Parrot Safe Wire Mesh

One of the biggest issues we have had here in Australia over the past few years is the supply of `parrot safe’ wire mesh suitable for outdoor enrichment enclosures and breeding aviaries. Previously we could always depend on the Australian made product `Waratah Weldmesh' for its consistent quality and lack of solder `dags’ on the mesh joins. It was a great, reliable and totally safe product. Unfortunately when production of that mesh ceased many birdkeepers were left with the only option of inferior imported mesh. These products were at best poorly made with welds that would quite easily snap and at worst full of those lethal solder dags at the weld joints that parrots have a tendency to snip off, consume and develop potentially fatal heavy metal toxicity.

Thankfully, a new, `bird proven’ and totally safe alternative is now available. The product is being imported from Italy by a good friend of mine who is a birdkeeper and has used the mesh in all of his aviaries with species ranging from Black Cockatoos to small lorikeets to Australian native grass parrots. The product is called `Esafort’ and you can find out more information at the following link…

http://www.thewiresupplier.com.au/category/products/aviculture/

My recommendation for most outside enclosures that will house parrots is to use 12.7mm x 12.7mm – 1.05mm mesh. Give the `Wire Supplier’ a call via the contact information that can be sourced through the link above for additional advice on the most suitable mesh for your needs.

If you are aware of any other proven wire mesh product that is safe for parrots then please let me know and I will post it here.

WPT Podcast

Back in 2012 I was asked to record a `podcast’ with Charlie Moores from `Talking Naturally’ based on one of my Q&A replies on the World Parrot Trust `Ask the Experts’ resource. Charlie is an amazing guy with a serious passion for wild birding and it was a great experiencing `Skyping' with him to put this little media piece together. Take the time to check out his website at http://www.talking-naturally.co.uk/ 

The conversation topic was `Keeping Parrots Flighted’ – something very important to me and a potent motivator for my work  as an educator of companion parrot keepers. The podcast is now available online via the new section of the World Parrot Trust website dedicated to a range of podcast recordings. I can thoroughly recommend taking some time to tune in and listen to all of the podcasts available over a cuppa (or whilst reclining back in bed with the iPad firmly in lap as the case may be these days!) You can check out the podcast via the following link…

http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/podcasts/ 

If you have even more spare time on your hands then you might like to have a read of the original musings on the matter of keeping your parrot flighted, as well as my other contributions to the WPT Q and A initiative via…

http://www.parrots.org/index.php/forumsandexperts/answers/author/12012

Final 2013 Workshops - Sydney & Gold Coast

Just a couple of date claimers for my final workshops for 2013…

Workshop Title:  `The Training Toolkit’

Date: Saturday September 7th

Venue: Animal Referral Hospital – Homebush, Sydney.

Time: 9:00am to 1:30pm

Presentations:

• Session 1: The Training Toolkit
• Session 2: Nutritional Influences on Parrot Behaviour (Dr Stacey Gelis)
• Session 3: What’s in it for me? – Motivating parrots for training success
• Session 4: Training Troubleshooting – Tips for successful training and behaviour change management

Cost: $95

Registration Information: Please contact seminar@arhvets.com or phone 02 9758 8880 (Registrations close August 31st)

Workshop Title: `Annual Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Companion Parrot Workshop Day’

Date: Saturday September 28th

Venue: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary – Gold Coast

Time: 9:00am to 4:00pm

Presentations:

• 21st Century Approach to Companion Parrot Keeping
• Environmental Enrichment
• Diet Management
• Practical Handling & Body Language Interpretation
• Behind The Scenes – Free Flight Bird Show
• Behaviour Management
• Q&A

Cost: $135 ($95 for second household member)

Registration Information: http://www.cws.org.au/getcloser/discover_more/programs/community_courses/companion_parrot_workshop/

`Hey - Get some education!!!'

The 80/20 Rule

In my last post I talked about some simple options for foraging foods that can encourage parrots to spend more time feeding in functionally relevant ways that match how these little guys are biologically built to behave. A few years ago I published an article in Australian Birdkeeper Magazine that discussed the disparity between variability vs predictability in a parrots daily experience set in captive environments compared to natural environments. It’s what I call the `80/20 rule’. No hard and fast science here – just an anecdotal generalization of activity budget and what a parrot is likely to experience on any given day either in the wild or as a pet in someone’s home that is simple enough for everyone to get the picture that life in the wild is a heck of a lot more variable than life in the living room.  

The simple equation suggests that a parrot in the wild is likely to have a high degree of variability (that’s the 80%) and low degree of predictability (that’s the 20%) in its daily experience set. Conversely, the captive parrot is likely to experience a low degree of variability (20%) and high degree of predictability (80%) in its daily experience set. This sets up the challenge to address the disparity and bridge the gap in that 80/20 ratio between predictability versus variability. It’s the key to long-term behavioural success in our birds. A simple way to start is to categorise all of the experiences your parrot has in a day – eg, feeding, bathing, social interaction, exploration, out of cage, in cage, on playstand etc. Think of alternative ways that each of those experiences can be presented and how you can reduce their predictability on a daily or even weekly schedule. In the next post I will illustrate one super simple way that you can make change the norm. Change and Choice – two great words to keep in mind when setting the environment up for your parrot to succeed and doing something proactive about that 80/20 rule.

