Cats being predators, many people are afraid to add a parrot to their pet collection. Some dogs also are hunters and could pose a threat to a bird in the house.

Here is what I have experienced myself and I would like to hear what you think of it.

When I was a kid, we always had different pets around, amongst others different birds.
But then the birds where kept in cages and there never was any casualty.

When I got my first African Grey parrot, Kalli,
I already had a cat and a bullterrier in the house. I was a bit wary about bringing Kalli into this setup. So I had Kallis cage in the kitchen for starters, where I could keep constant watch. I did not keep him in the kitchen for long, though.

Well, very soon my cat jumped up to the table to investigate. Kalli quickly got hold of the cats tail and gave a hard bite. That was the last time cat came close to the parrot, ever.

When Kalli was used to us all and knew to step up, he was allowed to roam through the house as he wished, just like my cat and dog and they all got along fine.

At this stage I don’t have a cat anymore, but I adopted a grown up Jack Russel bitch the other day. This dog was used to hunting on the plot where she was beforehand and I was not sure how she would react to two parrots flying free in the house.

The first two or three days the dog was very interested in the parrots, so I closely monitored the situation.

Then Cheeky, my blue ringneck parrot, decided to show the dog his place in the house. He got down to the floor, walked up to the dog and bit into her tail. The dog went running off. Cheeky repeated his attack twice after that when the dog came to join us. That was enough to teach the dog to stay clear of either Cheeky or Tequila the cockatiel. Now she doesn’t even show an interest in the parrots anymore and walks away as soon as one of them is on the floor. Outside the ducks taught the dog to stay clear and they raised their first ducklings without any threat from the dog.

These examples show you that is not impossible to have a variety of pets in the house. But one should never forget that cats are natural predators. Personally I won’t take the chance of getting a cat when I keep smaller types of parrots flying free in the house, as is my case now.

A great many people conveniently seem to forget that birds are made for flying. They want a pet parrot and they want it to be like a cat or a dog, earth bound. And so they clip the birds flight feathers.

For the parrot this boils down to having a vital part of the body amputated, basically having to go through life as an invalid.
And who knows – it may suffer from the same symptoms a human amputee suffers from – feeling the ”limb” that’s no longer there – yet it’s unable to convey those feelings to humans.

People can’t understand why their pet parrot starts acting aggressively or even starts feather plucking. It can no longer preen the flight feathers like normal but feels they are still there and should be preened. This frustrates the bird no end, like an itching toe on an amputated foot frustrates and angers a human amputee.

Wing clipping has another serious drawback – it makes the bird vulnerable.
It can no longer escape danger by taking off into the air. So it may fall prey to a sudden attack of a pet dog or cat or trodden upon by a thoughtless child or visitor.

Should the bird per chance escape its confined space, this vulnerability will certainly lead to its death. An unclipped bird can still survive in sudden freedom, even if it may struggle to find food and water.

In the light of above arguments, can one keep a bird as pet at all?

It definitely is not the ideal thing, but yes, it can be done – if you are prepared to consider and accommodate the birds needs.
Do not clip flight feathers, rather supply a safe environment.
That means going to the expense of making windows and doors bird proof with bird mesh.
It further includes properly training the parrot plus accepting and pardoning bad behavior as you would with a child.

The pleasure derived from a really free parrot in the house more than compensates for any inconvenience incurred.

An alternative is building a large enough aviary to house the bird outside, but then you’ll miss the direct interaction with your pet.

Well, I don’t blame them. With so much underhand dealing and wheeling amongst organizations and groups, who can be sure these days about seals?

Truly organic does not contain any harmful substances. Truly organic food is not treated with synthetic insecticides, growth hormones and commercial fertilizers.

The problem is, since farmers who grow their crops organically are surrounded by big commercial land tracts, where all the harmful substances are used liberally and we as humans have no control over the natural elements like wind and rain, there can no longer be a 100% percent guarantee that organic plots won’t somehow be affected by what’s used on the commercial land.

So, in a way, all consumers have to bear the detrimental consequences of our present industrialized system.

What worsens the situation, however, is the fact that non-organic food is cheaper than organic. Especially in tight economic times like the present, more and more people reckon they don’t have a choice between organic and non-organic if they need to save on expenses.

Thus consumers have become the puppets of those who are in control of food production and distribution.

Why?
We have grown lazy and indolent.
It’s so much easier to just run to the next shop to quickly buy a bread and some veggies than to bake your own bread or grow your own vegetables.

For our comfort’s sake we rather accept poor quality. For ease’s sake we are willing to offer our health.

Even if some of us may still know how to bake a bread, or how to grow vegetables, we don’t do it, so our children won’t ever learn to do it.

What will be the end result?
They, the next generations, will become complete puppets of those in control of the economy. They’ll be completely unable to ever even think that it could be different.

Society will be back where it was two centuries ago – a few rich landlords with vassals under them, who would have no say over their own lives.

Do we really want that for our children?

Well, I don’t. So I started doing something about it. Check out my Food Garden for Parrots page.

Slashing pet food expenses with 40 parrots to feed on a daily basis calls for creativity, since they eat a lot of food. Parrot pellets are far too expensive, since all of those are imported.

While many parrot owners in Southern Africa feed their parrots mainly dry sunflower seeds and maize, I prefer to keep mine on a balanced organic diet. This ensures that my parrots are healthy, resilient and much larger than average, invariably drawing forth highly positive comments from visitors.

