The dry diet mix at that time was just a custom mix of three other dry diet mixes, and I’ve long been keen on designing my own diet. I’ve written extensively about diet over the past 6 years, so a lot of research went into the formation of this new diet. Here were some of the goals I had in mind.

Note that this article is only about the dry diet, so see my previous article for recommendations about fresh food and other important elements of a healthy bird diet.

More sprouted nuts and seeds

Although Christine’s Chop Shop mix contains some dehydrated sprouted seeds, I wanted to include sprouted nuts as well as a much higher content and variety of sprouted seeds. There are at least two great online sources of sprouted seeds: Blue Mountain Organics and Nuts.com. It’s also becoming increasingly easier to buy sprouted seeds in markets, although the cost can be quite high. With Blue Mountain Organics, especially, buying larger bags can bring the price down to where it’s competitive with non-sprouted foods.

Although this new mix is mostly individual ingredients, I’m still using Christine’s Chop Shop’s mix as it’s got some really great stuff in it that’s expensive or difficult to find in small quantities. It’s got dried chop in it, which can be yet another way to get green food into the diet. It also has dried spices, which are a great enrichment for the senses.

More nuts overall

The seed mixes contain some nuts, but it’s far less than I want my birds to be eating. Nuts are an incredible source of essential fatty acids, which, as the name tells you, are not just good for you; they are essential nutrients that cannot be manufactured by your bird and must be obtained in a diet.

Essential fatty acids, or EFAs, are fatty acids that are required by humans and other animals for normal physiological function that cannot be synthesized in the body.

Essential fatty acid—Wikipedia

Higher percentage of high-fat seeds

And speaking of essential fatty acids, the lower-fat seeds that are predominant in small parrot mixes, like those for budgies and cockatiels, translate to lower fatty acid content. I wanted to introduce a higher content of certain seeds, such as chia, hemp, flax, pumpkin, and sunflower and de-emphasise seeds such as canary seed, millet, and oats.

More seed variety

Many commercial diet mixes, especially those for small parrots, focus on only a few varieties of seed. I wanted to introduce more variety, including seeds such as quinoa, sorghum, and buckwheat. Sorghum was especially interesting as it’s the most common seed that cockatiels have been observed eating in the wild, but never appears in a cockatiel mix.

But, what will my birds actually eat?

An important part of this process was determining whether my birds would actually eat some of the new food items I was considering. Given they’d not seen them before and seeds must actually be openable by the birds, I had to make sure they could actually eat them.

The way I usually feed my birds is to give them only enough so that they finish off all their dry diet by the end of the day. What I would do is reduce their current dry diet by a small amount and then put out a separate bowl with a new item in it for at least a week and observe them.

There were some seeds like sorghum that did not attract interest from budgies, but cockatiels enjoyed, so I would adjust the content accordingly. It paid to be persistent, as some things like chia were ignored for quite some time, but eventually they came to devour it. Birds just take time to get used to new things, just like any creature.

When it came to nuts, I discovered that fully formed nuts were often ignored, but if I chopped them up a bit, they could carry them around, and I have a few birds that to this day love the nuts more than anything else.

Pumpkin seeds were ignored until I lightly chopped them, and now they devour them.

The diet

Here’s the current diet as of the writing of this article. I am constantly making small tweaks based on what they eat and finding new things to include or finding new research on nutrition. This makes about a six-week supply for my current flock of 9 budgies, Bourke’s parrots, and cockatiels.

I’ve provided imperial measurements, but also weights, which I’m finding to be much easier to manage and scale to larger batches.

Data comes courtesy of My Food Data.

Additional information

For the mixed nuts and pumpkin seeds, I’m using a Swiss Chop Chop. For the pumpkin seeds, it’s just 4 pulls on the Chop Chop to slice the seeds into multiple pieces. For the nuts, I’m doing about 12-20 pulls on the Chop Chop, shaking periodically. I’m looking for cutting the nuts into small enough pieces for the birds to carry but not so small that it becomes mostly powder.

After mixing all the ingredients, I tumble the mix thoroughly in a container to mix the ingredients evenly and also coat the mix with diatomaceous earth.

Cost

I’m able to bring the costs down quite a bit by purchasing larger bags of the raw ingredients, either 1 or 5 pounds, and then freezing the remainder to use later. My cost comes down to 17 cents per bird per day. This is comparably priced to what a bag of commercial dry mix like Harvey’s Colossal Cockatiel, which I’ve used in the past. If you purchase in smaller quantities, the cost can increase substantially.

Blue Mountain Organics is also substantially cheaper than Nuts.com, which is cheaper than buying from a high-end grocery store, where you might have to go to find sprouted nuts.

Success?

The contents of the diet are rooted in science, but unfortunately, I don’t bring my birds to the vet regularly for checkups as I don’t like to traumatise them. So, I don’t have any solid data to prove this diet is leading to better health outcomes.

Anecdotally, we’ve had quite a few long-lived birds over the years and we’ve not had birds develop chronic diseases, with the exception of some of our rescue birds that were already ailing when we first adopted them. We’ve had a cockatiel live to her late 20s, and budgies and Bourke’s parrots live into their teens.

Our flock was quite healthy and active before switching to this improved diet, but we’ve seen marked behavioral improvement in our older birds especially. We had some very old Bourke’s parrots that are among our oldest rescued birds. Their feather condition improved noticeably and their activity levels went from more stoic to quite a bit more active.

Our teenaged budgie became noticeably more active and a better flier in the last few years of his life after switching to this diet. He came to us with existing liver problems and an abdominal tumor, but seemed to roll back the years on the new diet.

Conclusion

Just like in humans, a diet that is as minimally processed as possible and as close to what might be found in a wild diet leads to the best health outcomes.

Read more of my articles about diet.

When I first started keeping birds, this illness was called “macaw wasting disease” and virtually nothing was known about it. We know it’s caused by a transmissable virus which has infected a significant portion of both captive and wild bird populations. But there are many mysterious that have yet to be solved. Thankfully, there’s a recent paper that summarises the current scientific thinking into this disease. While I’m not an infectious disease expert, I consider myself to be an expert at digesting scientific papers and attempting to demystify them.

Since this paper is quite long and dense, I will select some quotes from it and provide some commentary. It serves as a great resource for the disease in general, but I will focus on the dietary recommendations.

Daily care of birds with clinical symptoms of bornaviruses consists of providing an easily digestible, high energy diet, including banana, the mashed inside of potatoes or yams, rice, canned pumpkin, frozen peas, and scrambled eggs.

Avian Bornaviral Ganglioneuritis: Current Debates and Unanswered Questions—Veterinary Medicine International—2020

Some great specific advice on foods to try if you haven’t already. You might notice that the recommended foods are similar to what you’d give to a person with digestion and stomach problems. I’ve strongly recommended eggs in the past as a excellent supplement to a diet, particularly for sick birds, and it’s nice to see more research supporting this.

[…] the disease is now understood to have more extensive nervous system involvement.

Avian Bornaviral Ganglioneuritis: Current Debates and Unanswered Questions—Veterinary Medicine International—2020

And what does the nervous system need? Dietary fat. Lipids. Cholesterol.

Adequate dietary intake and nutritional status have important effects on brain functions and on brain health. Energy intake and specific nutrients excess or deficiency from diet differently affect cognitive processes, emotions, behaviour, neuroendocrine functions and synaptic plasticity with possible protective or detrimental effects on neuronal physiology. Lipids, in particular, play structural and functional roles in neurons. Here the importance of dietary fats and the need to understand the brain mechanisms activated by peripheral and central metabolic sensors. Thus, the manipulation of lifestyle factors such as dietary interventions may represent a successful therapeutic approach to maintain and preserve brain health along lifespan.

Impact of Dietary Fats on Brain Functions—Current Neuropharmacology—August 2018

This further suggests the advice to add eggs to the bird diet, since contain a healthy mix of good fats, including omega fatty acids (the ones your doctor won’t stop talking about). You can even buy “omega enhanced” eggs from chickens that are fed a high omega diet such as flaxseed.

So, now we get to the most important bit:

On the contrary, seeds, nuts, strawberries, and the skin of fruits such as apples should be avoided because they are more difficult to digest.

Avian Bornaviral Ganglioneuritis: Current Debates and Unanswered Questions—Veterinary Medicine International—2020

Note that this goes against my general recommendation for seed and nuts as a solid base for a quality whole-food diet. In this case, nuts and seeds can aggravate the gastrointestinal distress from this disease and should be avoided.

Others have suggested that it may be beneficial to supplement the diets of birds in early stages of the disease with vegetables high in fiber because it may stimulate intestinal motility, while the same foods are undesirable for birds with more progressive symptoms because they may remain in the intestines and ferment.

Avian Bornaviral Ganglioneuritis: Current Debates and Unanswered Questions—Veterinary Medicine International—2020

Well, this part appears to complicate things, but I’ll repeat the excerpt from the top of the article, which recommends these foods that happer to all be low in fiber:

Daily care of birds with clinical symptoms of bornaviruses consists of providing an easily digestible, high energy diet, including banana, the mashed inside of potatoes or yams, rice, canned pumpkin, frozen peas, and scrambled eggs.

Avian Bornaviral Ganglioneuritis: Current Debates and Unanswered Questions—Veterinary Medicine International—2020

Feel free to show this to your vet, especially if they are unaware of the most recent research. Vets are busy and research is something that can take them away from seeing their patients.

Hopefully this information will help birds suffering from this disease and their owners that are suffering with them.

But life intervened, and we moved to Oregon only a year later, leaving all our hard work behind! We always dreamed of having a combined indoor/outdoor aviary someday, so maybe this was an opportunity. While this was a rebuild from scratch, we could apply what we learned from the experiences of our previous iterations, so it seems fitting to give it the Aviary 3.0 name.

It’s been two-and-a-half years since we completed this project, so we can look back and see what we did right and wrong. At the end, I’ll discuss some changes we made based on the first few years it was used.

Note that this was an ambitious project taken on by semi-retired homeowners with the means to pull it off. I realise most people can’t build an aviary, but I think a lot can be learned from experience and applied to more traditional bird-keeping situations.

Why an indoor/outdoor aviary?

One of the obvious disadvantages of having an outdoor-only aviary is that it’s very climate-dependent. Birds can tolerate cold temperatures well, but not when it gets too far below freezing. Hot temperatures can be much worse, leading to heat stroke or death, even in tropical birds. For these temperature extremes, you need some shelter, or you need to be set up to shuttle birds back and forth from indoors to your aviary.

To make matters worse, summers are getting more brutal in many areas of the world. To use Portland, Oregon (where we now live) as an example, here are the number of 90F+ days we’ve annually over time:

When it’s over 95F, our flock of Australian birds start to suffer, even though they are acclimated, and there is plenty of shade. They start panting and spread out their wings to cool off. I would use irrigation misters hanging from the roof, but when it’s over 100F, they didn’t provide enough relief. So, I’d soak them with a hose a few times daily. It’s not comforting to think your birds will roast to death if you don’t check on them often enough!

On top of that, wildfires are more common and happening in areas where it didn’t happen historically. Even if where you live is safe from fires, wildfires can cause air to be hazardous hundreds or thousands of miles away. We had a smoke event at a time when we had 21 birds in our outdoor aviary. Bringing all these birds inside every time the air quality is terrible is not practical. Since moving to Portland in 2020, we’ve already had two weeks with some of the most unbreathable air anywhere in the world. Excessive heat and smoke are the new normal in more and more places.

Aside from the environmental factors, we also wanted our flock of birds to be more accessible. When it’s dark, cold, or rainy outside, sitting outside in the aviary is less convenient to spend time with the birds. The birds appreciate more company, too!

And finally, I wanted something that other people would want to visit. I like to introduce people to our birds. It’s a good education for people that rarely see a bird up close. With birds disappearing worldwide, it helps to get people more interested in the plight of birds.

Finding the right house? Kind of impossible

When looking for a new house, we wanted to find something that would accommodate an outdoor aviary connected to the house, where birds could move freely in and out. We would also want a way to control access to the outdoor aviary during heat or smoke events. We considered an outdoor aviary with a shelter, but a shelter wouldn’t protect them from smoke. And we wanted the birds closer to us.

Finding a house that would work was far harder than expected. Ideally, this is what we were looking for:

• A house with a first-story room facing the backyard could be dedicated to an indoor aviary or a space that could be divided from a larger room.

• The room would need a window facing the backyard, or one would have to be installed.

• This room must be conveniently located so an outdoor aviary wouldn’t obstruct anything else in the yard.

Looking back on the house search, it seems obvious now, but this configuration is extremely uncommon. Sometimes a one-story house will have a bedroom in the back, but a one-story house may not be big enough to dedicate a bedroom to the birds, especially if you need a couple of bedrooms for humans or guests. For a multi-storey house, bedrooms are often on the second floor, leaving essential spaces like the kitchen, dining room, and living room on the first floor, which are hard to dedicate or subdivide for birds.

But we lucked out, finding a multi-storey house with a “family room” in the back. An area next to the kitchen was labelled a “nook” but was plenty big enough to use as a dining room. The family room had two double-hung windows facing the backyard. Even better, there was a 9-foot deep patio under an overhang at the back of the house, so an outdoor aviary could be squeezed in without requiring a roof and only losing about half of a back patio.

Here’s the floor plan, where I shaded the planned indoor and outdoor aviaries in green.

Phase 1: Outdoor aviary (and catio)

The back patio had an overhang and support pillars, so it was a matter of enclosing the space on three sides with wood-and-wire panels. The back of the house formed the fourth wall. Then, we added an exterior door with an airlock. The construction resembled the Aviary 2.0 project, so you can read that article for more details. The only change was we used Douglas fir instead of redwood, which is more widely available.

The existing porch floor was poured cement, so we didn’t have to do any work there. I wanted a dirt floor, but removing an existing patio didn’t seem like a great idea. In our old aviary, we put gravel on top of the dirt to make it less mucky, so I knew birds were OK with gravel. This time, I used a pebble mixture for flooring, which is fairly easy to hose down. I make up for the lack of a dirt floor by bringing in grasses, branches, and plant matter for them to forage around the ground.

Bonus: Catio! Our basement also had a window with access to the side yard, so we built a small outdoor catio using the same design.

Phase 2: Basement aviary (and catio)

We were fortunate to have a basement we didn’t need for storage. We wanted a place to keep the birds while building the main aviaries since we had no idea how long it would take. We also realised it might be useful to have a separate space where we could separate or quarantine aviary birds or keep different flocks incompatible.

Like the outdoor aviary, the construction was simple and didn’t require anything other than wire, wood, and labour. It was attached to the ceiling, walls, and pillars. We used the same construction for the catio, which we positioned next to the basement window to connect to the outdoor aviary. We put down a Marmoleum floor in the basement to replace the carpet. In retrospect, tile would’ve been a better option as we’ve found it easier to clean and scrub. Tile can also handle standing water better.

Here are some crude pencil drawings and pictures of the new basement floor with blue tape marks where we planned to build the aviary and catio.

Here are some photos of the construction of the aviary and catio. The birds were moved in very quickly after this was built.

Here’s a video walkthrough of the catio and aviary! You can see more details from the finished catio.

Phase 3: Indoor aviary

Design

The basement and outdoor aviaries were a piece of cake compared to the indoor aviary. We struggled with what to do with this space for a long time. Even though we built the outdoor aviary first, we had to devise a reasonable plan, or we’d just be wasting time and money on a failed project.

