How to Keep Your Pet Bird Healthy and Happy

Birds make great companions. But what people rarely realize is how much work they require to keep happy. It can seem overwhelming initially to a first time bird owner, but if you follow these simple tips and tricks you will have a happy and healthy birdie singing and talking up a storm.

What should I feed my bird?

Birds require fresh fruits and vegetables daily, in addition to a vitamin supplement and fresh, clean water. A seed only diet is cheap but it does not contain the nutrients that your bird needs to stay healthy. Excellent foods to feed your bird include:

Fruits and Vegetables: (All fruits must be pitted and seedless as both are poisonous to birds) Apples, pears, plums, cherries, grapes, oranges, bananas, mangos, papaya, cucumber, peas, carrots, corn, spinach, green beans, broccoli, yams/sweet potato zucchini

Grains: Whole wheat bread, cereal, (wheat, rice, corn,) pasta (cooked or uncooked,) brown rice (cooked,) oatmeal (uncooked,) unsalted crackers, seeds and nuts (in moderation: walnuts, almonds, pecans, macadamia, and Brazil)

Dairy: Cheese (not string,) Yogurt, and Egg whites

NEVER feed your bird chocolate or avocado as they are poisonous to birds. NEVER feed your bird foods high in salt or sugar, or unprocessed meats.

A vitamin supplement for the food and a mineral treat inside your bird's cage will keep your bird healthy and strong.

The Cage

Provide your bird with the biggest cage possible, while maintaining a sense of safety. Do not buy your conure a cage meant for a large macaw. They could get their head, wing, or leg caught in between the bar. If that happens they could easily break it, or suffer other fatal injury.

(Be sure to clean the cage tray every day and hose down the cage thoroughly once every two weeks.)

Provide your bird with all natural wood perches such as manzanita, cholla, and ribbon wood (1/2" diameter for smaller birds, 1" to 2" diameter for larger birds.) DO NOT buy pedicure perches as they do more harm than good.

What kinds of toys should I give my bird?

Birds in the wild occupy their day foraging for food, flying with their flock, avoiding predators, and building a nest. In captivity, if they are not given proper stimulation they will become bored. A bored pet bird can develop several bad habits, including feather picking, screaming for attention, or biting to get attention.

A variety of toys should be placed in your bird's cage, a few at a time, and rotated weekly to avoid your bird becoming bored with the same toys.

Here are some different types of toys to offer your bird:

Foraging Toys: Foraging Toys are the best kind of toy you can offer your bird. Not only do they stimulate your birds mind, it stimulates your bird's natural instinct to forage for food. This can be especially delightful if after your bird works hard to forage through the toy and finds that you have hidden his/hers favorite treat inside it!

Wood Chew Toys: Wooden Chew Toys are great because they are made of natural woods, fibers, and materials that birds naturally love to chew on, such as Manzanita, cholla, and balsa. Birds love to chew things and providing your birdie with a wide selection of things to chew and destroy will provide hours of enjoyment. Try to avoid painted or dyed wood toys because they may contain lead or other harmful products.

Acrylic Bird Toys: Many birds find acrylic toys be irresistible thanks to their often bright colors and funky shapes, not to mention the tough durability that will hold up, even up against the toughest of chewers, and will keep your bird entertained and busy for hours on end.

Foot Toys: Foot Toys are excellent because they help exercise a bird's foot and leg muscles.

Shreddable Toys: Birds love to destroy things. Providing your bird with numerous shredding toys will help it to avoid feather picking (it will be too busy picking at the toy!) There are also several shreddable toys called "piñatas" which are stuffed with shreddable paper and have little treats inside.

Puzzle Toys: Simple Puzzle Toys are great for one on one interaction for your birdie friend and you. Many of the larger birds can use little children puzzles like the block puzzles where it has to fit a square or circle inside of a puzzle box.

Just be sure that it doesn't have any materials that may be harmful to your bird.

Play stands, Play towers, and Play gyms: These are excellent to have as they provide out of cage playtime for your bird while still allowing you time to use the computer or watch some television. But don't get into the habit of simply putting your bird down onto a play stand and then turning on the television or computer and sitting for several hours, all the while ignoring your bird.