Since I’m neither willing to reduce my flock nor prepared to sacrifice their health in order to cut expenses, I am pushed to get creative for the sake of my birds.

I used to buy all the necessary organic fruit and vegetables to add to their sprouted seeds and boiled legume mix.

Now, with ever rising food prices, all fruit and veggies are becoming unaffordable, never mind organic or not. Even sunflower seeds have doubled in price just this year.

Ok, so I decided to produce my own organic food. First of all I planted shrubs and trees that produce fruit for my parrots, many of them indigenous. These, however, need time to grow before they bear any or enough fruit. In the meantime I collect whatever I find in public places.

Then I went looking for the best method to grow my own organic vegetables. To my dismay horticulture concentrates on problems and problem solving. No more problems for me, thank you, have enough of them as it is; one being the fact that at my age strenuous, backbreaking work is no longer as achievable as it used to be.

Eventually luck came to may aid. In my constant search I opened a website which had the exact thing I was looking for: an embarrassingly easy, no-sweat method to grow my own organic food.

Imagine, within just four hours my first organic vegetable plot was implemented, planted and set to grow, no joking. If one sales pitch proves to be true like this, I trust the rest too.
Review Food4Wealth

Parrot Selection Tip (1) – Look for a young parrot

Older parrots need more time and patience to be tamed. Baby parrots need expert attention and care to grow up healthy. Already weaned parrots can be tamed in a shorter time.

The tricky part, however, is how to determine a parrot’s age.

A caring breeder close-rings his birds, with his code and year of birth on the ring. So if the bird is ringed, you can quickly find out it’s age.

Other things to look out for are the scales on its legs and the color of eyes, feathers and the beak. The leg scales are smoother than in older birds. The eye color of young birds normally is a dark grey to black.The beaks of very young birds are smooth and mostly still dark. The full feather color has not yet developed.

The best buy is a parrot that eats by itself already.

Parrot Selection Tip (2) — Choose the right species of parrot

Do you know the characteristics of the parrot you are interested in buying? This is essential for a good parrot/owner relationship.
Some species are
- noisier than others;.
- tend to be more possessive than other species;
- are more destructive than the rest.
Larger parrots need more cage space and stronger cages, which means higher expenses.
Some need special nutritional foods, such as the lorikeets, who feed on nectar.
This also relates to cost.

Parrot Selection Tip (3) — Check the condition of the parrot

Ask for a certified health certificate by the veterinary so that you can be sure of buying a healthy parrot. If that is not available, check out these factors for some telltale signs on the conditions of the bird.
a. Dirty or poorly maintained perches, food and water containers, excess faecal wastes in the cage, all show poor management of the birds, leading to bad health.
b. The eyes should be clear, nose not show any discharge.
The parrot’s feathers should be tidy and clean. Any bald areas could indicate an infection or it may also be due to the parrot being a feather plucker. The vent should be clean and there should be no crusty appearance on or around the beak.
c. The flesh on both sides of the breast bone should be firm and not protruding.
d. Check for protruding leg scales, they could be sources for leg mites.
d. Beware of parrots that fluff up their feathers and dilate their eyes when you move your hand closer to them. These parrots are older birds and could bite you.

Parrot Selection Tip (4) — Buy from reputable, reliable sources

Buying from well-established and reputable pet shops or breeders assures you the best quality and services. Avoid open markets or buying through mail order.

To summarize, having a parrot as pet is fun, if you make your selection wisely. Buying a parrot on impulse could lead to endless frustration or very high veterinary bills.

First of all we have to consider what we can afford.
Here we have to not only think of the bird itself but also its cage, food buckets, toys and a fair supply of balanced food.

Prices of parrots vary largely depending on the species. You may be able to buy a budgie for less than 10 $. If you want to go larger you may have to fork out a couple of thousand dollars for some species

Cage prices also depend on the size of bird to be housed in them.

Food bucket prices vary considerably too. For budgies, love birds and cockatiels you can use the cheaper types. For all parrots larger than
cockatiels you will need stainless steel utensils in specific sizes, which don’t come cheap.
The same species-related criteria apply to parrot toys.
Regarding food you must remember that pet parrots need a balanced nutrition to retain their health.
So what you can afford is one of the initial questions which you have to answer.
I would strongly recommend you first go to find out about the prices and make a list so you can make a decision that fits your budget.

How much space will the bird need?

Larger birds and even some of the small ones are very active physically and need big cages and space in which to play.

How much time and attention does the parrot need?

Probably this is the most important question. Birds are intelligent, playful and mostly ” social ” creatures. Will you have time to play with your bird? To care properly for it? Will it have the chance to be a part of your family?

Consider the fact that birds live fairly long. Even small parrots can live for 20 years ! Are you prepared for this?

Don’t buy a parrot if you think that you will soon get bored of it.

How noisy is the bird?
Some parrot species constantly make noises, while others don’t. Some of those vocalizations may get on your nerves quickly. Best to find out beforehand about that.

Will the neighbors complain?

Once again, depending on the species, the noise level varies largely. So if you have neighbors all around, above and below you that like listening to screams piercing their eardrums, you could even keep an Indian ring-neck parrot in a flat.

Once you’ve considered these implications and still want a pet parrot, you then need to find out more details about specific bird types before buying the right one for you.
PLEASE NEVER, NEVER BUY A PARROT
IMPULSIVELY!