The most popular and widespread species among parrots are. Before you bring this beautiful bird into your home, you need to familiarize yourself with the conditions and rules of keeping it. Budgerigar chick very active and curious. Therefore, in order to avoid damage or even death of the bird, it is necessary to follow some recommendations.
Budgerigars Preparing to buy a bird
Before you bring a parrot into your home, you first need to purchase a cage, equipment for it, and food. The equipment consists of a feeder, a drinking bowl, a place for taking water procedures, perches, and you can hang a special mirror for the cages. As a supplement to the main feed, you can pour eggshells, river sand. If pet stores in your city do not have a wide range of products, then you can order everything you need from the online store zoopapa.com with home delivery.
Cage with a parrot The cage should not be placed under straight lines Sun rays, but it should be lit well enough. You need to be wary of drafts, since the bird can catch a cold and get sick, but you shouldn’t overheat it either. It is necessary to clean the cage every day - change the water, rinse the drinking bowl, remove droppings and other dirt. It is advisable to carry out more thorough cleaning every month: wipe the feathered pet’s home with a solution of chamomile or wormwood.
Bird care
You should feed your parrot special mixtures, which can be easily found in any pet store. You can also add millet, wheat, and oats to the main diet. From time to time you need to treat the bird with spinach, dandelions, clover, fruits and berries (although parrots do not really like them). Proper nutrition is the key to health and long life.
Parrot food To avoid injury, do not leave your parrot unattended if its cage door is open. Care must be taken when handling indoor plants, which may be poisonous to him. If there is an aquarium in the house, then you need to make sure that the bird does not fall into it, the same goes for water containers and bathrooms. Mirrors can pose a threat; a bird colliding with it can be seriously injured, this also applies to glass doors.
The friendship between a cat and a parrot is an exception There is still a threat if there are other animals in the house, for example,
Parrots enliven our home, filling it with melodic and joyful sounds. According to Darwin, by their presence, birds improve a person’s mood and well-being and provide emotional pleasure. Budgerigars are less demanding in terms of care and feeding conditions than their large counterparts (greys, cockatoos).
An undoubted advantage is the absence of smell in the apartment from a pet, which cannot be said about a dog or cat. Birds live a long time (15-20 years) and rarely get sick, have a tenacious mind and a strong personality. How to care for a parrot: tips for caring for a new family member and interesting everyday activities.
The diversity and colorfulness of its plumage allows the budgerigar to be included in the list of the most beautiful parrots, and there are more than 300 species. In nature, the wild parrot is grassy green - for high-quality camouflage from numerous enemies. Domestication of parrots led to successful breeding of birds various colors. Bright yellow, all shades of blue, rich green, ash-gray, soft pink - all this beauty against the backdrop of transverse wavy lines.
Joke: The sparrow found herself in a parrot's cage. “No, I can’t do that,” said the parrot. — Give her light makeup!
In a new house
We will guide you on how to care for a parrot in the first days of adaptation to a new home, after purchasing or moving. In a pre-prepared and equipped cage, with food and fresh water, bring a shipping box (often transported in cans, cut plastic bottles). Open the door and wait, let the parrot cross on its own.
Attention! You cannot reach the fragile bird with your hand; you can seriously injure it.
The first few days the parrot will get used to the new environment. Provide him decent conditions accommodation, safety, silence. There is no need to vigorously show interest and rush to him to teach him to talk, as you will scare the already frightened bird. Care for your budgie with tender compassion and a desire to help. Any move - stressful situation for him, he may not eat, be sad about his former numerous feathered friends, sit in the corner, ruffled. The adaptation period largely depends on the owner, his observation and desire.
During daily cleaning and feeding procedures, talk to your parrot calmly and affectionately. Usually in the evening, when the family members calm down, the wavy begins to slowly look around, explore its home and toys. You should not suddenly turn on the light, come close and closely monitor it. Let the calmed bird be alone at such moments, make it easier for her to get used to your orders and routine. Soon, the accustomed parrot will make contact and amuse you with its cheerful chirping.
To create and maintain eternal spring in the house, read the following sections of the ABCs of owning a budgie.
