Triangle Bird Club

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Learn About Birds

If all my bird and human friends would learn more about bird nutrition and ways to prevent disease I would be so happy, and its so easy to do. Just join one or two of the things I suggest, and you'll have fun and learn so much. I may be small, but atSweet Tweetswhere I live Mom and I attend at least one, usually two bird club meetings every month, and go to a convention every year. This year we're going in September, and I can hardly wait!

Its important to use a wide variety of sources in order to get the best and most accurate information about your pet bird. Everyone with a pet bird should join a Local bird club, National organization, or Specialty oranization.

Specialty organizations specialize in the type of bird that you own or breed, and usually have classified advertising for their members.

National organizations will keep you informed about changes in legisation, conservation and disease outbreaks.

A local bird club is a great source of help with problems, information, companianship, and often offers speakers to enhance your knowledge.

If you get a chance attend a convention or symposiom. There easy to find and are held all over the United States and Europe. Its really important to attend at least one every year. Things change so fast in aviculture, especially in nutrition and disease prevention, that by the time you read it it's obsolete.

Flock Leader

What is a Flock Leader? It is a bird the other birds trust to lead the flock safely to eat, drink, bathe, play and roost. They guide the flock toward the proper ways to interact.

Pet birds need to be taught also, so owners must become their flock leaders. Their leadership may be tested from time to time, but they must maintain the role so birds feel safe. Owners must teach their birds what they are doing, and develope a routine that gives their pet a basic idea of what to expect.

This routine should be changed from time to time so that birds learn to be flexible and are secure enough to deal with change. Remember, Birds are not born knowing how to live in homes, and it is the owners (flock leaders) job to teach them how.

It is important to be consistant in what birds are ask to do. Don't think it's cute when your bird shreds a newspaper on the coffee table, then get mad when he shreds an important letter. He has no way of telling the difference. Paper is paper to him, and wood is wood. It's good for his beak to chew on a wood toy. A door facing is just as good to chew to him. As flock leader don't put the bird in a place where he could harm himself or destroy something you want to keep. It's not fair to you or him, and if you let him do something then punish him for doing it he will quickly stop trusting you.

Think before you breed!

Sometimes humans tend to do things without thinking them through, but before you decide to breed birds consider this.

It doesn't matter what species you intend to breed, Parrotlets or Macaws, have one pair or twenty. Your going to need the support of your family, and they will need to understand your new responsibilities. If your spouse doesn't share your love of birds, then breeding birds can be hard on a marriage. This is a serious point to think about.

If you work long hours 7 days a week you won't have time to care for your birds and babies properly. Who will hand feed your babies? Think about vacations, or illness, who will take care of your birds, and what are you going to do with the baby's? See, things are getting complicated, and you haven't bought a cage yet.

Then consider where you live, will permits be needed, how much noise can be tolerated by your neighbors, most people that have had to get rid of their birds have done so because of complaints by neighbors.Local zoning and health departments must be checked. You will probably require a tax payer identification number or a business license.

Finances are also very important. Many bird breeders have had to give up their birds because of lack of financial planning. At a minimum you will need a brooder, an incubator in case something goes wrong, aWeight Scale, nest boxes,Bird-Zerk feedersproper sized cages for each pair, baby cages, quarantine and hospital cages. Then there's the seed, veggies, cuttlebones, and perch's. Emergency supplies are also very important to have on hand. Pedialyte, vet wrap, bandages, cotton and cotton swabs, Quik Stop or other coagulant, hydrogen peroxide, tweezers and/or hemostats and bird nail clippers should be kept readily available. And of course you will need birds.

Then there's space to consider. Breeding pairs need privacy and as little disturbance as possible. The nursery may be a quiet corner in a busy room. You want babies to be able to rest in comfort but seclusion often leads to babies that are afraid and easily frightened.
The quarantine and hospital area may be in the same location. You want a private, isolated area that birds can be kept completely away from the rest of your birds. An area that can be easily cleaned and disinfected.

