SWEAR Care Tips: How to Keep Your Parrot Happy and Healthy

WATER

Fresh water is vital. It should always be available in a clean container that is washed daily. A good rule to follow is If you wouldn't eat or drink from the container, neither should your bird. Water should be changed at least once a day, and in some cases, like with a very messy bird that likes to dip their food, twice daily. Whenever the water has been dirtied, the dish should be washed and the water replaced with clean fresh water. Bacteria can develop and grow very quickly in a water dish, be sure you are washing it daily in hot water with dish soap or vinegar and rinsing it well before refilling it and giving it back to your bird.

Diet & Nutrition

The long-standing myth that parrots should eat bird seed and peanuts continues to compromise the health of companion birds everywhere. 

Just because you see it for sale in the bird section of your pet store, and it has a picture of your bird species on the front, doesn't mean you should be feeding it to your bird. 

Commercially purchased bird seed is extremely high in fat and low in all but the smallest traces of nutrients.

Feeding your bird a diet comprised primarily of seed is just as if YOU were eating a constant diet of nothing but fast food!  You can survive on it, but how healthy will you be really? 

Most birds that have been on a seed diet show severely compromised physiological systems.  They are susceptible to liver and kidney damage, obesity, fatty tumors, heart issues and greatly shortened lifespans. Additionally, it may be cheaper but parrots should NEVER be fed a diet of wild bird seed! AND unless you are eating something that is healthy for your bird, you should not be sharing your burger, french fries or scrambled eggs with your parrot either!. If you're worried about the cost buying a good healthy food, maybe a parrot as a pet isn't for you.

For optimum health, a parrot should have a varied diet based on a healthy formulated pellet(s) and fresh foods.  A variety of daily fresh, greens, (no spinach), vegetables, sprouted grains, and limited nuts, (Peanuts are not nuts and could be dangerous to your parrots health causing Aspergillosis). 

Seeds are not necessary or desirable in your birds diet (with the exception of finches, parakeets & cockatiels).  Just because they like it, doesn't mean you should give it to them.  Fats, salt and sugar and caffeine are not good for your bird either.  

60-75% of the diet should be made up of pellets. If you're feeding an Eclectus parrot, avoid any colored pellets unless you can be certain the color is from an all-natural source.  Most of the diet needs to be primarily fresh veggies and greens with very small amounts of berries/other fruits. (Fruit is higher in sugar and lower in nutrients than veggies are, they are excess calories your bird won't be able to burn). The veggies can be fresh or frozen but avoid canned completely. Organic is always better than conventional vegetables.  If buying frozen mixes be careful to avoid ingredients like onions and mushrooms and make sure there is no sauce or butter on the frozen vegetables.

Fruit should always have the seeds/pits removed before feeding to your bird and remember fruit is an occasional treat and only in small amounts. 

Whole grains to serve include spelt, oat groats, barley, flax seed, millet, kamut, whole grain brown or black rice, quinoa, hemp etc.

Veggies like dark leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, zucchini squash, yellow squash, butternut squash, beans, sweet potatoes, red and orange sweet peppers, any of the other winter squashes and color rich veggies.  Red & orange vegetables are a good source of Vitamin A which captive parrots can be deficient in.  

*Granivores: budgies/cockatiels should be at 50% pellets and 50% whole grains, leafy veggies, minimal fruit.

Macaws:  require a higher fat content (but not a lot higher), can have about 10% of diet being whole nuts with healthy fats like  walnuts, brazil nuts, almonds.

Eclectus: have unusually long digestive tracts and require large amounts of fiber.  Their diet should be 80% vegetables and leafy greens and vegetables (listed above) to remain healthy.  They are far more likely than other parrots to suffer from nutritional deficiencies, since many people ignore their special dietary needs. Their diet in the wild consist of native fruits such as figs, native berries and native nuts. The main thing most people forget or do not know is that Eclectus Parrots are arboreal in habit. Tree-top dwellers, they forage for food in the canopy of the tropical rainforest.  Avoid any colored pellets as they can greatly effect their health as well as the color of their feathers.  Pellets like Caitec Oven Fresh Bites or Higgins In-Tune have no artificial colors and are safe to feed an Eclectus as well as limited amounts of nuts in conjunction with the majority of their diet being fresh/frozen vegetables (listed above).

Many people feed fresh food daily, however you can feed these items however it works best for your schedule just as long as your birds are getting them.  You can feed different veggies at different times of the year depending on what is available and cost effective.  They can be fresh, cooked or baked into a birdie bread.   You can buy 'soak & cook' mixes that require you to soak them overnight then cook for 30 minutes the next morning.  You can make up your own mixes depending on what your birds like.  You're only limited by your imagination, what your birds like and of course the list of safe foods.