Instructions - how to care for a parrot
- Choosing a cage for parrots must be done with all responsibility and knowledge of the matter. It should be spacious enough, and the shape (semicircular, rectangular, square) does not matter. It must have a door with a secure latch so that the parrot cannot open it on its own and fly away. Avoid guillotine doors. The tray should slide out and slide in easily—it will make everyday cleaning easier. A drinking bowl without sharp edges, preferably made of porcelain or plexiglass. Because plastic drinkers contain dyes, processing additives that end up in drinking water and poison your parrot.
- Place the cage in bright room, not far from the window, but not on the windowsill (due to drafts), approximately at your eye level. It simplifies caring for him at home and the superiority of the owner, in the eyes of the daddy, is undeniable. Place the parrot's apartment away from the TV, speakers, and computer to avoid the influence of electromagnetic radiation.
- Add toys to the house - swings, ladders, mirrors (big fans really think that the reflection in the mirror is a specific parrot), bells.
- We recommend attaching mineral pebbles, chalk, sepia (part of the cuttlefish skeleton) between the rods - sources of calcium and trace elements necessary for the formation of a strong skeleton and bones, and also help sharpen the beak.
- Provide regular water treatments for daddy - especially in the summer, every day, because the temperature of the body is from 40°C to 43.
- Take care of the mischief's nails - the cage should have wooden perches (thicker than a pencil), not plastic ones, then they will wear off on their own. If the overgrown claws are very long, trim them with pliers, after looking at the light where the blood vessels end
- Let him out for a walk and play with him - an excellent companion in noisy games, and sometimes an interlocutor.
- Clean the cage regularly - fallen feathers can harbor fleas.
- Keep the water in the drinking bowl clean - change it daily.
- For proper rest, the parrot needs at least 10 hours - at night it is advisable to cover the cage with thick fabric, but not the front part, so that it can breathe normally. He will rest on his own and will not wake you up with the first ray of sun.
If you follow all the points in the instructions, then you are definitely caring for your parrot correctly.
A world of fun and carefree
Parrot lovers willingly get not just one bird, but several, and try to buy young ones. This is true, because young animals are easier to tame and graft good manners and your lifestyle. When bringing home chicks that have recently left the nest, owners are faced with the problem of determining the sex of the parrot. Up to 3 months, their cere is the same pinkish color. As the parrot matures, the cere either turns blue (male) or brown (female).
You wanted a couple, but ended up with two boys? It doesn’t matter, caring for a boy budgie is easier and more joyful than caring for a couple of lovers. No one is in charge of the cage, but the girls have it in their blood—throwing away twigs, treats, toys. The boy parrot will show a real show of water splashes when he bathes. He is more talented in onomatopoeia than the female and learns human speech faster.
Keshka is a golden bird, take care of the parrot! - insert the name of your butt and you get an easy phrase to expand your vocabulary.
How to care for a talking parrot? - Yes, just talk to him purposefully, repeat the words that you want to teach the smart wavy. With persistence and patience, you will achieve a funny result and earn a lot of positive emotions.
The talker bird takes the mirror image for a representative of the opposite sex and begins to show affection towards her sexual interest, gets excited, tweets nervously. He doesn’t remember that it’s just a picture, he’s angry that he’s being ignored. Okay, give your parrot a girlfriend, a real relationship cannot be replaced with a surrogate, and you will witness a fascinating story of how a budgerigar courtes a female.
Your wavy has a cheerful disposition, then it won’t be too difficult to let him dance playfully. How to care for a parrot at home to teach it to dance. First of all, choose music - rhythmic, but not loud (deafening music will scare the bird, since parrots have very acute hearing). Watch, suddenly he begins to move his head to the beat of the music, luck is on your side.
If the parrot does not understand what they want from him, take the initiative into your own hands. Place it on your finger, turn on the music and move it in strict accordance with the rhythm, remembering to shake your head and convey a cheerful mood to the bird. The handsome guy may start to bite, it’s okay, pull him away and continue moving again. If he flies away, let him take a walk, return later (the curiosity of parrots knows no bounds) and resume training. Don’t forget to treat your pet with something tasty (an apple, some bread) at the end of the lesson, and the grateful student will soon delight you with a kind of hip-hop.
Freedom for parrots!
Flying is vital for a bird, but losing the ability to soar upward radically changes the nature of the parrot. If you don't let him out of the cage, you'll end up with a sad bird with a dull look and a dystrophic appearance. Please! Release the parrot into the wild, despite the scattered husks from the food and feathers, do not keep the bird in prison.
