Birds in the parrot family are foragers in the wild. They will eat whatever happens to be in season or is available. Their diet includes fruits, seeds, insects and whatever else they can find. Feeding pet birds an all-seed diet is neither natural nor nutritious.

The tradition of feeding seed-only diets to pet birds began years ago when wild birds were first caught and imported to our country. This was largely because of a profound lack of information and knowledge at that time about the nutritional requirements of birds and the content of seeds. Birds are particularly sensitive to nutritional deficiencies because they have a high metabolic rate. (An animal's metabolic rate indicates how many calories it burns to maintain itself.) Birds are calorie furnaces, and on an inadequate diet they will quickly develop malnutrition and a compromised health status.

Seeds are very high in fat (especially sunflower, safflower and peanuts), low in calcium, low in protein and almost devoid of any vitamins. The alternative to seed diets is offering a balanced diet of table foods. Foods that are healthy for you are also healthy for your bird. A balanced diet provides some of each of the four major food groups. You can still offer seeds, but they should make up no more than 50 percent of your bird's total diet. you can offer whole grains, such as wheat, along with grain products, such as whole wheat bread, pretzels and pasta

Fruits and vegetables are a must for a balanced diet; they provide many essential vitamins. Avoid feeding your bird any foods high in fat. Avocados are toxic to pet birds.

Many owners object to changing their birds' diets because they have offered a variety of foods only to have them ignored or refused by their pets. Birds are creatures of habit and are highly suspicious of new foods. Count on taking approximately one year to modify your bird's diet.

The trick to changing eating habits is in how you offer the new diet. you should offer your bird fresh foods twice a day for about one hour at each feeding (fresh food will spoil quickly and if left in the cage for a length of time could develop harmful bacteria).

Birds are equipped with a natural "storage tank" for food -- the crop. Located in the breast area, the crop is an enlargement of the esophagus. The crop enables birds to "tank up" on food and have a steady supply for their digestive system for many hours. Birds in the wild use this storage system daily. They forage for food in the early hours of the morning and again late in the afternoon to avoid the heat of day. Owners can take advantage of the crop by twice-a-day feedings to produce healthier, more active and affectionate pets.

Feeding birds twice a day has many benefits. The primary benefit is that it creates a healthy appetite. A healthy appetite will stimulate your bird to try new, more nutritious foods. Birds that eat twice a day are also more active. Bird and owner will share the benefits of a closer bond because the bird will associate its owner with something positive—mealtime. Feeding twice a day will also help you monitor how much your pet is eating. A drop in food consumption can be a sign of illness.

In some situations, feeding a bird twice daily is not desirable. Sick birds, those laying eggs, nesting or caring for young should always have food in their dishes.

An easy way to implement a change in feeding schedule is to offer your parrot dry foods (seeds, breads, cereals, dog kibble, etc.) in the morning and then to share your dinner with your bird at night.

Be sure to have your bird's wings clipped.

The decision to deny a caged bird free, unrestricted flight was unconsciously made by each bird owner at the time the bird was made a captive pet in the home. Wing clipping is merely a procedure that makes this confinement safer for the bird. We prefer that both wings be clipped so that the bird's descent to the floor will be balanced and relatively controlled.

Beak and toenail trimming is extremely important. Since caged birds live in a human engineered environment, there is little if no irregularity in the surfaces with which they come in contact. Therefore, their beaks and claws have a tendency of overgrowing and becoming rough. This can create eating and perching problems in the long run. Most caged birds need their beaks and claws trimmed periodically depending on the species and the time of the season.

We DO NOT recommend using sandpaper covered perches. They do not prevent claw overgrowth, but instead cause irritation and excessive wear to the soles of the feet.

A good way to enrich your animals is through training. Now this may not seem very natural, but in fact training helps keep our animals active and mentally stimulated.

Training can help reduce stress because the animal knows what to expect and they actually enjoy participating because of positive reinforcement, usually in the form of a really great food treat! It is a good idea to scale train your bird and this is done through constant repetition and positive reinforcement. It is important to monitor weights because many times an animal will start to lose weight when it is sick before it stops eating or starts acting differently. Getting accurate weights consistently offers an advantage to detecting illnesses early on.

In the wild most birds spend a large amount of their time foraging, or searching for food. Provide a variety of food types and make it interesting by hiding it in objects like a log with holes in it.

Other examples of enrichment include: paper towel rolls, mirrors, sounds of other birds, branches with leaves, flowers like banksias or bottlebrush and bird toys, of course! Parrots prefer yellow, red and orange coloured toys. Soft wood toys are usually their favourite.