Breeding birds successfully is for people who understand what they are getting into, that have thought about what they will do when vacation time rolls around, and family's have talked about and support the idea.
Only then should you get into breeding.

Clear Eggs

Mom was ask a question about clear eggs. They should have ask me in the first place, but humans are funny. After all, who knows more about eggs than a bird?

Since a healthy bird is rarely infertile, there are 3 main causes of clear eggs. The first is that it's the birds first time, there inexperienced, and some just don't get it quite right. Many first time eggs are clear, the younger the pair, the more likely. Second time should be better since the birds are older and more experienced.

Then the second thing to check is the perch. If the perch has any movement at all it can throw the breeding off. Always be sure the perch is solid. Many clear eggs result from loose perches.

The third thing, usually on older birds, is the feathers around the vent area. Sometimes they grow so thick it makes breeding difficult. If your sure the perch is solid, the birds have laid at least twice, and the eggs are still clear, try plucking a few feathers from the vent area of both birds. If they still have clear eggs then try re-pairing the birds.

Now, next question please! Remember, you can email me at bugrules2@yahoo.com

Bee Pollen

Oh Boy, we finally got our new Bee Pollen perches in and our Cuttlebone and Calcium perches and I got to taste them all. Mom put one in every cage today, after I tasted it. Yum Yum! The Bee Pollen ones are so neat, they look like cactus wood and are completly edible and flavored too. There made with real Bee Pollen and 100% digestable ground calcium. Such pretty colors, I got a purple one in my cage. You can look at them hereBEE POLLEN PERCHES

Did you know that there are 22 basic elements in a birds body?: enzymes, hormones, vitamins, amino acids and others which must be renewed by nutrient intake. No one food contains all of them...except BEE POLLEN. It's so very good for us birds. Bee Pollen can be a powerful supplement for your birds, and these perches are also an incredible source of calcium. Best of all they taste yummy.

The Cuttlebone and Calcium perches are edible too. The ones we have come in orange and strawberry flavors. I don't much like the orange, but the Conures sure do. I like the strawberry one fine. Maby next time I'll get one of those.

Cockatoo Story

A friend sent my Mom this link and even though I usually don't like them big birds, they think there so smart, but this is really awesome! Worth looking at! An absolutely amazing love story........Cockatoo StoryMaby I change my mind about them big birds.

The link is to a photography journal of the story of two cockatoos, one domestic and one wild. The female has lost a wing and cannot fly and she is courted by a wild male. He manages to get her cage open and the relationship continues from there. They even raise a family. These are some wonderful photos and a great story.

Introducing New Foods

Hello Birds and bird owners. Isn't the Thiland Parrot Flower beautiful? Some of you humans got new birds for Christmas, and some of the birds were never taught to eat veggies, like we teach our baby's atSweet Tweets.

Now veggies and fruit are an important part of a birds diet, in fact in the wild it's about 70% of our diet. Young birds normally eat what they see their parents eat, but some cage birds never get veggies, and some baby's are handfed and never offered veggies before going to their new homes.

If you have a baby in that category, its important to get the baby eating right as quickly as possible. Offer veggies in the morning, and don't expect the bird to like it all at first. Only offer small amounts at first. Wait until later in the day before offering fresh seeds. Often birds will only play with their new food, but that's ok, there probably tasting it in play, and some they may never like. Every birdie is a individual in the matter of taste. Soon they'll have favorites, and you can offer more choices. Let them be near when you eat, and let them taste anything safe for them to eat. They will learn from you, just as they would have learned from their parents. Many birds love meat, chicken is usually enjoyed, and larger birds love to crack the bones to get the marrow.

Now I like chicken, but fish or shrimp are my weakness. Yum Yum, I would eat it every day if I could, but Mom hardly ever cooks it. Once I tasted oysters, but they were real slimy. Why do humans eat them anyway?

Mirror Mirror on the wall

This is a Albino (like me) Peacock. Doesn't he look like a giant snowflake?

OK all you birds out there, we have to try to get our humans to remove the mirrors from our cages. What humans don't understand is that birds see mirrors differently than they do.