Safety precautions during flights and during wing warm-ups:
- Windows - you may not notice the glass and crash into it at full speed, resulting in a tragic ending. On your first walks, curtain the windows to get used to it. Availability mosquito nets- Necessarily. It will fly out and not come back.
- Doors - likes to sit on top open door(interior, closet). Check for the presence of the mischief maker when closing the doors. Entrance door dangerous because it can slip into the entrance or onto the street.
- The kitchen - a hot stove, open pots of borscht - are insidious components of a serious threat to the life of your parrot.
- Bathroom - raised toilet lid, air fresheners (contain aromatic oils that are fatal to birds), household chemicals- close, hide, to avoid trouble.
- Living room - bookshelves, books, decorative figurines, photo frames - it’s great if they have glass doors, but what if the book falls on a spoiled person who has a low weight (about 50 grams) and you won’t end up with grief.
- Wires - an inquisitive bird, armed with its beak, begins to bite them and play with them. Your task is to monitor the carefree actions of the parrot.
- Air conditioning, fan - can catch a cold or get caught in the blades.
Take care of your budgerigar with endless love and care and you will find a true friend and fan, because he considers you the leader of the flock.
They were born in captivity and are therefore well adapted to live at home. It is not difficult to keep these birds in an apartment; they are hardy and unpretentious.
The bright part of the room is most suitable for keeping parrots. However, the cage should not be placed very close to the window, so that there is no draft, which these birds are very afraid of, and also near heating devices. The cage should be placed at human height or slightly lower. This makes it more convenient to clean it and keep an eye on your pet. Smoking should not be allowed in the room where birds are; cigarette smoke is harmful to birds.
For most parrot species great importance has a daylight hours that should be 15-16 hours a day. IN short days In autumn and winter, you need to turn on additional electric lighting. For a room of 15-18 square meters. m requires illumination of 100-150 W, then the parrots will feel great and have time to eat daily norm stern. In general, the more light, especially sunlight, the better feathered pets feel.
The cage for your parrot or for a couple should be large enough for the occupants to fly around in it for a bit. Its dimensions can be estimated as follows: it must be at least 5 times longer than the bird itself, for example, with a parrot’s body length of 18–20 cm, the cage must be at least 90–100 cm in length, the corresponding width and be at least 60, or better yet, 80 cm. Only cells of this size can be considered as appropriate this species birds.
Standard cages with bars around the entire perimeter have both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, there is a lot of light in such a cage and the parrot in it has the opportunity to climb the transverse rods. A bird living in an apartment with people really appreciates an excellent view. But on the other hand, the inhabitant of such a cage is exposed to drafts and does not have a reliable quiet corner where he could, if desired, retire. But this can be easily helped by darkening some area of the cage with plants or a curtain.
We should not forget that the cage door must have a reliable lock so that the parrot in the cage cannot open it or break it, because a parrot left unattended in an apartment can do a lot of trouble, and it itself can suffer for many reasons. As locks on the cage door, many owners use small locks with a key, metal carabiners or powerful springs, which the bird is not able to press.
Caring for parrots involves cleaning the cage daily. It is necessary to remove debris, scrape off adhering dirt and litter from the sides, and brush off dust and debris with a soft brush. Having pulled out the tray, wipe it with a damp cloth and replace the bedding. Poultry dishes are washed hot water with the addition of soda or special dishwashing solutions, then wiped dry. Feeders for grain mixtures are thoroughly cleaned of food residues, wiped with a clean cloth, filled with the daily amount of feed and put back in place. Wet feeders and drinkers are washed daily with hot water, and automatic drinkers are rinsed.
The cages should be completely cleaned at least once a week. The pull-out tray is covered with clean river sand in a layer of 1.5-2 cm. It is better to pre-calcine it in the oven or rinse it with a solution of potassium permanganate and dry it. If it is not possible to change the sand frequently, the bottom of the cage can be covered with paper, but in this case the sand should be in a special feeder. Parrots use it as a gastrolite - for grinding roughage in the stomach. The sand should not be fine - it only clogs the stomach without fulfilling its main function. It is better to use hygroscopic paper, such as newspaper, but it must be changed at least 2-3 times a week, otherwise it may harbor ticks or blood-sucking insects. It is also necessary to monitor the cleanliness of the perches, which quickly become contaminated with a layer of droppings or food.
