipment and even sometimes misuse of an item’s intended use can be … Read more

The area in which I live is not “heavily” into aviculture. In fact, some breeds of parrots that are common elsewhere are difficult to find, and I don’t know of any large commercial aviaries in the vicinity. Yet, in the past 5 years I know of 8 breeders that have been stricken by disease in … Read more