Layout

As you can see in this drawing, the planned aviary was open to the dining/kitchen area, flanked by three-foot wide “pony walls” (in dark green) on each side.

We had a lot of ideas but didn’t like any of the initial ones. One idea was to close the opening with a wall, making the aviary a separate room with a door where the birds could fly freely. But we’d be walling off four big windows from the rest of the house. Plus, we wanted to see the birds from outside the aviary.

The second idea was to build a wood-and-wire aviary inside the space. From the dining/kitchen area, you would see one wall of the “cage” built inside the room. Not super attractive, and cleaning seemed like it would be a nightmare. How would you clean between the “cage” and the walls? It was at this point that we were stuck.

Glass wall

This was when we stumbled upon the crazy idea of a glass wall instead of a wood-and-wire construction. This epiphany derailed us for several months as we had to do a lot of research into the feasibility of glass. The primary concern is how to keep our birds from killing themselves by slamming into it. I wrote an article about avoiding window collisions for your indoor birds, which came out of research for this project.

We could install regular glass and use existing options like film or window stickers, but we wanted to see our birds and for them to see us rather than a wall of stickers. The article I referenced discusses the glass options we considered before finally deciding to do a wall of Ornilux bird glass. It was starting to feel like it would be a fantastic space for us and our birds.

Airlock

We needed a safe way to get in and out of the aviary. You can’t just have a door that opens to a room with a dozen birds flying around. An airlock needed a 3-4 foot square area with an interior door opening into the aviary. But this would significantly cut into the aviary space, and we wanted to maximize flying space. And since we had decided to go the route of using a glass wall, that made things even more difficult. Wouldn’t the doors have to be glass, too?

We sketched out an idea for an airlock, but it sucked.

That’s when a moment of inspiration hit. Take note of the pantry adjacent to the aviary, highlighted in purple. We realised we could add a door from the pantry to the aviary and turn the pantry into an airlock! The idea seemed crazy for about 10 seconds, and then it suddenly seemed brilliant. We all wanted to take credit for thinking of it.

The biggest concern was that we didn’t want to do anything that would ruin the pantry. There was briefly a crazy plan to make the half bath into an airlock!

Looking back a few years now, it’s worked amazingly well. The pantry is just as functional as before, and the space is the perfect size and configuration for an airlock. Now we had a plan to give us a solid glass wall with access hidden in the pantry. It seemed like it would all work out.

Pony walls

Since we were already knocking a door-sized hole in the wall to the aviary, we decided to do a bit more destruction and remove the top half of the two pony walls. Since we were bothering with this nice glass wall, we wanted to maximize visibility. These two pony walls occupied six feet of wall space! We couldn’t remove them completely because of existing electrical, and some doors needed a place to stop. But we could remove the top portion of both of them.

Heating and cooling

We spent a lot of time thinking about climate control in the indoor aviary. The room did have a heating/cooling vent on the floor, but the window would be open most days. If we closed the vent all the time, the temperature would vary more than the house. The birds might be fine with that, but human visitors might be uncomfortable. We also didn’t know what would happen if we had multiple hot days in a row. Would this room with a closed vent get too hot for the birds?

Another possibility would be opening and closing the vent manually as needed. But we hoped to have something that required less human intervention in case we weren’t around or went out of town.

We even considered getting a mini-split for the aviary and then closing off the vent entirely. Then we could set it up to maintain a good temperature when the window to the outdoor aviary was closed. But it was too expensive and challenging.

In the end, we just decided to keep the vent open. Our house has one climate zone, and the aviary is isolated, so if it’s hot in there, it doesn’t trigger A/C in the rest of the house. Based on our power bills for the first few years, it doesn’t seem to have changed since we built the aviary, so it’s possible it doesn’t have that much of an impact. We also recently installed solar, which may help with the guilt of potentially wasting power.

Construction

The construction began after we had a workable design and finished the minimal destruction.

Floor

The existing floor was hardwood, which we learned from our previous home was fairly difficult to clean, even with only a few birds flying around. We went with tile, which was a great choice in retrospect. The only downside is that it does reflect sound, so the aviary can be quite noisy inside!

Walls

The walls, ceiling, and trim were painted with bird-safe paint. I’ve previously written about painting around birds, and much of that article is from the experience of creating this indoor aviary.

In this photo, the floor and walls are done, and you can see out the windows to the outdoor aviary!

Windows

The idea was to open one or both windows during daytime hours to let the birds freely move between the indoor and outdoor aviaries. But as anyone with birds knows, every surface is an opportunity for destruction. The windows were tricky as the framing and trim were all wood. We also didn’t want places where they would hang out that would collect poop. Painted wood isn’t the easiest to clean!

Since they are double-hung windows, we decided to slide the top window down to be at a normal flying height. But this was an opportunity to sit on the top edge of the windows and poop between them! We had a very clever carpenter build these wood blocks that fit over the window frame. Then they started eating the window frames and destroying the rubber seals.

While our glass wall was special bird glass, our windows were just ordinary windows. Given the possibility of striking these windows from both sides, we ended up using some of the sticker options mentioned in my article about making your windows bird safe.

Shades

We wanted to put shades on all the windows. Cockatiels and budgies in particular are extremely hormonal and restricting light can sometimes help. We got these roller shades from The Shade Store that are operated with a remote. There are no cords to destroy, and the shades themselves are a surface they’ve so far not been able to land on to destroy. We rarely come up with something we think they won’t destroy. And then they don’t!

Lighting

The existing room had only one light in the middle. Since we were addressing poor lighting everywhere in the house, we put in four very bright dimmable LEDs with low flicker rates. This is a complex topic that I’ve written in more detail about, but the short version is to buy LED lights that are “Title 24” compliant. This indicates they pass some reasonable flicker tests.

Perch trees

I built “perch trees” for the indoor, outdoor, and basement aviaries. I’ve described this in greater detail in another article:

That article has a lot more photos, but here’s a sampling.

Glass wall

The very last piece of the puzzle was installing the glass wall. We had to wait a few months for it to arrive, and when it did… one of the glass panes was broken! Luckily it was one of the small side pieces so we could get a replacement within a couple of weeks.

The installation took half a day, so here’s a nice time-lapse video. My Mom always asks how to slow down these videos. Oh, Mom.

And here’s the finished product, just before the birds were unleashed into their new home.

Updates

In the two years since this was built, we’ve had to make several changes based on what we learned. One of the changes involved moving the birds out of the aviary for several weeks. We were extra fortunate to have a basement aviary to stash them in while construction took place.

Bird strikes

Although we’ve had no injuries from birds striking the main glass, we discovered that when we added new birds to the aviary, they would sometimes graze the glass or coast into it, especially during a panic. I wrote about this in my article about preventing bird strikes.

The summary is that we now put up UV stickers for a few weeks after putting new birds into the aviary. That seems to help them understand the presence of the glass, even during a panic.

Wood trim

The wood trim around the windows and elsewhere was a constant problem. As you can see in this photo, there are too many places where birds can land and eat the woodwork.

Having fought prior battles with birds over eating things, we thought they could be resolved cleverly. We also had spent a lot setting up the aviary and needed to draw the line somewhere. We tried using edge protectors and polycarbonate sheets to protect them, but it just ended up being more surfaces to clean.

So, we decided to move the birds out of the aviary for a few weeks to make some changes. We removed the wainscotting, replaced the wood baseboard with tile, and redid the trim above the windows to be very thin, so they could no longer land there. In the long run, it was well worth the one-time expense.

Plastic film

We recently stumbled upon a cheap solution (less than $20) for protecting the windows from birds landing on the sill and sash. We installed some plastic film from 3M over the entire window frame. This puts everything, including the shade, behind a thin plastic film. Surprisingly, the birds have not been able to bypass this. And it’s invisible.

Conclusion

Despite all the effort and expense, it’s been a very successful project! The birds seem to love their new home. Here are some photos and videos of the finished aviary.

Leaving space between the trees and the wall has left them more room to fly.

It’s essential to have a lot of shady spots.

This type of wire is perfect for these small birds.

The basement aviary and catio share a wall, but the cats are (unfortunately) declawed, so they can’t hurt the birds through the wire.

The only option I could find for sale were these “java wood” trees, but even a 5’ high tree is over $1,000 from some sources. These “trees” are stripped of any bark, lichen, or moss. That takes all the fun out of it! And there are not a lot of spots to attach toys. And would it survive outside in a wet or cold climate?

I started by keeping an eye on my neighbourhood to see whether any trees were getting pruned or removed, but it was hard finding something that worked. It turns out that most trees don’t develop branches of sufficient thickness until they are too tall to fit in a house or an aviary. I needed a large tree, only a small version of that. I needed to take a different approach. I decided to find branches and then build a tree out of them.

Perch trees 1.0

I described my original “perch tree” design and construction in detail in my Aviary 2.0 article. The main idea was to create something that was tree-like, but with perches that could be replaced as they finished removing the bark or destroying them entirely. I also wanted to have stable attachment points for perches so they didn’t have to be attached to the wire or the outside frame of the aviary. This way I could place perches anywhere.

It’s not the most attractive solution, but it worked well supporting the aviary with 23 birds at one point using three perch trees.

Perch trees 2.0

Our new aviary is both indoor and outdoor, so I needed something that would work well in both locations. In the 1.0 version, the “trunks” were dug into the ground and I wanted to be able to re-position them. I wanted natural wood trunks and I needed a way to keep them upright. There were definitely more challenges with this design, but here’s one of the six trees that I built. In the rest of the article, I’ll talk about how they were made.

Sourcing the wood

Several of the national forests issue permits to collect dead wood from the ground, sometimes called a firewood permit. They are generally either free or very affordable. In Mt Hood National Forest, the permits are $10 a year but are also sometimes offered for free. The limit to the wood you can collect is far more than I’d need to build perch trees for everyone in the neighbourhood.

Wood safety

My biggest concern was finding wood that was safe for birds to eat. Luckily, my partner is good at identifying trees! If you’re not so lucky, there are apps like Picture This that claim to accurately identify trees by taking a photo of different parts of the tree or even the wood grain from a specimen that’s been cut.

Luckily I have my list of bird-safe and toxic plants to use as a reference. Searching for “perch” finds woods suitable for perching.

Shopping list

For trunks, I wanted specimens at least a 2″ diameter. A larger diameter would make for a more stable tree and be able to accommodate larger perches. But I had to consider what my tree stand could handle. I wanted trunks to be as straight as possible so the trees would be balanced. A tree stand is not as strong as a root system!

For branches, I wanted a wide variety of diameters to give my birds a foot workout. Although the narrow end of the branch could be any size, I wanted the wide end where it would attach to the trunk to be at least 1/2 inch in diameter.

Collecting wood

The rules in Mount Hood National Forest, where we went, specified only certain areas you could gather wood. Within those areas, you could only gather fallen wood. The map was rather inscrutable. Can you figure out where it’s OK to harvest firewood? We also brought with us a trusty tree saw and thick leather gloves.

We tried to bring back more than we needed, both in quantity in length. You never know what surprises might be in store once you get back home and start assembly.

We tried to find specimens with a good amount of bark as well as mosses and lichens. Unlike cage perches you buy in stores that strip off any shoots, we tried to leave a few inches of them in place. Every branch is a toy! You’d be surprised that even cockatiels will perch on these tiny shoots.

Preparing the wood

Even though these branches were unlikely to be contaminated with pesticides, I did a thorough rinsing of them in water and sprayed them with a thyme-based disinfectant. Otherwise, they were left as-is.

Cutting

Where the trunk was going to sit in the tree stand, I cut it off at a clean right angle.

For the branches, I also cut a clean right angle on the fat end where it would be attached to the tree. I also made sure that the fat end had at least a few inches that were straight for the purpose of inserting screws later.

Installing the screws

These funny-looking dowel screws come in various lengths, so I found a size that was compatible with the diameter of the trunks. Half the screw will go into the branch and the other half into the tree.

I drilled a pilot hole into the end of each branch where I made the cut. In my case, with a 3/16″ dowel screw, I used slightly smaller drill bits for the pilot holes, ranging from 9/64″ to 5/32″, depending on the hardness of the wood.

I wanted the screw to go in at a right angle to the cut portion of the branch. I used leather gloves and was very careful since I didn’t have a vice to hold the branches for me.

When I built these trees, I didn’t realise something called a Dowel Screw Driver Bit existed. What I ended up doing was using pliers and manually screwing them into the branches. I had to make my pilot holes bigger as a result, which made the connection weaker.

Before writing this article, I bought one of these driver bits and it was amazingly easy. I would have saved many hours and sore palms as a result. I put the screw into the driver bit, making sure to note where the halfway point in the screw was. Some dowel screws have a more visible mid-point than others.

Then it was just a matter of driving the screw in, and then reversing the drill to remove the bit from the screw. Easy as pie.

Building the tree

The next step was to set up the trunk into the tree stand. Just like with a Christmas tree, I needed help for sure! Although there are many options for tree stands in the $50-$100 range, I found that this stand I bought was very easy to use and handled the weight of my trees very well.

Once the trunk was upright, it was time to figure out where the branches would be installed.

Branch height

I wanted to provide a variety of branch heights to make the tree more interesting, attractive, and tree-like. The tallest branch I put at the very top, unless it was too close to the ceiling. For the lowest branch, I decided to leave enough space so I could crouch under the trees. When I’m cleaning under it, I didn’t want to get a sharp stick in the head. Then I distributed the branches within that range.

Here’s an example of a finished tree, showing the branches numbered from the highest to the lowest position on the trunk.

Branch angle

I wanted to create a balanced tree as well as try to minimise poop falling down from one branch to the one below. Essentially, I wanted it to look like spokes in a wheel. But instead of just having each branch offset from the one above it, I decided to try to mix it up to get a more tree-like appearance.

Here’s another example of a finished tree, where I’ve numbered them again based on height. You can see the branches angling off from the trunk more easily from this angle. Since it’s hard to photograph from above, I drew a circle in the upper left to show the branch distribution.

Installing the branches

I skipped ahead a bit. Once I decided on attachment points, it was a matter of using the same drill bit I used to drill pilot holes into the branches. I basically just drilled directly towards the centre of the tree, then hand-twisted the branches into the tree trunk until they were snug.

I started this whole project by building two trees and installing them in a temporary aviary for the birds to try out. After I built them, I realised they could have been far more “wild” looking. I could improve on them by picking more interesting, twisty branches. Not only would they look more tree-like, but they would also be far more interesting to the birds.

In the pictures below, you’ll see the first two I built and then the last two. What a difference!

Decorating the tree

Now, the fun part! Well, the more fun part. I’m a firm believer in maximising enrichment, even if it comes across as cluttered. As far as I can tell, birds love clutter and people only sometimes hate clutter. I let the birds take precedence.

I discovered after having the trees for a while that attaching the “traditional” toys on the trunk worked really well. They are hung on stainless steel hooks screwed into the trunk. Not only are multiple toys available at the end of every perch, but this prevented birds from getting up next to the trunk, where it’s more likely they’d poop on other branches below.

I added swings and boings near the ends of branches, stuck vine balls and loofah on small branch tips, and hot glued mineral blocks, cuttlebones, and pine cones to various locations.

My birds go crazy for shoelaces. I wrapped shoelaces around branches, between branches, and around swings or other toys. They even perch on the shoelaces. Endless entertainment.

Here are a bunch of photos showing the decorated trees.