But cage care alone is not enough; parrots need communication. By nature they are school creatures. They should not be kept isolated, they should feel like part of the family. In addition, the more time they spend outside the cage, the easier it will be to communicate with them. Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to keep a bird near them all day long. In this case, release the bird from the cage as soon as you get home. Get up a little earlier in the morning to spend some time with your pet. Do not keep your parrot in the bedroom, where he will see you for a few minutes in the morning and an hour in the evening before going to bed. Boredom can cause problems for birds; parrots begin to pluck their feathers and sometimes fall into deep depression.
For the same purpose, when keeping parrots, it is useful to place toys in the cage. You can make a swing yourself, a ring made of wood or light tin with a diameter of 5–6 cm, for small species, for example, hang it on a thread from the ceiling rod of the cage; instead of a ring, you can strengthen a swinging perch. You can buy a bell with or without a mirror at a pet store. As for the mirror, the opinions of budgerigar owners are divided. Some believe that the mirror has a bad effect on the “psyche” of the bird, as it stimulates the sexual reflex. However, this is not always justified; in any case, you can experiment - if you notice that the mirror has a bad effect on the bird, you can remove it. When learning to “speak,” it is advisable that there are no foreign objects in the bird’s cage. However, most “talking” birds display their vocabulary repertoire in front of a mirror.
Caring for a parrot also includes feeding it, proper nutrition- this is his guarantee. The basis of nutrition and feeding of such pets is a grain mixture consisting of approximately 70% - millet, different types, 10% - oats, 20% - the mixtures usually include canary seed, hemp, flaxseed, a little wheat, etc. Millet should be of different types: red, white, black, yellow. It is not recommended to feed these birds seeds and nuts; the fact is that such food is very fatty for them. But grain feeds alone do not have a complete set of all nutrients necessary for the normal functioning of parrots. Therefore, it is periodically necessary to give the birds additional and mineral feeds, but in smaller quantities than grains.
A healthy and nutritious food for parrots is fresh grated carrots (not squeezed), mixed with semolina or white breadcrumbs. It is prepared quite simply. Grated carrots are mixed with crushed white breadcrumbs or semolina in such a ratio that when mixed, it does not stick to your fingers. Grated carrots are indispensable in winter and spring, when there is little greenery. Green food, which is a source of vitamins and mineral salts for your pets, can be given to birds in unlimited quantities. They also love apples, dandelion leaves, wood lice, lettuce, and cabbage. Dandelion leaves, for example, are consumed fresh in finely chopped form from early spring until late autumn.
In winter, you can sow oats, millet, canary seed, and young shoots in boxes, which are readily eaten by birds. This is done like this: pour soil into two 40x10x8 cm boxes and place them on the windowsill so that there is more light for greenery to grow. Sowing is carried out first in one box, and after 7-10 days, when the young shoots are 10-12 cm high, in the second. From the first box, the greens are collected in parts (as much as is needed per day), chopped and mixed with additional food or placed separately for feeding. As the greenery in the first box is consumed, it grows in the second, and the first is sown again. It turns out to be a so-called green conveyor until spring, when the first greenery appears.
First, make sure that neither you nor your family are allergic to bird fluff, otherwise your joy from having a parrot will quickly turn into a problem of how to get rid of it. It is best to purchase a pet at a pet store or from trusted breeders. If you have the opportunity to invite a veterinarian for an initial examination when purchasing, you should take advantage of it. At the time of buying Special attention should be given to the age of the pet. Proper care, feeding and keeping at home should begin from the early “childhood” of the budgerigar. Young individuals adapt faster to new conditions, learn more easily and will be able to give birth to offspring in the future.
You choose a bird: where to start caring for a budgie
At the first inspection, you need to pay attention to the fact that the chick is quite active, which can be determined by its rapid, springy movements, fast response, desire to interact with the outside world. He should have shiny eyes, smooth plumage that fits tightly to the body, light breathing without hoarseness and clean feathers in the anus.
It is also important to make sure that the bird is young enough, this can be determined by the wax (in young birds it is always a delicate pale pink or bluish color), by the frontal feathers decorated with contrasting colored stripes (by 6-7 months of age these stripes are highlighted) , and in the eyes (in chicks they are uniformly dark, in adults a gray and later a white rim appears along the outer edge).
If the sex of the bird matters for the purchase, since there is an opinion that males are more talkative, then the “boy” chick has a lilac cere (in an adult it is deep blue), the “girl” has blue, white, beige, (in an adult it is brownish ) around the nostril openings there are characteristic white rings.