I often sit on Mom's shoulder when she fixes her hair before a mirror. She doesn't see a friend, just her reflection. On the other hand most birds don't understand the concept of a mirror. When a bird sees it's reflection, to the bird it is seeing another bird, one that could be a mate. He becomes attached to his mirror-mate, sometimes biting the humans hand when it comes too close.

Humans seem to think it's cute to watch their birds look into a mirror. They don't realize that to a bird it's real. So lets bite any hand that even tries to put a mirror in our cages. It's better for us to bond to our human than a reflection.

Happy New Year

Hi Friends,Bugis back home!
We went and visited Mom's human kids and grandkids. They all made a big fuss over me so I let them all hold me and didn't nip a single one. (I know better when Santa Bird is watching) I got so many toys and treats, a lot of them are still in their packages. Mom says I don't need so many at one time.

I want tothank everyonethat sent me a present. I just love seeing all the pretty wraping paper and guessing whats inside. Mom said next year she is going to post early that I will only be allowed to keep 3 of my gifts friends send. She said that there are a lot ofrescue birdsthat need toys, and I am going to give all my gifts over three to them. I hope I get to tear the pretty paper off first. Wonder if they'll want to be friends?

Speaking of friends, I got a email from a new friend namedColumbus, and one namedPogo. Thank you both. Besides toys and treats I got one of thoes new edible calcium perches. Mom put it in my travel cage cause we been visiting. It's pink and I ate a lot of it and they are delicious!

No tips today, butHAPPY NEW YEARto everybirdy and their owners fromBugandSweet Tweet Aviary

Genetics Calculator

Hey bird people, Mom got this in a email and looked at it for a long time. I looked too, but it didn't mean anything to me. Must be a people thing. Our babys are always beautiful no matter what color, but humans are funny, so if you ever were wondering what a given pair of birds could produce?

Check outRasek's Genetics Calculator[http://www.gencalc.com/]
43 Species !!! Mutation Gallery!!!
Calculates all the possible genetic outcomes for any combination of breeding pairs.
Shows the probabilities for each outcome.
Takes into account Recombinant Frequencies for:
Â· X chromosome loci (sl,cin,ino,op - 7%,3%,30%)
Â· blue and dark loci (14%)

After you humans get through looking, give your bird a extra treat and a good head scratch.

Christmas Dangers

Today I had my picture taken with Santa. I checked him over real good, even looked under his beard. Gave him my Christmas list which was real long, but I have lots of friends to share with.

I want to remind all you birds out there that although Christmas is loads of fun with trees and presents, it is also dangerous. Thoes dangeling silver things on the tree are such fun to pull off and play with, butDo Not Eatthem, they can kill birds if eaten. Then there's the lights! Again fun, fun, but chewing the cord cankillyou. And thoes glass ornaments, so much fun to knock off the tree, but they break really easy. Stay away from them when they break, never play with the broken glass.

Also this time of year your human may leave food out to share with their friends. They tend to forget that we can and will get into it. A bite or two of salty peanuts won't hurt us, but sometimes we pig out and that will. Also humans are bad about leaving chocklates or drinks unattended when we're around. Very dangerous, so you birds remind your humans and try not to get into trouble. And most of all, birds and humans alike. have a
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Training Your Human 1

Here I've been giving tips to people so they can better take care of us birds, but now I think it's time to tell you birdies something. Now remember, we have to take it easy on humans, their not too smart, they never learn to fly, they want to sleep way after dawn even atSweet Tweetswhere I live, and they eat the most unhealthy things, still, their our humans, and must be trained.

We can't teach them much at a time, so for today let's just teach them about fumes. All fumes are dangerous to us, we tend to have a very efficient respiratory system and are very sensitive to pollutants in the air. If you can smell it, it's unsafe for us, from smoke-filled air, fumes from fresh paint, insecticide spray, gas, wood preservatives and shellac, deodorizers, and overheated Teflon, which many humans use to cook with, and over-heated Teflon-coated cooking appliances release a toxin that does not seem to affect people at all, but will cause death to a bird within 24 hours or less.