Five Fab Foraging Foods

After nearly 20 years of daily parrot feeding I seriously still get a buzz from seeing my birds getting stuck into the fresh food that I prepare for them daily. Cleaning and re-perching, yep - that's a chore, feeding - definitely not. I have written about the value of foraging foods in a number of past blog posts but I wanted to revisit the idea with `5 Fab Foraging Foods’ – stuff that anyone can grab from their local produce and supermarket that get parrots working for food in ways that better replicates the functional foraging behaviours we observe from them in the wild. 

1. Fresh Figs – Expensive little fellas but packed with gooey goodness. These represent everything that is good about a true forage food – inedible external layer hiding seed filled fleshy delight with the right texture to appeal to most species. A nice idea is to use a knife to `score’ the outside and just feed whole to let them do the rest of the demolition job on it. 
2. Sugar Snap Peas – Another pricey piece of produce but again, a great replicator of nature’s parrot perfect packaging that demands some work and perseverance to get beyond the fibrous pod and into the peas inside. 
3. Passionfruit – As with fresh figs, the best way to feed these to motivate work is to score the fruit casing with a knife and let them do the rest. I actually find that my birds don’t seem to eat much of the passionfruit at all. But the sight of an obliterated mess of purple and gold tells me that they whilst there was probably no nutritional value to be gained they had plenty of fun doing `stuff’ other than making noise and pulling out feathers.
4. Chillies – Parrots lack the capsaicin receptors that result in us humans experiencing the sensation of `heat’ when eating peppers. Packed full of vitamins they can be a great addition to the daily diet. In all the years I have been feeding parrots I have seen every variation on the theme when it comes to consuming foods like chillies. Some eat the flesh, some only eat the seeds, some show little interest. Worth persevering and trying different colours as well to pique their interest. 
5. Seed Sticks – Yep, not kidding. I’ll probably be lambasted by all the Parrot Police out there who want to rave about ridiculous restrictions on feeding anything not derived from ritually blessed organically certified soils of the hippy hinterland or picked from trees facing the mystic light shards of the northern summer solstice. But seriously, these humble little original bird treats are cheap, convenient, novel fun – especially for parrots that rarely get exposed to seed in their regular diet. In most cases very little is actually consumed and they really can be a highly effective redirector for destructive behaviour – particularly useful to have handy when you need a little quiet `busy’ time from your parrot. Just be sensible with the stick selection and the way you use them; choose the varieties with minimal sunflower seed, avoid the wire stick versions and only use the type shown in the pic above (Trill and Bird Munchies are best), only provide with a purpose (not as a substitute for the more nutritionally beneficial items of their daily food intake) and present for short windows of opportunity to access instead of leaving them in the cage for extended periods of time.

Education - The difference between poverty & prosperity

For the past few years my education efforts in the field of parrot behaviour have been almost solely focused on writing for Australian Birdkeeper Magazine and delivering workshops for both Parrot Behaviour & Enrichment Consultations and my new workshop co-initiative `Behaviourtects’ with my good buddy Nicholas Bishop. My client consultation work has become increasingly more difficult to maintain with an ever increasing set of competing priorities. What I am really passionate about are my workshops. These are incredibly rewarding experiences and the opportunity to teach to a group of passionate parrot people quenches my thirst for educating others. 

Research tells us what should be obvious - education is the number one influence on poverty or prosperity in the human condition. Likewise, it is our education levels as parrot owners that make the difference between our parrots living impoverished or prosperous lives whilst in our care. Parrot owners that actively engage in a life-long approach to continuing education of themselves are undoubtedly better equipped to offer their birds the enriched captive life they deserve. Even though I have been a parrot keeper for nearly 20 years and taught parrot owners for more than ten of those through my writing and workshops I consider myself a professional learner first, teacher second. I still attend workshop opportunities as a student and keenly listen to the anecdotes of others to embellish my own experience set with theirs. 

These days, most people look to the Internet as their primary learning environment. If you’re lucky you will find the good stuff early in your search. There’s plenty of gold out there if you start with the links below. If not, welcome to a whole world of poverty stricken thinking, most of which rears its ugly head in those great information shantytowns – the parrot discussion forum or the Facebook parrot whatever group. 

My advice - If you really want to deepen your education then there is no substitute for an immersion experience via workshops, conferences or conventions. If you can’t make a workshop then be sure to check the following sources to ensure your understanding of the behaviour and enrichment needs of your birds is going to prosper and not languish in poverty…

• The writings of Steve Martin – Natural Encounters Incorporated
• The writings of Dr Susan Friedman PhD - Behaviorworks
• The writings of Hillary Hankey – Learning Parrots
• Book and DVD Resources from Barbara Heidenreich – Good Bird Inc
• Parrot Enrichment Ideas – Kris Porter

Poverty or Prosperity? Education makes the difference

Quick Update...

The past 5 years have been an amazing time of change with the addition of three children and an ever-increasing set of work responsibilities. I have recently decided to remove my old website completely and now my website address will redirect to this blog site until I develop a replacement site. That will hopefully happen this year but until then, parrot enthusiasts can keep in touch via my various blog ramblings at this site.  To keep things happening my plan is to upload a new blog post each fortnight (twice a month), something that I haven’t been able to allocate the time to do successfully over the past year but will endeavour to do so now. Check in every second weekend and hopefully there will be something new to read or an interesting link to share.