Acquaintance and taming of wavy animals
If we talk about budgies in general, then the most popular, affordable and easy-to-maintain breed will, of course, be the breed: budgerigars, whose homeland is the grassy plains of Australia. Cockatiels and lovebirds are also quite popular.
Corella is also an Australian, the smallest member of the cockatoo family, and lovebirds are native to Africa and Madagascar. The small size allows you to keep these beauties in ordinary apartment, in a fairly compact cage. When choosing a larger bird (for example, a Gray), it is important to take into account that it needs a large, spacious cage or aviary.
Features of feeding budgies
A budgerigar needs not only careful care, but also proper feeding.
Not all berries can be given to your budgie The main components of the diet are as follows:
- greenery
- cereals
- fruits and vegetables
- proteins.
A parrot needs a varied diet: grains, vegetables, fruits, seeds, tree bark, berries, herbs The basis of the diet is grain feed. Now on sale big choice food for different types of birds, so you can easily choose the right one for your pet. You can supplement it with porridges (buckwheat, rice, millet). It is necessary to give your pet fresh greens:
- dandelion leaves
- salad
- dill
- spinach
- plantain
- wild cereals
- dried nettle.
Fruits and vegetables are also beneficial:
- banana
- orange
- apple
- pear
- mango squash or pumpkin slices
- grated carrots
- beet
- berries
A chopped, stale egg is suitable as a protein food. White bread. It must be remembered that your pet should always have a drinking bowl with fresh water, to which you can periodically add a few drops of lemon, orange or grapefruit juice.
Wavy content: cage selection criteria
When buying a cage, it is important to understand that it is your parrot's home, so he should feel comfortable in it. Keeping budgies should begin with the choice of future “apartments”. Spacious and multi-tiered, with the ability to install perches, rings, toys, several feeders, a drinking bowl, a bathing container - an ideal choice, partly compensating for being kept in captivity.
You should not place the cage too close to the window, as drafts may cause the bird to get sick. It is advisable to structure the parrot’s keeping regime so that it has the opportunity to spend as much time as possible outside the cage, fly, move, and communicate. An insufficient number of flights will quickly affect your health, primarily on your respiratory function, which is directly related to the functioning of the wings.
How often should you clean your cage? The care and maintenance of budgies at home requires a number of rules. We need to start with cleanliness. As you know, cleanliness is the key to health. That is why cleaning should be done daily.
If for some reason (departure, busyness, natural laziness) this does not work out, then you can add wood filler to the sand in the tray of the cage, as for a cat litter box, so that it absorbs the smell and moisture, but you should not abuse it.
It is necessary to clean the perches of droppings, pour boiling water over the drinking bowls, and remove husks and remaining food from the feeders. Sand and absorbent paper must be changed once a week. You should also disinfect the cage with a 1-2% manganese solution.
Communication with your pet as an important component of care and maintenance
In addition to the nuances discussed above, it is important not to forget about communication. After all, when purchasing a parrot, you want to get a friend or home decoration, so you should not reduce the care and maintenance of budgies to cleaning the cage, but you need to devote time to the bird itself.
The first rule is not to force yourself on the bird, give it the opportunity to get comfortable, to understand that it has everything it needs for a comfortable existence (including peace).
Give the bird time to get comfortable, you don’t need to pick it up right away After your pet gets used to you and the new environment a little, it is necessary. It makes sense to wear clothes made of thick, easy-to-wash fabric for these cases if you want to train your feathered friend to ride on your shoulder like a pirate, but don’t want to be scratched by claws or marked.
The effectiveness of the process of learning to pronounce words and phrases and taming will depend on many factors. For example, on the breed, age, on whether the parrot is kept alone or in a pair (in this case, the birds are usually busy with each other). Grays, for example, are considered the most capable and susceptible to remembering human speech.
There is an opinion that the more often you repeat the same phrase or word, the more faster bird will remember it and reproduce it. This is not true, but sometimes a pet can remember a phrase it has heard only once. Particularly talented ones can even convey entire dialogues and quotes from films verbatim, as well as imitate various sounds - car alarms, dog barking, mobile ringing, and even maintain some illusion of a conversation with the owner, which greatly amuses both owners and guests.
