Care and Maintenance
We make sure they have plenty 24 hours a day. Our Blue & Gold gets
the Food Sticks which is a large size so the birds can hold it in
their claw. All of our other birds get the Parrot size. They are
all on water bottles so they don't make "soup".
In the evenings they come downstairs to eat dinner and watch
TV with us. We will share almost anything that we have on our
plates. We do not ever let them have - Chocolate, alcohol,
caffeine, or avocados. Yes we do also share our junk food but in very small
quantities. No its not good for them but it's not good for us
either. They particularly like corn, chicken, beef, venison, and
sweet potatoes.
Every day we give them fresh foods in their cages also. I
make up a big batch about every two weeks and freeze it in zip-lock
containers for easy preparation each morning. I make something
different every time. Some items I use are:
- beans - fifteen bean soup bag - just
boil for 1.5 hrs. do not use the seasoning
- veggies - corn, green beans, peas, carrots, broccoli
- sweet potatoes
- pasta
- rice
- oats (uncooked oatmeal)
- bran
- frozen fruit - raspberries, strawberries, mixed
melon
- squash - shredded
- greens - collard, mustard,
kale.
Favorite fruits are:
- Apple, Pear, Peach, Nectarine,
Grapes, (NO SEEDS)
- Orange, Tangerine (once in a while - not too much)
- Pineapple, Mango, Kiwi, Bannanna
- Strawberry, Raspberry,
Blueberry, Blackberry (only at dinner with us so no stains in
bird room).
Then daily we give them a variety of treats. Mondays -
Nuts, Tuesdays - Seed, Wednesdays - Millet, Thursdays - Parrot
Cookies, Friday - birdie bread.
Sprinkled on their soft foods three days a week I give them
Prime Vitamin. No matter what variety of foods we try to give them
it is not possible to give them every nutrient they need so my vet
recommended Prime. We do not put it in the water because as soon as
you add something to water bacteria starts growing and it doubles
every hour. Prime is safe for a time on soft foods. It has a bit
of a fruit smell so it does not scare off the birds. We also feed
the birds fresh fruits daily. Each day veries according to what is
in season or what we have bought recently.
Once a week we also sprinkle some Bene-Bac on their food to
provide some of the natural bacteria that is necessary for good
health.
Every Saturday we take the birds in the shower with us so
they keep clean and healthy. This is especially important for the
cockatoo, and red-bellies since they are powder based birds. It
helps keep the dust level down in the house. Of course now while
they are breeding, no showers, I just give them a dish in their
cage. The two larger birds love the shower, all of the smaller ones
don't but they tolerate it just fine. I do not use any thing on
them except plain old water. Anything else could be very harmful to
them.
The most important ingredient is Love. We give all of our
birds lots of love and attention. They all know how to ask (Cubbie
actually says "Step Up?" and even has the right inflection in his
voice so it sounds like a question not a command) or come to us from
their playgyms when they want petting. Even our breeders get a
head or beak scratch when ever we go check on them and we talk to
them for several minutes. In between breeding they come downstairs
with the rest of the flock for normal interaction and petting.
In the bird room we have Natural Lights and a radio on
timers. The natural light really has helped their health and well
being, and we believe they enjoy the music while we are not there to
entertain them.
Our goal is to ensure that our babies are adopted into a
safe and healthy environment; therefore, we reserve the right to not
sell a bird to anyone for any reason.
|