Avocado (Persea americana)
The toxic principle in avocado is persin and leaves, fruit, bark, and seeds of the avocado have been reported to be toxic to birds and various other species. In birds, clinical effects seen with avocado poisoning include respiratory distress, generalized congestion, and death. Onset of clinical signs usually occurs after 12 hours of ingestion with death occurring within 1-2 days of the time of exposure. Small birds such as canaries and budgies are considered to be more susceptible, however, clinical signs have been observed in other species.

Chocolate
contains a compound called theobromine that is toxic to pets. If enough is ingested, your animal can suffer from vomiting, diarrhoea, abnormal heart rhythms, tremors, seizures, and possible death.

Alcohol
Depending on how much alcohol your animal ingests, it can lead to vomiting, diarrhoea, depression, difficulty breathing, coma, and possible death.

Caffeine
is generally highly toxic to pets, having negative effects on both the cardiac and nervous systems. Side effects can include vomiting, diarrhoea, abnormal heart rhythms, tremors, seizures, and possible death.

Plants
The ingestion of azalea, oleander, yew or rhododendron could produce life-threatening clinical problems.

Nicotine
Second hand smoke can be lethal, and the nicotine passed from your hands and lips can enter your bird's system through its feet. If you smoke, QUIT! If you can't quit, always smoke in a room away from your birds and wash your hands and lips before making physical contact.

Store all cleaners, pesticides, prescription and over-the-counter medication out of your birds reach.

Fumes from gas stoves, super heated Teflon non-stick coated pans and smoke from the occasional burnt food can kill your bird. Perfumes deodorants and aerosol sprays can all be detrimental to your bird's health. Birds have very delicate respiratory systems that will be affected within minutes of inhaling these types of deadly fumes. Disturbances like loud music, barking dogs and moving objects can cause stress that will have a negative impact on your bird’s immune system

Most disease in caged birds is either directly or indirectly related to three important factors: poor hygiene, malnutrition and/or stress. All caged bird owners must understand that birds tend to "hide" their symptoms for fear of being thrown out of the flock or possibly even being killed by other birds living in the same group. Consequently, it is important to realize that when you recognize one or more symptoms, your bird may well have been sick for one or perhaps two weeks. You CAN NOT take the wait and see approach if you notice something is not right with your bird. As a general rule of thumb, any caged bird that that appears to be ill to its owner is seriously ill. Make an appointment and get them to a qualified Avian veterinarian promptly.

The following list includes clinical symptoms, easily recognizable by the concerned bird owner, that either alone, or in combination, signify potential illness in you bird:

• Discharge from eye/eyes
• Change in clarity or colour of eye/eyes
• Closing of eye/eyes
• Swelling of eye/eyes
• Discharge from nostril/nostrils or vent
• Plugged nostril/nostrils
• Soiling of feathers around nostrils or of the head feathers
• Sneezing
• Inability to adequately manipulate food within the mouth
• Reduction in appetite or complete cessation of eating
• Fluffed feathers
• Inactivity
• Droopy wings
• Decrease in preening activity and maintenance of feathers
• A break in the bird's routine
• Cessation of vocalization
• Change of vocal quality (may be very serious)
• Weight loss
• Equilibrium problems (very serious)
• Inability to perch (bird on bottom of cage)
• Limping or lack of full weight-bearing on one limb
• Swollen foot/feet and or joint/joints
• Change in quality and of quantity of droppings
• Open-mouthed breathing when at rest (very serious)
• Tail pumping (up and down motion of the tail when at rest)
• Visible lumps or masses anywhere on the body
• Bleeding - always an emergency situation (regardless of the origin of the blood)

Feather picking is an obsessive, destructive behaviour pattern of birds during which all or part of their feathers are methodically pulled out, amputated, frayed, or in some other way damaged. This behaviour often prevents normal feather growth and emergence.

Moulting is the normal physiologic process by which old, worn feathers are lost and subsequently replaced by new ones. The frequency of this event varies with the species and the individual, as well as with climatic and geographic factors. In warm areas, most caged birds drop a small number of feathers intermittently throughout the year and have 1-2 heavy moults each year. The process of moulting must be distinguished from feather picking. Feather picking is not difficult to diagnose. Affected birds look very much the same. Regardless of the pattern of feather loss, damage and/or mutilation, and exposed bare skin below the neck, the head feathers are spared and always appear perfect and untouched. This is, of course, because the bird cannot reach its head feathers. The one notable exception to this is the bird whose feathers are picked by a cage mate. As mentioned, birds caged together often engage in mutual preening. This behaviour can become obsessive and destructive, resulting in feather picking. In these cases, the head feathers of the "victim" are not spared.

