Parrot Cages: Sizing and Material

The sizing depends on the species of the parrot and I have heard that bigger is better when it comes to the size of the cage. However sizing also depends on how much time the parrot spends in its cage. A parrot that only sleeps in its cage could do with a small cage relative to its species size though a parrot that spends around half a day or less in its cage would require a much larger one. The cage must be large enough to allow the parrot to flap its wings and accommodate a few toys. Also when it comes to sizing parrots require more length or width than height since they do not take off vertically.
The material that the cage is constructed of is crucial to your parrot's health since cages containing lead or zinc can result in the death of your parrot. Safe and strong materials suitable for parrot cages include stainless steel and wrought iron. I am unsure about the suitability of brass as a material for parrot cages since brass is an alloy of zinc and copper even though it is purportedly safe. Stainless steel cages are strong, durable, and much more long lasting than wrought iron. Wrought iron cages are painted by a method called powder coating which chemically bonds the paint to the metal. It is also important that the parrot cannot break the bars such as some macaws are capable of.

A Strange Parrot

A while ago I stumbled across this strange video:

Here's a link to page about this particular Kakapo in the video: http://www.kakaporecovery.org.nz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92-sirocco&catid=42&Itemid=191
The parrot is called a Kakapo and I did a little research on it since that was the first time I have ever heard of it. Kakapos are flightless, they are the heaviest of species of parrots, and are nocturnal. Their faces resemble that of an owl and they have a greenish gray face. Their are about 124 Kakapos left and are monitored closely by a team focused on increasing their numbers in the wild. They are found only in New Zealand and are kept on two islands free of predators. I posted this for entertaining rather than my usual informative posts.

Sources
http://www.kakaporecovery.org.nz/
http://www.parrots.org/index.php/encyclopedia/profile/kakapo/

Kiki the Green Clown

Like most parrots I consider Kiki a generally funny, clever and smart parrot. Sometimes she has her temper tantrums and strange but typical parrot habits. One day I was sitting next her cage while she was eating and she started to dunk her pellets in her water. Not literally dunking but she would take a pellet with her beak, walk of to her water dish, crush the pellet which would fall in her water, then wait a while, and then fish it out and resume eating it. I guess she figured out how to make them softer or something because she does it over and over. This also explains why I have to constantly change her water. I wish I could have captured this on video but she stops doing anything that is even remotely interesting when she sees the camera.

However I don't know if playing with fallen feathers is a normal. Yesterday she lost a tail feather and when I picked it up she wanted it. So she wasted a good fifteen minutes playing and picking at her tail feather. I did manage to capture this on video and as soon as she stopped playing with the feather it was time to attack my camera. This morning though my mom screamed and Kiki screamed like a human along with her. She is a strange bird, but I guess most are like that.

To clip or not to clip?

Parrots are birds and most birds fly as we all know. So when one houses an animal capable of flying it drastically reduces the amount of flight time they receive indoors compared to the outdoors. On top of that in order to keep them safe indoors some people keep their parrots wings clipped so they are literally handicapped. Wing clipping has its moral wrongs but sometimes it is better to have the wings clipped than have it die from a tragic accident. On the other you could avoid owning a parrot at all if your house is that unsafe for birds.
Wing clipping is a harmless procedure that trims the primary flight feathers on the wing of the parrot. A proper trim allows the parrot balance and the ability for short distance flight. They will not fly much if their wings are clipped since their body feels heavier due to the change in balance. If the wing is trimmed improperly the parrot could easily injure itself falling due to lack of balance. When clipping wings for the first time it is a good idea to have a professional such as a vet or bird specialist show you how in order to avoid cutting a toe or blood feather. If a blood feather is cut blood will start squirting out so you will have to pluck the feather out from the root.
A wing clipped parrot might develop bad habits if time and attention are not given. They might pluck feathers, vocalize excessively, or stop eating. To avoid this provide your parrot with interesting toys and play games you would usually play with your parrot. Also the parrot will become more dependent on humans in order to get where it wants to be. It seems sad watching the parrot deprived of flight I especially felt this way when Kiki had her wings clipped. Wing clipping isn't completely necessary and it is possible let your parrot live with wings intact. Some parrots are trained to fly outside for their own enjoyment and return to their owners.

Pet parrots flying freely outside.

Parrot Cages

Home, casa, hut, shack, pad, nest whatever you call it, everyone and everything has one. Your parrot is no different whether you keep it in a cage or let it live cageless your parrot needs a place called home. Now not all parrots are into the whole mi casa es su casa thing and they will let it you know but its better that they trash their own place than yours, right? So think about what your parrots lives in as strongly as the type of parrot you are looking forward to buy, adopt or already own.

If you choose to keep your parrot uncaged you must consider all the possible household hazards that your parrot could potentially face and how much destruction to your home your parrot is capable of causing. If you decide to keep your parrot in a cage you can't let it stay there forever because it needs time out of its cage, just picture yourself living at home bored and alone for the rest of your life that is probably how your parrot would feel. Parrots are not all the same so choose a cage that best meets your parrot's individual needs. Also different species of parrots require cages that best suite them.

