Raising birds doesn’t seem that challenging as long as you know how to do it correctly. It can be different from other pets such as cats, dogs, or fishes.
But when it comes to raising pets, there are only three basic factors will affect your success including love, attention, nutrition, and healthcare. However, down below we’ll giving you explanation about bird treats so you don’t have to worry when beginning to raise birds.
Table of Contents
Basic Pet Bird Care You Should Totally Consider When Raising Birds
1. Environment
Bird healthiness depends on how good environment they have. Environment becomes the most essential aspect every owner need to consider well. Try to build a cage that fits to their size.
Make sure you give wider space than one-half inch apart to keep the feel freedom. Another important aspect is the location you choose while put the cage. As birds naturally want to feel freedom, make it as freedom as they want.
Instead of growing health, small cage in bad location make birds feel so weak. So you have to look for area with normal temperature and well lit. Make sure area you choose is away from drafts.
As much as chemical will affect temperature and chemicals, don’t try to locate the cage under the direct sunlight to keep birds secure. Any fumes, heat, harm objects, and machinery are items need to put away from cage.
2. Housing
First thing you have to consider when decide raising birds is all about housing. Mostly owners may only consider to caring birds after their turns 3 weeks old.
Due to this situation, it’s important to build cage with sizable and healthy housing guarantee. Technically, it’s suggested to build birds housing in 35” (W) x 20” (D) x 35” (H). The larger you build the housing the healthier your bird will grow up.
3. Feeding
Taking birds as pets means you have to consider great diets of any birds you care. Make sure you have standardized bird’s foods and diets based on instructions. You can consider fresh fruit and vegetables such as corn, peas, apple, beans, carrot, broccoli, or spinach as feeding option.
As you raise birds in the cage and keep them away from bacteria, make sure you have changed all foods as usual as possible.
Even though it’s good to feed your birds with fruits and vegetables, there are several items should be avoided, there are avocado, apple seeds, or lettuce you have to keep away from your pets.
However, Seed formulated in small portion may look great, but it will never replace your birds’ needs of consumption. Give them some vitamins and supplements also suggested in raising the birds.
4. Security
Mostly birds build their nest to create a place to retreat and sense of privacy. Thus, for anyone who begins to raise birds, make sure they have considered the security of the cage.
When your birds begin to build nest, you have to be aware and start to provide several essential items. You can put some furniture, artificial plants, or even visual barriers around the cage or housing in order to give visual security.
5. Caring
When you decide to caring birds, all things you have to consider are all about the attempts to enhancing birds have good life as they get in the nature.
As they live in nature with the instinct for gathering food and defending their nest, it’s important to exercise body and mind of your birds. Not always branches, you can also use some foraging toys to stimulate bird’s mentality.
6. Loving Attention
Another important aspect mostly owners don’t put concern is an attention they give to their birds. Owners commonly left their pets stay alone inside the cage. Believe it or not, it’s totally bad for birds’ mentality.
Did you know that birds are very intelligence? So why don’t you try to train them for companionship? Train birds will be great way to make your relationship with birds closer and warmer.
Common and Uncommon Foods That Can Be Your Birds’ Feeding Option
1. Fruits and Vegetables
After you understand how to care Birds, now let’s find out the answer about what actually every love to eat. When you’re looking for the food and supplements for your birds, there are always fruits and vegetables put on the first list.
These kinds of foods are the main staple you need to provide for your Parrots. Make sure you have provided and served any food items in fresh condition.
You may ask, what kind of fruits and vegetables every birds love to eat.
As there are lots of fruits can easily get, the answer may come to several common fruits and vegetables including banana, apples, mangoes, kiwis, nectarines, papayas, or even peaches. If you try to pet any birds, it may not seem that hard as their foods are literally easy to afford.
2. Nuts
Nuts are the one of many feeding options for you birds you can easily afford. It’s because any kind of nuts are considerably healthy, especially when it’s given to your birds.
Nuts commonly taste so delicious which can make many birds love to eat this. Not only giving your companion birds with healthy food, feeding them with Nuts also train them to do exercise as birds do in the nature.
