Parrot Care

Parrots are not just another bird.

First of all you must bear in mind that parrots are exotic birds (foreign to many of the countries in which they are kept) therefore straightforward knowledge of general pet care may not be enough.  Parrots which originate from exotic locations like Africa and South America have particular dietary needs.  The catch-all “parrot food” which was – and unfortunately still is – widely sold in many places goes nowhere in addressing their complicated dietary requirements.

Parrots’ psychological needs are another very complex matter, which is only recently becoming partially understood.  Different species of parrots react very differently to captivity, and many parrots within a given species have very individual personalities.  Even when hand-reared, and therefore used to humans from chick-hood, parrots can develop very challenging behaviours including aggressive and phobic problems.  They are not the easiest of pets and sometimes require an enormous amount of patience.

My pet African Grey, Zebby, is a case in point.  Although she has given us a huge amount of pleasure from her talking, whistling and (very bad) singing, her affection and antics, she has also presented us with a number of serious challenges throughout her life.  She is now 17 years old and we have had her since she was three months.  About ten years ago, because of our ignorance about appropriate diet for her, she was living on the parrots equivalent of junk food every day: sunflower seeds, peanuts and sweetcorn most of the time.  Her reluctance to eat other foods had led us to give up giving them to her most of  the time.  Unfortunately this resulted in serious malnutrition and she very nearly died.  She had a calcium deficiency, but luckily we lived quite near to a vet who was a specialist in Avian care.  A week in intensive veterinary care did the trick, and, like a miracle, she was returned to us fit and well.

After that, however reluctant she seemed to be to change her diet, we patiently worked on her and have now converted her to a pelleted diet with lots more vitamins and minerals than she was having before.  I also make her own special birdy cake, packed with Vitamin A and calcium, and I make up a variety of nutritious grains and veggies which is then frozen in packs which are defrosted regularly, soaked in calcium-rich rice milk and a pinch of added vitamins.  Many people are amazed when I tell them all this, and think she is a very spoilt bird, but it is just one of those things – when you nearly lost a well-loved pet because of unwitting neglect you tend to do all you can to prevent that ever happening again.

Of course it is essential that you allow your parrot the biggest cage possible.  Although Zebby is not a big Grey, her cage would easily accommodate a Macaw.  She can spread her wings in there if she wishes, and she does when I spray her with a plant mister for her “shower”.  She is allowed out in the evenings and sits on my lap or my shoulder while we watch TV.  Most of the time she is cuddly tame with me, but very spiteful and aggressive with my husband.  Although he loves her he has learned to keep his fingers away from her naughty beak!

The one time of year that I dread with Zebby is Spring, because that is when we encounter the most difficult behavioural problems.  As the urge to mate comes upon her, she no longer wants to be my cuddly tame “bappy” but often bites me and is generally not so nice to be near. 

Generally, unless they exhibit a marked sexual dimorphism, like Eclectus Parrots, you don’t know what sex your bird is unless you have it “surgically sexed” usually for breeding purposes.  For fifteen years we were calling Zebby a “he” until “he” finally laid an egg!  “She” was then very miserable for about three weeks, very broody, emitted a distinctly eggy, sulphurous smell, stopped talking and whistling and caused us an enormous amount of worry.  I had removed the partly broken egg from the cage, and waited for more, but they didn’t happen.  That was three springs ago and she has not laid since, but she still gets rather strange: she pants and presents her vent to me in a lascivious manner, she bites me sometimes, which is most upsetting, and she scratches up the paper in the corner of her cage bottom in a nest-making frenzy.

The fact is that although we like to keep our pets as permanent babies, they will eventually reach sexual maturity, as Zebby has, which leads to these behavioural problems that require such a lot of patience to overcome.  It’s now late summer and Zebby is back to her sweet loving self, but still sometimes she makes it clear to me that she doesn’t feel like being handled right now, and I have to respect that. 

Parrot care and behaviour is a huge subject and more is being learned by pet parrot owners the world over every day.  The internet has enabled that knowledge base to be shared among parrot carers much more easily, to the benefit of those beautiful and entertaining birds with whom we share our lives.