Consideration Before Getting A Pet Bird

The price of parrot changes in big bounds in dependency with the species. You can obtain for example a budgie for fewer than $10. The price of the cockatiel changes between $25 and $35. An Amazonian parrot and grey parrot can be purchased for about $300 to $400 , cockatoo for $1000 and the cost of some parrots reaches $15,000! This is one of the initial question which you have to answer.

How much breathing space will the bird call for? Larger birds and even some of the petite ones are very active physically and need big cages and space in which to play.

Is there any free time for the bird? Perhaps this is the most important question. Birds are intelligent, teasing and mostly social creatures. Will you have time to play with your bird? To pay attention to it? Will it have the chance to be a part of your family? Take into account the reality that birds survive fairly long. A small parrot cockatiel lives for 20 years and more! Amazona or African grey parrot can survive for 50, 60 and there are acknowledged cases for birds that lived up to the decent age of 100 years! Can you dedicate to this? It is not abnormal to take over birds from the previous generations. Don’t obtain a bird if you believe that you will soon get bored of it.

How loud is the bird? Will the neighbours complain? Budgies and cockatiel are somewhat silence. They are proper to look after in a flat. Moluxco cockatoo could live in flat just as well if you have neighbours around you like listening to chipping reverberation to break their ear drums. The African grey parrot tends to be one of relatively non-loud parrots. Certainly, there are individual differences between birds. Somewhere there could be cockatoo, that don ‘ t make noisy noise to heaven. If really there could be found such, an enterprising person could make a fortune of it. Keep in mind that noise is a prejudiced and relative feeling. A bird can be considered as non-noisy only at the background of another one,considered as noisy.

How injurious could a bird be? Do you have first-class old stuff or rare book? Consider that these birds have physically powerful beaks,. Some of them are less inclined to nibble than others, but nibbling is entirely natural behaviour for them.

Does the parrot want out of the ordinary food? Lory parrots, for instance, need a specialized diet. Do you have an chance and way to provide it? Once you have made a initial investigation and have decided what kind of parrot you want, you can go looking for it and buy it. NEVER BUY A PARROT IMPULSIVELY!

Check out our copper bird bath and parakeet bird cages for more information.

Hand-rearing parrots

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When parrot chicks hatch, they are blind, extremely delicate and Sensitive to temperature. Hand-rearing these so-called ‘altricial’ chicks entails a great deal of research and expert guidance. Remember that hand-rearing chicks will always be easier if you start with good-quality adult stock. If your adult birds are related, stressed or being fed the wrong diet, it is still possible for them to lay fertile eggs. If these hatch out, however, the chicks will probably not be as strong as they should be and you are far more likely to lose some to stress and disease. Begin by hand-rearing cheaper birds, such as cockatiels, and do not assume that you will successfully hand-rear an Amazon, cockatoo or macaw at your first attempt.

Be prepared for a certain amount of expense as well; not only are the birds themselves expensive, but a good-quality brooder with accurate temperature controls is essential and not cheap. If you intend hand-rearing several chicks use several brooders because, as the chicks grow, you will need to reduce the temperature in each brooder. If the chicks hatch out at one-week intervals, they will have to be kept in separate brooders at the appropriate temperatures.

When hand-rearing parrot chicks, do not reduce the temperatures too quickly. For the first few days, set the temperature at 35

Considerations Before Buying a Bird

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A few things you should take into consideration before your purchase a bird

The first question you should ask yourself when buying a bird is what exactly are you willing to spend. The prices for birds can vary a lot, depending on the species that they belong to. You can spend only $10 if all you want is a budgie. The price goes higher, to around $30 for a cockatiel, while a grey parrot or an Amazonian parrot can cost up to $400. If you want to go even higher, you can spend $1000 on a Cockatoo, and if money isn’t an issue, you can go up to $15,000 for some birds.

Different birds have different space requirements. How much will your species need? Birds that are big or those that are very active will need more space, so a bigger cage is required.

Do you have the time to keep a bird? This is a very important question to answer. In most cases, birds are playful, intelligent and very social. Do you have enough time to play with them and to take care of them? Will the bird feel like it’s part of the family? As a general rule, birds have a long life. In the case of a cockatiel, their age can reach 20 years. A grey parrot or an Amazonian one can get to an age of 50 years, and even up to 100 in some rare cases. Can you offer them that kind of commitment? In plenty of cases birds will be inherited by the next generation. If there is a chance that you might get bored with the bird, don’t buy one.

What kind of noise will the bird make and will it bother the neighbors? Cockatiels and budgies are usually quiet birds. They are well suited to being kept in a flat. The Moluxco cockatoo however should not be kept if you have neighbors around you, as they are extremely noisy. If you want a bird that isn’t noisy, the African grey parrot could be a good choice. Each bird is different in this regard. Plus, each person might interpret the level of noise differently. It also depends if you have something to compare it to. If you had a bird that was very noisy, one that makes less noise might seem quiet to you, but still noisy to a stranger.

How much damage can the bird provoke in your house? Do you have peerless old furniture in your house or books that are rare? The beaks of these birds are quite strong. Some species are more inclined to nibble at things than others.

Do you need to give the parrot special care or food? A Lory parrot will need a diet that is specialized. Can you give them that diet? Learn more about the species before you buy it and see if you can take care of it. Don’t buy a parrot based on an impulse.

Housing your pet Cockatoo

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Being rather large parrots, approximately 30-67cm(12-27in), cockatoos do have a relatively long lifespan of 25-45 years, although some have lived considerably longer. The substantial size and strength of these birds does not make it easy to control their destructive and vociferous nature. If housed outside, they need a well-built, resilient aviary with mesh that will withstand constant attention from their powerful beaks.

Perches will be rapidly destroyed and will need replacing about every two weeks. Cockatoos become hardy once acclimatized and will only need locking in when temperatures fall below freezing point.

Cockatoos are commonly kept as pets, the smaller species being more appropriate because of their less boisterous
nature. All cockatoos are intelligent and should be treated as such. The larger species really are excessively noisy and you must take this into account when siting their aviary. Make sure it is not too close to your house, or your neighbour’s for that matter!

A cockatoo diet is very similar to that for macaws – a good parrot mix of large seeds and nuts, such as sunflower seeds, pine nuts and peanuts, with additional fruit and vegetables. It is important not to curb a cockatoo’s destructive inclinations, for this is natural and instinctive behaviour. The best policy is to provide plenty of suitable materials; if you do not, the bird will simply chew up any material available, and this can prove harmful. Cockatoos produce an excessive amount of feather dust, and are therefore unsuitable for anyone with asthma or any other lung-related disorders.

You can keep cockatoos singly or in pairs. There are few external differences between the cock and hen birds.
Cockatoos are often bred successfully in captivity. When breeding cockatoos, it is essential to use a nestbox of the correct size for the size of the bird. You may find it necessary to line the nestbox with sheet metal or wire mesh. This is because cockatoos do not stop chewing, even when they are breeding. In some cases, they dismantle the nestbox to such an extent that they are discouraged from rearing their young. Wire mesh or sheet metal will prevent them from destroying the nestbox, hilt offering additional chunks of wood will help to divert their attention.