Conclusion

These trees were built two years ago and they’ve worked far better than I expected. I wondered whether I’d go to all this work and the birds would just pick one branch on each tree they liked and all that effort would have been wasted. But they use all of them, even though they each have their favourite spots.

Because of the different heights and positions, a lot of time they just hop from one branch to another. I arranged them a decent distance from the walls so they regularly fly through the outside edge of the room in a circle. Poop on branches has been minimal, although I have to be thoughtful with toy placement.

The main difficulty is that moving or replacing toys is a bit tricky as you have to work your way between branches on top of a ladder. I don’t really have a solution for that so I just have to be careful and tolerate getting skewered from time to time.

Hopefully, people will get some inspiration from this and create something great for their birds. In closing, a few videos of everyone enjoying their space.

Beaker singing to Ivy in the winter.

Flying around the indoor aviary in slo-mo.

Chattering away and hanging out.

1. “I do the same thing with my bird every day, it’s so cute!”

2. “Caffeine is toxic, never let your bird drink it or she will die.”

Clearly many of people share coffee and tea with their birds without them dying or getting sick. On the flipside, a search for “is caffeine toxic for birds” will return a lot of results saying yes, it’s toxic. But what both extremes have in common is scientific backing. Simply repeating something doesn’t make it true.

Why not just avoid all potential dangers?

I’m always concerned that excessively protecting your birds from harm means they stay in the cage more, get less mental stimulation, and have less social activity with you, or with other birds you may have. You should consider these downsides when evaluating exposure to risk in your bird’s environment.

Has this been studied?

It turns out that one of the only studies on caffeine consumption in birds was published in 2022, using domestic pigeons. The study sought to figure out how much caffeine is lethal to a bird, and also the amount required to cause symptoms of intoxication. In the study, a highly concentrated caffeine mixture was force-fed to the bird.

Pure (> 99.00%) caffeine anhydrous powder was suspended in distilled water just before being administered via oral gavage.

A study on acute oral caffeine intoxication and its treatment strategies in domestic pigeons (Columba livia domestica)—Veterinary Research Forum—2022 June 15

The study determined the thresholds for caffeine consumption causing health issues or death. But how does that relate to our own bird taking some sips of our morning coffee? Here’s one of the conclusions of the study:

For instance, an average cup of coffee contains 40-150 mg of caffeine, less than one half to about 1/10 of a cup of coffee is needed for a 300 g pigeon to show clinical signs of intoxication. It is unlikely for a bird voluntarily to consume this much of coffee.

A key thing to remember here is that virtually any substance is toxic at very high levels. The excerpt below is from a case study of a woman who died of acute water intoxication (which is a real condition, if rare). It may seem like a silly example, but it’s important to understand that if too much of something is bad for you, it doesn’t mean that a small amount isn’t safe.

On the evening before her death, she began compulsively drinking water in vast quantities, estimated at between 30 and 40 glasses, and this was interspersed with episodes of vomiting.

Fatal water contamination—Journal of Clinical Pathology—2003 Oct

Doing the math

I wanted to do a mathematical analysis based on this study. I wanted to take the numbers and figure out how it would apply to cockatiels, just as an example. My goal was to see if drinking a reasonable amount of tea or coffee could be problematic. I used these estimates of caffeine in 250ml (~8 ounces) of coffee or tea, erring on the high side:

This is how much coffee or tea would have to be consumed to cause a bird to have symptoms, or to cause death.

It’s estimated a cockatiel drinks 5ml of water a day. So if you offered them ONLY coffee/tea the entire day, they’d have to drink 3-6x their typical daily intake to feel even mild, harmless symptoms. Note that this is for cockatiels, but the study does seem to confirm that it’s unlikely a bird can drink enough coffee or tea on their own to cause issues.

Conclusion

For my own birds, I’m not at all concerned about having them take sips of coffee or tea. I hope you can take this information and make your own decision. If you’re extra concerned, drink herbal tea or cover your cup of coffee while your bird is out. But don’t leave them in the cage.

In this article, I’ll list some things you can do, starting with free or low-cost, and gradually getting more expensive and involved.

#1: Research your local outdoor air quality (free)

There are many free websites and apps where you can check the air quality in your area. Three main ones have a global presence:

IQAir has one of the nicest sites out there. They provide a lot of help in understanding air quality data and try not to bombard you with too much information. They also provide graphs of recent air quality and a forecast. There is an excellent companion mobile app called AirVisual.

World Air Quality Index is a compact, attractive site that also offers deep historical data. They don’t have an app, but you can save a link to their Air Quality Index Widget for viewing on a mobile phone.

PurpleAir offers a firehose of air quality data from a massive network of air quality stations, including one in my backyard. The website is clunky and also difficult to use on a mobile phone. However, a 3rd party application called Paku (iOS and macOS) is a pretty nice interface for PurpleAir data. Presumably, there are Windows and Android options, but I have not explored them.

Finally, weather apps and websites may also incorporate air quality information. If you do a Google search for “air quality near me“, you will likely find some country-specific resources as well as see the current AQI at your location.

The historical air quality data available from some of these sources may help guide your efforts to prepare for future smoke events.

There’s no good data on what a good target for indoor air quality would be for birds. For humans, an AQI of 150 is the threshold where health effects will start to surface. For sensitive people (and possibly for birds), an AQI of 100 is a reasonable upper limit.

#2: Get notified when your air quality gets bad (free)

Air quality can sometimes change quickly and can be bad even though you don’t see or smell smoke. Your best bet is to set up notifications to inform you when air quality gets bad. I’ve had luck setting these up in the AirVisual app or in CARROT Weather. In both cases, you can set up a notification for air exceeding a threshold or dropping below a threshold.

Also, many weather apps and websites can notify you of severe weather alerts, including alerts about bad air quality. Your local government may also offer a notification service. Try a Google search for “weather alerts near me” as a starting point.

#3: Basic measures (free or very inexpensive)

Now that you know how to check your current air quality or get notified when it’s bad, you can get your windows and doors closed. If you also set up notifications for when the air has improved, you can open your windows again to bring in some fresh, cleaner air. If your windows lock, engaging them could improve the seal to keep the house airtight. A visit to the local hardware store might provide DIY options for improving door and window seals.

#4: Use the air filter you may already have (inexpensive)

Forced air heating and cooling systems all have filters. Typically, they are ultra cheap, and no one ever, ever changes them. They can be incredibly effective at filtering your indoor air. Most systems let you turn on just the fan without injecting heating or cooling. To be effective, you’ll need to run your fan regularly.

First option: If you’ve either never changed it or it’s been more than a year, change it right now. Pet dander, pollen, and dust love to get stuck into these filters.

Second option: Consider buying a better filter. The difference between a crummy filter and a good one might be as little as $10 to $20. Change your filter more often if you have a bad fire season.

A furnace filter can clean the air for an entire house, making it very cost-effective. Air cleaners are needed for each room where you want to improve the air. If you live in an area with significant smoke problems and don’t mind the expense, you can get a top-of-the-line filter for more than $100.

Here are some price comparisons for 3M furnace filters for reference. I used a 20x25x1 filter, which is a common size. Note that this is considered a trustworthy brand, so it is likely more expensive than an off-brand filter.

• Commonly used filter, but not good for smoke: Filtrete MPR 1000 (MERV 11) = $11 each (if you buy a pack of 4)

• Minimum for smoke: Filtrete MPR 2200 (MERV 13) = $21 each (if you buy a pack of 6)

A couple of things you’ll notice:

• Furnace filters are actually quite cheap!

• The cost difference between a substandard filter and one that will filter smoke is small.

• Buying a multi-pack or signing up for a filter subscription can save you a lot of money.

If you have a furnace with a large filter box—five inches is a common size—you can buy even more hard-core filters. For example, the Lennox X6675 (MERV 16) is $98 each (if you buy a pack of 2). Considering the projected lifetime of a year, it might be worth the cost, depending on how much bad air seeps into your house and whether a less expensive filter is up to the task.

#5: Invest in an air quality monitor (inexpensive to moderately expensive)

Before you spend significant money on air cleaners, consider investing in an air quality monitor. This will tell you whether you have a problem and whether your efforts to improve the air are actually working. If you have a newer house, you may find that just shutting windows is enough to keep the air quality acceptable. You may find out that your furnace filter is working fine or maybe you need to run the fan more often.

An air quality monitor can range from about $50 for an indoor monitor to $250 if you want one that also reports outdoor air quality from remote stations. Be sure to get one that reports the Air Quality Index (AQI). That means you will monitor smoke, smog, and other pollutants from things like paint or cleaners in your home.

Here’s an inexpensive indoor option (which I’ve not used) and a more expensive indoor/outdoor model (which I’m currently using).

An effective way to reduce costs is to get a group of people together to buy one shared air quality monitor. A good monitor will show the air quality in a matter of seconds.

#6: Invest in an air cleaner (expensive to very expensive)

You can find inexpensive air cleaners, but if you want to remove smoke effectively, you’re looking at roughly $200-$300 for something that will cover a room and up to $1,000 for something that will cover a large living area or a small home. While a furnace filter can sometimes be enough, it’s possible that it won’t be able to keep up. An air cleaner will move significantly more air and push it through the filter.

It’s worth consulting something like Consumer Reports (subscription required) for advice. Unfortunately, many products claim they are excellent for smoke but don’t hold up well when tested. Most air cleaners can filter some amount of smoke, but it may not be sufficient during a heavy smoke event.

One of the only brands that score consistently well for smoke is Blueair. Some brands can have terrible products at the low end, but excellent ones at a higher cost, so you can’t go on brand alone. My best advice is to check the return policy beforehand and save the packaging.. Try out the air cleaner using your air quality monitor and if it doesn’t work, return it.

#7: Do-it-yourself air cleaner (inexpensive, but tricky)

Some people will construct their own do-it-yourself air cleaners using good-quality furnace filters paired with a box fan. Although you can save a lot of money, there are tradeoffs:

• You must seal the system very well, or it will be ineffective.

• Even done right, it’s likely not going to clean your air as well as an air cleaner. It may be suitable for emergency situations, however.

Check out this site or do a Google search for “box fan air cleaner“, and you can get some ideas. You won’t win any beauty contests, but you could save some money. If you follow my advice for getting an air quality monitor, you’ll know whether your DIY air purifier is working. It’s money down the drain if it doesn’t work, whereas the better-known air purifiers have been tested for their ability to filter air properly.

#8: Backup power (extremely expensive to insanely expensive)

Using an air quality monitor, you can determine how effective furnace filters and air cleaners are for your home. To experiment during a smoke episode, turn off your furnace fan and air cleaners and watch the indoor air quality closely. If you see it worsen significantly in an hour, think about what that means if you were to lose power.

If you live in an area with dodgy power or a history of outages or rolling blackouts during the fire season, you may want to consider backup options.

One option is a gas or electric generator. You’re looking at something in the neighbourhood of several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. This depends on whether you want to get enough power just to run some air cleaners or whether you want to power more of your house. I have two of these small electric battery stations that can be used to run a room air cleaner for anywhere from 5 to 33 hours, depending on the fan speed.

Another option is a battery backup system for your home. This could run anywhere from a few thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars for a single battery. The battery sizes are typically 6 to 20 times the size of the portable battery station pictured above.

Conclusion

Well, you can definitely spend a lot of money on air quality! But there are many things you can do for free or for a small amount of money. With an air quality monitor, you can carefully spend more if you find it will make a difference.

Most people don’t pay any attention to their indoor air quality. Poor indoor air can harm your health, make you develop allergies, or make you feel sick. It’s worth looking into and at least doing some of the free or low-cost options.

Maybe your birds can inspire you if you’ve never looked into air quality before.

When I first decided to breed cockatiels at age 12, there was only one book on the subject that I could find: The Cockatiel Handbook by Dr Gerald R. Allen and Connie Allen. Not to be confused with two other books with the same or similar names. Over the years, two different cover images were used, but the text is the same.

Dr Allen is a very interesting character. He’s considered one of Australia’s foremost fish biologists, authoring 33 books and over 400 scientific papers. All about fish. And then there’s The Cockatiel Handbook, which is never mentioned when you read about him.

Moving to Australia with his family in 1972 after finishing his doctoral thesis, he fell in love with the native parrots of Australia, eventually building aviaries and breeding them. He failed to find any good books on cockatiels at the time, so he wrote one. As someone who exclusively keeps Australian birds and has always loved them, I wonder whether my inspiration came from this book.

Overview

This Cockatiel Handbook was my first bird reference of any kind. I’ve carried it with me for 40 years and only recently read it for the first time in decades.

I am struck by how unique it is compared to other bird-keeping books I’ve since read and how well it holds up today. Since the author is a scientist, he spends much more time on evolutionary history, anatomy, and taxonomy—and there are extensive details on how cockatiels eat, breed, and behave in the wild. This background is leveraged to present useful information to cockatiel keepers and breeders. It’s full of great photos and illustrations—over 200 in colour and black-and-white. Quite a lot for a book with about the same number of pages.

I’ve always appreciated that his book isn’t alarmist like many bird-keeping guides, scaring you into thinking that everything will kill your bird. He opens the book by saying:

We emphasize that the methodology described herein should not be considered the only formula for achieving successful maintenance and breeding. For example, there are a myriad of good aviary designs, and professional aviculturalists have different opinions about diets and the rearing and taming of young birds. We acknowledge that there are many different and equally successful approaches to the art of cockatiel keeping. Also like humans and other animals, cockatiels tend to be individualistic with regard to behavior, and the patterns described in this book are based mainly on the animals in our personal collection supplemented with observation of wild cockatiels from central and northern Western Australia.

This made me feel like experimentation was a reasonable thing to do. A rigid set of rules can sometimes fail you when encountering a new situation. You need confidence and common sense to learn new things or improve on the past. The book is also fairly succinct, so it’s quick to read and not stuffed with too many extraneous details.

I thought I’d review each chapter and comment on some of the content.

Introduction

The connection between birds and dinosaurs was not fully established when this book was written. It was a hot topic of debate. Today, we know that birds are dinosaurs. It’s amazing how things have changed!

Nymphicus hollandicus and the science of taxonomy

I was aware of the “weero” moniker for cockatiels, but this book taught me some new ones: bula-doota, wee-arra, toorir, wamba, and woo-ra-ling. I also learned that the calopsita moniker comes from one of the proposed genus names in the 19th century.

I learned that cockatiels and cockatiel eggs were food for humans at one point in history. Not surprising, but it’s difficult to think about!

Cockatiel anatomy

This book still has some of the nicest and most complete physical diagrams of cockatiels I’ve run across. Here are just a few of them.

It was great to see the author discuss his experience mixing multiple bird species. I’ve written an article on this topic. He also successfully housed many of the same birds I have: cockatiels, budgies, red-rumped parrots, Bourke’s parrots, and grass parrots (neophema).

Natural history of cockatiels

This is one of the only reference books mentioning the cockatiel’s wild diet in detail.

Cockatiels feed on the seeds of grasses, herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees, and on grain, fruits, and berries. They are fond of acacia seeds [and] fallen wheat grains. They also attack standing crops […] large flocks visit the paddocks to feed on ripening sorghum, millet, and pannicum. They have been observed feeding on mistletoe berries.

Recent research—which I will write about at some point—shows that cockatiels strongly prefer unripe seeds and will prefer them when ripe seeds are present, even sunflower seeds!

Cockatiels as pets

Drawing from observations in the wild, the author recommends a similar diet for captive birds.