Budgerigars are more predisposed to reproducing human speech; it is almost impossible to teach a cockatiel or lovebirds to speak. There is no point in turning the process into training, just talk to your winged counterpart every day, as if you were communicating with a family member, then the need to answer you will come on its own.
Parrot diseases and precautions
Keeping a parrot at home is a responsible task also because you need to monitor the pet’s health and understand how to care for it. To eliminate the possibility of drafts, so as not to chill the delicate tropical creature, install additional protective nets on the vents and windows to prevent accidental flight outside the apartment.
A protective net in the apartment is required if you do not want the parrot to fly away Closely monitor the behavior of the "wavy" - lethargy, drowsiness, photophobia, refusal to eat may indicate the onset of the disease. Some of the diseases, being infectious, can be transmitted to people, we are talking about diseases such as:
- Salmonellosis. Salmonellosis is difficult to detect; often birds are only a carrier, a reservoir of the disease.
- Tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is characterized by deterioration of plumage, the appearance of ulcers and enlarged lymph nodes. There is practically no treatment for birds.
- Arizonaosis. With arizonosis, anorexia, weakness, and tremor develop, but in time Taken measures give a positive outcome.
- Chlamydia. Signs of chlamydia in parrots: diarrhea, cough, nasal discharge. It happens very quickly, often with a deadly ending.
Most of the listed diseases are transmitted by bacteria in the droppings, therefore, if you suspect an infection, it would be a good idea to clean the cage wearing a protective mask and medical gloves.
Breeding at home
If your plans include increasing the population of flying pets, then this will require the creation of a number of conditions for reproduction. Breeding parrots in an apartment is not a difficult task, but it is troublesome.
The most difficult thing is to choose a pair and understand how to properly care for a budgie if it lives with a “family”. Breeders who have several individuals and, accordingly, room for choice, do this by observing the parrots in a large aviary.
If they mutually care for their plumage, treat each other, feed each other, and “kiss”, then they have every chance of having offspring. Then, if necessary, you need to artificially increase daylight hours to 14-16 hours, equip the cage (preferably with two doors) with a “nest” - closed from prying eyes a house where the female could calmly lay her eggs and hatch the chicks. Proper care and feeding of budgies during this period is especially important!
During this period, along with the usual grain mixture and juicy additives, they should be fed with sprouted grain, soft, easily digestible food. The quality of the masonry can be checked after a week using a flashlight or an ovoscope. If the female has settled stably on the eggs, and the male has taken care of her, there is hope that the pair has taken off.
Otherwise, when the partners quarrel, the mother often leaves the nest, abandoning the clutch to the mercy of fate, or deliberately breaks the shell (which happens with young, inexperienced birds), it makes sense to replace one of the parents. By observing all the criteria for proper maintenance, it is quite possible to get beautiful, colorful, healthy offspring from your couple.
Temperature and humidity, comfortable conditions for keeping a parrot
A decrease in temperature for a short time is tolerated well by many parrots. Despite this, you should not allow the bird to stay in a cold room for a long time or expose it to noticeable changes in degrees.
The recommended temperature for optimal keeping of parrots is from 18 to 20 C. Under these conditions, a favorable atmosphere is created for full life activity, but during breeding it should be lowered by 2-3 units.
You should not allow the indicators to be higher established norm, as this can lead to a deterioration in the bird’s well-being, decreased appetite and impaired reproductive function. It is known that in case of violations temperature regime There is a large percentage of unfertilized eggs.
More low temperature has a positive effect on the processes of reproduction and fertilization. The level of air humidity should also be given enough attention. For the room in which the bird is located, the humidity should be in the range of 70-80%. The temperature is kept at 15-20 C.
Control of humidity levels is necessary when changing degrees. High humidity can cause hypothermia in a parrot.
When a parrot becomes one of the important members of the family, more positivity, light and joy appear in life. How to prepare for the appearance of an ornamental bird in your home if you have not cared for parrots before?
How to care for a parrot at home?
What should be the care at home? As with caring for a puppy or kitten, you need to prepare comprehensively. This concept includes devices for sleeping, eating, bathing, entertainment and procedures for caring for and preventing bird diseases.
b"> Buying a cage: what to look for?
The cage is the parrot's personal space, so it should not be too small or large. Bird species for home keeping are most often small in size, so experts recommend determining the cage size at the rate of 35 by 35 cm for one individual or 65 by 55 for two. This recommendation should not be followed for medium and large individuals, such as cockatoos or the famous macaws. Their cell sizes are calculated according to their own parameters and living habits.
