Taming a Pet Bird

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As with many aspects of successful birdkeeping, taming your bird requires a great deal of patience; do not expect results within a few days. Try starting off by offering the bird little titbits of its favourite food through the cage, but do not be alarmed if it initially backs away from your hand, because this behaviour is very common in wild birds. After a week or so, you should find that the bird will take the food from your fingers.

After a few weeks, it should be safe for you to put your hand inside the cage without being bitten. Once you reach this stage, put both hands in the cage with the hand furthest away from the bird containing some of its favourite food. This situation coaxes the bird into stepping onto one hand to reach the food in the other. If you continue with this technique, slowly but surely your bird will become tame. To ensure that a parrot remains tame, handle it as often as possible. As your bird grows older, it may start to nip occasionally. Every time it does this, gently tap it on the beak and tell it off.

Taming a bird kept in an outdoor aviary basically involves the same approach. The best way to tame softbills, for example, is to offer them livefood; they will do practically anything for such a treat. Taming your bird, even to a modest degree, can result in lowering the stress level. If your daily routine keeps you very busy and you rush around much of the time, it is very important to slow down when you are close to your bird. Otherwise, you will achieve exactly the opposite effect of the taming process. As with any new arrivals, always enter the aviary calmly and slowly. In this way, your new bird will gradually become acquainted with you and possibly with any pets that wander around the garden.

In a large collection of birds kept in an aviary, it is common for one bird to become noticeably tamer than the others. In fact, you may discover that such a situation helps to calm any new arrivals that you may introduce into the same aviary.Use a bird’s favourite food to tempt it onto your fingers. Keep your hand still the first time you do this. You will need to do this many times before you can move around with the bird.

Feeding Routine for Pet Birds

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Once your bird is established in its new home, try to stick to a simple routine of regular feeding times, as this will offer your bird welcome stability. Most birds need feeding once a day, with the exception of seed eaters, whose full bowl can be left for up to a couple of days. If you feed your bird approximately 8 am in the morning, most of the food should have been eaten by midday. If no food remains in the dish, gradually reduce the amount until you arrive at the correct quantity.

During very hot weather, the type of food suitable for nectar feeders will deteriorate. The best idea, therefore, is to feed them twice a day during these conditions. Try to maintain your bird

Establishing a Locking Routine

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If you keep your birds in an outdoor aviary in a climate that becomes extremely cold during the winter months, you may rest more easily knowing that your birds are locked into the back of the enclosure every night. Once you start locking your birds in at the onset of the harsh weather, it is best to continue doing so until the weather is over.

Initially you may find it difficult to coax your birds into the back of the aviary, but after a week of so they will become familiar with the routine, It also helps to gave the pop hole or hatch leading to the shelter fairly high up, because birds are more likely to fly up to the entrance than they are to fly down to it. Soon you will find that when you enter the aviary at the end of the day, they will go straight into the shelter and then you can simply close the hatch.

Although your birds will suffer slight stress, this should subside when they recognize the routine. It is vital to stick to the locking in routine, for if you stop even for a few days, you will have to go through the same learning procedure as it the initial week and this will cause your birds unnecessary stress. Always lock your birds in during daylight hours; a window in the back shelter will help to make it more inviting. Do not attempt to lock them in at night, as they are likely to be panic, fly straight into the wire and injure themselves. The best time to lock them away is an hour before dusk.

During the winter months in temperate climates, the water bowl kept in an outside enclosure is certain to freeze over. When you arrive first thing in the morning and see the layer of ice in the bowl, do not simply break the ice, as it will quickly freeze over again. The best approach is to empty the bowl completely of ice and water and refill it with fresh lukewarm water, as this will prevent it freezing for at least a couple of hours. And never assume that the water will not freeze again until that evening, as you will probably need to replace it again after lunch.

A simple way of preventing birds from becoming waterlogged or drowning in a water dish is to add marbles or clean stones so that they can drink but easily climb out if necessary.

Dealing With Bristled Up Birds

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If you see your budgie being bristled up during the last few days, while shivering and its beak growing and curving, make sure the budgie has plenty of minerals and vitamins, as this is their problem.

The first thing you should do is to get the budgie to a vet, so he can cut the growths and file the beak that is curved. This should only be done by a specialist, so don’t do it yourself.

The second step would be to get a mineral and vitamins crayon, that can be bought from pet stores. In order for them to have something to gnaw, you should give them pine tree twigs. If you don’t have any crayon, you can give them chalk instead.

What you need to look for is whether the shivering and bristling are the effect of a cold. You can find that out by looking at their feces. When the bird has a cold the feces will be either very light or very dark. If you find evidence of a cold, you can take a tetraulean capsule obtained from the chemist. Get powder from inside that capsule and put it on a knife’s point. Use a few drops of water to dissolve it and pour the liquid inside the beak, while using a dropper. Treat the bird for three days this way. By that time the feces should return to their normal color. Don’t overdose the bird though.

Vitamins should be given to the parrot even if it doesn’t have a cold. You can buy vitamins for them from a pet store. One other possible reason for the appearance of the condition is starvation, since when the beak is deformed, they can’t eat millet anymore. Fruit and vegetables aren’t the only things you should feed them. Bread is another food they should be given.

The place where they live shouldn’t be too hot or too cold. Just make it a normal temperature. Draughts and humidity are two things that budgies don’t enjoy and can cause deformations as well. Budgies should be allowed to fly a bit from time to time.

Preventing Your Bird From Getting Sick

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9 Tips On Preventing Your Bird From Getting Sick

1. Keep a good hygiene – make sure the cage of the bird is always clean, and the same goes for the appliances that are in it. Clean everything once ever few days.

2. Don’t let the birds get in contact with birds that are free or wild, as they can get infections or diseases.

3. The bird cage shouldn’t be in a draft, as they can get colds. They should stay in the sun only one or two hours a day, because they can get hypothermia from overheating.

4. Unless you know from experience that your cat or dog is not aggressive with birds, don’t let them alone in the same room.

5. Look for any objects or parts that might hurt the bird when they’re in the cage.

6. Keeping a proper feeding diet, that is well balanced, is essential for the health of your bird. Besides mixtures of grain, you should also give the bird enough vegetables and fruit. This way they will have the needed vitamins in their system.

7. Another important tip on keeping your birds healthy is to give them enough minerals. These can be bought in combined form from pet stores.

8. A container should be placed in the bird cage, filled with sand and small stones. They are used for food assimilation and digestion.

9. Giving the birds too much food that has animal origin can prove dangerous for their health.