Some few things to consider when purchasing a cage for your parrot are price, size, material, ease of cleaning, bar spacing, shape, door size, food dishes, how escape proof the cage is, and design. The price for parrot cages can range from $20 dollars to well passed $1000. Obviously the price depends on the species of bird that the cage is going to house. Parrot cages are usually expensive at pet shops, but you can find cheap cages at the flea market or on the Internet on eBay, Craigslist, and other Internet sites. Although beware that not all cheap cages you might find are not safe.

As with previous posts I will break up this post into a series so I don't create an overwhelming monster. Also I will specifically describe the cage requirements of different species when I post what I know about them. So if this sea of text has bored you here are some videos I've posted from YouTube below.




Strangely while I was watching this video Kiki escaped out of her own cage.

Quaker Parrots Overview

While I am novice in many aspects of the parrot world, I can safely say that I am much more knowledgeable when it comes to Quaker Parrots. Primarily because I have one living with me and that I have handled more than one. Since there is a seemingly endless amount of information about parrots and Quakers I will break up the posts relating to various species of parrots into a series of posts relating to the individual species.

I have read in many articles and books that Quaker Parrots are clowns and I can honestly say that is completely true. Just the other day Kiki pierced my neck with her beak and I fell to the ground, after laying their in shock because I had no idea why she bit me, she waddled over and kissed my nose (sound effects and all) and I started laughing so hard I didn't care that she bit me. Aside from their crude sense of humor Quakers are intelligent, silly, clever, capable of being very vocal, and extremely affectionate. Not all Quakers are the same and each and every Quaker's disposition varies from one to the other. Please understand that Quakers, or any living thing for that matter, will vary in personality and they are not all the same, so just because your friend has a sweet and affectionate pet don't go buy one on impulse and expect the same type of love from that pet.

Quaker parrots can grow to about nine to eleven inches long, and are comparable in size to a Cockatiel. They can live for maybe twenty five plus years depending on how well their taken care of, and I have heard of some dieing at eighteen while others past thirty. Since Quakers are very hardy birds and prolific breeders they are illegal in some states where they are considered agricultural pest. Quakers have established feral colonies in Florida, New Jersey, New York, Texas, etc. but haven't really moved out of where they established. Here's a link to a website that shows which states allow or ban Quakers http://www.quakerville.com/qic/statelaw.asp. I've posted some videos I found on YouTube with Quakers in them because I haven't made any recent videos of Kiki.

Should Parrots be Kept as Pets?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh9X--j_gGw

Viewer discretion is advised, the following clip contains dead parrot images.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps-yl1ETOaM

This is kind of like part two of "Do Parrots make Good Pets". Honestly I think this question could be part of a broader question like should humans keep pets. Their are those who see nothing wrong in keeping pets and those who believe pets shouldn't be kept. Parrots are animals that fly an extensive number of miles a day in the wild which is cut down drastically when they are kept in our homes. For this reason many people view keeping parrots in a cage at home is a form of cruelty and they should be free flying and foraging in their forests. If this is the case then all animals should be free from being kept as pets.

One could associate pet keeping as a form of servitude for animals in which humans limit their freedoms. However most view the pet keeping relationship as mutualistic in which the pet/ companion provides entertainment and pleasure and the human provides and cares for the animal. It is when the human fails to provide a safe and adequate environment for the pet that we have abused our pet keeping privileges

However while not as many people are against keeping parrots as pets their are controversies surrounding wing clipping. Wing clipping is a simple procedure in which the primary flight feathers are trimmed in order to prevent flight. Some people firmly believe that parrots should be allowed to fly and that is what nature intended and others believe wing clipping is necessary for the parrot's safety from household hazards such as stoves, ovens, toilets, fans, mirrors, etc. and to prevent escape.

When my aunt was young, she lived in our village in Bangladesh and had a pet parrot. I am not certain what type of parrot it was but I am sure it was native to that region. Her parrot would play with them for a while and eat and later it would fly away to go spend time with the wild parrots and would return in the evening to sleep. So I believe wing clipping can be avoided with proper care but I wouldn't recommend allowing your parrot to fly away since they aren't native to the USA which doesn't grant them protection from being killed in the wild. ALWAYS DO RESEARCH BEFORE BUYING A PET.

Trip to Kookaburra Bird Shop

Recently I visited nice little bird shop in Carrollton, Texas. I went to go pick up some pellets for Kiki at Kookaburra Bird Shop because Kiki's used to eating the Tropican Lifetime Granules their and I can't find them in any stores close to where I live and I haven't bothered to convert her to another type of pellet. It's a clean professional looking place and a little expensive but then again most parrot things are. They have a sanitary environment for their birds and if your looking to buy a parrot or things for you parrot you might want to go their or a parrot shop resembling their enviornment.
The staff their is very informative and helped me switch Kiki from seeds to pellets which was my intention anyway. According to their website they are the first Bird Shop in the DFW area founded in 1979 by Terrie Beckley. I think she still runs the place along with her daughter. They are a full line bird shop and also board pet birds for those who need travel away from home. Here's the link to their website http://kookshop.com/Site/Welcome.html.
Besides the technical information they have a wide variety of pellets, birds, cages, carriers, and other things. When you walk in their is an enormous play area with a Scarlet Macaw named Miranda that sits on the top perch, a goofy Major Mitchell's Cockatoo whose name I can't recall, and a Sulfur Crested Cockatoo named Mel. Mel is 18 years old and Miranda is 20 and their in the video I posted below. Thankfully they were kind enough to let me take pictures and videos of their parrots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTBKKTgKb64

