Tip Of the Month - April 2009

The Crystal Parrot - Spring is in the air and the time is fast coming where the windows and doors will be open. Please, for all of you, who have not had your bird’s wings clipped during the winter, be careful- most likely your bird’s wings have grown out and it can now fly. I can’t tell you how many calls we have had over the years about “my bird flew out the door” or “ I walked outside with the bird on my should and it is now way up in a tree and how do I get it down?” Seldom do these stories have a happy ending. So, before tragedy happens to you, please get your bird’s wing feathers clipped. Make sure the person clipping the wings is trained and experienced in clipping flight feathers, as there are many people who do not understand the proper way to clip wings. An improper wing clip can lead to many problems not limited to screaming, feather plucking, biting, loss of confidence, and injury. Give us a call and we will gladly clip your bird’s wings the right way.

Spring also bring potential hormone problems in many birds. If you own mature birds that have their breeding seasons in the early spring and into summer then you are either already seeing this problem or will be soon. Amazons and most South American birds breed during spring and early summer. Hormonal Amazons have easily recognizable behaviors – when the hormones kick in they will pin their eyes and flair their tail feathers out. Sometimes they will also raise the feathers on the head and around the face. It is best to leave them right in their cage and don’t attempt to pick them up because you could be in for a very severe bite. I refer to it as PMS in birds. It is best to keep your birds off your shoulder during this time because a bite in the face is not pleasant at all. Your bird doesn’t hate you but Mother Nature has a way of causing unpleasant behavior and we have to be aware and understanding. Our birds are wild animals and we aren’t going to teach them out of their natural behaviors, so we have to learn to work around and deal with them. If the bird has good guidance with the “step-ups” and basic training then we do better managing them during these hard times.

For all you dog owners out there walking your dog, beware! There is a new kind of lawn mulch called Coca Mulch that is made by Hershey’s. This mulch is made from the cocoa bean shells and smells like chocolate. The coca mulch can and will make your dog very sick. Theo bromine, a chemical in chocolate and the cocoa bean sheels, is toxic to most animals. If your dog or cat eats this mulch it can make them very sick. In a number of cases, ingestion of Cocoa mulch by dogs has caused seizures and death. Don’t let your dog eat anything from around bushes on property that you are walking by. These warnings are not printed on the product to make a customer aware of the danagers.

The warm weather is a welcome change for all of us all after such a brutal winter. But, please keep your pets safe and don’t gamble with the life of your pets.

THE CRYSTAL PARROT