NYPR Parrot Care Guide - 2018

To learn how to care for your Parrot properly, it's recommend that you read, All of the following pages on this website.

1. The Parrot Crisis 2. Stop Caging Birds 3. Basic Bird Care 4. Proper Nutrition.

Types of birds.

African Grey, Amazon, Caique, Cockatiel, Cockatoo, Conure, Eclectus, Kakariki, Lorikeet, Macaw, Mynah, Parakeet, Quaker, Pionus, Poicephalus (including Senegal and Meyer's), Ringneck, Rosella.

NYPR offer free in the post/online education, training and counseling. We also suggest you seek different types of training classes that might be available on the internet.

There are some very good DVD’s and books for in-home training as well. Please use these links:

www.greg-parrots.co.uk 

www.parrots.org/shop/dvd/

If you care about the well-being of your pet Parrot, we recommend you do ALL of the following:

Not to have the birds wings clipped, because it is cruel, dangerous, unnatural and unnecessary.

To keep the bird in a 100% smoke / Teflon free environment.

Take your Parrot for a Full Veterinary Examination, that includes a fecal sample. Plus what ever else the Veterinarian feels is necessary, every 2-3 years by a approved Avian Veterinarian. See avian vet page.

You should take your bird to a qualified veterinarian at the first sign of illness. 

We recommend that you get pet insurance, to help with the costs, as Avian Vetinary care can be very expensive.

Please go to this link, if you need pet insurance for your bird: www.exoticdirect.co.uk

To feed a well-rounded and varied diet of ALL of the following:

Top quality organic pellets (Harrison's)

Fresh fruit/vegetables (Organically grown is highly recommended) You can buy them here: www.riverford.co.uk

A low sunflower quality seed mix. Johnson and Jeff or Tidy mix 

Egg food (but only as required) - Calcivet for the birds calcium needs, in a separate dish. And fresh water changed on a daily bases.

Please read the pages Basic Bird Care and Proper Nutrition. You should use a separate feeding dish for each food type. A shallow dish is recommended for the Parrot seed.

You should clean the birds cage on a weekly bases including food dishes, with a little pet safe disinfectant, and rinse thoroughly, changing newspaper every 2-3 days, water dishes need to be well cleaned out with every water change, to stop the buildup of bacteria. Please read the page Bird Hygiene.

You need to open the birds cage for a minimum of 8 hrs or more each day, but more with some birds, if they have been given more freedom with their previous owner.

If you only have one pet bird, then there should be someone in the home with the bird for a minimum of 9 hrs per day or more in the same room. (Main living room of the house) With plenty of interaction with the bird. 6 out of 7 days a week. If these conditions can not be met, then you shouldn't get a Parrot.

You will need to make adequate arrangements for your bird in the event of any holidays or prolonged absences from home.

No bird should be kept in homes with bird-aggressive dogs, cats or other animals that could present a danger to birds.

If Keeping birds in an outside aviary, it is recommended that you do all of the following:

1. Must have a roof covering the birds feeding area. Wild birds carry diseases, that can be passed on from their droppings into the aviary. There have been cases of bird flu reported in the UK in 2016/2017.

2. Must have heating available through out the winter, but only to use when it is really necessary.

3. The aviary must be covered with a good quality wire mesh.

4. Must have a fence surrounding the Aviary, with a locked gate.

5. The access areas to the aviary need security lights installed that light up when movement is detected, above pet level, these need to be placed well away from the birds aviary.

Make sure your aviary is secure. You will need security for your outdoor aviary. Please go to this link for aviary security advice...

MINIMUM cage recommended requirements:

Parakeets, Budgies, Cockatiels, Parrotlets, Lovebirds, Quakers, Ringnecks, Conures, Pionus, Lories, Meyers, Senegals: 32”w X 24”d

African Greys, Small Cockatoos, Eclectus, Amazons, Small Macaws: 36”w x 24”d

Larger Cockatoos and Macaws: 48”w x 36”d

We recommend 64”w x 32”d or 80”w x 40”d cages for the larger birds (Moluccans and Greenwing Macaws).

Do make sure that cage height and bar spacing is appropriate for your bird.

If you feel that a parrot would make a good gift for a friend, child, or significant other, please read the book The Lonely Parrot by Lisa Kelley.

What Do Parrots Eat? Bird-safe Parrot Foods They Can (& Can’t) Eat.