My main distraction over the past few years has been my focus on being `present’ with my family. I take that responsibility as being my most important in life and it certainly gets prioritized over my education work for bird owners. The upside for me is that my twin boys are starting to `help out’ with the bird round. Archie in particular really likes following me around and loves to be given little jobs to do – his favourite being to place the afternoon fruit chunk in each of the lory aviaries. 

Parrots and children can be a volatile mix. Whilst I don’t consider most parrot species to be suitable companion animals for kids, perhaps the more appropriate reality is that most kids aren’t really suitable carers for parrots (actually – most adults are probably worse but that’s for another time). There are a few exceptions but my experience definitely suggests that aside from the time period when a parrot is very young and very confiding, most become increasingly less tolerant of the variability in behaviour of small children. Of all of the parrots in my collection, most display aggression towards my three kids as they wander around the aviaries and some; the Amazons and Macaws in particular, are simply dangerous. 

My goal is for my children to grow up appreciating wildlife so I want them to have the most positive experience possible and to learn the importance of respecting all forms of life. To ensure that those experiences build confidence, engagement and wonder it’s definitely a `hands off’ situation while the kids are young. As they learn about how animals communicate with us through their body language they will hopefully develop the sorts of decision-making skills that ultimately make the critical difference between success and failure in their animal encounters. What an awesome responsibility it is to guide them through that learning journey!

Archie on the afternoon rounds serving up a fruit chunk for the Black Lories - his favourites.

Consult Diary…

Due to prioritising family time these days I decided to take a break from doing consultation work, other than the occasional phone consult. Every now and then someone on the Sunshine Coast will contact me and given that it’s local I sometimes make exceptions depending on my schedule. I had recently had a phone consult with a local client and given the nature of the problems faced there was a need to follow-up with an in-home visit. I’m glad I did as it certainly made a significant difference on a number of levels. I’m not going to get into specific details as I take the confidentiality of working with my clients seriously. What I can do in this forum however is to share some of the general learning experiences, philosophies and approaches used in some of my consult sessions so that reader’s can hopefully benefit as well. 

In the case of my most recent consult there was plenty of food for thought that we can all find value in reflecting on. I’m going to elaborate on three of these over the next three posts (including this one). Let’s start off with…

Want behaviour change? – Get that environment right

When you do in-home consultation work you get used to being prepared for anything. I’ve pretty much seen it all – the very good and the not so very good. One thing you need to be prepared to do is to sometimes throw out Plan A (your original pre-consult goal set) and switch to Plan B. Plan B rarely actually `exists’ – the other (and perhaps more appropriate) term for it is `Wing it and work with whatever is in front you in most need of changing’. What starts off as - `Yeah – let’s see if we can get together and work on that step up behaviour!’ quickly gets shelved in favour of - `Umm – let’s see if we can do a renovation rescue on this here cage so the little fella doesn’t have to perform a Cirque de Soleil routine just to get anywhere near your hand’. In almost every in-home consultation I have done over more than 10 years of going into people’s homes to help them with their parrots I can’t recall a single one that didn’t start off with some necessary improvised goal setting re-directed towards environmental change. In my experience, the most potent precursor to the establishment of behavioural issues with parrots that are incompatible with harmony in the home lies firmly and squarely in poor environmental arrangement. The absolute bottom line for achieving any behaviour change goal is that the starting point for success is in environmental change. 

So…What’s often wrong with these environments? It varies – anything from completely inappropriate housing, improper perching, inadequate enrichment, excessive exposure to aversive stimuli, poor diet management, improper handling – the whole suite. Therein lies the dilemma if you are working with a client in an environment where just about none of the right boxes are ticked.  Where do you start? This is where the skill of consulting is much greater than just theoretical understanding. Being able to determine what your client actually has the capacity to achieve both financially and motivationally is critical. There is no greater waste of time than instructing a client from an authoritative stance and setting up what amounts to a list of demands for what you might know are `ideal’ but in reality may never be achieved by the owner. The concept of `approximations’ is just as relevant for goal setting with clients as it is with their birds – a very, very important idea to keep in mind as a consultant.

It can be a real challenge to think on the spot when consulting and come up with contingencies for situations that are outside of the scope of what you were mentally prepared for. Be prepared to set aside the more explicit expectations of the client which, in the client’s mind, most commonly starts with `I want the bird to do this…’ and redirect their thinking to where the foundations of behaviour change really need to be addressed first – which should see a mindset shift towards… `To get the bird to do this… we first need to have an environment that looks like this…’ That approach will ultimately make the difference between success and failure whilst (perhaps most critically) elevate the level of `ownership’ of the problems and the solutions to the client – not the consultant (I’ll reveal more on that in the future). Overcoming challenges in confronting situations is exceptionally rewarding – particularly knowing that you probably achieved more in your time with the client by taking a step back to go two forward. 

So, next up over the next two posts I want to go into some detail on the following little reflections… 

1. Buyer Beware – Hand raised is all in the interpretation of the term
2. Trust Account Bankruptcy – Happens long before you’ve called in the receivers

I’ll post each of these over the coming weeks so keep checking back in ☺ 

What's going to be more important during a consult session for this guy - A `Bird in the hand' or an `Environmental Makeover'? Sometimes the most important focus for achieving goals with clients requires a one step back approach to get those all important two steps forward. The `step back' is where consideration of the environment and the necessary antecedent arrangement to set the bird up for success is achieved.

