Tips for Better Care
My vet reminded me this week to add Apple cider vinegar to my birds drinking water. Just a few drops (3 cc’s) to one cup of water, reduces bacteria growth.
Bird ages:
A Hyacinth macaw can live, on average, up to 100 year. And the average parakeet can live 20 years. Amazons on average live to 60 years. Finches live 8-10 years on average. Size matters, the bigger the bird, the longer the potential life span. And just like humans, birds with a poor diet develop diseases and don’t live as long.
Bird Sex 101
Birds can bond sexually to humans. That means that when someone kisses you, your bird will see that as cheating and bite you or the other person! Your bird may be especially aggressive toward you during breeding season. Many birds are male or female preferential when it come to relating to humans. They do not see gay or straight, they sense your pheromones, hormones and will bond, based on their preference to that gender. One of my volunteers was badly bitten when he was sitting next to a girl, to whom he had no emotional ties. The bird did not care, she was controlling her mate. It was his common practice to kiss his bird and let it eat out of his mouth. He continued the behavior and was bitting a second time, then surrendered the bird, not the birds fault.
I have always been greatly adverse to people that kiss their birds or let the bird eat from their mouth. This is a bird sexual overture. Birds feed each other during courtship and that is what this means to the bird. To say absolutely nothing about the mess of bacteria present in human mouth, that is being transferred to the birds cleaner mouth!!
Injured Birds
Some birds will pretend to be injured to draw you away from their nest. Remember that not all birds need to be or want to be rescued. When young birds are learning to fly, they jump out of the nest.
A broken bone of a birds can heal in as little as two weeks, if properly set and immobilized.
A rescued hawk or owl that has lost a foot or several toes, is not releasable. Raptors capture their prey with their feet. So if they can’t grab and hold, what they intend to eat, they will starve. Yes, there are prosthetic feet for birds. It has been done successfully. It is also very rare and expensive if you can find a doctor with the expertise.
