There are many things to consider when deciding on getting a pet and its no different when buying a pet bird. you need to decide how much you want to spend.
Exotic birds can cost anywhere from a few dollars to several thousand. you need to decide where you are going to keep your bird. It should be away from drafts, don't put the cage in front of a fan or an air conditioner. you need to decide on the type and size of the bird you want. big birds require bigger and therefore more expensive cages.
Birds are not carefree pets, they require attention. You have to feed and change their water daily. You will have to change their cages at the very least once a week. You will have to clean up around their cages as often as you feel is necessary.
Birds are not quiet. The bigger birds will wake you up in the morning and can sound like you are in a jungle. So, if you like to sleep in the mornings, you should think about it. Budgie parakeets aren't too noisy but they like to holler too. If the bird is by itself, it will try to holler at the birds outside. Several birds in a cage can cause a lot of noise.
Birds can be messy. They sling their food and scatter their seed everywhere. They splatter your walls and floor with their poop. Their feathers float around in the air. They chew everything too. If you put the cage near a window sill, they will chew it. They will chew your curtains too. So, you have to be careful where you place the cage. If you let them out of the cage to exercise (fly), they will scatter their feathers and poop in the areas you allow them to fly.
Birds need company or something to do just like any other pet. Birds can benefit from having a partner too. They preen one another and sing. But, birds can holler to the birds outside too. If you are going to be away from home for any length of time you should invest in a bird toy to occupy your pet bird. Consider a mirror too. birds love them. They think there is another bird.
Breeding birds
I use to breed cockatiels. When I first started breeding
cockatiels, I thought I was going to make some money. The birds cost
nearly $100 dollars in the pet store at that time. I thought
we could sell the birds for about $50 and make pretty
good. Boy, was I wrong. There was no real market for this. We
did manage to sell the ones we raised, but for 25 dollars each.
It took awhile to get rid of them too.'
determining the sex of a bird
if you are planning on breeding your bird you will have to know what sex it is. Otherwise, it really doesn't matter. In the wild, its easy to determine the sex of a bird. The male is always the most colorful. The male peacock has the long tail and is the brightest. The male robin has the big red breast. The male cardinal is bright red all over and so on. Exotic birds on the other hand can be a bit trickier. The same rules apply, the brightest colored bird is usually the male. However, cockatiels for example can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between male and female. A pied cockatiel has a bright head and gray cockatiel male has a bright head too. I once bred cockatiels and ran into this problem. I was new to breeding birds. I had a gray cockatiel and had determined it was a female. I was right on that one. Her head did not have many colors and they were dull colors at that. I went to a breeder of birds who I thought knew what they were doing. They sold me a pied cockatiel and told me it was a male. It was hard to tell because a pied cockatiel has a colorful head anyway and I had nothing but my gray cockatiel to compare it to. I put the two birds together. They mated or at least went through the motions. So I thought I had the sex right. I bought a breeding box. The cockatiels laid their eggs, a total of 10. I thought something was a miss cause the books said that cockatiels laid at the maximum 5 eggs. The birds took turns sitting on the eggs. After about 3 weeks a began to get suspicious that my male bird was actually a female cause the eggs did not hatch. I was right. I separated the two birds. Then I went back to the breeder and ask for two males. I bought a gray cockatiel and a white cockatiel. It was a little easier determining the sex of these birds as the colors on their heads were more defined. I put the males with the females. I went and bought another breeding box. The cockatiels mated and each couple produced 5 eggs each. Both male and female birds took turns sitting on the eggs. When one was sitting, the other bird would feed the other. in about 21 days, the chicks hatched. Both male and female birds took turns feeding the chicks and keeping them warm.
Raising baby pet birds
When I started raising baby cockatiels, I didn't know anything.
So, I started reading up on the subject. I bought several books
on cockatiels. What I found out: you need to determine the sex
of your birds, then you
need to provide a wooden nesting box and attach the
box to the cage so the birds can enter at will and not escape.
Put the birds in a quiet location. They will do the work. You
can buy nesting material, but I dont think its
really necessary. Feed the birds a boiled egg with its shell
once a week. (make sure its completely cooled). After the chicks hatch, you can
buy special food for the parent birds to feed to the babies.
I forget what its called. Its like ground up seeds, powdery
so they can easily regurgitate the food into the chicks
mouth. I always loved to hear the parents feed the chicks. Leave
the birds alone except to feed and water them. They get very
protective of their young and you don't want to upset
them. Both parents will take turns feeding the babies. Be sure
to clean the cage. Make sure you remove all old food so it doesn't
rot too.
One time, my birds hatched a deformed bird. This bird had its legs to the side rather than up and down. We decided to keep the bird. Its parents fed him. But when the bird got old enough, they began to peck at it. So, we separated the deformed bird from its parents. The bird acted normal. It was able to stand on the perch. Dance. It even was able to climb the cage. It was as happy as any of the other birds too. I was told that the deformity wasn't uncommon.