More Food Prep Tips…

Like just about everyone else in these crazy times we live in, I lead a typically busy life and am therefore constantly looking for ways to minimise time spent on the `work’ aspects of parrot ownership whilst maximising time spent on the `play’. Food preparation has always been a bit of both work and play for me. I actually really enjoy thinking about the three pillars of effective diet management (Composition, Presentation and Timing of Delivery) and get a bit of a kick out of the aesthetics of it all when I put together a veritable smorgasbord of culinary curiosities for my flock. I have to admit though – getting the time to do that in-between my intense career demands, family needs and extra-curricular pursuits can be a challenge. It’s especially time consuming when you have more than one or two companion birds. Our flock fluctuates between 12 and 15 birds depending on what’s happening here so preparing food and feeding out can definitely become time intensive. 

I had always shied away from pre-preparing fresh food in advance and utilising cold storage until I watched Pam Clark and Kris Porter’s excellent DVD `Feeding Our Parrots Well’ (see review – http://parrotconsultations.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/feeding-our-parrots-well-new-dvd.html). Usually the problem you get is that fresh food doesn’t last well when sliced and diced to the small size I prefer but Pam’s technique layers the foods in such a way that it maximises freshness for the few days it gets stored. I took that onboard and what I do is stack the airlock Tupperware containers such that the final layer is frozen peas and corn. This tends to create a blanket layer that is already frozen/chilled on top of the rest of the fruit and vegetable mix and seems to aid significantly in keeping the rest of the contents fresh for up to 3 days in the fridge. In a good airlock container you get a nice `esky’ effect. It takes me only a fraction longer to prepare 3 days worth of fruit and vegetable mix at a time. I then allocate 1 portion of that for that mornings feed and store the rest for the following two days. I’ve gone from doing fresh food prep every night or morning to every third day. Less time on `work’ – more time for `play’.

Using good quality, airtight containers, layering fresh food and placing frozen peas and corn mix as the top layer significantly helps to keep cold stored diets fresh for up to 3 days.

Bush tucker...

When it comes to the diet of my parrots I’m definitely always keen to learn more about the best approaches to the presentation, timing of delivery and composition of their daily food intake. It seems that no matter how many years I have kept parrots for, I find every aspect of feeding them to be a source of continual learning. On one of my recent ventures to the supermarket I came across `Okra’ (Scientific name - Abelmoschus esculentus). It reminded me of the sort of elongated, bean like pod that I have seen footage of South American parrot species feeding on in the wild. I asked an employee who was dutifully stacking the Granny Smith’s nearby what it tasted like. The response wasn’t favourable – which got me even more excited given that my birds tend to eat stuff I normally turn my nose up at anyway, a good indicator that I might be on to a winner here (admittedly – I am better at dishing nutritional advice for parrots rather than taking said advice onboard for my own diet!). Taste potential aside I figured I would give it a go – I was intrigued at what the reception might be from my birds. I have to add here - Let’s keep in mind that Parrots are reported to have less than 500 taste buds compared with the nearly 10 000 in humans, hence a poorly developed sense of taste which might explain why, in reality, taste probably has little or nothing to do with feeding preferences. Might also explain why they happily chow down on some pretty cardboardesque foods we feed them without too much fuss. 

Back to the Okra… The cool thing about the Okra pods is that they are loaded with seeds but encased in a tough, fibrous pouch. I like foods like this that combine all of the nutritional value we are keen to expose them to but also come packaged in their own `nature made’ enrichment package that requires some work and effort expenditure to penetrate to get into that seedy centre (the place where the seeds are found – not the red light district of your local capital city). Your parrot isn’t interested in the exterior and if the interior of the food is enticing enough, presenting it to them whole is a great way to increase the duration required to feed and to stimulate some highly desirable, functional behaviour. 

The Okra was a hit with just about all of my parrots. They relished the opportunity to tear into the bounty of seeds within and it definitely added some interest value for the few days that it was available. It provided a timely reminder to me to keep trying out new things with the feeding of my birds. It’s incredibly easy to get stuck with routine feeding and fail to keep things variable. More variability – less predictability, the key mantra for successful environmental arrangement of parrot enclosures!

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) Like Crocodile Dundee once said... `You can eat it... but it tastes like s@#t' Darn good enrichment food for your parrots though!!!

Interpreting Parrot Body Language – The sum of its parts

Being mindful of the body language presented to us by our parrots has certainly become a prominent element of our approach to successful behaviour management over the years. A considered evaluation of what your parrot is `telling’ you via the overt presentation of posture, feather positioning and movement prior to engaging with the bird sets you up for success with a starting point for your criteria for interaction. At least it should – in theory. The problem that most inexperienced parrot owners encounter is that correct interpretation of the meaning of body language indicators really requires an evaluation of the sum of their parts. The mistake most often made is firstly to ignore the environmental context within which the bird is being observed and secondly to focus on the most overt component of the bird’s display whilst being unaware of the less overt indicators. 

Take the classic cockatoo crest raise as an example. We observe this overt display in a range of different environmental contexts to communicate a variety of different messages. So how do you know whether a cockatoo raising its crest is `excited’, `amorous’, `aggressive’, `fearful’ or any other reasonably associated construct? Well, check out what else is going on. Is the crest raise paired with… Wings spread or tucked and relaxed? Movement away or towards you? Tightening of body contour feathers or relaxation of body feathering? Tail fanning or a relaxed tail? Pinning of the pupils or `sleepy’ eyes? Beak open or closed? Head flicking? Head lowering? Rubbing of beak on the perch? – I could go on but you get the picture! 