Separately, we note that despite the relatively small size, Rosella also requires a large cage. A cage with a volume of 1.5 square meters would be optimal for a couple of individuals. meters.
The shape of the cage should resemble a rectangle so that the bird can find a secluded corner to sleep. Cells of oval, cylindrical and similar shapes are not suitable for such purposes. They perform sooner decorative element rooms, but permanent place They should not serve for the life of a parrot.
You can install beautiful, but temporary cages in the center of the room or on a special table for receiving guests, to whom the songbirds will perform their serenades. If you have a budgie living at home, then you shouldn’t do this. He is closer to communicating with his family than with strangers.
For normal life, parrots need perches on which they will rest, that is, sleep, move around the cage and play. Best material For their production, these are fruit tree species. For example, the Corella parrot, the care and maintenance of which also seems quite simple, quickly renders them unusable. Almost every year they peck at the surface of thin partitions, thereby cleaning their beaks. If you choose a denser tree for the perches, it will last longer, but there will be much less benefit for the bird.
Optimal temperature for keeping parrots
The temperature of keeping a parrot is of great importance, since it is too cool and warm air may lead to a deterioration in his health. In general, poultry are highly susceptible to climatic conditions, so special attention should be paid to drafts and sudden changes in room temperature.
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The optimal temperature limits for keeping a parrot are determined within 18-25 degrees Celsius. For tropical and rare species, these limits may shift slightly, but you should not overdo it. For Amazons, experts recommend maintaining the temperature at 20 degrees.
Please note that in summer period You should not take the cage with the parrot out onto the balcony. This may seem like a good idea to many, but in just one night the bird can get pneumonia. If you have a loggia, it would be a good idea to take the cage out there for a couple of hours on a pleasant summer day and open the windows slightly, but no more.
Parrot nutrition: complex mixtures and prohibited foods
Parrots of many species are quite undemanding when it comes to food; they prefer grain mixtures of grains and other crops. Buy these ready-made mixtures It is recommended in pet stores, but cases of purchasing them in a supermarket and similar stores are not excluded.
The standard composition of a mixture for parrots looks something like this: oats, flax seeds and weeds, millet, sunflower, hemp and the like. For each type of parrot, manufacturers offer their own options for additives, which can be wheat, corn, pieces of dried exotic fruit, etc.
Among fresh foods, poultry of the rosella and carllella species, for example, prefer cucumbers, broccoli, carrots, plums, cherries, apples, pears and cherry plums. This list can be continued endlessly, the main thing is to try new things little by little. natural products, and your bird will delight healthy looking and loud singing.
It is not recommended to give parrots almost all species, including lovebirds, dill and parsley, cilantro and sugar-containing products. The latter means that any candied fruits, cookies and chocolate should be completely excluded from the diet.
Parrot health: bathing, hygiene procedures and more
In addition to organizing space in the cage and feeding the bird, you need to take the issue of the bird’s health seriously. To live a long, disease-free life, she will need some hygiene procedures, regular bathing and periodic use of nutritional supplements.
First of all, let's talk about hygiene procedures. Parrots are fairly clean birds, so keeping their cage clean is a must. It is recommended to choose a cage with a removable bottom and without metal parts that can injure the paws.
You need to lay thin sheets of paper at the bottom of the cage, as the parrot can peck at them. If there were traces of ink, paint or any hazardous substances on them, this could lead to poisoning. If you don’t like the paper version from an aesthetic point of view, then you can buy special fillers in the form of hay for the substrate. It's convenient and a budget option creating a cozy atmosphere in the cage.
The issue of cleanliness also concerns the periodic cleaning of your pet’s beak and feathers. To clean the beak, it is enough to periodically provide ears of wheat or oats, from which it will select grains. This procedure will allow you to easily remove any contaminants from the external and inside beak and bring real pleasure to the parrot.
Feather cleaning occurs during bathing and plucking. The birds carry out the second procedure themselves as needed, but the regularity of taking a bath is controlled by the owners. The Alexandrian parrot, for example, in its natural conditions loves to swim in the rain. If you periodically spray in the cage warm water on hot days, he will be immensely grateful to you.
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So, understanding how to care for a parrot is quite simple. It will not be difficult to prepare for the appearance of a bird in your home in advance if you buy everything you need step by step and read basic information about the contents of the species you have chosen.