Bird Articles

Keeping a Pet Lorikeet

This article gives lorikeet food and care instructions and information on how the Lorikeet is as a pet parrot. Lorikeets make fun pet birds. They can learn to talk and they jump and play around a lot. They will happily sit on your shoulder or arm but you must know about their special diet to keep them well.

Hints for Providing a Balanced Diet for Your Bird...

Offering a balanced diet is critical for your bird’s health. This article giving your the information of what foods is good for your birds' diet!

Feeding Your Bird

Some are seedeaters, some are nectar feeders (eg lorikeets) while some eat mainly fruit. So it is important to establish exactly what your bird can and will eat. The main mistake bird-keepers make is not feeding a balanced diet. For example...

Seeding Grasses for our Birds

Anyone that watches birds would have noticed different species on the ground, eating seeding grass heads. This is part of a wild bird’s diet and the easy thing for birdkeepers to do, is to buy processed bird seed.

Companion Plants for Birds

If you have ever watched birds in the wild, you will find birds are always around flowering trees and shrubs. Honeyeaters love the pollen and nectar provided by native Australian flowering trees and people wanting to attract birds to their garden, should consider planting Australian native plants.

Poisonous Plants - Do Not Feed to Birds!

Poisoning of pet birds by plants is rare. This is reflected in the very small amount of information on this subject in veterinary scientific journals and reference books. Most information comes from North America, but applies to Australia because often the same plants are grown here. This article lists only those plants that occur in Australia.

Bird Care - Pet Cockatiels

Cockatiels are one of the most commonly kept pet birds. With the correct care, a varied diet, exercise and the correct environment your bird can live for up to 30 years. These Cockatiel Care Articles are based on the latest research and information from veterinarians, Cockatiel food manufacturers and Cockatiel Breeders with many years experience and knowledge.

A Cockatiel's Care...

What do they eat? What do they need to live? What kind of food or vitamins they need? What to do if they sick?

Read this article and you will get information on how to take care your cockatiel....

The Cockatiel

Arguably more popular than the Budgerigar, cockatiels are popular household pets in many parts of the world. Today all pet cockatiels are bred in captivity, as Australia no longer permits the export of native wildlife, whether endangered or not....

SPROUTING SEED INFORMATION - Nutritious High Energy Natural Supplement for Breeding Birds

Provides your birds with a high energy, fresh, nutritious, easy to prepare food. The mix contains seeds and legumes including mung beans, sunflower seed, safflower, barley, corn, wheat, beans, lentils & peas with a variety of other high quality seeds. 19 in all!

Keep Your Bugs Out of Your Seed Drums...

If you talk to different aviculturists, they will describe many different strategies and insecticides that will help control the weevils and bugs that like to invade your seed storage drum.

Safe Toys for Your Birds

Providing toys for pet birds is an extremely important part of keeping them healthy. What kind of toys will be suitable, fun and safe for your birds to play with? Find out here...

A Budgerigar's Care...

What do they eat? What do they need to live? What kind of food or vitamins they need? What to do if they sick?

Read this article and you will get information on how to take care your budgerigar....

WHAT TO DO IF YOU FIND A LORIKEET THAT CAN'T FLY?
Can the bird be cured? Is what he/she has contagious to birds or humans? Should the bird be set ‘free’?
What chance does the bird have of surviving?

Read this article and you find the answers...

Feeding Finches

It seems odd that the primary life supporting component of a finches existence is often the part that aviculturists will try to cut corners with. Without a suitable diet, birds will not perform as we expect them to. This is as relevant with undernutrition as it is with overnutrition. What is about to be presented is a critical (and often somewhat cynical) review of some components of finch nutrition that seem to always cause some confusion.

Birds Don't Just Eat Seed!

So what should they eat? Seed, pellets or something else? Did you know that more birds are seen by vets with dietary related diseases than any infectious disease? It is a fact that no bird lives on a dry seed diet in the wild. So why do we think that dry seed is a natural diet for them?

How to Get The Benefits of Extruded Pellets for Your Birds!

Birds, because they are creatures of habit, often need to be convinced that pellets are actually food. Birds take their cue for what is and what is not food visually – if they don’t recognise it as food they will not try it!

The Budgerigar 'MOP'

Budgerigar breeders sometimes find what is called a 'Mop' or 'Feather Duster' in one of their birds' nests. So, what is a mop?

The Pet Directory Bird Training Step Up Stick

The StepUp Stick has many uses. It is particularly useful for hand tamed birds.

Pet Personality: George & Maureen Blair

George & I have always been avid bird lovers for as long as we can remember. We originally moved to Sunnybank in Brisbane from Wollongong in 1970 and immediately began our breeding ventures with a few pair of Lovebirds and a garden shed in the back yard that we divided into three bays.

Parrot Playschool

Not that long ago, bird owner thought that all they needed to keep their pet bird happy and healthy was a cage, seed and water. It is now widely recognised just how intelligent the avian species is and how much more we can offer the family feathered friend.

Which Cage is Right for You?

When we make the decision to keep parrots in companion animal environments we make the commitment to provide for them all of the essential elements necessary for an optimum and enriched life. This commitment starts with...

Dail and Her Awesome Perfoming Alexandrine

Alexandrines are originally from Asia. One of the first parrots to arrive in Europe was the Alexandrine named after Alexander The Great, who opened the trade routes by which these regal birds were imported to the West in the middle ages. The first records of these beautiful creatures in captivity goes back to the 8th century.

Investigation of Disease Outbreaks in Aviaries

This article is to inform aviculturalists of the approach needed in deterring the reasons behind such unwanted occurrences, so that a plan of treatment or husbandry change may be made the role of the veterinarian in this case is to make a diagnosis an commence appropriate therapy as soon as possible.

Parrot Fever

CHLAMYDIOSIS / PSITTACOSIS Also known as “parrot fever”, Chlamydiosis is a disease caused by a micro-organism called Chlamydia psittaci. If inhaled, it is usually found in the lungs and air sacs. If ingested, it is usually found in the liver, spleen, intestines and kidneys.

Chicken Eatin' Parrots!

Feeding meat or meat products  to farm animals may risk introducing an exotic animal disease to Australia.  Cattle, sheep or pig meat or meat products fed to pigs may introduce diseases like Foot and Mouth Disease or Classical Swine Fever.

Should I... Clip my Bird's Wings?

Why Not? Birds that are allowed to fly freely are generally more physically fit and healthier than those confined permanently in a cage. If the wings are clipped incorrectly there is a greater chance of the bird crash landing and ...

Care of Your Pet Canary

You should consider carefully before buying a pet bird. A whistling canary is easy to care for and will give you years of pleasure if looked after properly.

Amazing Genetics

We began with the introduction of Violet to our Buttercup gene pool. An attempt was made by using a Violet cock bird at 2yrs of age mated to a Green /Blue Buttercup hen with only one...

Ask the Vet

Is it okay to kiss my bird or let them share my dinner?
My bird scratches a lot, is this likely to be mites or lice?
Should I have my bird's wings clipped?

Windows Kill

Wild birds are killed regularly on a daily basis when they fly into glass windows of houses, office blocks and even cars in sales lots. This is tragic for the birds and can be distressing and costly for people too.