Check out the image below. Do a little `count’ to see how many different overt body language indicators you can identify. It’s a cool thing to do to sharpen your observational skills. Ultimately we are still going to be left short in being fully empowered with a clear understanding of what this guy is communicating to us because the problem with a still photograph is that it doesn’t give us all of the really important information – the environment, the movement dynamics of the bird and the history. Pairing observations with experience from the past sets up the thinking… `The last time I saw him do that he followed up with…’ An empowering and informing thought process. Still fun to play a bit of `identify that body language indicator’ with the pic below though ☺ BTW – If you want to learn more about interpreting parrot body language then you have to get the best resource available for keen learners… http://www.goodbirdinc.com/parrot-store-dvds.html

How many different observable and measurable elements of body language can you identify?

Responsible screening met with irresponsible attitudes

I recently received some correspondence from a good friend of mine who is (in my opinion) one of the most responsible and dedicated breeders of Macaws in Australia. The communication stream presented below starts off OK but quickly disintegrates. Personally I have zero tolerance for people who not only want to buy Macaws as status symbols and stick them in an indoor cage all day with the radio on, clip their wings, only let them out for a couple of hours in the evening and think that’s going to be kosher for the largest and undeniably one of the most environmentally challenging groups of parrot that we keep as a pet. Here’s the transcript…

Buyer Enquiry:

Hi, I am interested in a baby hand-reared Blue & Gold macaw. I have kept a lorikeet for several years and loved the experience. I would sincerely love to be a macaw parent. Can you reply with some pics of the baby’s parents?  I am after a good talker and was told that a male is better generally for this. Does it make a lot of difference with Macaws?

Breeder Reply:

Hi, can you tell me what you are looking for? Pet or breeding? Will you clip wings and keep indoors and what will happen when you are at work all day? These babies are not sexed yet as they are too young so am not sure if I will have a boy. There are only 2 not yet spoken for. Parents are currently in the nest with their baby, which they will bring up through to 8-9 months old so taking a photo of them is not possible. They are large birds and consistently produce beautiful young. Let me know your intentions re housing etc asap if you want to secure one.

Buyer’s Response:

Hi, I plan on clipping wings and keeping indoors all day.  For my last bird I always left a radio on, kept the room well lightened and placed a small fan on one end of the cage if he got hot during the day.  I kept loads of toys and a bath in the bottom of the cage for him, he never got bored or plucked feathers etc. I am looking around now for very large cages, and intend on letting him out of the cage every night when I get home until its bedtime. How much would you need for a deposit on one, and how long before you could shoot through a pic of the parents?

Breeder’s Response:

Hi, Unfortunately I will never sell to anyone who wants to clip wings and keep indoors all day. It is a very poor life for any bird and extremely cruel to one as intelligent as a macaw. They need to fly in the sun and the rain for quality of life. It is like locking a child in a playpen all-day and releasing for an hour in the evening when they want to sleep anyway. It is the reason why I only sell companion birds to WA so I can check they have an aviary and can fly. No bird should be alone and locked in and waiting for you to come home for time out of a little prison, it destroys the whole personality of such a intelligent bird. My apologies once again, I have a responsibility to these birds.

Buyer’s Response:

(Name withheld), You are an incredibly sneaky woman, next time be more open and honest before asking such loaded questions. I will happily be positing this email chain online so everyone sees what your like!

Well bud – I’m pretty certain you didn’t have the audacity to follow up on your little threat there so allow me to post this online for ya so everyone can see what a complete jerk you are. 

Let’s summarise what the breeder’s expectations and conditions of sale were for their Macaws – 1) An outdoor flight aviary and 2) to be left fully flighted and not wing-clipped. Nothing more – nothing less. A breeder of Macaws, Cockatoos – or any darn parrot for that matter has every right to find out what the future holds for the birds they breed and every right of refusal to deny a sale if they are unsatisfied with the response. The dilemma for responsible breeders who actually give a damn about the birds they sell as pets is that if they start the sale interface with `This bird mustn’t be wingclipped and must have access to a flight aviary during the day’ it doesn’t take a genius to work out what any potential buyer is going to promise – even if they have absolutely no intention of following through. This breeder frequently encounters such retribution and threats and that sort of irresponsible, selfish attitude really makes my blood boil. Sorry folks – but the socially accepted attitude towards keeping large parrots in solitary confinement in the corner of the living room for 10-12 hours a day with a radio on is pathetic. What worked for the pet Budgie for the past 100 years in Australia doesn’t make it right for a Macaw – heck, it didn’t make it right for the Budgie either! Keeping parrots responsibly and ethically requires a better understanding of their needs than a `one size fits all’ approach. The sad thing is – I’ll bet my house that this guy just called up a different breeder, bought a Macaw without any screening and that thing is sitting in a cage, in the living room corner, staring at that undersized excuse for a birdbath, poking at the same old food it was offered every day since it arrived and waiting for that front door to open. You know what – I bet I get a call from this guy down the track. That conversation will start something like this… `Hey Jim - I’ve got a problem with me Macaw. Every time I come home it screams out real loud and won’t shut up till I let it out of its cage. We bought it because we wanted a talker but it just yells. Can you fix it?’ Sigh…

Responsible breeders take an interest in the future of the birds they sell as pets. Buyers who want ornaments for their living room should investigate taxidermy - it's quieter and much less mess!