Healthy cockatiels seldom present a feeding problem. Most of the basic nutrients can be provided with the commercial budgie or parakeet food, supplemented with daily feeding of fresh green food […] some unsalted sunflower seeds and mixed parrot of cockatoo seeds are excellent supplements.

Although I prefer a more varied seed diet, the author’s recommendation is a good balance of high-carb seeds (budgie mix) with those that are higher fat (sunflower seeds and parrot mix). I’ve written extensively about processed (pelleted) food and how it made people and birds fatter and less healthy. I like to think that the author would feel the same about pelleted diets as I do.

The author mentions providing grasses to cockatiels, which I’ve also written about.

The one area that has changed dramatically since this book was written is how we tame and train birds. The author suggests always doing wing clipping, which essentially forces the bird to get up on your hand as there is no escape. The downsides of clipping are not mentioned at all. Clipping is controversial today, but back then, clipping was very common. Also, the suggestion to clip just one wing was an idea that has thankfully died out.

It was also common back then to nudge your bird off balance as a technique to force them onto your finger or hand during the taming process. This is not consistent with the “force-free” training methods of today, which I think build trust and a better relationship with a bird.

The cockatiel aviary

Although I didn’t refer to this book in my aviary design, I appear to have been heavily influenced by it. Dr Allen tried to mimic the natural cockatiel environment in his aviaries by providing a dirt floor for rummaging. He would plant things in the soil and also dump spent seeds on the ground so they would sprout. He incorporated his existing yard into the design.

The author provided his estimates for sizing an aviary, which I’ve not been able to find anywhere else. He recommends 100-200 cubic feet of space per bird. I get asked this question a lot, and his estimates match what I usually recommend.

Breeding cockatiels

When the book was written, the demand for cockatiels outstripped supply, and the gap was bridged by wild-caught birds. Breeding was a useful option to meet the need for pet birds so that importation could stop. This practice ended in the early 1990s. Today, I don’t recommend people raise birds unless they cannot be obtained via a bird rescue or animal shelter.

I mentioned the photos before, but the photos of cockatiels at all stages of life are amazing, from recently hatched on into adulthood.

The author is very opinionated about cockatiel mutations!

We believe that captive birds are virtually identical to their wild relatives are far more interesting to keep than “mutated freaks”, which may be colorful but have been domesticated to such a degree that the natural beauty resulting from literally thousands of years of evolution can no longer be appreciated.

In those days, the mutations were relatively rare and consisted mostly of pearl, lutino, and pied.

Diseases and illnesses

I strongly agree with his general advice that sick birds should be placed in a “hospital cage” where they can rest and stay warm using a heating pad or light bulb. Sometimes this is all an ailing bird needs to recover on its own.

He provides good no-nonsense advice for identifying illnesses without being alarmist. Many books immediately recommend taking your bird to a vet, which is very stressful for a bird. Also, it can be a long wait to get into a vet, and there are things you can do to alleviate suffering in the meantime. Or, in serious situations where you can’t get a vet appointment in time, there are home treatment options that might prove useful.

For example, he has advice or home treatment for egg binding, a potentially life-threatening condition.

[Egg binding] occurs when the female is unable to naturally expel an egg which is lodged in the cloaca or lower oviduct. If not dislodged, the egg will prevent the passing of waste products and will result in toxemia and subsequent death. If detected in time, an egg-bound cockatiel can be successfully treated by lubricating the cloaca with several drops of lukewarm vegetable or mineral oil. This will probably require two persons, one to hold the bird in a belly-up position and the other to apply the oil very carefully in the vent with an eyedropper. After treating the bird, place it in a heated hospital cage or in a cardboard box placed on a warm heating pad. The egg will pass within a few hours in most cases. However, if the oil treatment does not dislodge the egg, try coaxing the egg out by applying presure with the fingers. Hold the bird in a belly-up position and locate the upper end of the egg, applying pressure to gradually force it down the oviduct toward the vent.

Not something I’d like to do myself, but in a case of a suffering bird and a long wait to get to a vet, I’m happy to have the option.

The author brings up several times that birds have good blood clotting abilities. This may surprise many people as this is counter to what you’ll read almost everywhere. But the author is correct! A healthy bird has excellent clotting abilities, and there is no need to panic when a bird is bleeding. In the case of severe bleeding, pressure or a clotting powder can help. But the same is true of humans if wounds don’t stop bleeding.

The author always keeps antibiotics on hand, which is interesting advice, especially for those with lots of birds. Although you must be careful not to over-treat birds with antibiotics, if you have a fluffed-up bird that is very ill, it might be worth risking an antibiotic as the bird may die before you make it to a vet.

Conclusion

The author provides a pretty extensive bibliography at the end. I appreciate that the book not only cites references for many of its claims but also provides other resources to tap. It doesn’t present itself as the last word in caring for cockatiels.

One of the most important takeaways from this book is the power of learning how cockatiels live in the wild. This seems obvious, but I’m always surprised by how few people consider it. For example, cockatiels are ground feeders in the wild, yet most people use seed cups attached to a cage or perch. I’ve written an article about learning from your bird in the wild and also one on the wild diet. It seems likely that this book is where I got the idea.

I have a lot of respect for this book and the author. I think he’s written a cockatiel guide that is still relevant today and contains wisdom lost in the modern era, where panic rules over common sense.

Research beginning in the late 1970’s shows that window collisions are one of the top sources of mortality for [wild] birds, ranked second only to habitat destruction in terms of impact. Today, collisions are estimated to account for the death of up to 1 billion birds annually in the US alone.

Resource Guide for Bird-friendly Building Design—Portland Audubon

There are many possibilities for reducing window strikes from wild birds outside. Still, none are specifically tailored for the opposite problem: keeping birds inside your house from hitting your windows. We don’t want the fear of injury to keep us from letting our birds out of their cages.

Portland Audubon has two excellent resources on the topic of window strikes. They are even better than those provided by the national Audubon organization. The first one is geared towards homeowners and is the most comprehensive list of possible solutions I’ve found.

Tips for Reducing Window Strikes at Home

Then, there is a much more comprehensive PDF (68 pages!) that also includes suggestions for incorporating bird-friendly concepts into entire buildings, either newly built or retrofitted. There is also an amazing amount of detail on how bird vision works and the effectiveness of various solutions. There is some incredible photography showing some of the ideas in action.

Resource Guide for Bird-friendly Building Design—Portland, Oregon

Here’s a one-page summary of the topics discussed in the PDF:

Again, since these are all solutions intended for building exteriors, I was left wondering how well they work for those fortunate enough to have birds inside their houses.

Window stickers

I’ve tested two different types of window stickers applied to the insides of windows. Here is a photo of one window where I put WindowAlert stickers on the top half and CollidEscape dots on the bottom.

WindowAlert

These decals are probably the most popular option. They can be purchased from the manufacturer or at any wild bird retailer. I covered the window in the photo using nine stickers, which would require three packs of four stickers. Total price: $24. Don’t skimp on stickers: place them no further than 4″ apart horizontally or 2″ apart vertically, per Audubon.

They have a UV coating that activates when exposed to natural light.

My experience is that these stickers are very effective. I’ve had indoor birds initially graze a window after putting up these stickers. They appear to notice them but sometimes misjudge their turns as they get closer to the window. It didn’t take long for them to figure it out, and that issue disappeared. I’ve never had a bird strike a window directly.

The manufacturer says they “fade based on exposure”. My interpretation is that this would not be an issue with using the stickers on the inside of windows. In fact, I tested my currently two-year-old stickers, and they still glow purple under a UV flashlight.

What about outdoor birds? I’ve not had outdoor bird strikes either, but it wasn’t a problem for me beforehand. My windows are about eight years old, and testing with a UV meter shows that about 10% of UV-A radiation passes through my windows.

Using a UV flashlight from the outside also shows UV passing through the glass to reach the indoor sticker. My conclusion, presuming your windows allow UV light to pass through, is that these stickers are probably useful to deter outdoor bird strikes. If I shine a UV flashlight from the outside of a window with a WindowAlert sticker on the inside, the sticker is getting activated.

The manufacturer sells many nice designs as well as other products like a gel that can be applied to windows. The stickers are reasonably attractive, but they do block the view somewhat, especially if you are closer to a window. Also, it’s hard to avoid having any bubbling up of the stickers. Finally, if your birds can reach the stickers, they will undoubetdly try to eat them.

CollidEscape

These stickers come in white or clear squares or circles. I needed 33’ of tape to do a window that is 3’ wide by 2.5’ high, so the cost was about $70. So this is much more expensive. It’s more of a chore to install them. You really want to spend the time to get it right or you’ll have rows of dots that aren’t aligned. It’ll probably drive you crazy. Unlike the stickers, you can’t move them around once they have been applied.

However, I found these to be very attractive, almost stylish. Since they don’t use UV as a deterrent, access to natural light is not an issue. They should work equally well for outdoor birds, even if applied inside a window. They are quite durable. I don’t know whether a bird would destroy them as the ones I have are difficult for birds to get to.

I’m using these dot stickers in an indoor aviary and have not seen any issues with birds striking the glass. The manufacturers claim that this product will reduce collisions. They also sell a window film that they claim is guaranteed to prevent collisions. The big downside with the film is that you either lose or degrade visibility through the window. It’s basically like turning your window into privacy glass.

Bird glass

We turned our family room into an indoor aviary, which I will write about in a future article. Instead of putting up a wall of cage wire between our dining room and living room, we wanted to put up a glass wall. We learned from the Portland Audubon document mentioned earlier that there were many companies making “bird glass”.

Ordinary glass becomes bird glass through “invisible” UV coatings or layers or through visible etchings or screen printing. We looked at two types of glass that use UV coatings. The ones with visible etchings are similar to the CollidEscape dots, but more subtle and built right into the glass. Many of them are quite beautiful.

GLASPRO

We received samples from GLASPRO, a California company. Their product is two layers of glass with a layer of UV film in the middle.

We didn’t end up using this product. Pricing was similar for the two products we looked at, but we felt that the UV pattern on the GLASPRO was more noticeable to humans. We were planning to have a UV light inside the aviary for protection at night, making the UV pattern quite visible in the GLASPRO glass.

Arcon ORNILUX

Ornilux is a bird-safe glass from Arnold Glas, a German company. Instead of a layer of UV film in the middle, Ornilux can coat each layer of glass and has the option of two or three layers of glass. This solves the problem of UV light having to pass through the glass to activate the UV film. And instead of a bar pattern, it looks more like a random spiderweb. We found it very difficult to see the pattern in any lighting, even at night with a UV bulb.

Although prices are coming down due to increasing competition, be prepared to pay prices similar to what you’d pay for storefront glass. Both companies were quite willing to do a “small” project, although a larger order would get more favourable pricing. We needed two window-sized panes of glass and then one large pane, approximately 77 inches by 102 inches.

Of the two companies, Arcon was far more knowledgeable about birds, taking a very specific interest in the species of birds we kept as they have different visual capabilities. They provided research into how birds perceive UV and which solutions are most effective. They seemed more like a bird company that made glass than a glass company that branched out into bird glass. They were also very excited about our project as it was very unique. Although I’m unfamiliar with the American Bird Conservancy, they also endorse Arcon’s products.

Given that our natural light would be filtered through windows, we wondered if there would be sufficient UV light to activate the glass. We asked the companies whether artificial UV light would work. GLASPRO wasn’t willing to make a statement, but Arcon confirmed the glass would activate. However, they wouldn’t make any guarantee that it would be enough of a deterrence for birds. We were pretty much a test case.

So, did it work?

Similar to the stickers, some of the birds would initially graze the glass before learning it was there. However, we ran into some trouble with birds panicking, like we suspected. A couple of birds in particular (cockatiels) would strike the glass when panicking. It wasn’t enough to injure them, but sometimes they would get startled for a moment and walk around on the floor a bit before flying back to a perch. We had installed an overhead UV light for nighttime but based on our UV meter, it was just not strong enough to reach the glass.

As a temporary measure, we placed some high-powered UV lights on the ground, pointing up at the glass. This worked. After a few weeks, we removed the lights, and they all learned where the glass was. We’ve not added new birds since then, so it’s unclear whether we would have to repeat the learning process.

Conclusion

The two sticker options I tried were very effective. The glass was effective but had a learning curve. I suspect that if the glass were on the house’s exterior, it would be totally effective. Perhaps this is something bird glass companies can improve in future iterations of their products.

There seems to be room for specialized products for bird keepers, but perhaps the market is not large enough.

Our aviary glass, installed:

Lighting a cage is difficult. Not only does the cage create shadows, but you may not have overhead lighting where you position your cage. Some cages have covered tops, making it even more tricky.

I took some bird training courses, and one instructor worked in the ambassador animal program at the San Diego Zoo. She said that when they provide lighting for animals, they try to imagine they are lighting a home kitchen. Kitchen lighting needs to be bright, while a living room or bedroom where a bird’s cage might reside tends to be more muted.

Enter cage lighting

There’s a company that makes LED lighting strips that mount on the inside of the cage. Different lights are designed for different types of birds and their destructive abilities. They are designed and built by M&M Cage Company. Although they make other products, the one that I’ll focus on here is called EZ PetLight with ChewGuard.

Many years ago, I attended a talk by the founder of this company. Although he is knowledgeable about avian lighting, he is opinionated and can come across as abrasive. This comes through on his website as well, so don’t let that sway you too much!

My review

These lights are bright and very white, like noonday sunshine. I’ve tested them with a flicker meter and there is no flicker that birds would be able to detect. I’ve written about flickering lights previously. It’s an especially serious issue with LED lights, so it’s great that these lights give off high-quality light.

The design of the lights is very spare, not elegant, but they are very slim and blend into the background. The lights and the cord are protected from prying beaks. He claims that they are macaw-proof, but I’ve only tested them on cockatiels and smaller birds. I’m certain if you had problems, the manufacturer would take them back. I had some problems with a couple power supplies flaking out, and he willingly shipped out newly designed ones which worked without incident. If you’re concerned about damage or can’t find a good interior mounting point, you can also affix them to the outside of the cage.

They are a bit tricky to install, and I definitely recommend getting someone to assist. One person can hold the light in place while the other screws them in place. They come with all the required hardware. They’ve installed fine in all my cages, but some cage designs might present obstacles. He sells taller mounting brackets separately that might help for specific cage designs. You can always the lights if they are not compatible with your cages. Once installed, they are very secure.

The power supply is independently replaceable. So if a bird destroys the cord, you don’t have to disassemble the system and install a new one completely. Just order a power supply. It’s worth noting that the cord on the power supply does not have a protective sheath on it, so a freely roaming bird could damage it from the outside of the cage. If you need to move cages, you can just unplug the power supply to get it out of the way and then reattach it later.

Ranging from $65 to $75 (based on the length of the light module), I feel they are reasonably priced and probably cheaper than upgrading the lighting in your house or purchasing new floor or table lamps.

Conclusion

I have these mounted in four cages and have been very happy with them. After using them a while, when they are turned off in a room with “good” lighting, it’s amazing to see how dark the interior of the cages can be! If you have cages that have solid tops, like play top cages, your bird will get far more light with interior-mounted lighting.

Why not simplify matters and clean without chemicals at all!

NOTE! When cleaning cages, your bird should NOT be in the cage when you are cleaning. This is true regardless of whether you use these techniques or chemical sprays. This is also one of the most common ways birds escape when people clean cages outdoors with their birds inside.