There are both medical and non-medical causes for feather picking. The major medical causes include changes in hormone levels, external and internal parasites, malnutrition, internal disease, and bacterial or fungal infections of the skin and/or feather follicles. Interestingly, and contrary to popular opinion, external parasites (mites in particular) are extremely rare among caged birds. The non-medical causes are psychological and/or stress related.

From the above discussion it should be obvious that there are no quick and/or easy solutions for psychological or stress-induced feather picking. Collars fashioned from discarded x-ray film or certain acrylics can be fitted and applied. These materials create an artificial barrier between the bird's beak and its feathers. Collars treat the symptoms (the feather picking and mutilation) but do not eliminate the underlying cause(s). In fact, collars themselves can be very stressful to caged birds and should only be applied when it is necessary to arrest self-mutilation and prevent haemorrhage, or as a last resort when all else fails. Furthermore, collars create problems of their own. Besides causing great stress to the bird, they also prevent normal feather maintenance (preening).

If medical causes for feather picking have been ruled out, and boredom (solitary confinement) is regarded as the major cause of feather picking, then you as the bird owner must be prepared to make changes. Increasing the amount of time you spend with your bird will greatly reduce feather-picking tendencies because the bird is kept otherwise engaged.

Sometimes changing the location of the bird's cage and/or perch is helpful. The suitability of the new location will depend upon the temperament of the bird and the relative unsuitability of the previous location. For example, a feather picking African gray parrot (normally shy and suspicious) might be better off in a more private and secluded area of the house than in a heavily trafficked and noisy locale. By contrast, an umbrella cockatoo (docile, affectionate, gregarious) that lives in relative isolation and that has begun to feather pick might be better off in a very public area of the house. If a feather picker lives in a very small cage or has limited living space, it might be beneficial to provide a larger cage or a more spacious living environment.

Some feather pickers may not receive adequate rest. Providing these birds with a more quiet and secluded locale and covering the cage at night may be helpful. The latter is most important because it provides a certain period each day or night during which absolute privacy and freedom from a "fish bowl" existence is assured.

Bathing or misting a feather picker on a daily or otherwise regular basis may be beneficial because wetting the feathers encourages normal preening behaviour. The hope is that the bird will spend more time conditioning the plumage and less time chewing on the feathers or pulling them out.

Boredom and resultant feather picking may be combated by providing a wide variety of foods. Emphasis should be placed on foods that require some time and effort to eat (non-shelled walnuts and other nuts, string beans, snow peas, macaroni and cheese) and those representing a variety of colours, shapes, sizes and textures. This "recreational feedings keeps the bird stimulated and interested in the food, increases the amount of time required to eat, and decreases the amount of free time that could be spent feather picking.

The same factors should be considered when providing toys with which a caged bird can play. The widest variety and assortment possible should be offered. The toys (chains, bells, rawhide and hardwood pieces, mirrors, hard rubber toys) should be durable and appropriate for the size and type of bird being considered. Toys should stimulate and hold the bird's interest as much as possible. It is important to provide natural objects that a bird can investigate, chew up, and rip apart. Branches from non-toxic trees, with leaves (eucalyptus) and large pine cones, can be offered to satisfy these destructive tendencies. These objects should be clean and free of insecticide and herbicide residues. It is equally important to provide objects that can fully involve the bird in actual physical exercise (large ropes to climb on, large paper bags, and cardboard boxes with holes). Appliances (radio, tape recorder, television, etc) that stimulate the bird's other senses should also be considered and provided whenever possible. A feather picker whose attention is diverted and held by these types of toys and diversions will spend less time pursuing its vice.

Feather picking is generally a problem of birds in captivity. Wild birds do not feather pick because they are too preoccupied with their own survival and with reproduction. Captive birds (pet birds and those in zoos and avicultural collections) endure stress not experienced by their wild counterparts. Captivity, malnutrition, solitary living, absence of a mate with which to fulfil courtship rituals and mating needs cause significant stress, in addition to stress associated with confinement within a home (noise, confusion, presence of other pets, such as dogs or cats, which represent potential predators to caged birds).

Like people, birds are creatures of habit, and changes (large or small) in their environment or in their established routine can often create stress for the individual. This stress often results in obsessive, introverted behaviour, manifested by feather picking.