Some humans spray pesticide around instead of just eating the insects, and others actually draw smoke into their lungs on purpoise. Birds are very susceptible to second-hand smoke, you'll never see a bird with a cigarette in it's beak. If you can stop your human from doing this you'll live longer and your human will be healthier. Teach your human to ventilates the environment well after he uses any of these things before letting you return to the area.

It won't be easy, but if you stick to it they will finally learn. Let them think it was their idea, and when they get it right, give them extra attention and maby a little extra grooming. Any questions you can ask Bug at Bugrules2@yahoo.com

Ready to be a Bird Owner?

If you decide to get a bird the first thing you need to do is some research to find out what you are getting into. The most common large bird pet is the Parrot, and there are over 360 different variety's of parrots and around 9000 species of birds. Each species is different and has a different personality, so it's important for you to learn about the species that you want.

Birds make good pets, there very smart, and loving in their own way. A dog or cat will follow you or purr, only a bird will say I love you.

Birds don't have to have shots every year, they don't often get sick unless their exposed to other sick birds, fed a unhealthy diet, or kept in a dirty cage. They are how ever good at hiding illnesses. You won't know they are sick until they're almost dead.

Always get a cage as large as space and finances allow, with bar spacing that is small enough that the bird can't get it's head through.Then you'll need lots of toys, bowls, food, some form of a bird safe cleanser, a sleep tent (if the bird is used to one), and some type of play stand for when the bird is out of it's cage.

If you've never had a bird before, start with one that is low-maintenance and always get one that has been hand fed. For a child a Cockatiel, Love Bird, or Conure is a good first bird. If its an older child or adult a Parrotlet is a great companion, very outgoing, the little clown of the bird world. Check out our sweet hand fed baby's atAvailable Baby's.If your interested in a larger bird the African Grey is a good companion.

Whatever kind you decide on, know what your getting into before bringing the bird home. Much better for the bird and for you.

Let's Go To A Meeting!

I want to invite all my friends in the Houston and Beaumont area to come to a meeting of the Triangle Bird Club in Beaumont on the second Thursday of every month. You'll meet lots of other bird owners, eat good food, learn lots about birds, and have a real good time. And best of all you'll get to meet me! Just say "Bug" sent you.

If you don't live in my area join a club near where you live. It will help you learn about birds, make friends, and its fun. Its somewhere you can take your bird with you. If your interested in raising or breeding birds then be sure to attend a avian symposium. You'll meet the best veterinarian doctors from all over the world, learn the newest findings in research, and you can ask questions for yourself. Bug goes to many of them too.

Avian research is changing so fast these days that what is new today will be obsolete tomorrow. When searching for information, be sure to find new information, not old that no longer applies.

Be sure to visit me atSweet Tweetswe've got those babys I was feeding ready to go, and remember to be good so you'll get loads of Christmas presents.

Why Don't My Birds Have baby's?

Yesterday I received an email from Debbie in NY, asking why her pair of Cockatiels had not reproduced in 3 years. Well, there could be many reasons. The first would be are you sure you have a true pair? Just because they were sold to you as a male and female does not make it so. Have them DNAed to be positive. Two males, or 2 females will live together happily, but will never reproduce.

Once you are sure you have a true pair, and that they are old enough to breed, (small birds must be a year old) there are still other factors to consider. First are the hours of light the bird is exposed to. Breeding birds need 15 to 16 hours of light a day. You can put a fluorescent or full spectrum light over the cage for this.
Then they need a cage large enough for them and there projected family to be comfortable in, and the right sizednestbox. Many people use a nestbox that is too small. It looks big enough for the two birds, but what if they have 6 baby's, and the baby's will be almost as big as their parents when they fledge? Will the box be big enough for eight?

There is the food to consider. A breeding pair should have powdered vitamins sprinkled on their food, and they need extra calcium. They need to see an abundance of food, so they know that there will be plenty for them to feed their baby's. In the wild, birds breed after the spring rains. Then there is an abundance of food and light.