Birds need Attention

Birds are social creatures by nature. They enjoy company. If you only have one bird, make sure that it is kept in the family room or another room that family members frequently visit. Make sure to spend plenty of quality time with your pet. This means out of the cage, one on one interaction.

If you are too busy, you can consider getting your bird a companion. It will take time for them to get to know one another, and they cannot be placed in the same cage right away. Instead place them in the same room; far apart from each other, just enough so that they can see and hear each other but cannot interact directly. Slowly move their cages closer together over a few weeks or a month. Monitor their playtime together and slowly introduce them to one another. Slowly but surely they will start to bond. If they don't, that's okay. You can't force two birds to be friends, but they should become close enough to where they aren't at each others throats and will accept each other as a flock member.

Placing multiple play stands or perches throughout the house, preferably in places you or family members constantly visit, is a great way for your bird to experience new environments and surroundings, as well as new people.

Some birds need more attention than others. Small Birds like parakeets and budgies will be able to play amongst themselves without becoming bored. Birds like conures, and mini-macaws may require more attention. They love to sit on your shoulder, preen the back of your neck, whisper in your ear, and watch you as you go about your daily routine.

Bathing

Birds usually love the water. They should be provided an opportunity to bathe every other day. If they are molting they should be provided that opportunity every day, sometimes twice if they are suffering through the pains of a heavy molt. You can place a towel on the bottom of a kitchen sink (this is to make sure your bird does not get sick from any bacteria lurking on the bottom) and fill the sink with one to two inches of water depending upon the size of your bird. (Some birds prefer to be misted with warm water.)

To keep them warm after their bath, you can wrap them up in a towel. (Be sure not to constrict a bird's chest because it cannot breathe if pressure is applied to its chest.) This will help your bird become accustomed to being toweled, (something he/she will have to be when brought to the vet) and also allows your bird to becoming more trusting of you.

Sleeping

A bird needs AT LEAST 10 hours of sleep EVERY night, preferably 12. Lack of sleep can lead to stress, which leads to behavioral problems like feather picking, biting, and screaming. To ensure that your bird is allowed the proper amount of sleep each night, provide a covered sleeping cage in a quiet room away from the activity present in other areas of a house or apartment.

Grooming

Wing Trimming

Wing trimming, or clipping, is the act of trimming a bird's primary flight fighters so that they cannot gain altitude.

If done correctly, this will still allow them to safely hover down. Clipping a bird's wings is NOT barbaric. It is for safety purposes. A bird with unclipped wings is prone to flying out of an open window or door or could severely injure itself if it were to fly into a window or mirror. Trimming the wings also makes taming your bird easier.

If you do NOT want to clip your bird's wings, please make sure that they are not in danger of any ceiling fans, open windows or doors, and be sure to cover any and all windows with drapes, curtains, or shutters to prevent your bird from accidentally injuring itself.

Beak and Nail Trimming

Most bird perches are smooth. This means that the claws and beaks of pet birds tend to overgrow. The surfaces of their beaks can also become rough and irregular. This does not happen in the wild because they are always active and wear down their claws on bark and other rough surfaces. Pet birds will need their claws trimmed periodically. You can regularly bring your bird to the vet once every three to four months to get his/her beak and nails trimmed, or you can ask your vet how to do this yourself.

Usually a vet uses a tool called a dremel. It will slowly grind away the nail or beak instead of painfully clipping it, which will cause intense pressure and could cause a bird's beak to crack. If your bird's nail starts to bleed while trimming, apply Qwik-stop, or a similar coagulating powder to stop the bleeding.

The Vet

No pet likes going to the vet. But it is a necessity to keep your bird healthy. Bring your bird to the vet for a check-up every five to six months to ensure he is healthy and maintaining a suitable weight.

Off you go!

Now you are armed with the information that will help you to keep your bird healthy and happy. If provided with these things, your bird will remain healthy, happy, strong, and stress-free life for many, many years to come.