Much feather picking of caged birds results from sexual isolation and frustration. It is easy for most bird owners to subconsciously ignore the sexuality of their pet bird because, in most cases, the true gender of their bird may not be known. Caged birds do not have external genitalia or other physical characteristics that would, at a glance, indicate their sexual identity. They do, however, have gonads (testes or a single ovary) located inside their bodies. These organs produce the very same sex hormones (testosterone, estrogens) that our own gonads produce. These sex hormones are extremely potent and can change a bird's behaviour.

In the wild, these behavioural changes would result in the selection of a mate and the pursuit of courtship and mating behaviours. Unfortunately, in the home, solitary pet birds are rarely free to engage in these pursuits. The frustration that often follows can result in feather picking. Some investigators believe that hormone-influenced (sexual) feather picking is the result of a bird's attempt to create a "brood patch." This completely featherless area of the breast allows very efficient transfer of heat from the bird's body to the egg(s) it is incubating. In captivity and non-breeding situations, the feather picking and pulling is, of course, non-productive and becomes an obsessive vice, even when hormone levels wane. Some of these birds exhibit a favourable response to progesterone drugs in the early stages.

Providing an appropriate mate is an obvious, but not always practical, solution. Reducing sexual stimulation (removing mirrors and toys, placing birds of opposite sex that are caged separately out of sound range from one another) may be helpful.

In multiple-bird households, feather picking may result when a bird is housed near other birds. Under these circumstances, moving this individual out of sight and beyond hearing from the others may reduce the level of stress experienced by the bird and the severity of its feather picking.

Birds should be wormed 3-4 times a year. In aviaries the top layer of soil or sand should be changed on a regular basis. Suspended flights can be a good way of getting round this as the birds can’t get to their droppings as easy as a normal aviary set up where they have access to the floor. Concrete floors are the best solution as they can be cleaned a lot easier. Mix Malt vinegar with three parts hot water and use on the floors, this is a safe and effective cleaner and will reduce worm eggs without harming your birds. It is a good idea to give your aviary a good clean the day after worming.

Worming before breeding season is the best idea and some wormers may affect feather growth so worming while in moult may not be the best idea.

It is recommended to change your worming product as it is possible for worms to build up a resistance to the same worming agent. Most people also don’t realize but depending on the worming product you use the dose may have to be repeated again between 10-14 days later. This is to catch any stray eggs that may be left to start the worm cycle again. If you are not sure ask your supplier of the wormer.

If you notice a bird doing a lot of sleeping but still eating when food is offered normally you will find worms to be the cause, a stained or dirty vent is another good sign but this is not always be the case. I have seen birds with clean vents still badly affected with worm infestations. A sharp protruding keel bone is another good sign but you can’t always see this until you give the bird a physical examination. Vomiting is another sign your bird has worms but his tends to happen when a bird has had worms for a long period of time, or the bird is infected with a worm such as gizzard or hairworm.

Hairworm (Capillaria)

Signs

• Diarrhoea
• Not eating
• Anemia

These live in the lining of the intestine, crop or esophagus. Birds pick this worm up by eating the droppings of infected birds. The egg can live in the ground for several months. These worms are very fine and sometimes can be difficult to treat. Often found in budgies, lovebirds, canaries and fowl.

Gizzard Worm (Acuaria)

Signs

• Sudden death in a bird
• Weight loss
• Droppings containing mucous

The cycle starts with adult worm laying eggs, which pass out in the droppings of the infected birds. These eggs are eaten by insects, such as slaters weevils and insects alike. While using the insect as its first host the larvae of the worm starts to develop. In turn the insect is then eaten by a bird and the immature gizzard worms move to the bird’s gizzard and burrow through the gizzard-lining wall to develop in to adults. These worms damage the gizzard lining, which then affects the proper function of the gizzard, which is to grind down food. Birds normally die due to a bacterial infection because of the damage to the gizzard lining. Finches or any insect eating bird can be at risk from this type of worm.

Tapeworm

Signs and symptoms are much like the gizzard worm. They like a damp environment. Mild infections can occur but heavy infections result in the above symptoms, damaging the intestinal wall causing infection. Control of insects and worms in you aviary are crucial as these are the hosts that start the tapeworm cycle. There are many different species of tapeworm that can affect birds ranging from 2-3 mm to 50-60mm long, different types of tapeworms will infect different types of bird. The same worm that infects a galah will not be the same type that infects a grass parakeet.

Roundworm (Acaridae)

Signs

• Weakness
• Weight loss
• Diarrhoea