Meet Mel’s flock and See Why Rescuers Often Suffer From Multiple Bird Syndrome

The second you get known simultaneously for helping animals in need and as a parrot owner, you’d be amazed at just how many calls you get to help an abused parrot, or just a parrot who needs re-homing. It is incredibly difficult to say no to the sob stories. In the last twelve months, I personally have dealt with just under 30 non-wild native parrots that needed re-homing or help finding their lost owner. Fortunately, in most of those cases, the owners were looking for them.
Needless to say, my flock of eight consists mostly of sob stories that I ...

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Why I Don’t Make a Good “Permanent” Home for Rescue Birds

One of my FAVORITE things is taking in other people’s birds and totally transforming them. Me doing this lead to our Total Transformation Course at BirdTricks.com where we realized we should be sharing these tools we use to change other people’s birds with those people so they can learn how to do it themselves. It was a great thing and even after the fact, I still enjoy doing it because every bird teaches ...

 

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Linus’ Vacation

Q: What is loud, destructive, high maintenance and totally missed?

 – Patty J., Orlando, FL

A: Linus the umbrella cockatoo.

People have been asking how Linus is doing in New Mexico. It’s hard for me to write about it because I think the only way I get through this is by not thinking about it – or trying not to. I am grateful to so completely trust the person taking care of Linus that I never have to worry for his physical well being. That fact is ...

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Questions About Parrot’s Senses

These questions pertaining to a bird’s senses have come up in recent weeks. Since they are all related, in a way, I decided to tackle them all in a single post…

Q: My husband loves it when I wear perfume but I don’t know if the smell is too strong for my birds. Should I keep away from the birds when I wear it?
 – Jennifer K., Auburn Hills, MI

A: I would imagine that, as a rule, most animals would prefer to smell your natural scent. It gives up a ...

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Setting up an Outdoor Bird Aviary for Travel

 

Many of you asked to see us set up our traveling bird aviaries, to see how long it really takes and we tried to stretch out this time lapse as much as possible but it’s still under a minute! It really doesn’t take long at all, since we welded the sides together to make the process easier knowing that the cages would be set up and taken down weekly.

These outdoor aviaries are from Cages by Design and can be found here on their website.

For more aviary options, you can browse our Flickr photostream.

As you ...

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Should We Share Table Food With Our Birds?

Hyacinth macaw

Q: Is it okay to feed my new blue and gold macaw the same foods as I eat at dinner?
– Devin B., Bethesda, MD

A: Yes. And no. Most of the foods we eat are good for parrots: fruits, vegetables, pastas, grains, fish and small amounts of  lean cooked meats. The term table food generally is used in reference to our preparation of these foods, at which time they begin to get unhealthy.We add salt, sugar, butter, sour cream, and dressings to make the foods more palatable ...

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