Sunshine!

When I talk to folks who wander into my store, I find that many parrot owners don't realize how important full spectrum lighting is to their birds! Getting a good strong regular dose of sunshine helps keep a bird's feathers shiny, and their bones strong. The vitamin D helps their little bodies process and use calcium (and it seems to me that MANY pet birds have calcium deficencies due to poor diet).

It can be hard to get in regular sun-time during cold weather (or seering triple digit heat like here in TX). So it is recommended to use a good full spectrum light bulb by your parrot's cage during the day. It's not as good as sunshine, but it's much better than incandescent lighting!

Sunshine is the best though!

Make sure you supervise very closely- racoons, rats, possums,cats, hawks, etc are all very dangerous to our birds!

A spoiled parrot gets a new toy!

Stocking up the freezer

When I feed my birds, I feed a combination of veggie mash, and cooked beans/whole grains. Since I like to cook, and get bored easy, I like to cook up different combos of beans and whole grains. Each night I can vary which one I feed for dinner!

My freezer was getting low- so I have been cooking! Each batch is frozen in ice cube trays, and bagged up for easy feeding. I always start with soaking dried beans overnight. I then cook the beans for several hours, seasoning with ginger, garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, crushed red pepper, sometimes oregano, basil, thyme. At some point in the cooking process (depending on how long the chosen grain needs to cook), I add in the whole grains and let them cook with the beans.

Cooked lima beans and kamut grain:

Pilaf mix with brown, wild and red rices, and lentils and split peas:

15 bean soup mix and barley:

I also like to make smaller more frequent batches of cooked foods, usually quinoa and veggies, often cooked in my rice cooker. Recently I found millet at the store, and the birds gave two thumbs up! I added cinnamon, ginger, kale, carrots and celery to this batch.

Served with pomegranite seeds, and sprinkled with sesame seeds:



A recent shopping spree!

I caught a great multi-store sale recently, and bought some goodies!

Things for Wings: http://www.thingsforwings.ca/

Some wood beads, yucca and cottonwood coins for chewin:

Bunches of hats- for a spoiled little cockatiel:

Some woven foraging boxes and a little basket:

Slickity Sticks (these are a huge hit with Tonka already!):

Mother Pluckin' Bird Toys: http://www.motherpluckinbirdtoys.com/

A cool spiral steel skewer, with lots of crunchy wood:

Several bags of awesome wood, with cool textures and crunchy edges:

Last but not least- Phoenix Foraging Rolls: http://www.phoenixforagingrolls.com/main.sc

Unpellet Mix and Green Chunks:

"Sushi To Squawk About" (these are soooo cute!)

And here are some foot toys, using some existing toy parts and featuring lots of new wood:





Some great news this week!

I have been looking for a rehomed caique to adopt for awhile, but couldn't seem to make that happen, so I made the decision to get a baby. I *thought* I would have awhile before this would occur. But the universe made it happen more quickly than expected!

One of these munchkins is mine, and will be coming home to me after weaning, in a month or so, roughly!

I'm trying to remain calm. I'm not doing the best job, though. :)

Homemade Atom!

These are called spheres, orbs, oddballs, atoms, they come in sizes tiny enough for a finch, and large enough for a macaw. Most birds love them! When birds climb on atoms they gain dexterity, climbing skills, balance- it's great exercise!


Many fantastic companies make versions of these, but as you may have picked up- I am a do-it-yourself girl!

I purchased the largest size wooden embroidery hoops at the craft store. If your birds are heavy chewers, you might want to pay more for the plastic version! You will also need LOTS of bird safe rope. Rope sold at home depot type stores may have been treated with different chemicals, so use your nose! If it smells wierd, don't use it!

The most important skill needed: patience! :)

Foraging Perch

Take a useless chunk of cardboard, peel the top layer off, sprinkle a few seeds, and zip tie it to the side of the cage. VOILA! Occupied birds!

(sorry the pics are so dark!)

Tonka is ready to travel!

All my birds come to work with me, Violet usually once a week, Perry once or twice. But Tonka, being the most active and nutty, comes three times a week. And she LOVES to travel. She always happily hops into her carrier, and then pops open her porthole, and starts whistling and beeping!

She especially likes it when I sing loudly along with the radio. :)