My Quaker Parrot Kiki and Extra Information

I own one Quaker parrot named Kiki who is about five or six months old now. We bought her May 2nd, 2009 unweaned which means she couldn't eat solid food yet. So I practically raised her since she was a baby. Most people consider baby birds ugly and they are pretty ugly when they are featherless but I think their lovely nonetheless.

It's not the best idea to purchase an unweaned parrot but I knew from previous encounters how to properly wean a parrot. Feeding the baby parrot isn't the most difficult part but must be administered carefully and properly. Probably the most difficult part of the weaning process is switching over to solid food. For me and Kiki switching to solid food wasn't difficult but I have heard terrible stories about people buying unweaned chicks that end up dying so unless you have experience DON'T BUY UNWEANED PARROTS (sounds hypocritical doesn't it).

Besides my whole weaning comment Kiki has been a joy to raise and she started talking before she was fully weaned which made me feel like a proud parent. Kiki likes to eat corn, broccoli, zucchini, white grapes, bananas, honeydews, apples, guavas, pears, cucumbers, brown rice, whole grain pasta, whole grain bread, sometimes a little low fat mozzarella cheese, and rarely we give her peanut butter on a toothpick in addition to her pelleted diet. She actually eats all this except not at once but if you own a parrot you probably know how picky parrots are when it comes to food. Instead of a seed diet she eats a pelleted one which allows her to receive proper nutrition however we don't deprive her of seeds because that is the whole point of a bird's beak. I think she prefers pellets over seeds though, because I put some seeds on top of her cage but she went inside to eat the pellets.

The first thing most people ask me when I tell them I have a parrot is "Does it talk?" I tell them yes and that Kiki can say her name, peek-a-boo, hello, hmmm, and she can make sound effects like farting, rolling her tongue, giving kisses, whisper, scream like my sister, etc. Some of the things she knows are when its time to eat, sleep, when someone is using the microwave, exiting her cage unaided, taking the remote's battery cover off and many other things. If I had more time I could probably train her to do tricks on command but she mostly chooses when she wants to do things. She practically likes every stranger unless they hurt her except she doesn't like my father too much. Like most other parrots she takes her own baths, trims her beak and nails by herself, and screams for attention when needed. I think she also knows stealing is bad because she usually runs away from me when she takes something. Posted below is a slideshow of her and a video of something she stole.

Do parrots make good pets?

Unlike dogs who are domesticated, parrots even when kept as pets still retain many of their attributes found in the wild. They make good pets but one should seriously take into consideration the consequences of obtaining animals that are not truly domesticated like a dog. In other words parrots aren't for everyone and if you are looking towards purchasing a companion parrot it is imperative that you do some basic research which makes it easier to determine the type of parrot you might be interested in. There are over three hundred species and of which many are endangered so there is a wide variety to choose from. Parrots can be very vocal, vary in sizes from the small American Budgerigar to the large Hyacinth Macaw of Brazil, they can cost from $9.00 to $12,000, are messy, somewhat low maintenance, they can fly, and defecate frequently. Parrots do have their ups and downs and some people choose to have their parrot's primary flight feathers trimmed which is a harmless procedure and others choose to let them fly. So one should seriously consider keeping an animal that practically has to be crippled in order to keep as a pet. However wing clipping keeps them safe from household hazards and increases their dependency on you. If you choose to keep their flight feathers intact you just have to be more aware for your parrots safety I prefer keeping the wings intact except maybe when they are new to your home because they might have a higher tendency to escape. Practically all parrots can be trained and tamed like parakeets, conures, lories, macaws, etc. I've posted a video about trained parakeets and about some parrot problems below.


Watch CBS Videos Online
Not all parrots live to eighty by the way it depends on the species such as the larger parrots of the macaw family.

Fun with Budgies - The best home videos are here

Purpose

This is my first blog ever and it's about parrots hence the title. I am going to try and compile information, stories, and as many parrot related things as I possibly can onto this blog. I'm not a parrot expert and most of what I know is from research, personal experience, and observation. I own one Quaker Parrot named Kiki and she has been with us since May 2, 2009. Obviously I might not be correct on my blog information all the time and I'll try and post as many of my own pictures and videos as I can as well as media I find on the Internet.

I'm also not trying to convince anyone to buy a parrot because even though they might not be as high maintenance they are quite difficult to handle at times, can be quite messy, have a high price range, and have additional discrepancies one should take in to consideration before purchasing a parrot or any pet for that matter. Many people prefer dogs, cats, or they choose not to have a pet at all which isn't a bad thing. I have owned a dog before and I know people who believe in not keeping pets because they feel bad about housing an animal they believe should be free.