Hand feeding can be a trying time for hand feeder and infant. The most prevalent sources of microbial contamination are food, water supply, other birds in the nursery, feeding and food preparation utensils, and the hand feeder. Prior to the introduction of formulated hand feeding diets for neonates, breeders had to make their own formulas, … Read more
Bird clubs are for education, interaction and friendships. People join for those things. It promotes a standard of excellence for its members to evaluate, for the benefit of their birds, and in a non-judgmental way. There is a danger that can isolate clubs from the community, and even from its members. It can work as … Read more
Jazz is preparing for our next motor home jaunt. That means Mama (me) has had to get busy putting together his amusements. The truth is that he doesn’t find much interesting about the store-bought stuff, which can be construed as a blessing since most of it costs a bundle. It seems that the commercial parrot … Read more
Answer Yes Or No To The Following Questions Your bird eats better than you do. You end up with more “goodies” in your grocery cart for the birds than for yourself. You spend more money on bird food than human food. You’ve had to caution your family not to eat something because “it’s for the … Read more
Recently someone approached me with the question, “What is a Bird Breeder?”Responding to a question of this sort, entails some profound thoughts to answer adequately, fully and correctly, which I am sure I will be unable to accomplish totally. Avian breeders can and quite often consists of individuals or families with only one or two … Read more
Egg binding is the inability of an egg to pass out of the reproductive tract. Numerous causes contribute to egg binding and include a high fat diet resulting in obesity, a diet too low in calcium resulting in soft shelled eggs and impaired nerve impulse conduction, and excessive egg laying resulting in fatigue of the … Read more
Home made bird toys are becoming increasingly important to parrot keepers and their parrots. You don’t have to be an organized person to make great toys at home. All you need is a designated place to accumulate new parts, washed re-usable parts, scissors, and stringing rope. Set aside a budgeted sum to buy new parts … Read more
It is quite common to walk into a pet store and see many smaller bird cages made from plastic or thin metal. Such cages are quite inexpensive and give a potential new bird owner the idea that purchasing a cage is not a major investment. That may be true for smaller birds. But such cages … Read more
A frequent concern heard from bird owners is the inability to get birds interested in eating vegetables. Because vegetables contain vitamins and nutrients considered essential to a bird’s health, refusal to eat such foods can be very frustrating for bird owners. I had never had to deal with such a situation until this last spring, … Read more
Paramyxoviruses are enveloped RNA viruses that hemoglutinate red blood cells. Nine serotypes (PMV-1 – PMV-2) exist based upon the species or type of birds from which the virus was isolated and the location of isolation. PMV-1, 2, 3 and 5 can cause illness in psittacines. Numerous strains of PMV-1 exist, some of which are very … Read more