Whatever fresh foods you decide to feed, your birds should have pellets available all day long.  Feeding your birds pellets and a variety of fresh veggies as the majority of their diet is the best thing you can do for their health!

Take the time to research the best possible diet for your species of parrot, Google is a wonderful resource but be sure you are using reliable sources and they are current.  There is a lot of outdated material on the internet. Feeding your bird a varied nutritious diet will help them stay healthy and they will thank you with a long life of companionship.

If you are tempted to feed your bird inappropriate treats and fruit every day, remember that in the wild, your bird would spend their day flying and burning calories HOWEVER, in captivity it is impossible to imitate that level of physical activity and excess calories will be stored as fat potentially causing a whole host of physical problems. Try to research online what your bird would eat if they were living in the wild to get an idea of what foods they might like.

Parrots generally eat their primary meals in the morning and in the evening.  They will snack on their food during the day but those are their main meal times. It's best to serve fresh foods in the morning and then remove the fresh food dish within a couple hours to reduce the chance of contamination.  Never put the (wet) fresh food on top the regular dry food (pellet) dish. Always serve the wet (fresh) food separately so as not to get any of their dry food wet or even damp, which can potentially attract bacteria and make your bird sick.

See this link for more information on nutritional deficiencies.

Toys & Playtime

Playtime and toys are not just something you provide for your bird once in a while.  When you foster, the bird will come to you with appropriate toys, but it is your responsibility as the foster home to buy them new toys as needed.

Their busy minds need tasks and stimulation.  It might be an empty cereal box with scrunched up tissue paper and a treat inside, or it's hanging out with you while you go outside to enjoy the sunset (make sure they're wearing a harness!).

Your bird will enjoy new things and experiences to enrich his/her daily life.  Sitting in an empty cage day-in and day-out with nothing to do is no way for a bird to spend their life.

Even if your bird is not handle-able, you can still provide them with toys and experiences to make their life more enjoyable.  Toys can be hanging inside their cage as well as on the outside of their cage.  Try putting small parrot safe toys in a stainless steel or ceramic dish that sits on the floor in their cage and fill it with fun things to play with.  Hide their food/treats inside their toy box, wrapped in a coffee filter or tissue paper, or put it in a small cardboard box.  Your bird will enjoy figuring out how to get inside at the yummy treat, it stimulates their mind and keeps them busy and happy.  Be sure to offer toys of various materials, not only acrylic, not only wood, not only plastic or paper but a combination of several materials to help keep your bird entertained.

Always remember birds in the wild spend their days foraging, flying great distances looking for food and playing with their flock members.

Try researching online how the species of bird you hope to foster or adopt lives in the wild.  Always check the page you are getting information from has been updated within the past several years and that you are not reading outdated reference material!

While fostering for SWEAR, we will get you started with toys for your foster bird but it is your responsibility to provide for the continuing needs of the bird while in your care (with the exception of medical care which is covered by SWEAR).

Other Considerations

Parrots are prey in the wild, that means humans, dogs, cats, or anything new and scary can be seen as a predator by your bird. "Fight or Flight" Means a Bite, or worse......

It is important that you modify our actions and behaviors to be less threatening to your parrot. Keep their environment non-threatening. Mirroring your bird's body language can help to establish build a trusting, non-threatening relationship. Something as simple as a balloon, or a wild bird flying overhead can be perceived as a threat by your bird. Fear will make a bird fight (bite whoever is closest) or take to flight, potentially placing your bird in a real-life threatening situation.

Parrots are flock animals and require the safety and security of a flock.

This doesn’t mean you need a whole flock of birds, but you need to make yourself your bird’s flock. Parrots are hard-wired to only be comfortable and feel safe when they are surrounded by their flock. In the wild, a bird alone has little chance of survival. In captivity, humans must become their bird's flock. Happy parrots must be allowed to spend time with their flock outside of their cage for several hours daily. Sitting with or near you, eating when you eat, these are simple bonding steps you can take to solidify to your bird that you are part of their 'flock'.

Parrots are highly intelligent, sensitive creatures.

Because parrots have human life-spans in many cases, there is a rising crisis of too many birds and not enough homes. Bird mills, just like puppy mills, keep churning out hand-raised babies, and there are already too many birds for the limited number of homes available. If breeding became illegal now, our grandchildren would still be dealing with the birds in existence today. Purchasing a bird from a pet store or breeder supports the continuation of breeding captive parrots. Breeding is NOT saving or promoting the saving of a particular parrot species. The birds bred in captivity can never be returned to the wild. Breeding for profit is not protecting a species, it's simply breeding for profit. Unfortunately, it will continue until people stop buying birds from commercial sources and instead, support the rescue and rehoming of birds already in captivity.

NEED TOYS?

SWEAR sells toys to help support the Rescue!

Check for upcoming events on our Facebook page or give us a call if you need toys for your bird(s).