Pressure washers

I’m a huge fan of using pressure washers to clean cages. I have 4 cages, and there are so many spots where poop, dust, and food can accumulate is a huge pain. Pressure washers vary significantly in price, but expect to pay at least $100 (US). And you do get what you pay for. I’ve used a low-end one for a few years, and it’s starting to fall apart. If you only have one cage to clean, it might be too much to spend, but you’ll probably find many more uses for a pressure washer!

Sometimes the key to less toxic cleaning methods is to allow time for whatever you use to soak in and loosen things up. I usually spray down the cage parts, wait maybe 10-15 minutes, and do another round. The grill at the bottom is usually the most persistent part and may need additional work.

I find that the cages get much cleaner, and leaving them in the sun is a great way to sanitize. Alternatively, you can use a thyme oil-based spray and let it dry on the cage without wiping it off.

The one I own is no longer being sold, but here is a model from the same company. I don’t endorse it, but I am providing it as an example. I paid $120 for mine while this one is $149. There are cheaper options from other companies. I don’t know what a minimum pressure rating would be for cleaning cages, but mine is 1600 PSI and has been fine.

There are more rugged options that can easily be wheeled around and do a better job managing the electric cord and attachments. They also have more metal parts and less plastic.

Steam cleaners

I don’t have personal experience with steam cleaners, but bird-keeping friends seem to swear by them. They can also be used to clean cages. As a bonus, the hot temperature kills any organisms residing on the cage.

They can also be used on tile or cement floors and walls, which could be useful in an aviary. It’s supposedly possible to use them on painted walls, but I would recommend being very careful and reading up on the topic first. Here’s an example product which I have not tried personally.

Summary

Pressure washer

A pressure washer will blast away all the grime with no need for extra work. Both the inside and outside of the cage can be easily cleaner without having to get inside the cage. While they are great for many purposes other than cage cleaning, they are quite expensive.

Steam cleaner

A steam cleaner is inexpensive. The heat will also disinfect the cage. You’ll have to wipe down the cage after loosening the grime. It can be awkward to clean the inside of the cage.

The idea of placing a warm blooded animal in a mine to detect carbon monoxide was first proposed by John Scott Haldane in 1895, and canaries were used as early as 1896. Well into the 20th century, coal miners brought canaries into coal mines as an early-warning signal for toxic gases, primarily carbon monoxide. The birds, being more sensitive, would become sick before the miners, who would then have a chance to escape or put on protective respirators. In some cases, the canaries were kept in cages with dedicated oxygen tanks so the birds could survive after their illness provided a warning.

Sentinel species—Wikipedia

If you weren’t already aware, the “canary in the coal mine” idiom is absolutely true. Birds have radically different respiratory systems than any other creature, making them more susceptible than humans to airborne irritants.

There are some common sense recommendations for painting around birds at the end of this article, but mostly this is about the hardest part of this process: selecting a safe paint. There is considerable confusion on this topic and paint companies don’t make it easy on us. Sometimes they are even intentionally deceptive. The good news is that safe paint is far easier to find than it was even 10 years ago.

What are VOCs?

VOCs are Volatile Organic Compounds, which are molecules that can evaporate and become airborne at room temperature. When something like a new car or furniture or perfume has an odour, those are VOCs you’re smelling.

When you start applying paint to a wall, molecules in the paint begin to separate from the liquid and float in the air, where they can be inhaled by you or your birds. Make sense?

Are VOCs bad?

Nearly all paint will contain VOCs but in widely varying amounts. Some compounds in paint have been deemed harmless, others may cause acute symptoms like dizziness and headaches, and still others may be carcinogenic.

You can spend a lot of time researching all the hundreds of potential chemicals that paint can contain, and even then, a majority of them have never been studied for long-term health effects. Finding paints that keep VOCs to a minimum is much more fruitful.

Health effects of inhaling VOCs may include:

Eye, nose and throat irritation; Headaches, loss of coordination and nausea; Damage to liver, kidney and central nervous system. Some organics [chemicals] can cause cancer in animals, some are suspected or known to cause cancer in humans.

[…]

Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors.

US Environmental Protection Agency—Volatile Organic Compounds’ Impact on Indoor Air Quality

VOCs are also a major component of smog, with well-understood ill health effects. When you paint your house, you may be contributing to urban smog.

VOCs are measured in grams per litre (g/L). Most advanced countries have a maximum allowable VOC content for paint. For example, the EU limit is 400 g/L, while it’s as low as 50 g/L in some regions of California. It’s getting increasingly difficult to find paint that exceeds 50 g/L as paint manufacturers see the writing on the wall. Which you may want to paint over.

How do I find the VOC content of paint?

This depends a lot on where you live in the world and what the regulations are. But here are some places to try.

1. It may be printed right on the label.

2. It may be available on the manufacturer’s website, on product pages or in an additional document like a Safety Data Sheet (SDS). You may find documents with other names: MSDS, PSDS, or TDS.

3. An environmental certification logo on the label may ensure a certain VOC level. The Green Ecolabelling Network is an international network of country-specific certifiers that you can check into to see what their standards are.

4. There may be terminology like “Low VOC” or “Zero VOC” on the label that that is specifically regulated to mean something in your country. You’ll have to poke around on some government websites.

5. If all else fails, contact the manufacturer. If they won’t provide it, buy another brand.

It’s not paranoid to be sceptical of the claims you see on paint cans. Four large American paint manufacturers were caught deceiving customers about the VOC content of their paint. The offences include advertising “emission-free” paint that wasn’t, labelling products with environmental seals of approval that were created by the companies themselves, and marketing products as “safe” for children and pregnant women without any scientific proof. Well done.

Are there paints that contain no VOCs?

Nowadays, some major brands have No VOC (or very low VOC) paint, as do dozens of smaller companies that only sell non-toxic paint. However, it’s trickier than you would think to get paint with absolutely no VOCs:

1. Paint that is labelled “Zero VOC”, at least in the United States, can contain up to 5 g/L of VOCs.

2. When you add a colourant to the paint, the colourant can potentially have very high VOC content.

Regarding colourants, you have two choices. You can find a company that uses No VOC colourants, or you can stick to light colours that have low VOC content. Light-coloured walls make it easier to find your birds anyways. If you can’t get the paint company to provide VOC information for their colourants, shop elsewhere.

Even large paint companies such as US-based Benjamin Moore and Dunn-Edwards offer some No VOC colourants. Be sure to ask, as some companies may have multiple lines of colourants with different VOC contents.

Note: most paint brands will colour match popular paint brands, so don’t be afraid to switch brands.

Here is a sampling of some Zero VOC paints with no VOCs colourants.

Note that two of the biggest names, Behr (sold exclusively in Home Depot) and Sherwin-Williams have product lines that have Zero VOCs (Behr Premium Plus and Sherwin-Williams Harmony). Still, their colourants contain VOCs, and the paints contain anti-microbial chemicals (see the next section).

Avoid anti-microbial paint

Anti-microbial paint boasts the ability to fight bacteria, viruses, and mildew/fungus. It’s a hot thing right now. But there are two big reasons to avoid it:

There’s no proof it’s effective enough to offset the risks.

No evidence is available to suggest that use of these [antimicrobial-impregnated] products will make consumers and patients any healthier or prevent disease.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Healthcare Facilities

Even if it did work, there is a danger of worsening the antibiotic resistance problem.

In addition to ecotoxicological effects of antimicrobials potentially released from AMCs [Anti-Microbial Coatings], there is also a risk that their release in subtoxic concentrations may induce antimicrobial resistance or select for resistant strains. This happens when the concentration of antimicrobials only inhibits the growth and does not kill all of the targeted microorganisms giving an opportunity to surviving microbial population to develop resistance.

Potential ecotoxicological effects of antimicrobial surface coatings: a literature survey backed up by analysis of market reports—PeerJ—2019

This is the same outcome that was found with anti-bacterial soap. It doesn’t work any better than soap-and-water and breeds more dangerous and resistant microbes. Also, should any of these chemicals or metals get into rivers and oceans, they can be toxic to sea creatures. Everything seems to make it to the ocean eventually.

Myth: oil vs water-based paints

Saying something is “water-based” just sounds so much more safe, doesn’t it? Water-based paint can be just as toxic as oil-based paint. Pay attention to the VOC content and don’t be seduced by delicious water.

Painting tips

Some good practices are generally agreed upon regardless of what paint you choose.

• Move your birds to another location when painting, preferably a separate room with a closing door.

• Using fans and opening windows, keep the area well-ventilated so that the paint dries quickly and VOCs are dissipated into the outside air.

• Don’t move the birds back until the paint has completely dried. This can take several days. Make sure that you can no longer smell fumes before moving the birds back into the room.

• Using an air cleaner can help reduce dust, but one with a specialised filter can also remove VOCs

Given the worldwide increase in wildfires, I always recommend people have a good air cleaner with a VOC filter for their birds. And an extra one for the humans! HEPA filtration is not enough to remove VOCs. Carbon filters can remove VOCs, but their quality varies. This site lists air cleaners that are up to the task. We use the one pictured below, which currently sells for $360, but you need to be sure to buy the “Dual Protection” filters that are more suited to smoke/VOC removal.

Comic relief

Dear Sherwin-Williams,

It’s 2022. Don’t you think it’s time you changed your logo to something that at least pretends to be environmentally friendly?

Conclusion

It’s much more confusing than it needs to be, but the non-toxic paint selection keeps improving yearly. There’s no reason any more to spoil the air quality in your house when painting it. And there’s no reason to endanger the health of your birds, either.

Apple cider vinegar (ACV) is an excellent example of a product with proven medicinal properties, but so many fantastical claims are made about it that it seems like snake oil. Often you will see claims that it cures any medical condition (endorsed by people with “Dr” or “MD” in their names, so it must be true) and conspiracy theories about how the medical establishment is conspiring to keep this secret from you. Like many things, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Apple cider vinegar is made from fermented apple juice. Essentially, it’s vinegar with beneficial bacterial content and yeast (which is used to make beer). For anything you would use vinegar, apple cider vinegar is a suitable substitute, from salad dressing to homemade cleaning products.

Research

Although alternative medicine doesn’t get as much attention in research, ACV is a notable exception. The National Institutes of Health’s “PubMed” database lists 107 research papers on ACV, and the pace of new research is accelerating. Starting in 2015, there were at least five new papers a year, and 2021 boasted 21 new papers! There are even six papers specifically about using ACV to improve chicken health.

Using the available research, I wanted to get evidence-based answers to these questions:

1. Is ACV safe?

2. Does ACV do anything?

3. How much ACV should I give my bird?

Is ACV safe?

When used in the dilutions described in the studies I reviewed, there were no reported ill effects from ingesting ACV.

Does ACV actually do anything?

I reviewed research that is most relevant to bird owners. First is a study on the impact of ACV on kidney health, Newcastle disease (a virus), and intestinal health.

Vinegar significantly reduced blood urea nitrogen levels in the treatment groups compared with the control group. [Note: Lower blood urea nitrogen levels indicate healthier kidney function]

[…]

There was a significant increase in the level of antibody titre against Newcastle disease virus by haemagglutination inhibition test in the groups receiving vinegar in comparison with control group.

[…]

Compared with the control group, the villus height and intestinal crypts depth significantly increased in the groups receiving apple cider vinegar. [Note: Both of these measures are indications of intestinal health]. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with apple cider vinegar has beneficial effects on performance, immune response and small intestine histomorphology in broilers.

Effects of dietary vinegar on performance, immune response and small intestine histomorphology in 1- to 28-day broiler chickens—Veterinary Medicine and Science—May 2021

This next study looks at coccidiosis, a common parasitic infection. Note that “broiler” is a term for a chicken raised for meat.

Broiler in the control groups showed clinical signs of coccidiosis (blood in feces) and the number of coccidial oocytes in feces increased with time. In the vinegar group, no clinical signs of coccidiosis were observed.

Anticoccidial Effect of Apple Cider Vinegar on Broiler Chicken: An Organic Treatment to Measure Anti-oxidant Effect—Polish Journal of Veterinary Sciences—May 2018

I saved the most complicated one for last. This paper requires a deeper understanding of cell biology, but I’ll attempt a simplified explanation. In this study, they took monocytes (white blood cells) and cultured them in a medium containing ACV. Then they introduced a series of harmful bacteria: E. Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans. They measured the presence of cytokines, which stimulate the immune system to fight infection. A lower amount of cytokines means the pathogen has been weakened, triggering a lower immune response. Still with me?

It’s important to note that this was not a test on animals but a test of the anti-bacterial properties of ACV.

Monocyte co-culture with microbes alongside ACV resulted in dose dependent downregulation of inflammatory cytokines (TNFα, IL-6). Results are expressed as percentage decreases in cytokine secretion comparing ACV treated with non-ACV treated monocytes cultured with E-coli (TNFα, 99.2%; IL-6, 98%), S. aureus (TNFα, 90%; IL-6, 83%) and C. albicans (TNFα, 83.3%; IL-6, 90.1%) respectively. [Note: The percentages show reduction in two different cytokines, ranging from 83% to 99.2%]

[…]

The results demonstrate ACV has multiple antimicrobial potential with clinical therapeutic implications. 

Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans; downregulating cytokine and microbial protein expression—Scientific Reports—29 Jan 2018

How much ACV should I give my bird?

A diluted solution of 1% ACV is commonly recommended. These research papers tested anything from 1% to 3% concentrations on chickens with no negative consequences.

Creating a dilution is easy if you’re fortunate enough to live in a country that uses the metric system! But I’ll offer some advice if you don’t have metric measuring implements.

The first step would be measuring the amount of water in your bird’s water dish. Let’s say it works out to 250 ml or 8 ounces.

Metric:

• 250 ml x 1% = 2.5 ml ACV

Measuring such a small amount is difficult, but some options exist. If you have a syringe, note that 1 cc is equivalent to 1 ml. Alternatively, you can create a larger batch of ACV water and keep it refrigerated.

Imperial:

• 8 ounces x 1% = 0.08 ounces

The power of Google can help translate this into something easier to measure, such as ½ teaspoon. You can safely double or triple this concentration.

What to buy

Most grocery stores will carry at least one brand of ACV, and some may have organic, unfiltered, and raw versions. Turns out there’s evidence that the organic versions have a more diverse range of beneficial bacteria. Whether that translates to better outcomes is not clear, although products that are less processed are often healthier.

This study has demonstrated that the microbiota of the organic apple cider vinegar is more heterogeneous than that of conventional apple cider vinegar, which may influence the chemical composition and sensorial quality of vinegars.

Comparison of Cultivable Acetic Acid Bacterial Microbiota in Organic and Conventional Apple Cider Vinegar—Food Technology & Biotechnology—March 2016

Comic relief

The US Supreme Court isn’t always weighing in on life-or-death matters. In 1924, it took up the case of confusingly labelled bottles of apple cider vinegar in United States v. Ninety-Five Barrels Alleged Apple Cider Vinegar.

Conclusion

Although ACV doesn’t cure all the ailments that the internet thinks it does, it’s a safe, preventative suplplement that has valuable, proven effects.

Bird evolution 101

The relationship between birds and dinosaurs has been hotly debated for more than 150 years. Here I’ll present a very simplified version of that history. Prior to the time of Charles Darwin, scientists didn’t consider birds and reptiles to be related. Birds had feathers and flew, reptiles didn’t, and that was pretty much the end of it.

Late 19th century

The fossil of an extinct creature called Archaeopteryx was found in 1861; it had feathers and could fly, but also had sharp teeth, a long bony tail, and other features previously only seen in reptiles. Some scientists even suggested for the first time that birds were not only related to reptiles but more specifically to dinosaurs.

