The Best Way To Ask Questions On The BirdTricks Facebook Page

Blue throated macaw

We love it when you guys ask questions here and on the Facebook page. It means that you are paying attention to the clues in your bird’s behavior and physical appearance. It means that you are aware of events in your bird’s environment.  It means you care enough to ask for guidance when something seems off.

Jamie and I were chatting earlier today after she had discovered many, many posts that had been filtered out as spam and were never seen on the Facebook page. She was really disturbed by this, especially when she saw some people re-posting asking why their questions were going unanswered. It is very upsetting to think that some people must have felt rejected and left the page thinking that nobody cared about what they had to say.

We started talking about how to better manage the Facebook page. With the flurry of activity on the page these days, it is hard to keep up. Someone could ask a question and by the time we respond, and you respond to that, the post can be buried and lost under the day’s activity.

Congo African Grey

We LOVE it when you post pictures of your birds and share your cute stories and touching moments. It’s what gives the Facebook page that community feel. But we also want you to be able to ask questions about your bird’s diet, health and behavior. Very often in our responses to your questions, we have to ask YOU questions for clarification in order to give you an answer that is tailored to your problem. We need to find a way to carry on a “dialogue” without it getting lost.

We came up with a simple system to make the posts containing questions stand out a bit more. If you have a question, please use the word QUESTION in caps as the first word of your post when you want to know the answer to a general question such as: are pine cones are safe for birds? Use IMPORTANT as your first word when there is a health issue or if a question needs a timely answer.

If a post gets lost, you can bring the issue back up to the top of the page by re-posting: “REPOST –  It’s John with the handicapped eclectus”, and re-ask your question.

**Important! I want to stress that none of us here are vets. If your bird has suffered an injury or is showing clear signs of illness, you should be consulting your vet, not BirdTricks or any other online site.

Author Patty Jourgensen specializes in avian health, behavior and nutrition and has been working with and caring for rescue birds since 1987. 

1 comment

Califia

I love this idea! I think that is an awesome way to keep track of everything! I hope it helps you folks out with keeping up with us! hehe!

Califia

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