The predictable unpredictability of new introductions…

I’ve lost count now of the number of times I have introduced new birds to a collection (either mine or others I have worked with) over the past 20 years of parrot keeping but I have done it enough times to be completely humble about the predictability of success. One thing I have learned is the total predictability of the unpredictable nature of how parrots will react towards new birds. Parrots, perhaps more so than many other wildlife taxa that we keep in captivity can be seriously difficult to integrate into an existing flock dynamic or even to establish a single pairing of birds with a view to breeding. I would like to share two important principles when introducing new birds – 1) Plan out every step of the release in advance and; 2) Have a back-up plan – contingencies are critical! A recent example of that was our attempt to integrate a male Blue & Gold Macaw (2 years old) into our Macaw aviary while he is residing here for a couple of months while the owners are overseas. The aviary that is home to two other Macaws – a female Green-winged (3 years old) and a female Blue & Gold (2 years old). I was very positive that our temporary resident would do OK – especially considering his confident temperament and being the same age as my resident female. My strategy was to do a major environmental makeover at the same time as the introduction and to delay the morning feed until after this. This would provide ample distraction for releasing the new guy from his pet pack into the enclosure and I hoped would minimise the attention he would attract. Basically I did the following… 

1. Withheld the morning feed whilst the enclosure renovations took place
2. Removed all existing perches in the aviary and replaced with new ones – in all different positions at different heights
3. Changed the locations of the food bowl holders
4. Fully stocked the four different browse holders with fresh branches
5. Added in a few new artificial chew toys
6. Placed out a variety of food bowls with high value foods
7. Released the new bird
8. Observed the interactions from a distance (being present with imprinted birds can actually cause more problems – better to remove yourself from the equation)

While the aviary renovation was happening the `new guy’ was contained within his crate inside the enclosure. This allowed him to observe everything that was going on and for me to observe the reaction towards his presence from the other two Macaws. When the aviary renovation was complete I opened up the travel crate and allowed the male Macaw to come out as he pleased – which he did almost straight away. With all of the new distractions in the aviary my two birds were almost disinterested in the new bird and everything seemed to be going to plan. I placed the food bowls out and sure enough – my guys got down to the business of eating and destroying the fresh browse leaf and left the newcomer alone. At one stage all three were happily eating at the same time. I have to admit that at this point – I thought I was pretty much a genius and had finally perfected an introduction. Time for humble pie… 

Of my two Macaws the one that I predicted would be most likely to be aggressive towards the new bird was my Green-winged Macaw. She is the dominant bird in the enclosure and has a healthy history of zero tolerance towards interlopers into her territory. Conversely, my Blue and Gold Macaw is a sweetheart and rarely if ever displays aggressive tendencies. Any guesses who turned feral on the new guy? My sweet B&G! She was just relentless. Whenever you are attempting such introductions you can always expect initial conflict. I can’t recall a time with all of the introductions I have done when that hasn’t happened. What you are looking for is a `pull out’ or `abort mission’ point where the aggression is observed to persist and isn’t isolated to simply driving off the new bird from a favoured perching position. You also want to observe signs that the new bird has the confidence to stand up to the existing birds and not back down too quickly. Parrots are very good at determining whether they have met their match in the aggression and physicality stakes and will quickly settle if a new bird is confident enough not to back off. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case this time. I intervened a couple of times when things got too heated and as the afternoon drew to a close things did settle down a little. I allowed the three of them to remain together overnight but the disputes resumed first thing the following morning and I made the decision to pull the pin. 

When it comes to parrots – so often they stay true to that old adage – two’s company, three’s a crowd. That brings me to the contingency. Whenever you plan on adding a new bird to a flock, or on putting a pairing together of mature birds, always have a back-up enclosure ready to go in case they need to be separated. In this case, a fall-back aviary was ready, perched and it took nothing more than getting the new guy back into his crate and shifting him. Obviously if the intention was for the male Macaw to stay as part of the collection there are a bunch of other strategies we would work through over time with but seeing as he is here short-term it wasn’t going to be worth the time and energy investment – and the risk of compromising his safety unnecessarily. 

Humble pie eaten. Unsuccessful introduction complete. Back to a lower stress, more harmonious arrangement in separate enclosures ☺

Ahh - if only the peace and tranquility captured here stayed that way!

Parrot Feeding Strategies - Part 1: Free Feed

I was reflecting on my recent workshop day and probably the session that generates the most interest is when I discuss diet management for enrichment and training. One thing I love about this time of year is the abundance of seasonal fruits and vegies on offer for the birds. I thought this might be a good time share a few images and insights into how I feed my flock of birds. Basically I look at managing the daily food intake of my parrots in three different contexts...

1. Free Feed: Where food is freely available in bowls. This feed strategy represents `low behavioural criteria' for access.
2. Enrichment Feed: Where food is presented away from bowls and in contexts such as foraging toys, F&V kebabs, or scatter feed throughout the enclosure. This feed strategy represents `high behavioural criteria' for access.
3. Training Feed: Where food that is isolated from free feed access is offered during hands-on training or handling sessions.