3. Grains, Legumes, and Beans
Another item beside fruits and vegetables that many owners use to feed their birds can be grains, legumes, and beans. Any items mentioned above are considerably consists of fiber, so it will be really useful for bird’s health.
Those groups of foods can be founded in any common things such as oats, brown rice, or even quinoa. Though it may not that difficult to find, you can make these foods as daily diets.
Beside grains, beans and legumes are also essential items need to provide to your birds. It’s because these two items consist of high proteins, so it will help your birds in the cage growing fast.
Getting enough proteins mean your birds will have outstanding feather and muscles. What make these foods truly recommended? It’s because those items are affordably easy to get anywhere.
4. Pellets and Commercial Diets
You can consider pellets or other commercial diet as your feeding option in the process of raising birds. Mostly owners begin to consider any pellets as their option for feeding their pet as it looks affordable.
Though it’s easy to get pellets from any shops, some people may say that Pellets are not healthy enough for pets. So you need to limit the doses of any pellets or commercial foods you give to the birds.
5. Peppers
Mostly people may not be able to resist heat of peppers, but birds actually take different. Birds mostly have no or maybe lack of the receptors in tasting spicy peppers, so it seems okay to give peppers as feeding option.
This ability also leads anyone around the world excited to take birds as pets. Whether it comes to peppers or even Jalapeno, your companion birds will get no any problems after eating them.
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6. Seeds
Besides nuts, there are seeds that also a common foods given to birds. When you’re looking for food packed with nutrients including calcium, fat, and vitamin A, you need to consider seeds as your feeding option.
Many birds would rather to choose seed as it looks tastier than other feeding options. Factually, seeds can reduce nutritional balance on any birds’ diets.
Seeds seem like junk-food for any birds due to its tastiness. However, you still have to organize amount of seeds you want to give to birds as it doesn’t look healthy if it’s overly consumed.
Seeds for mostly the diet of birds only make up about 10 percent. In order to keep birds healthy, make sure you have estimated amount of seed you’re going to provide for your birds.
7. Meat
Taking care of birds means you need to provide them protein that gathered by meats. Not like many other option you can give to your birds, feeding pets a meat should do sparingly which range from two to three times per month. Some dairy may lead to increase of the cholesterol, so the foods need to be well concerned as it may not be that healthy for the birds.
8. Pasta
If human should cook pasta before it’s served, our lovely birds may just eat them all whether cooked or not before. Pasta contains of carbohydrate so it will give your companion birds more energy.
You can make a bowl of pasta and add some vegetables then serve it to your birds. This may look so weird, but it real to see any birds eating a plate of pasta.
9. Breads
Not only pasta, another unique fact tells that birds also interested to eat breads. Not only tastes so good, this kind of foods have abundant source of fiber.
When it’s served to birds, it will be really healthy yet indulgence. You can give breakfast toasts sometimes as unique change up to your birds’ morning meal. There is no mistake to make some funs with your companion birds, isn’t it?
10. Formulated Diets
Formulated diets are created by any companies due to lack of nutrition happens to several companion birds. Formulated diets commonly made from various items including vegetables, seeds, fruits, and grains blended with vitamins and mineral. All those items however processed into the something commonly known as a pellet.
Most of birds’ owners decide to take formulated diets as a feeding option for their birds. But facts tell that not all many birds are ready to eat pallets. It should depend on age of any birds.
Due to this reason, you would better to understand when it needs to provide formulated diets for your birds. However, it’s good to just make pallet as the base diet for birds as it looks simply affordable to reach by anyone.
11. Popcorn
This may looks so peculiar, but some facts show that some of birds love to eat popcorn. You may spot some pet birds enjoy snacking a bunch of popcorn with foraging on owners hand.
Whether the kernels are popped or just an un-popped, the birds will eat every piece of corn just in second. If you have a time, just try to pop the kernels with small amount of coconut. It will be really tasty to serve in front of your birds.
