Pet Bird Feeding Bowls

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In a softbill aviary, where birds may be flying high up or perched on the ground, it is a good idea to have two sets of dishes. Change the position of the dishes on the ground as often as possible, so that no single area of the aviary becomes irreparably damaged. There are two ways of constructing the higher dishes.

One is to build a welded mesh holder 1.2-1.5m(4-5ft) above the ground onto which you can place some dishes. (If you opt for this option, place some sand directly below the holder to catch any mess). The second option is to place the food dish on a wooden platform with a lip around the edge. The lip functions as a ‘bib’ to collect the mess left by the birds.

Remember, it is very dangerous to leave old, uneaten food lying around the aviary. Fix covers about 30cm(12in) above the food and water dishes to prevent contamination from wild bird droppings and to keep the food dry.

The best place for water dishes is in the outside area of the aviary and not in the back shelter, where they can become very dusty. The dish can be very simple – a plastic bowl for softbills containing about 2.5cm(1in) of water and a galvanized metal bowl for parrots. Larger parrots, such as cockatoos, Amazons and macaws, have no difficulty in tipping over a light bowl, so fill their dish with at least 5cm(2in) of water to make it heavier.

You may find that as soon as your birds are given water, they tip it out and play with the dish until they become rather thirsty in the afternoon. To guarantee a
supply of water all day, give them a larger water bowl and, if necessary, place a clean rock in the centre so that the birds cannot knock it over. The only time your birds will not require a water dish is if there is a pond in the aviary. (A ‘pond’ here means a small, easy to clean concrete or plastic structure.) It is fine for the birds to drink from such a pond, providing you clean it out thoroughly at least three times a week.

If you keep some of the more common ground birds, you may decide to use a grain hopper, at which the birds can easily peck. Be sure to replenish the hopper once a week. Before refilling it, completely clean out all the old food, otherwise dust and crushed pellets will build up and the hopper may become blocked without you realizing it.

Trapping an escaped pet bird

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If tempting your bird back with food and an open cage or aviary door fails, another option is to attempt to catch your bird by using a trap. A good one to try is a cat trap; this is usually about 75cm(30in) long and made of wire mesh. Ideally, the bird will walk into the cage to reach some food and in the process stand on a lever that automatically closes the door behind it. The only drawback with this method is that the bird would have to be really quite hungry for it to enter such strange surroundings as a trap.

A very old-fashioned but nevertheless effective method of catching an escaped bird is the ‘box-and-stick’ method. This involves resting the edge of a cardboard box or wire bird cage on a stick in the middle of the garden with some food underneath it. You then connect a long piece of string to the stick, and as soon as the bird crawls directly under the box or cage, you pull the string and the box will fall down and enclose your bird. Try to make the piece of string as long as possible, because any hint of your presence will deter the bird from entering the box.

Once the bird is safely inside the enclosure, slide a thin piece of wood or cardboard under it and carry the box into the aviary or inside the house. It may be old-fashioned, but it works.

An important point to remember when using a trap or ‘box-and-stick’ method is to use the bird’s usual food dish containing its typical food. Recognizing something familiar from its cage or aviary will help to calm the bird down and give you a much greater chance of catching it successfully.

If you have tried the various methods for catching an escaped bird and all have failed, you should consider contacting a professional bird catcher, who will use a mist net. You may find that you will need to seek permission from the local authorities to allow someone to use a mist net on your property. Therefore, be prepared for some organization and possible complications.

If your bird does escape, report the incident to your local police immediately, because very often people will report sightings of unexpected birds. This may lead you to try catching your bird from various gardens, but be prepared for it to take a few days.

Monitoring Feeding and Drinking

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Monitoring your birds feeding and drinking habits can provide useful pointers to their general health. If your birds are always eager to feed, you should have no problems, but if any of your birds suddenly goes off its food, this could very well be the first sign that something is wrong.

If your bird tends to be rather timid when it comes to feeding, which can happen when you change its diet or food dish, an effective technique is to scatter a little of the food around the dish. Continue to do this until the bird is familiar with the new food or dish. It is also important to stop bold and audacious birds inhibiting any timid birds from feeding. The most constructive way to handle this problem is to provide several water and food dishes around the aviary and so create more choice and availability for the less intrepid occupants. Since smaller birds particularly can rapidly suffer from dehydration, make sure that they have easy access to a constant supply of clean water.

Seedeaters are very wasteful, often scattering their food all over the place. It is fortunate, therefore, that this type of food does not tend to spoil. The birds for which feeding hygiene is essential are soft bills, which eat a variety of different foods, and parrots feeding on pulses. With these birds, the food they eat deteriorates very quickly over a short period and so it is important to collect all the waste food from the floor each time you feed them. Otherwise, your birds may be eating food that is two or three days old, and this is obviously very dangerous. It is often a good idea to put their feeding dish inside a larger dish so that any good escaping falls into the second dish, making it easier to clean up.

Any dish containing food must be under cover, as rain will ruin the food. And, of course, do not place food or water dishes underneath perches, where droppings can easily contaminate them.

Bird Food and Water Dishes

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There are various types of good dishes and containers that you can use to feed your birds, including earthenware, glass, metal or plastic. Use a metal container for birds with strong beaks, such as parrots. They are more likely to destroy any flimsy dishes and may swallow the fragments they have chewed off. A heavy earthenware bowl is advisable for nectar feeders, such as lorikeets, and some soft bills. These birds tend to tip their bowl up every day, scattering the contents over the floor, and the extra weight of an earthen ware container should prevent this happening.

Plastic dishes and glass tube dispensers with plastic spouts are fine for smaller seed eaters.
Nectar feeders are not only messy when eating, but they also tend to bathe in their food fish. To prevent this, place a piece of wire grid with a mesh size of 5 cm (2 in) over the bowl; this will enable the bird to eat but not bathe.

If is vital to provide the correct size and style of water dish for your birds, an over sized water dish, for example, can result in your birds drowning. In a large aviary containing many small birds, there should be a shallow water dish so that the birds can bathe in their water. If the bowl is too deep and the sides are too steep, however, a bird may not be able to get out and, when realizing this, panic and drown.

A typical food dish made up for soft bills should feature a variety of fruits, some pre made soft bill diet and some live food. You should keep the meal worms separate from the fruit in the bird food dish. It is always a good idea to feed a variety of foods to your birds. For parrots, do not chop everything into small pieces; they will enjoy chewing it up. Of course, they will make a terrible mess in the process, but this is their natural behavior

Introducing New Birds

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Try to avoid disturbance during first few days by introducing it to one new thing at a time. If you have any pets, acquaint them very gradually. A common problem is with cats. You may not keep a cat yourself, but any local cats will soon become aware of the new bird in the neighborhood. Do not think that your bird is perfectly safe just because the cat cannot get to it; the sudden appearance of a cat can literally scare a bird to death.

If your bird has been kept in an indoor environment, such as quarantine, and you eventually plan to house it outside, keep it inside for a period and provide a shallow water bowl in the cage in which it can bathe. A dish with angled rather than straight sides is best and perhaps with a few stones at the bottom to help the bird get out. This approach will also help to acquaint the bird with rain. If you put the bird outside and there is a downpour of rain, it can become waterlogged and then extremely cold.

Always give new birds several food and water dishes around the aviary. Do not be alarmed if your bird does not immediately hunt for food; this is quite normal. After a few days, your bird will know where all the food and water dishes are and you can then slowly remove them until only one food and one water dish remain.

Although it may not eat for the first few hours or so, once it becomes familiar with its surroundings check that your bird is eating properly. Just because the food dish is being emptied, this does not necessarily mean that the bird is eating