First half of 20th century

An influential scientist named Gerhard Heilmann claimed to have conclusively proven that birds and dinosaurs were not related after all, and the scientific community agreed. It was believed that birds evolved from reptiles that were older than dinosaurs.

Second half of 20th century

Almost a hundred years after birds were first suspected to be descended from dinosaurs, new fossil evidence reversed the conventional wisdom once again. Birds were believed to be in a group of dinosaurs called theropods.

This ignited a revolution known as the dinosaur renaissance.

Most contemporary paleontologists have had little interest in dinosaurs; the creatures were an evolutionary novelty, to be sure, and some were very big, but they did not appear to merit much serious study because they did not seem to go anywhere: no modern vertebrates groups were descended from them.

Dinosaur renaissance—Scientific American—April 1975

The author continued:

Recent research is rewriting the dinosaur dossier. It appears that they were more interesting creatures, better adapted to a wide range of environments and immensely more sophisticated in their bioenergetic machinery than had been previously thought. In this article I shall be presenting some of the evidence that has led to the reevaluation of the dinosaurs’ role in animal evolution. The evidence suggests, in fact, that the dinosaurs never died out completely. One group still lives. We call them birds.

Dinosaur renaissance—Scientific American—April 1975

Present day

Over the next 40 years, vigorous debate continued but there is now scientific consensus in a number of areas.

Creatures that we would recognize as modern-day birds lived at the time of dinosaurs. This includes very familiar species like stegasaurus, tyrannosaurus, velociraptor, and pterodactyls. Dinosaurs and birds shared the planet for almost 100 million years!

A catastrophic meteor event about 66 million years ago wiped out most of the world’s animal species, including all dinosaur species… except birds! So, when you learned that dinosaurs went extinct, that’s not true.

What about parrots?

Parrots appeared on the scene around 23 million years ago. Being descended from the ancestors of all birds, they are also dinosaurs. They just didn’t have the pleasure of meeting them personally.

More proof

If you don’t believe in science, at the very least you should believe in Hollywood movies:

Maybe dinosaurs have more in common with present-day birds than with reptiles.
Look at the pubic bone, turned backward, like a bird’s.
Look at the vertebrae, full of air sacs and hollows, like a bird’s.
And even the word ‘raptor’ means ‘bird of prey’.

Dr. Alan Grant—Jurassic Park—1993

And if you’re more apt to believe some random video you see on the Internet, here’s my cockatiel proving he’s a dinosaur.

Dinosaurs can be a bit clumsy!

Conclusion

So, you have your answer. Your bird is indeed a little dinosaur.

People don’t like to imagine that their parrots could get sick or even die someday, so they put these thoughts out of their minds. But being unprepared means you’ll be more likely to panic or make poor decisions should something arise. This can lead to unnecessary suffering for everyone involved.

If you’re not prepared, your instinct may be to rush your bird to the vet at any sign of a problem. In addition to being expensive, a visit to the vet is very, very stressful for any pet, and a bird is no exception. Stress can worsen or cause illness, so you want to be sure it’s worth that risk.

Here are some specific things you can do to prepare yourself for the day you hope never comes.

Get an initial checkup at a vet

If you’ve never brought your bird to the vet, you should strongly consider it. We all know vets can be expensive, but a simple physical exam can be below $100 (without bloodwork), but here’s what that investment could get you long-term:

• Your bird may have a condition in its early stages that you haven’t noticed yet. Catching it early is going to save you money later on.

• Setting up a relationship with a vet may give you access to them for advice without bringing your bird in. Vets are sometimes happy to answer questions via phone or email for existing patients.

• A vet can teach you what signs of illness to look for with your bird right in front of you.

• Some vets will not see urgent or emergency cases for people that have not yet established a relationship.

• Your vet can give you advice on who to contact after hours should you need urgent care.

Observe your bird regularly

Every bird owner should spend at least a few minutes each day doing a careful inspection of their birds . Over time, you’ll learn what “normal” behavior is for your bird and this will assist you in identifying problems. It’s common for bird keepers to become distressed when they notice a concerning behavior when it’s actually just something they’ve never noticed before.

Observe their physical features like nostrils, vent, and eyes. Take note of behaviors like breathing, alertness, and posture. Over time, look at their poop frequency, color, and consistency. These are all just examples and not an exhaustive list.

An excellent way to establish a baseline is by taking photos and videos of your bird with your smartphone. Then, if you see something concerning, you can refer to your phone to see whether the behavior is new or not. I’ve also written an article about how security cameras can be a great way to observe your birds when you are not around.

Gather basic supplies

There are some basic items you should always have on hand should your bird get sick. There are more comprehensive “first aid kits” you can buy that go beyond the basics.

You want to have styptic powder (or equivalent) on hand should your bird ever start bleeding. Corn starch is a good substitute that you may already have on hand.

You should have some sort of small enclosure ready, like a hospital cage, plastic bin, cardboard box, or bird backpack. A sick bird benefits from being in a quiet, dark(er) place and it’s a good way to keep a closer eye on them. And heat has amazing healing properties, so I recommend having a heating pad on hand too.

Now, if you need to go to the vet, your bird is all packed up and ready to go! Keep everything mentioned in this section in a location you can remember easily.

Have important information written down

Be sure to have your vet’s phone number easily accessible as well as their business hours and address. The same goes for an emergency vet, if you have one, or any alternative vets. Have important online resources already bookmarked.

Having this information in a smartphone is fine, but think about cases when you may not be around when a problem arises. Having this written down and stored near the bird’s cage could be invaluable.

Learn about basic bird behavior

If you’re a new bird keeper, there are many bird behaviors that are sometimes mistaken for problems. It can give you peace of mind to understand these behaviors so that you don’t panic when they happen.

There are a lot of online resources on bird behavior, but they tend to miss important behaviors or scare you into thinking everything is a reason to head to the vet. One of the best I’ve found, though, is this guide on reading bird body language.

There are many bird behaviors that are species-specific and I think the best way to discover these is to purchase a book targeted for your bird, whether digital or on paper. It’s very rare to find good, comprehensive bird guides on the internet available free, so you likely will have to spend a bit of money.

YouTube (or any searchable video service) can be an excellent resource to learn bird behavior as it can be so much easier to show something than to describe it in words.

Conclusion

It may be uncomfortable to plan for unpleasant situations but once you get past that, you’ll probably feel better being prepared.

A lot has changed in dog and cat ownership in the past few decades. Grain-based pellet (kibble) diets have given way to whole food and raw diets. People are creating runs for their dogs (and running them in dog parks) and building catios for their cats so they have more outdoor time. People generally don’t remove claws from their cats anymore.

The bird world sadly lags far behind. Vets (especially in the United States) have not been keeping up with scientific research or are set in their ways. The scientific community and university researchers have unlocked conclusions that mirror the dog and cat world pretty closely.

But let’s start with the basics.

Where can you get a parrot?

This is a hotly debated issue in the parrot community. I’ve arranged them in my own order of most to least desirable. In the next section, I’ll describe exceptions to my advice.

Parrot rescue

Many people aren’t aware that such a thing as parrot rescue exists. Like an animal shelter, a bird rescue takes in unwanted birds and then fosters them out with adoption being the ultimate goal. These organizations rarely have their own facilities; instead birds are fostered in the homes of volunteers. These people usually have above-average bird experience and can get them into a good state for adoption, including socializing them. Try googling “parrot rescue near me” to see if you have one. Typically, they will be in metropolitan areas, but some will drive birds to their new owners. They will screen applicants just like many animal shelters do. These birds may not be tame and some may suffer physical and mental issues that led to them being given up, so it’s similar to adopting a dog from a shelter.

Note that you can also become a temporary foster family for a parrot while the rescue searches for a permanent home. This could be a good way to see how things go as a bird keeper and you can adopt the bird if it goes well.

Animal shelter

The largest animal shelters, typically within large cities, will sometimes take in birds and adopt them out. I used to volunteer in one near San Francisco. Even if they take in birds, they sometimes don’t have the same level of expertise as someone in bird rescue may have. They also may not have as much time to devote to a potential adoptee as someone in bird rescue would.

Private adoption

Although it’s often illegal to sell pets on sites like Craigslist and eBay, you may seem them listed anyways as “free” but with a “re-homing fee”, which is just a clever way to get around the rules. You may also see pets listed for sale on flyers or just hear about them from friends. Even though you may get a good deal, you don’t have the same protections you might have by getting a bird through a shelter or rescue, so it’s a buyer-beware sort of situation. I’d go this route only if you have a good amount of bird experience. Since shelters often charge money to “surrender” a pet, people will resort to unloading them through other means where they can avoid fees and maybe make some money.

Breeder

A parrot breeder can range from someone raising some birds for fun as a hobby (as I did when I was a teenager) to a full-time professional breeder. The biggest downside to a breeder is that there are so many unwanted parrots out there that it’s best to explore getting a parrot from a rescue or shelter first. Even though getting a juvenile bird from a breeder has its advantages, most rescue/shelter birds started as a breeder bird. With enough patience, any bird can become tamer and the experience of gaining a bird’s trust can be very rewarding. A small, amateur breeder can be preferable as each bird likely gets more individual attention. Being a professional breeder is a tough business, so they usually try to raise as many birds as possible to make ends meet.

Pet store

The first place people think of to get a bird is often the least desirable. First off, pet stores typically get their birds from large breeders anyways. It’s rare to find a bird-only pet store, so birds are often low priority after dogs, cats, fish, and other small pets. They will likely only have very basic bird knowledge. Like with breeders, pet stores are driven by profit and may not counsel you to make a good decision about a bird purchase. Note that some pet stores no longer sell birds either due to concern for unwanted birds, but also because some states have made it illegal.

Where should you get a parrot?

Just like with cats and dogs, there are more unwanted birds than there are homes to place them in. If you get a bird from a breeder or pet store, think about the poor birds that is in foster care waiting for a forever home. So, the short answer is you should get a bird from a shelter or rescue. However, I don’t take a hard line on this and I think there are cases where purchasing a bird is OK.

Longer answer

Before expanding on this, I’ll mention that birds in the wild are in serious trouble. Very recent research indicates that close to half of all bird species in the world are in population decline and only 6% are actually increasing. Parrots are faring far worse, with 38% of species listed as “globally threatened” or worse.

I strongly believe that being exposed to birds first-hand is one of the best ways to educate people and inspire them to be passionate about protecting birds in the wild. There’s a concept of “ambassador animals”, which I think of as something like a modern petting zoo. An ambassador animal is trained to be very tame and comfortable around humans, who get a chance to see them up close, hold them on their hands and shoulders, look into their eyes, and experience their intelligence first hand.

In my home aviary, it’s great to give tours to people, many of whom have never even seen a bird up close before. I hope that it inspires people to care about birds more. I consider all my birds to be ambassador animals. Eleven of them are rescue/shelter birds and two were purchased from a hobby breeder.

I think certain species are better suited to being ambassador animals. I’m fine with purchasing this specific species from a breeder, especially if it’s hard to find from a shelter/rescue. I also think that it’s possible to more quickly and thoroughly train a hand-raised bird, especially if you’re not a professional bird trainer. In this case, as I think of the poor birds that don’t get adopted, I think you can argue that, in this case, the purchase of a bird may be for the greater good.

You now have a parrot!

Here are some important things to keep in mind as you welcome a new bird into your home.

Try not to be scared of everything

It’s very easy to fall prey to people on the internet that overreact and presume everything is dangerous to birds without there being any evidence of such. Always try to verify what you hear by consulting a reputable source. You don’t want to deprive your bird of the joy of exploring their world because you’re terrified of everything.

The room to be genuinely concerned about in the house is your kitchen. I mentioned non-stick cookware in another article, but be aware of the dangers of pots and pans on the hot stove, especially with birds that are not excellent fliers. Also, with a gas stove, make sure you have a vent hood that vents to the outside. You have to weigh the risks of the kitchen against the rewards of your bird spending quality time with you. Anything you think is dangerous to you (a knife?) is possibly dangerous to birds.

I have a book on caring for cockatiels that is 191 pages long. The word “veterinarian” appears 95 times! The answer to every question is to bring your bird to a vet. One symptom they mention is when your bird has a “feather pointed in the wrong direction”. Try to use some common sense and double-check your information even if it sounds reasonable.

Parrot-proofing your home

I always refer to parrots as “two-year-olds with wings”. Look around your house and imagine places they could land and things they could destroy. They will most certainly find places you never expected them to find! When you first get your bird home, watch them like a hawk for the first few times you let them out. Later, pay close attention whenever they discover a new place to play or you do some rearranging. You can’t watch them all the time, so be strategic about it. You want them to explore and learn for themselves while protecting your family heirlooms.

Give parrots time and freedom

The name of this blog is Free Range Parrots, after all. Birds love to explore. Playing and using their beak keeps their brains occupied. Flying releases dopamine and endorphins which are believed to give a bird feelings of happiness. Everything about what makes a bird a bird is driven by flight. Their aerodynamic bodies, the design of their feathers, their internal organs, and their digestive system are all designed to make flight possible. Birds love to spend time with their family, but just like with children, alone time is important. If you have multiple birds, they should get a good amount of time with their bird friends.

Try to work out-of-cage time into your daily routine. Meals are a great time to sit around the dining room table with your bird roaming around, sampling what’s on offer. Reading, watching TV, showering, and working in a home office all can be fun times out of the cage. For extra credit, you could either harness train your bird or get a bird backpack and bring them with you!

Recall training

I encourage people to try to train their birds to do some basic things. Stepping up is what people usually start with, and I think recall training needs to be second. Basically, this is training your bird to respond to your call and/or a gesture like holding your hand up into the air in order to summon your bird. If your bird is in an inaccessible place or has managed to escape, recall training could become very important.

Start with baby steps. Eventually it’s possible to train your bird to fly from across the room or even a different room!

Learn parrot body language

People have learned to read the body language of dogs and cats, but less is known about bird body language. It can be very useful when building trust with your bird or if you want to train them to do things. The most important ones to consider:

• Opening the beak and hissing is the ultimate sign of your bird telling you they feel threatened by something. You don’t want that something to be you!

• Leaning back as something approaches them is a sign that they don’t want it to move any closer.

• With some birds that have pupils you can see, the pupils getting very small (“pinning”) is a sign they are afraid.

You need to move slowly around your bird and observe their body language. Anything you do that causes a fear response in the bird will lessen some of the trust in you that has built up. If you are training a bird to step up, for example, move your hand closer to them slowly over time—sometimes this may take many training sessions—and be sure to not proceed until their body language indicates they are comfortable. If they are going about their business, preening, looking sleepy, or any “normal” activity, then you know they are fine with their current situation.

Diet

Just like with humans, parrot diet is a controversial subject and everyone’s got their own passionate opinion. Even a decision as basic as deciding whether to feed a seed or pellet-based diet is fraught with peril. I’ve got my own views.

Treats

My opinion about treats is that they should only be used as rewards. Even if the reward is for being in their cage and being pleasantly quiet. Reward when they step onto your hard or fly to your shoulder. Reward them when they go back into their cage without objection. Start small and slowly work up to more advanced things and scale back the treats on the simpler stuff. Consider training your bird an ongoing process and try to incorporate it into your life. I have a “treat pouch” that I can wear in our aviary so I’m always ready with a treat.