For this post I just wanted to touch on my `Free Feed' approach. A few tips to share...

• I cut all of my fruit and vegetables that are delivered as free feed into pieces no larger than pea size. This is very successful in not only getting the birds to feed for longer durations (rather than the `taste and waste' result when feeding large chunks) but also in being better able to work out exactly how much F&V they are consuming and to work their daily intake down to the point where I am not wasting large amounts of fresh food.
• Chillis are great for parrots! A lot of parrot owners aren't aware that parrots lack the capsaicin receptors in their tongue therefore they feel no heat sensation from eating peppers. Packed with Vitamin A - these are a great addition to the feed out.
• I `shave' the head of broccoli and mix it through the salad as I find it's the only way to get some consumption of broccoli. Most parrots ignore it if you place it in as a chunk with the stem.
• The peas and corn are just from a frozen pack - I thaw them out with warm water for a few seconds and they're good to go.

To make free feed a little more variable always place 4 to 6 different bowl holders in the enclosure to give you options each day to change the position of where they need to go to access their food bowl.

Basically my aim is for my parrots (non-lorikeets) to be consuming about 50% fresh produce, 30% formulated pellets and 20% seeds and nuts as their daily food intake.

The selection for today - Mango, Banana, Kiwi Fruit, Apple, Pear, Pomegranate, Rockmelon, HoneyDew Melon, Watermelon, Lychee, Snow Peas, Brocolli, Chillis, Peas & Corn. My parrots pretty much get this mix each day as part of their Free Feed.

My fruit and vegetable mix is always cut up into `pea' size portions and mixed into a salad for their Free Feed. This helps with monitoring intake, increasing feeding duration and reducing waste.

CWS Companion Parrot Workshop 2011

Long time no post!!! Well - I've been kinda too busy to get some posts up but hopefully over the summer months I'll have time to resume the ramblings here :-) To re-start things I just wanted to give a big thankyou to the participants at the 2011 Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Companion Parrot Workshop. This is an annual experience that I coordinate each year and last Saturday our 2011 class had an absolutely fantastic day of bird nerd immersion in all things parrot related. This particular class seemed to really take up the opportunity to acquire some enrichment products that we have available on the day courtesy of The Parrot Rescue Centre (www.parrotrescuecentre.com). I took home a few things myself (thanks Zarita ;-) and I think I've finally found the ultimate `lasting' chewable toy for my Macaws. Zarita's partner Jamie Carpenter is the man behind the tools behind the `Natural Toys' that are made by PRC and one particular product - the `Natural Boing Large' has been a hit with Bonita and Maya since I placed it in their aviary on Monday. Nothing overly special about the Macaws getting something to chew up - the difference here is that it's Wednesday and it's still there! My Macaws generally work on the principle of `the more expensive it is - the quicker we can destroy it'. I sometimes kinda feel like I may as well open up my wallet and just give them a few 50's to chew up and get it over and done with (not that I ever really have 50's in my wallet these days). The Natural Boing though has been a winner - both for maintaining their destructive perseverance (a good thing!) and it's longevity thus far. Compared to the $25 bag of various foot toys that they turned into wood chip in less than an hour (seriously) these boings are better bang for the buck. If you are keen to get your parrots some enrichment products for Christmas then definitely go and check out the PRC Shop - they've got everything a parrot wants to see under their tree. Thanks to Zarita and Bella for the set up of the enrichment stand at the workshop!!!

Bonita getting stuck into her PRC Natural Boing Large - a ripper of an enrichment item for large macaws!!!

The Tender Lovin’ Towel Hold

I was going to start this post off with `It never ceases to amaze me…’ but ya know what? When it comes to hearing about really outdated and downright destructive advice given to parrot owners it really doesn’t amaze me - I've heard it all and keep hearing it.  The tragedy is that bad advice is common advice – good advice is still the exception. The following is an excerpt from a recent e-mail I received that demonstrates the point I make fairly regularly here about the perpetuation of bad behaviour management information and improper handling techniques with parrots. The context is a 10-year-old Galah that has completely lost trust in human hands…

`We took him to (location removed – as tempting as it is to name and shame) and the handler there advised that this can be normal behaviour in male birds preferring a female owner. We were also shown how to use a towel to handle him properly and to scratch him on his head while holding him. Unfortunately he won't even let (name removed) scratch him then - he just keeps trying to bite him.’

Ahhh – the good old fashioned `Towel Hold’. That old chestnut. Love the way the parrot owner referred to the person giving the advice (and demonstration!) as the `handler’. Anyone getting visions of a burly kaki clad lion `tamer’/`bird whisperer'. I bet he had a multi-tool in a leather pouch on his belt too. Ahh... maybe that’s just my colourful imagination. Anyways - nothing like a relationship building session that entails wrapping your petrified polly in a towel like a big old carpet python and giving him some tender lovin’ strokes on the head to let him know that it’s all good in the hood eh? And all involved are still surprised at why such a strategy resulted in a parrot that wanted to bite them and still won’t go near them? I’m all for a good cuddle every now and then but I’m pretty sure if that involved being straight-jacketed and patted on the head repeatedly I’d probably develop a wee bit of an aversion to that experience after a while. Wouldn’t matter how many sweet nothings were being whispered in my ear. The above excerpt isn’t unusual. Last month I had another client who had purchased an Alexandrine from a pet store in Logan (Brisbane south) under the assertion that it was eating food fine and only give it some formula if it’s hungry (Huh? It was a 10 week old Alex!) and it would make a fine `friend’ for their existing pet Green-cheeked Conure (Wha?). No prizes for guessing the outcome there.