Birds are different than dogs and cats. You can take a pair of dogs or cats, put them together, and even if they are half starved they will reproduce. Birds on the other hand will produce only and when all conditions of light, food, nesting, and space are met. Otherwise they may go their whole lifetime without reproducing.

More questions? Ask Bug, my email is: bugrules2@yahoo.com

What Should You do?

This morning there was a problem in the bird room atSweet Tweets. One of my friends was down on the bottom of her cage all fluffed up, and barely able to move. She had become egg bound, meaning she was unable to pass an egg. If not caught quickly a bird will die from this. This little bird was lucky, we found her in time, and she's all right now.

This problem can occur in any type of single pet female bird, or in breeding birds. If you find your pet fluffed up on the bottom of the cage, first check her vent area to see if it looks swollen. If so she's probably egg bound. Apply a little baby oil, or ky jelly, even vasaline will work if that's all you have, then put her in an brooder set at 89 degrees. If you don't have an brooder, then place her on a hot pad covered with a towel, and set on low. Be sure she can get off of it in case it becomes too hot. Offer her plain pedealite, or a little sugar water for enegery and a piece of millet. With luck she will pass the egg in a couple of hours, and be fine.

Usually a lack of calcium causes this problem, so be sure your birds have cuttlebone at all times. It can also happen from an oversized egg, so watch your birds carefully.

Yummy Christmas Treat

Here's a real yummy treat that we all love atSweet Tweetswhere I live. I just helped mom make some, it'seasy, and I'll tell you how.

Here's what you'll need: peanut butter, cane or sorgrum syrup (optional)
favorite seeds, fresh pinecones, pipe cleaner, disinfectant.

All you have to do is find some fresh fallen pinecones, soak in disinfectant 15 minutes, (we use enviroclens from the Birdcare Co.) but any bird safe one will do. Place in oven and dry completely, this will also make the pinecone open fully.

Now, put the seed in a shallow pan or dish, take a spoon and spread creamy peanut butter all over the pinecone, (about 2 tablespoons on a big cone.)Work it in good. You can mix a little cane or sorgrum syrup with the peanut butter if you want. Then roll it in the seed. Twist a pipe cleaner in the middle around the stem, and your ready to hang it in the cage. Yum, Yum. You can also make extra and freeze.

Don't throw it away when the seed and Peanut Butter is gone, your birds will enjoy it for a long time.

Handfeeding Babys Part 2

I'm helping again, these babys are always hungry. Now no matter what method you use to handfeed, here are things to do before taking babys out of brooder.

Disinfect an area, get paper towles, kleenex and feeding supplies laid out on table. Prepair a clean baby container with shavings or paper. Heat water to almost boiling. Best to use bottled water. Place the formula in a cup and mix with hot water following manafactures directions. Keep an extra container of hot water next to the formula. Mix to right consistency for age of chick and check temperature with thermometer. It should be between 102 - 105 degrees F. I also test it on my beak to be sure it is not too hot.

Most babys when pulled for handfeeding are fed 4 times a day untill they are 4 weeks old. Then 3 times a day, during this time millet, seeds and veggies are introduced, then 2 times a day for a week or two, and finally once a day at night till they refuse feeding. This applies to small species, Parrotlet through Conure. Many larger species take much longer to wean.

Take the babys out of the brooder and place one on the paper towel. Only feed one at a time. Fill the spoon or syringe with formula, then dip the edge or tip in hot water and place it against the left side of the babys mouth. It will opean and gently pour content of spoon or depress syringe slowly into the babys mouth. The crop is located on the right side of the birds body so always feed from the left side. Feed until the crop is full and gently rounded. Be careful not to overfeed. When finished place baby in the fresh container and select another chick to feed.

If your going to keep the chick for a pet, play with it for a few moments, talking to it softly. This is the begining of it's socialization, and is very important to its development. If it is going to become a breeder, then feed it and return to the brooder. As soon as it is weaned place it with others of its kind.

Now you know the basics of handfeeding and you can say a little bird told you how!

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