Egg-laying and other hormonal behavior

Birds are especially hormonal creatures. Hormones can have a profound impact on their behavior and their health. It is often overlooked as a cause of common parrot problems like egg-laying, screaming, biting, or plucking. Even a lone bird (typically a female) can become hormonal.

Certain things will cause or worsen hormonal behavior such as touching your bird in areas other than the head and neck. Birds can form a mate bond with a human and while this can be “cute”, you have to be very careful if it leads to unwelcome behavior. Egg-laying sounds fun, but it’s very taxing on a female. It takes a lot of energy and nutrients to make and lay an egg, and they can also get their egg stuck (“egg binding”), which can be fatal.

The simplest things to cut down on hormonal behavior are to make sure they get adequate sleep and that they don’t have access to dark areas that would be suitable for egg-laying. In the wild, they nest in existing cavities (like in trees), and they will locate a nest before deciding to start a family. Note that some small species like budgies and cockatiels will lay without the presence of a cavity. If you get egg-laying, take it seriously. Be sure to mention it to a vet or read my article on hormonal behavior. Specific advice on how to remedy hormonal behavior in detail can be found on the site of my former vet.

Is my parrot sick?

I’ve written a separate article on illness in parrots. It’s important to be prepared should you bird get sick someday.

Extra credit

I spend at least 30 minutes a day training my birds (I have 12 of them). So it’s not much time per bird, but they’ve made excellent progress learning step up, recall training, spinning around, ladder game, ring toss, and dropping a ball into a hoop. Birds love the challenge and it’s a great bonding activity.

If you really want to get into training, I can suggest two things:

• Read this article about a training course I took in Southern California. They now have amazing online resources. There is a monthly fee, but if you can afford it and really want to dive deep, check out at least the free content.

• Do a web search for “operant conditioning parrots” and poke through the results. Operant conditioning is the training technique that is most popular with parrot trainers (and other animals too). There is a lot of free content out there and some videos that may have a charge associated with them.

If you really want to delve into the intelligence of birds, I highly recommend this amazing book called The Genius of Birds.

I’ve taught most of the birds to turn around on command, but now they just randomly spin around!

Conclusion

Hopefully you found this information useful! Don’t worry, you won’t permanently mess up your bird if you make “mistakes” along the way. While we discover new things about bird keeping all the time, there is still a lot to be learned, so it’s always good to keep an open mind and keep educating yourself.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

[If you need to help with the decision to get a parrot, I’ve written a companion article called “So you’re thinking of getting a parrot…“]

People can have very strong opinions when it comes to the topic of whether we should keep parrots. Some feel that it’s cruel to keep any creature with wings in captivity, while others think that parrots make the perfect pet.

I’ll provide a more nuanced position that sits between the extremes. As I’ve written in my life with parrots, I have a lot of personal experience, but I also draw on current research into captive and wild parrots.

Deal-breakers

When giving advice to potential parrot keepers, I usually start with the downsides. Not because I like to be negative, but just like dogs can bark excessively and cat litter boxes can stink, every pet has downsides. If you’re particularly sensitive to one of these, you might want to reconsider getting a parrot. I’ll present some alternatives in the next section.

Household fumes

Birds have very sensitive respiratory systems and certain fumes can be lethal.

• Fumes from overheated non-stick pans, especially those that are “running dry”, can kill birds very quickly. The human health effects caused by chemicals in the PFAS family are increasingly banned around the world. The current situation is murky and your best bet is switch to alternative cookware. Good cooking techniques can render any cookware non-stick, but the most forgiving are ceramic, enameled, or carbon steel. Aluminum, cast iron, copper, titanium, and stainless steel are other options.

• You shouldn’t expose your bird to smoke from cigarettes, cigars, joints, or vapes. It won’t kill a bird quickly, but their life will be significantly shortened.

• Candles, even unscented ones, can be just as bad as cigarettes when burning.

An air purifier that removes VOCs, which are present in smoke and in many household chemicals, can improve your bird’s health and yours. If you’re not wanting to mitigate these issues or can’t afford to, I generally advise people that maybe a bird is not for them.

Parrots are much messier than you could possibly imagine

If you like to keep a really neat house, a parrot is probably not for you. They will scatter seeds, pellets, fruit, and vegetables everywhere. Not to mention feathers! The tiny down feathers behave like dust and can be irritating to your sinuses. Some cages claim to have features that minimize mess, but trust me, they don’t work! And your bird should be spending time outside its cage anyway. Birds will poop several times an hour. When they flap their wings, everything not tied down will go flying.

Beaks are destructive

Even the tiniest of parrots have formidable beaks that are built to destroy things. Although you can do a lot to parrot-proof a house, they are inventive and curious creatures. Keeping them isolated in a cage to protect your things isn’t a solution.

The very latest Apple keyboards seem to be reasonably safe from cockatiels.

Parrots can be loud

Some species are quieter than others and females are generally quieter than males. Even within a species there can be a wide variation. Cockatoos are legendary for their ability to scream, but even cockatiels can be loud and some people find even tiny little budgies irritating for their incessant chatter. You can train a bird to be quieter, but you need dedication and patience.

Parrots aren’t for young children

Young kids move fast and like to poke, prod, and squeeze things. Parrots not only hate this, but the smaller ones especially can be very fragile creatures. I don’t have a recommendation on an appropriate age, but some say 12 years old. They need to possess a lot of patience, the ability to be calm, and to be able to understand the things I’m writing here.

Even tame parrots bite

Parrots typically bite as a fear response, but there can be other triggers. Even the smallest birds can draw blood and what may seem like a “play bite” to a bird might be painful or scary to you. The larger birds can break and shatter bones! Birds aren’t unique in this ability, but be sure to factor that into your decision. With the proper education, however, you can greatly cut down or eliminate biting, but it takes time and patience.

Parrots can be very long-lived

It can be a big commitment to welcome a bird to your family. On average, parrots will live anywhere for 15 to 60 years, with the longevity often increasing with the size of the species. This site has some age ranges for commonly kept parrot species.

Parrots can be expensive

All pets have the potential to be expensive, but it’s a mistake to think that birds aren’t also expensive to keep. There are also some expenses unique to birds. Cages are famously expensive, especially if you get one that is as roomy as you should be getting. Exotic bird vets can be more expensive than dog and cat vets. Your toy budget will likely be more than even an active cat. It’s useful to think of getting a bird is like having a child. You need to consider the financial part before making the plunge.

Why do you want a parrot?

So you survived the common parrot pitfalls. The next step is to look at the reasons you want to have a bird. Some of the more common reasons may lead to bad choices or disappointment, while others have more chance at success.

You want a pet that talks

All parrots possess the ability to talk, but it’s not guaranteed. The larger species like macaws, amazons, and African greys are much more likely to mimic speech in a way that’s understandable. Males are significantly more likely to talk than females. The biggest concern is that focusing on talking ability can lead to choosing birds based on this “feature” rather than considering other factors such as temperament, personality, and noise level. Be sure it’s not the only reason you want to get a bird.

You’ve always loved parrots (or any birds)

Well, this is a great reason! If you have an appreciation for birds, their unique personalities, their ability to fly, and their intelligence, then you have the ingredients for success. These can help you overcome some of the challenges you may face. It will inspire you to continue to educate yourself on how to best care for your pet.

You want an affectionate pet

Parrots can be affectionate creatures, but what you find on YouTube may be unrealistic. Birds generally do not like to be pet or held and doing either of these can cause hormonal reactions (biting, screeching, egg-laying). Because cats and dogs are often affectionate, people expect the same to be true of birds. It’s important to have the right expectations.

You want a low-maintenance pet

Birds are extremely curious creatures and can require a lot of stimulation to keep from getting bored. A bored bird can end up with behavior problems such as screaming or feather plucking. It can be a challenge to keep them entertained. They aren’t going to go sleep somewhere all day like a cat. If you have a lone bird, they can be demanding of attention similar to a dog.

You want companionship

Depending on what you are looking for, birds can be excellent companions. Some enjoy just sitting on your shoulder, hanging out on a cage or perch in the same room, fly to you when you enter a room, or chirp or sing to you as you go about your day. An interesting side note is that birds with PTSD have been shown to be mutually beneficial companions to humans that also suffer from PTSD.

You want a pet the whole family can love

Although other pets can show preferences for specific people or genders, birds can take this to another level. Some of the larger species, if kept as lone birds, can bond with one person and be aggressive towards other members of the household. In a less extreme case, a parrot can form a stronger bond with one person, which can be a problem for those the bird doesn’t favor as much. Working at a shelter or a bird rescue, I’ve seen plenty of “either I go or the bird goes” situations where a bird is given up for adoption.

Alternatives to parrots

If you’re not quite sure about having a parrot, there are some excellent alternatives to parrots that are very much worth considering. Some are shorter-lived, require less maintenance, and are excellent for first-time pet or bird keepers. And many of them still have feathers!

Chickens

I’m a big fan of chickens and they make wonderful pets. They are great for first-time pet owners and are much lower maintenance than parrots. Typically you get several chickens, they keep each other company, and are less demanding of human attention. I’ve had some that like to be held, or sit on my lap or shoulder. You’ll need a yard with adequate space, something to keep out predators, a shelter for them to roost in, you’ll need to check local ordinances about keeping poultry. And you get eggs!

Doves & pigeons

A little-known alternative is doves and pigeons. They are available from some animal shelters and bird rescues. They can be quite affectionate and are very quiet. They make pleasant cooing sounds. People keep them as house pets or also in outdoor enclosures.

Finches

This is one of the only species that is small enough to fly inside a cage environment but be sure to get the roomiest cage you can. They are quiet and have very pleasing chatter. They are quite hyper and entertaining to watch.

Other small animals

If you’ve never had a pet before, some are very forgiving of inexperienced owners and are less of a commitment. Getting one doesn’t mean you can’t get a bird later! Guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, and mice all make very entertaining and affectionate pets and don’t have many of the downsides of birds.

What makes parrots different as pets?

A quick history lesson. Birds are the only class of dinosaur species (Aves) to survive the extinction event from an asteroid 66 million years. Today, their closest living relative is the crocodile. Their common ancestor with mammals goes back 315 million years! So, they are very far away on the family tree from dogs, cats, and other common pets.

They fly!

Aside from the Kākāpō, all parrot species fly. People sometimes don’t consider all the implications of a winged creature in their home. We refer to our birds as “two-year-olds with wings”. Birds can land on kitchen counters, stoves, tables, curtain rods, bookshelves, chairs, moulding, the tops of doors, in open cabinets, and many places you never could have imagined. They can also escape when you’re not being careful with outside doors and windows. Be sure to survey your home before bringing a bird home and imagine what they might get into and prepare for it the best you can.

When flying down, birds often jump first and flap later.

Parrots are not domesticated

Most people don’t know this, but, unlike cats and dogs, birds are not considered domesticated animals. What that means is that they were not bred specifically as human companions. They have been bred more for form, color, and ability to sing than for any other factors. Dogs have long been bred for their temperaments, including their suitability as human companions. This includes their ability to endure the type of confinement that humans typically impose on them. Birds are wild creatures and you should take that in mind when you strive to make their lives happy.

Parrots are slow to trust

Birds are slow to trust people, in general, and some may be very distrustful of new people even if they are otherwise comfortable. Whereas it’s possible for a dog or cat to befriend you minutes after you bring them home, birds will take time and patience to build trust. Be sure that you are ready for that kind of commitment. Spending 15 minutes a day intensively with a bird can be enough to see measurable progress as the weeks pass by.

Parrots want to be part of a flock

Parrots are flock animals. In the wild, they spend most of their time with others of the same or similar species. If you have just one bird, they will frequently consider you to be part of their flock. They may eat when you eat or nap when you nap. Their heads may be itchy and they want you to scratch them. They may call to you when they hear the sounds of you arriving home or coming in from another room. Birds sometimes don’t handle being alone as well as cats do, for example. I always encourage people to consider getting a second bird down the road sometime. When you are not around, they will appreciate being part of a flock.

What are some other things to consider?

Before you make the final decision about getting a bird, here are some additional things to think about.

Where to put your parrot’s cage

A lot of advice on the internet will tell you to put your bird’s cage in a quiet, low-traffic area, not near a window, and away from any air vents so they don’t get a chill. But birds are very social creatures and want to feel part of the family, who they consider to be part of their flock. And birds are well-equipped to survive a wide range of temperatures and drafts won’t affect them.

Some issues to consider, though. Birds need more sleep than humans, at least 10 hours if possible. It’s helpful to cover the cage for sleep and for it to be in a reasonably quiet place. Some conversation is fine, but no loud music or TV. An alternative is you can have a second, smaller cage in a quiet room that is only for sleeping. Or you can wheel or otherwise move the main cage into that room. Birds can get overheated, so don’t put the cage in the sun on a hot day such that there are no shady areas in the cage for the bird to go.

What if it doesn’t work out

Wherever you end up getting a bird, find out if there are options to bring the bird back if it doesn’t work out for your household. The reason to mention this is that there are so many unwanted birds out there is that it’s difficult to place them in new homes. Some bird rescues can be helpful in taking a bird back into foster to find a more suitable home.

Who will care for your parrot when you’re “gone”

While it’s relatively easy to find a cat or dog-care person, finding someone familiar with birds can be difficult. If your bird has no particular special needs, you can probably train a sitter or a neighborhood kid to do it. But if giving medication is involved or you want to bird to have outside-the-cage time, it’s best to find someone that has some bird-savvy.

Due to the longevity of birds, it’s prudent to think of what should happen to your bird when you’re gone gone. Consider putting a paragraph in your will designating who should inherit your bird. Don’t saddle someone with your bird without talking to them first. It’s always an option to name a bird rescue organization or shelter to “inherit” your bird when you die.

Parrot community is small

Unlike cats, dogs, and many other pets, relatively few people keep birds. The downside of this is that you don’t have a built-in community nearby whom you can share knowledge with. You’re left with internet resources (such as this one!) and it can be difficult to know who to trust.

Wing clipping

This is a very controversial topic. I’ve written an article where I present some additional arguments against wing clipping that I don’t often hear made. As you might imagine, I strongly oppose wing clipping. Before making the decision to get a bird, try to figure out a way to integrate them into your life without needing to clip their wings. It’s considered cruel by most cat owners to remove their toenails, and clipping a bird is arguably more traumatic than that.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this helps answer some of your questions about bird ownership and leads to a more informed decision. When doing further internet research, you might find these two articles useful: “How do I know who to trust?” and “What if you can’t find a credible source?“.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

[If you decide to get a parrot, I’ve written a companion article called “So you’ve decided to get a parrot…“]

In my mind, the biggest downside to pellets is that they are ultra-processed food. Just like with humans, they have the potential to cause the same chronic diseases (obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc) they cause in humans and other pets. We seek out grain-free, raw, and whole food diets for our cats and dogs but we don’t seem to do the same for birds.

I believe there are some legitimate reasons for a pelleted diet, but they require you to overlook quite a lot of downsides to them. I’ll discuss that more below.

What there is universal agreement on is that birds should have fresh food in addition to their dry diet. What constitutes a fresh food diet differs by species, but generally, dark leafy greens, herbs, spices, fruit, vege, sprouted seeds, nuts, eggs, and even dried or live insects are safe and nutritious for birds. I have an article about safe foods to give birds that I recommend consulting the first time you use a new food. There is very little that is immediately toxic to birds, but there are things that can sicken them.

But let’s put all this aside and look at some of the popular arguments that are made about parrot diets.

