While working with over 30 Macaws and about 50 other parrots of different species on a daily basis one of the most common questions I get is “What do you feed your birds?“  People are always amazed at how beautiful the birds at our park are and my response is two fold, first and most important is diet and second, sunshine/exercise.

I often see Macaws and other parrots who look as though they are not properly cared for despite how loving their family may be and I usually find this is attributed to the diet.  Most families are encouraged to feed their birds a pellet type diet supplemented with fresh foods and without knowing better they do this thinking that they are doing what is best for the bird.  Pellet diets are similar to the process and enriched foods we consume in our daily lives, the same foods that cause obesity, disease and poor nutrition in humans.

When choosing the best diet for your bird research what they would eat in the wild and then provide them with a diet as close to that as possible.  Our Macaws for instance are only fed mixed nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, hazel nuts and brazil nuts) all unshelled, fresh fruits and fresh veggies.

We alternate a schedule of nuts one day, followed by veggies the next, then nuts again, followed by fruit the next feeding.  We find that by alternating days and not combining fruits, veggies or nuts on the same day we prevent them from picking out only the items they want so that in the end they eat a well balanced diet.

My challenge to anyone who ask me about a bird’s diet is to make the change to a natural diet and I guarantee within two weeks you won’t believe your eyes.  The improvement in you bird in just two weeks will amaze you.

I can’t tell you how many skeptical bird owners have come back to me after that two week period and just couldn’t get over the changes in their bird.  Some even said that their friends thought they had gotten rid of their old bird and gotten a new one.  Now that is a major change!  So take the challenge and see what a difference nature can make for you and your bird.

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About the Author: Allison Sorensen is the Director at Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Bird Park and shares her home with a wonderful husband, two great boys, a dog, rabbit and multiple birds(depending on the day). The park began back in 1992 and has grown rapidly about three years ago when 7 macaws exposed to a virus during research tests were about to be euthanized even though they had not contracted the disease the park step in a gave them a home. Today, over 80 parrots are loved and cared for at the park and some are available for adoption. Learn more about Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Bird Park at http://www.macawbirdpark.com and come visit if you are in the Pensacola, FL area. Volunteers are always welcome!

I have a good news story to tell… My African Grey parrot (Charlie) flew away last Sunday (10th May 2009) but, I found him the Tuesday (12th May 2009). It was the most horrible experience and it was just by shear luck that he was found!

He fractured his Femur. He was operated on at one of the world’s best Veterinary Hospitals - Onderstepoort in South Africa on Friday in the Bird and Exotic Animal Section. Straight after the surgery he was able to put some pressure on the sore leg – I was told this is very good!

He came home on Sunday and seems fine – he can at least take his food in his sore foot now and eat with that foot. He is not saying much apart from “I am cross with you”. See a copy of the x-ray of the surgery.

I would also like to emphasize that we should really start encouraging bird owners to maybe Micro Chip their birds. The lady who found Charlie said that her next step would have been taking Charlie to the nearest Vet or SPCA (our animal welfare society) to see if he was Micro Chipped. Which he was “not”, at the time when had queries about Micro Chipping none of the Vets I spoke could help me with this!

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About the Author: Bellita lives in South Africa and owns an African Grey parrot called Charlie. Bellita is a member of EliteParrotsClub.com and enjoys learning new information there. You can join her and the community of parrot owners from over 15 countries here http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com

Last Saturday as I was running late and frantically trying to get things loading in the car to head to the bird park that I run I was finding my Blue Crown Conure “Remi” to be quite difficult. 

As most of you know when it comes to kids or birds the further behind schedule you are the more difficult they will be to deal with.  Well as usual I loaded the car and came back in to get Remi and Oliver (my Quaker) as they normally go to the park with me. 

Well, Remi refuses to come out of his cage, he begins to threaten me as if he was going to bite and then tries climbing out of reach in his cage.  All the time I am fussing at him that I am running late and he needed to step up and behave.  

After a few minutes of watching this Oliver blurts out “Oooo, Mama’s gonna kill you!”  “Come on!”  I stopped immediately and look over just as Oliver repeated himself once again.  Now don’t get me wrong Oliver often speaks in full sentences and uses them in proper context but at that moment I knew just what my teenager had been telling his 10 year old little brother while I wasn’t home! 

Of course when I later confronted my children they both turned a little red in the cheeks and that was all I needed to know.  Ah, the birds have it again!

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About the Author: Allison Sorensen is the Director at Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Bird Park and shares her home with a wonderful husband, two great boys, a dog, rabbit and multiple birds(depending on the day). The park began back in 1992 and has grown rapidly about three years ago when 7 macaws exposed to a virus during research tests were about to be euthanized even though they had not contracted the disease the park step in a gave them a home. Today, over 80 parrots are loved and cared for at the park and some are available for adoption. Learn more about Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Bird Park at http://www.macawbirdpark.com and come visit if you are in the Pensacola, FL area. Volunteers are always welcome!

Almost 8 years ago now, my daughter-in-law was given a cockatiel named Simon. We already had canaries, so she thought that Simon would be happy living with us. I accepted adding Simon to our bird family even though I knew little about cockatiels.

Simon wasn’t very tame, but when he flew to the floor he would hop onto my finger and make his way to my shoulder where he would whistle to me. One night Simon was yawning (I know that now) and I thought he was choking. I screamed to my husband to see what was wrong and he tried to pick Simon up. Much to his surprise Simon bit him badly and his finger took 2 weeks to heal.

From then on my husband was in Simon’s bad book and visa versa. Soon after Simon came to live with us, my children thought that he was a very lonely bird, so they went out and bought me Stella — a beautiful Lutino. Stella was very tame, but Simon didn’t appreciate her presence at all. However, Simon and Stella tolerated each other as long as they were sitting on different perches.

At one year of age, Stella’s hormones started up and she tried and tried to instill an interest in Simon, but no-go. He just wasn’t interested in her at all. My sister-in-law had a young cockatiel named Aussie, the same age as Stella, who was very tame and wanted to breed but only knew how to enjoy himself on perches. She suggested we swap our male birds — and so we did.

At first Aussie was terrified of Stella, who was very persistent. She would chase him around the large cage until he was tired and panting — poor little fellow. Stella became very jealous of him as well. She didn’t want to share him with me at all. When I had him on my shoulder and then returned him to the cage, she would yell at him. Can you believe it?

One day I witnessed Aussie trying to mount Stella. I guess she taught him what to do. It was so funny to see, because he fell off numerous times before he got it right and stayed on. That’s the beginning of a number of years of breeding baby ‘tiels. The first few eggs were empty. Then some babies died in their eggs, but then there were babies and babies and non-stop babies until I’m at my wits end tying to have them stop and rest.

I have made this take a break from breeding. I only recommend breeding companion parrots if you know they have good, loving, caring homes available. I’ve been fortunate that all my friends and family have learned about birds from my experiences and many have provided homes to Stella and Aussie’s babies. Others who want one of my babies must pass my screening process so that I am sure they know about care and diet and will give the birds a good home. I always ask them to bring the real cage with them so I know what the baby will be calling home — no tiny cages for my babies!

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About the Author: Miriana lives in Canada with her husband Jim. Miriana has become an expert on cockatiels and budgies while Jim continues to love his canaries. Miriana is a member of EliteParrotsClub.com and enjoys learning new information there. You can join her by visiting http://www.EliteParrotsClub.com