Pet Bird Health
The most important thing to remember about bird health is to keep your bird out of a draft. That means do not place the bird and/or its cage in front of an air conditioner, fan, open window or open door. Provide fresh water for your bird daily. A healthy diet for your bird is essential. Make sure you give the bird the proper bird seed mix. There is parrot mix, cockatiel mix and so forth. You should add a small amount green to the bird 's diet such as spinach or cabbage. Never give a bird lettuce. Lettuce causes diarrhea. You should provide a cuttlebone. A parrot will devour a cuttlebone in a few minutes so you might want to give a parrot egg shells. Make sure you cook the egg in its shell and its cool when you give it to the bird. I gave a small amount of both egg and egg shell to all my birds at least once a week. The egg provided extra protein. You should provide clean bird gravel for the bird to digest its food. The gravel can be found in all pet stores and most grocery stores too. Do not use gravel found outside. You should also provide fruits for your bird. Parrots love apples and so do cockatiels, parakeets and all kinds of birds.
Common Pet Bird diseases
Respiratory diseases are quite common among birds. A sick bird will puff its feathers out to the point that the bird will look twice its size. It will keep its feather this way too. You have nothing to worry about it the bird occasionally puffs up and goes back to normal quickly. A sick bird will sneeze often too. To treat a sick bird you should make sure its cage is out of a draft. An air conditioner or a fan can kill your bird. Keep the bird warm and quiet by covering the cage with a towel or blanket. Leave space for air to circulate. You can treat the bird with an antibiotic for birds. But be careful, I once accidentally killed a bird by putting the antibiotic in its water as the directions said. I didn't change the water after the bird drank cause I didn't think I had to. Anyways, the bird was dead the next morning. I have had good results from treating birds with antibiotics too. Birds are hard to treat for illnesses. Its hard to find a Vet who will treat a bird. Diarrhea is a common system of a Respiratory disease. Be sure to separate the bird from other birds if you have it in an aviary. Mostly if you keep a sick bird quiet and warm, it should recover.
Clipping wings
If you buy a parrot or a cockatiel it might be a good idea
to clip the bird's wings. Occasionally, I see a cockatiel at
my bird feeder. When I raised birds, I had another bird breeder
show me how to do this. They told me you had to be
careful not to cut too much feathers cause you might cut a blood
vessel. Its very similar to clipping a dogs toenails. I tried
it once but I was too scared I would hurt the bird
so I didn't complete the job nor did I try it again. You only
have to clip one wing. Its a good idea to take the bird to a
vet for this. After a bird gets its wings clipped, it
can still fly but not far or high.
Training a Cockatiel
When we first got a cockatiel bird, the bird hissed at us. My husband let the bird out. It flew everywhere. It latched on to my arm and wouldn't let go. I had to sling it off. My husband caught the bird with his ball cap. Anyway, he put it back in its cage. He 'd take a pencil and put it under the birds feet. Soon the bird went from its perch to the pencil. Then instead of the pencil, he 'd offer his finger. It wasn't long until the bird got on his finger. You just have to work with the bird. He got the bird to lower its head to be scratched. Soon the bird would lower its head when anyone was near cause it like its head scratched. It was a long process of training the bird.
Parrots
I had a double yellow head Amazon parrot a long time ago. That bird was very noisy. Every morning, my living room sounded like a jungle. The bird would flap its wing on the side of the cage. It really needed a bigger cage.
Feeding Pet Bird Parrot
I fed my Parrot hot peppers, apples, bird seed, oranges, cabbage and it thrived. I finally got rid of it though cause I could not stop it from biting. When I divorced, I let my ex have the parrot. (20 years later the bird is still alive) It was his bird anyway. He was the one who worked with the bird. I was the one who cleaned its cage and fed it. Anyway, I tried to save money on parrot food cause it was expensive. I 'd buy wild bird food or sunflower seeds. Then I 'd add things to the birds diet from my kitchen to ensure the bird was getting the proper nutrition. I 'd always give the parrot some kind of greens but not lettuce. Lettuce will give a bird diarrhea. Cabbage was the parrot 's favorite. I 'd give it hot peppers daily. This too was a favorite. I 'd also give the bird some kind of fruit usually an apple slice or an orange slice. Then I 'd give it a cold boiled egg with its shell on so the bird would get both calcium and protein. When feeding a bird fresh foods, you have to make sure you clean it up within a few hours cause you dont want the food to rot. Occasionally, I 'd get the bird a cuttlebone, but a parrot will devour a cuttlebone in a few minutes. Parrot toys provide something for a bird to chew on rather than your window sill.