The “all seed” diet is bad

You’ll often hear people that say that the “all seed” diet is bad, but you need to find out what they mean by that. If people are feeding their bird 100% seed without including fresh food, then it’s definitely a bad diet. As they say, it’s all part of a balanced breakfast. If they are talking about a seed diet combined with fresh food, then everyone is on the same page. The rest of this article is all about what to choose as the primary dry diet, seed or pellets.

Seeds are high in fat

I wrote the article, “Are seeds high in fat?” to explore this topic. The short version is that it depends on the mix of seeds. Most of the species-targeted seed mixes are in fact, low in fat. This is the main argument used against seed diets but it’s not as simple as that.

A seed diet will lead to chronic disease

This argument is based on the false presumption that seeds are high in fat. Some seed diets can be unhealthy for birds, but the real reason is that some can be high in carbohydrates, the root cause of many chronic diseases. All pelleted diets are high in carbohydrates, but some are very high, which I discuss in this article about some of the popular pelleted diets.

The low-fat mantra is deeply ingrained in American society as well as other countries that look to the US for nutrition guidance. You’ll often hear vets reference Fatty Liver Disease as an inevitable consequence of a fatty diet. It sounds logical, but carbohydrates are actually the culprit in this chronic illness. There is an avalanche of animal research into fat and carbohydrates. Despite how different birds and humans are, they suffer from many of the same chronic diseases and have similarly poor diets.

Fats are fine as long as they are unsaturated (aka “good fats”)

Without getting into a debate about the merits of that argument, let’s just accept it as true for a moment. Then, we can talk about how seeds are actually very low in saturated fats.

Studies prove that seed diets are bad

There is actually only one study available that directly compares seed and pellet diets in captive parrots. This is the one most vets will reference. Here I explain why this study is bogus. You don’t have to be a scientist to see why.

Seed diets are bad because of the before-and-after pictures I saw

The pellet companies like to give vets before-and-after pictures of birds on “all-seed” diets and use that to convince/guilt you to buy pellets. But they can be light on the details. They never explain what this “all-seed” diet consists of, which is important to make a real comparison.

Birds will just eat the “bad” seeds out of their seed mix

While the smaller birds often have an obsession with millet, which is low-fat and high-carb, birds seem to pounce on seeds like safflower and sunflower that are higher in fat. Since I’ve argued that fat is not something to be concerned about, I’m not concerned about these dietary choices. However, this does make a compelling point for pellets. Since pellets are a “uniform” diet, every pellet they eat is the same mix of nutrition. It’s possible that a bird could choose to eat seeds that form an unbalanced diet. But I’ll make two points here: (1) If you don’t overfeed your bird, they will consume most of their food, and (2) don’t presume that birds aren’t smart enough to know what food is good for them.

Sunflower seeds are poison for birds

There’s probably no seed more demonized than the sunflower seed. It’s one of the fattier seeds, so that’s part of the dislike that vets and others have. Plus birds love them! As I covered in this article, a good target range for fat content in a diet is 20-35%. Sunflower seeds are 62% fat, but they are very close to a number of others like hemp, nyger, pumpkin, and safflower. But the more common seeds like millet, canary, and oats average between 10-17% fat. So a mix of both could bring this seed diet into a comfortable range. But to derail this whole analysis, I’ve also written about how seeds are very low in saturated fat, also known as “bad fat”. Sunflower seeds are only 7% saturated fat!

Birds shouldn’t be fed the same diet they get in the wild

Often, people that favor a seed diet will argue that it’s what their bird eats in the wild. That’s usually met with someone explaining that birds live much better lives in captivity. Except they really don’t. I think it’s very important to consider what your bird eats in the wild (and plays with). When I learned that cockatiels and budgies gravitated to grasslands in the wild, I started giving them grass to play with.

Pellet diets are the most popular

Anecdotally, pellet diets are much more popular in the US, whereas seed diets predominate elsewhere. I did a very small, only slightly scientific study of parrot diets around the world that supported this claim. In this article, I found more confirmation of this when I searched for bird diet mixes around the world. The pellet companies are mostly American and I suspect that’s not a coincidence. Regardless, it’s important to know that even though most American bird keepers use pellets, that doesn’t mean the world agrees.

I should always believe my vet when it comes to diet

Your vet should be a resource and should also be open to debating controversial issues like nutrition. As I explained in an article about choosing a vet, it’s important to have a vet that will work with you and advise you, not tell you what to do without providing compelling evidence. A lot of people don’t realize that some vets sign exclusive deals with pellet companies. If they only feature diets from one manufacturer in their waiting rooms, then that’s why. Pellet manufacturers also do “research” showing how their products are superior, but it’s definitely not independent. They often provide brochures or handouts to the vet, who then gives them to you. If your vet sells multiple brands, chances are the only money they are making is just from the sale of the product.

Birds enjoy eating pellets just as much as seed

We’d have to interview the birds to know for sure, but anyone that’s converted a bird from seed to pellets knows how much harder it is than the reverse. And the seed+pellet mixtures that are common today don’t acknowledge that pellets can go largely uneaten. But an important piece missing is the enrichment value of seeds. I also wrote an article about how varied a “dry” diet can be.

Natural vitamins are the same as artificial vitamins in pellets

There is a lot of interesting research here in recent years. I wrote up an article comparing natural vs artificial vitamins. The short version is that they are not the same, for the most part. Absent exposing your bird to regular sunlight, it’s quite difficult to get Vitamin D. Algae and alfalfa can be good sources, but they often don’t contain adequate amounts. Eggs can be one of the best sources, especially since birds aren’t typically meat-eaters.

Pellet diets allow you to precisely control the nutrients

This one is absolutely true! But do we really want to do that? This goes back to the opening paragraph where I talked about processed food. Because it’s processed, it can be tightly controlled, and every batch can have the “right” nutrition. This is definitely a legitimate argument, but only if you ignore the downsides of pellets.

A mix of both pellets and seeds is the perfect compromise

This is a reasonable option if you are: (1) on the fence about seed vs pellet diets, or (2) you’re trying to keep your vet happy. The truth is, though, that birds generally prefer seed so chances are they won’t eat many of the pellets. If you restrict the amount of food, you can compel them to finish their daily rations. Generally, it works best to choose one diet or the other. There are some seed+pellet mixtures on the market, but they tend to be the worst of both worlds: a selection of very low-fat seeds mixed with processed low-fat pellets.

Conclusion

An important takeaway is that while most pelleted diets have the same macronutrient profile (carbs, fat, protein), a seed mix can vary based on what seeds are chosen. A bad mix is still probably preferred merely for it not being processed, but it’s important not to load up on only high carbohydrate seeds like millet, canary seed, and oats.

Birds are decades behind cats, dogs, and humans in modernizing dietary guidelines based on the available science. Eventually, birds will catch up. They have wings, after all.

If you lose your cat and they end up at an animal shelter, someone will scan them for a microchip. Provided you’ve kept your registration up-to-date, a happy reunion with your pet is in your future. Microchips typically cost less than $50 at the vet and last for the lifetime of the animal.

If they don’t end up at a shelter and you want to find them yourself, there are GPS tags you can attach to a collar and track them on a smartphone. They start at around $50 and go up quite a lot from there. Often, they have a monthly fee (sometimes as much as $15/month). Battery life is typically no more than a week, which means you have to stay on top of it.

Here’s one of the highest-rated ones.

An important point about these GPS trackers is that the cat’s location is periodically broadcast and collected by a server. So, anytime you want to know where you cat is or has been, this information is at your fingertips.

What about birds?

Birds present some very unique challenges when it comes to potential microchipping or attaching a GPS device.

Microchipping

The current generation of microchips generally can’t be used in birds under 100g, which includes most cockatiels and birds smaller than that such as budgies. This is due to the lack of breast tissue to accept the microchip, which is about the size of a grain of rice.

A major issue with microchips in birds is that very, very few birds are currently chipped, so there is a lot of education to be done. Shelters and rescues need to be aware to scan incoming birds just like they do with cats. Even if microchips “take off” for birds, it will likely be many years until the public at large is aware of their existence.

Cost can be closer to $100 to have it implanted by a vet, so it’s not exactly cheap either.

GPS

For years, I’ve done research into this topic and while dramatic progress has been made, it’s likely many more years until something is available for consumers.

Designing something that fits a bird comfortably, doesn’t hinder movement and flight, doesn’t weight them down, and has a battery that doesn’t need to be changed often is a huge challenge!

There are many challenges for GPS “backpacks” for birds:

• The weight of the backpack must be a fraction of the bird’s weight so as not to be a hindrance.

• Fitting is extremely important to avoid irritating the bird, to make sure they don’t fall off, and to allow freedom of movement and flight.

• The backpack needs to be very rugged to withstand the elements and to avoid being destroyed by the bird or their friends.

Not surprisingly, batteries are the critical problem. Continuously recording position based on communicating with a satellite burns out batteries in hours. This is improved by greatly limiting the transmission times to once every few weeks. But this is better suited to tracking migration patterns of birds than locating them at a given time.

The dealbreaker for consumer use is that these GPS backpacks don’t broadcast their positions, they merely store the data in the backpack. Later, the bird must be re-captured and data downloaded to the backpack. Enabling transmission of data to a central server would require substantially more battery power. The much larger cat GPS units need weekly battery refreshes.

As of today, GPS units are being used almost exclusively by wildlife biologists.

However, there is some amazing progress:

• Some backpaces have gotten to be so small and light that they can even be fitted to songbirds!

• Notable species such as the Kea in New Zealand have been using this technology for years now, so there is a wealth of new information being gathered about what works and what doesn’t.

Research

If you’d like to know much, much more, there are two notable studies from the last ten years about using GPS backpacks to learn more about birds in the wild. They can be used to learn about their territories, their mating locations, their diets, and their responses to habitat loss.

Since these papers are very long and involved, I’ll quote a few interesting bits from each paper. First, small songbirds:

Here we tested and deployed a newly developed miniaturized tracking device that weighs ~1 g, combines archival technology with GPS accuracy (~10 m) and can be placed on small songbirds weighing <20 g. Until now, the smallest comparable device available was ~12 g and could only be placed on animals weighing at least 250 g.

Miniaturized GPS Tags Identify Non-breeding Territories of a Small Breeding Migratory Songbird—Scientific Reports—09 June 2015

And large parrots:

Our study is the first reported use of animal-borne GPS telemetry for parrots; as such, it offers crucial insights into the application of this tracking technology for the study of the ecology, behavior, conservation, and management of this large and diverse group of birds.

The GPS loggers evaluated in this study comprised a commercially available 20-channel receiver with integrated data storage and passive ceramic aerial, powered by a 380 mAh 3.7 V lithium-polymer rechargeable battery. Loggers were made weather- and bite-proof by removing the receivers from their original plastic housing and sealing them in two layers of ~0.9 mm polyolefin heat-shrink wrap. Plastic tubes (6 mm and 4 mm external and internal diameters, respectively) for attachment of harnesses were fixed to the loggers with superglue before a third layer of shrink wrap was added and sealed. Completed devices weighed ~19 g and were ~60 mm × 27 mm × 12 mm.

GPS telemetry for parrots: A case study with the Kea (Nestor notabilis)—The Auk—18 February 2015

As you can see, these are basically hand-made and assembled products with some improvisation. Not quite ready for primetime!

Conclusion

Microchipping is something worth considering for your parrots, although its low adoption rate currently means it only slightly increases your chances of finding your lost bird. If money is tight, it can be a difficult decision to weigh it against other expenses. As a keeper of small birds, I don’t have any of them microchipped, but am keeping an eye on things.

One article I wrote called “Are seeds high in fat?” is particularly relevant here. In that article, I estimated the fat content of some popular Kaytee mixes for six parrot species:

Cockatiel: Canary grass, millet, safflower (17% fat)
Parakeet: Canary grass, millet, oats (14%)
Lovebird: Sunflower, canary grass, millet (44%)
Macaw: Sunflower, safflower, pumpkin (55%)
Finch: Millet, canary grass, oats (10%)
Conure: Millet, safflower, sunflower (21%)

Seeds considered “high fat” are marked in bold. As I mentioned in my article called “The real reason the ‘all seed’ diet is bad“, the recommended fat percentages for humans fall in the 20-40% range.

“Good” and “bad” fat

In the past decade, especially, the focus has moved from demonizing all fat to dividing fat into “good” and “bad” fats. Here is one summary of the conventional wisdom:

Unsaturated fats, which are liquid at room temperature, are considered beneficial fats because they can improve blood cholesterol levels, ease inflammation, stabilize heart rhythms, and play a number of other beneficial roles. Unsaturated fats are predominantly found in foods from plants, such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds.

Types of Fat | The Nutrition Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat (which includes omega-3 fats) are consider “good” fat and saturated fat is considered “bad” fat. This has been pretty solidly debunked in many studies, including this one mentioned in my article called “Animal research into fat, carbohydrates, and disease“:

High carbohydrate intake was associated with higher risk of total mortality, whereas total fat and individual types of fat were related to lower total mortality. Total fat and types of fat were not associated with cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, or cardiovascular disease mortality, whereas saturated fat had an inverse association with stroke. Global dietary guidelines should be reconsidered in light of these findings.

Associations of fats and carbohydrate intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality in 18 countries from five continents (PURE): a prospective cohort study—The Lancet—August 29, 2017

So fat doesn’t contribute to our mortality, even the “bad fat”.

BUT!

For the sake of discussion, let’s presume that the conventional wisdom is correct: eat a minimal amount of fat and make sure it’s mostly unsaturated fat. The Harvard School of Public Health recommends no more than 10% of calories come from “bad” fat.

So, let’s go back to our seed mixes. Here are some of the common seeds that are considered high fat: sunflower, safflower, hemp, flax, and pumpkin. So what is the mix of “good” and “bad” fats in these seeds?

So, even if we believe in the concept of “bad” fats, only pumpkin seed has a “bad” fats content higher than the 10% threshold, while the rest is comfortably below.

However!

It’s important to note that these numbers assume each seed comprises the entire diet. So, for example, if your bird eats 100% pumpkin seeds, 20% of the calories are from “bad” fats. But few ready-made seed mixes contain even a small fraction of pumpkin seeds. All the other seeds are so far below the recommended percentage that it’s not even worth thinking about that scenario.

Sunflower seeds are often held up as the poster child for bad parrot diets, but a nutrient analysis reveals it’s not got enough “bad” fats (8%) to be of any concern. If you’re concerned about them. Which I’m not.

For those not familiar, “chop” is chopped up fruits, vegetables, nuts, and other fresh foods, which are chopped up and dried in some fashion.

Advantages of fresh food

• Potentially more variety than if you use a pre-made chop mix

• Possibly triggers more of a foraging instinct

• Making chop yourself is a good amount of work

Advantages of chop

• Don’t have to worry about fresh produce spoiling in the fridge

• Possibly less work if you purchase a commercial chop product

• More expensive if you purchase your chop product

• Lasts all day long without wilting

• Don’t have to worry about it spoiling in the fridge (less waste)

• Some birds will eat chop (mine will) for fruits and veggies they won’t eat fresh

• You can trick them into eating chop by mixing it with your dry diet

• If you purchase a chop mix, you potentially have a wider variety of vegetables and fruit, including those that are currently out of season.

Conclusion

There’s no right or wrong answer here but there are many advantages to using chop in your parrot’s diet that maybe you had not considered. I have cockatiels, who are typically not fruit eaters at all, nibble on mango. Success!