I want to note that not all bird stores fail in properly educating their staff on non-invasive, trust building approaches to behaviour management and sound husbandry information. Indeed, at my recent seminar day in Sydney, a prominent Brisbane bird retailer had basically their whole bird department team in attendance! Such a commitment to the professional development of retail staff is to be applauded (three cheers to Pet City Mt Gravatt and the staff in attendance – inspirational stuff! I’ll spend my hard earned there thanks). The problem is that proper staff training at bird retailers simply doesn’t happen outside of a few exceptional stores. The retailers can cry all they like about not being able to afford PD for their staff but I’m not sympathetic. It doesn’t cost anything to tell staff that instead of giving crap advice on behaviour and training they should instead refer the client to properly qualified sources. They stand to gain more from that person seeking out and obtaining information that actually `works’ and improves their relationship with their bird than potentially lose that client as a result of them implementing damaging advice and making the situation worse rather than better. With resources such as those produced by Barbara Heidenreich (www.goodbirdinc.com) easily available through multiple sources in Australia there’s a perfect opportunity to sell products that have sound advice rather than attempting to be the source of solutions that are a bad reflection of our past approaches to parrot care. That for my mind is a win-win approach – income generated for the retailer and a sense of responsibility for self-education placed back on the bird owner. 

Got a similar tale to tell? E-mail it to me - keeps me inspired to keep doing what I do.

Regaining trust with parrots - more about relationship building, reinforcement and respect - less about UFC towel holds.

Next ABK – New Series Starting

After 34 issues of ABK magazine featuring the Pet Parrot Pointers column I have covered an immense amount of ground in regards to foundational thinking for change in the way we manage the behaviour of our companion parrots. Reflecting on that scope of information sharing, I decided to put together a series of articles for the next 6 issues that take a specific species or species group focus based on my first-hand experiences in the behaviour clinic. In this series I discuss some of the common problems presented by the focus species and offer some practical advice on why those problems are seen and how to best develop some strategies to help manage them.  The pre-print copy I received this week of the graphic layout for the new series looks fantastic!!! I’m hoping that these are well-received and, over time, build a small library of species-specific information on companion parrot behaviour management. The first focus species is Rainbow Lorikeets. I’ll be looking at Eclectus Parrots for the second, Major Mitchell’s Cockatoos for the third and Aratinga Conures for the fourth. Not sure about the 5th and 6th – that’s a long way off! You can subscribe at http://www.birdkeeper.com.au 

The above image is a snapshot of how each specific species discussion will be summarised in the form of a clinical `case study'. Looks pretty neat! In good news agencies second week of October.

Latest ABK – Correction

If you grabbed the latest issue of Australian Birdkeeper magazine you hopefully had the chance to read my latest Pet Parrot Pointers article. The article compares and contrasts the `Traditional’ model of companion parrot keeping with what I consider to be the `21st Century’ model that we all need to start advocating. It’s the first time (anywhere) that such a clear comparison has been made and I’m hopeful that the underlying philosophical approach to our keeping of parrots as companions within the framework of the 21st Century model will replace the traditional approach set that unfortunately is the most common and persistent mind set applied today. One problem with the final print version in the latest issue of ABK is a significant error in the final summary note on each of the visual models. Each model flows into an `outcome’ – a critical statement. Unfortunately, the same `outcome’ statement was printed for each model – they should be different. For those of you who may have read the article, please consider the following as the `correct’ way it should have been presented…

The `Traditional’ model (built on dominance based approaches and limited application of positive reinforcement based learning) should culminate in the outcome statement `Establishing conditions that lead to dysfunctional behaviour and challenge’. Conversely, The `21st Century’ model culminates in the outcome statement `Establishing conditions that lead to functional behaviour and success’.

If anyone would like a PDF copy of the two models then please e-mail me.

Workshop for Sydney - September 11th

I had planned to only present the one workshop in 2011 - my annual gathering at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in December. However, I received a call a few weeks ago from Dr Stacey Gelis at the new Animal Referral Hospital in Sydney with the offer to put on a set of lectures as part of some opening events for the new clinic. It was too good an opportunity to pass up and we have scheduled a really great set of presentation for the delegates to experience. Registrations will be limited so I would recommend that if anyone is thinking about going to get in touch with ARH asap via seminar@arhvets.com to ensure that you don't miss out. Cost is $95 pp (includes morning tea, lunch and the opportunity to tour the new Hospital). The scope of the day will be as follows...

• A 21st Century Approach to Companion Parrot Keeping
• Diet Management for Training & Enrichment of Companion Parrots
• Behaviour Analysis 101 - An Introduction to How Best to Understand Behaviour and Establish Lifelong Relationships with your Companion Parrot
• Non-behavioural Causes of Feather Plucking

There will also be a focused Q&A opportunity at the end of the day. Lunch and coffee break included!

Look forward to seeing you there :-) 

New FIlm on WA Black Cockatoo Conservation

This is going to be a really important film for generating awareness of the plight of Black Cockatoos in Western Australia. Looking forward to it being released...