Foods You Should Keep Away If You Don’t Want Birds Die
1. Chocolate
Not only avocado, it’s forbidden for any birds consuming chocolate or foods containing of chocolate. As much as it can be that toxic for your pet birds, it’s should be given to your birds even in small amounts.
There is chemical element called “Theobromine” inside a bar of chocolate that can bring birds receive a vomit and diarrhea. If this condition is not avoided by owners, it can drive birds to the sudden death.
2. Avocado
Have you ever imagined that avocado could bring birds into death? “Persin” featured in the avocado’s leaves can endanger your birds. Chemically, “Persin” or substance shapes like fatty acid are formed to kill fungus live in the plant. Once birds consume it, it can be damaging heart and bird’s respiratory, so they will not be able to breathing well. Avocado also causes weakness over the birds till it ends up with death.
Though there still no study nor research which explaining how much substance of avocado can bring a bird into death, it would be essential for any owners to keep this fruits away from pet birds.
Not only avocado as a fruit, owners need also avoid any foods that contains of avocado essence such as guacamole and the other kind of avocado-contained foods.
3. Fruit Pits and Apple Seeds
We all know that mostly fruits are safe, but you have to know that fruit pits and apple seeds are things you need to keep away from birds. Apple and pears consists seeds while cherries, peaches grapes and plums contains of pits.
Therefore, even there is small amount of pits or seeds, it’s important to avoid them from your beloved birds as much as it contains a cardiac-toxic cyanide compound.
4. Fat
It’s not surprising, whether it comes to human body or birds, high amount of fat could increase cholesterol in their body. There are various foods contain of high-fat including butter, meats, oil, or even nuts.
When cholesterol is built up, it will affect arteries and bring atherosclerosis into body. Whether it comes to human or birds, if it’s not treated well, it can end up with stroke or death caused by heart disease.
5. Caffeine
Don’t let your parrots get anything contains of caffeine including coffee. Sometimes spending time with your beloved birds can be really full of joy, but when you put coffee, tea, or soft drink around you, just keep them away from your pet birds.
Caffeine chemically turns birds’ heart as it stimulates arrhythmias and hyperactivity towards birds. If you want to share drinks with birds, just let them consume your water.
6. Onions and garlic
Onions and garlic may be considered as healthy foods as it brings good impact for people. But when it comes to birds, whether it’s cooked or even raw, there is no reason to feed them with these spicy veggies.
Onions consist of sulfur that potentially can irritate mouth of birds when they’re chewing it. The more terrible fact is that these veggies can also cause anemia in birds due to ‘alicin’ contained in garlic.
7. Salt
Salt is another item that potentially brings bad impacts for pet birds’ healthiness. Sorry to say, some salty items you may have including chips, crackers, pretzels, or even popcorn should be keep away from pet birds.
It’s because salt could lead dehydration, excessive thirst, upset the electrolyte, and even affecting kidney failure towards your companion birds. So, do not ever to give birds any salty foods!
8. Xylitol
If you have never heard about Xylitol, it can be simply described as a sweetener. When it’s served to birds, it can cause several problems in body including hypoglycemia which stimulating liver damage.
When it’s not handled well, there is possibility for any animals or even birds to death. It’s because the Xylitol will affect metabolism of birds which looks different from human. So, try to avoid it from your birds!
9. Fruits are Not Safe Enough to Consume
However, when it comes to anything that doesn’t look healthy or good to consume, even it’s a fruit, it should keep away from your pets. One of the most unsafe fruits to be consumed by birds is an avocado.
On the other hand, there are several fruits that would be better if not served to your birds such as cherries, nectarines, apricots, peaches, and even plums. Some substance such as oxalic acid, cyanide, or persin will give bad impact to your birds’ body.
10. Unsafe Vegetables
Besides fruits, there are also several vegetables that considered as unsafe foods and really bad to provide to your pet birds. Let’s say, onions, garlics, cabbages, kale, and mushrooms that can disturb metabolism of birds.
Some substances such as sulfur compounds also lead birds to anemia. Moreover, tomatoes are totally dangerous for birds as it contains of acid that can cause ulcers to any birds you have.
