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 ISSN 1492-8132 Issue Number 51, Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved, No reprints without permission
'Living With A Parrot' features Wilhelm Keisselbach's wonderful parrot management articles, together with new material and some great photos, too! And if you missed it, you might want to check out our most recent addition to the Bird eBooks series, the collected Tips 'N Tricks from the early Flock Talk issues, indexed and illustrated, making it very easy to find just the tip you need right when you need it.
Here's what readers are saying about Robirda's eBooks: Learn more about Robirda's Bird eBooks here.
Help your birds moult quickly and smoothly by being sure to provide a bath every day during their moult. This will encourage active preening, and help the old feathers to shed more quickly. Another bonus of frequent bathing is that it will help the new feathers to unfurl more easily, allowing them to grow in much more smoothly than they can in a bird who is offered less frequent baths. Finally, having a bath available for your birds during the hot months of the year ensures that they will never be caught without a means to cool off, no matter how hot it gets!
Water - so necessary to life. Your bird dips his dirty beak to get a drink and small particles of food are deposited in the water. He takes a bath and droppings are added. At room temperature, these organic deposits become a perfect breeding ground for a wide variety of pathogens. In higher summer temperatures, these bacteria, fungi and algae grow even faster! Life giving water soon becomes a sort of pathogen soup, waiting a chance to strike. Just ½ ml SANICLENS added to each quart of drinking water prevents the multiplication of algae, fungus and bacteria in the drinking water. The result is cleaner water dishes and healthier birds. Unlike many other products on the market, Saniclens is immediately neutralized when consumed by the bird. No concerns need exist of buildup in the body or damage to the beneficial bacteria in the gut. For more info visit www.birds2grow.com - Products - Flock Talk - Birds Board - Canary Cam - Canary FAQs - Search - Questions - Ask Robirda - Bird Links - Privacy Policy - Sponsorships - Site Map
Your Birds, With Love
Our next issue is due Aug 18th - until then, may
you and your birds enjoy all the best of everything!
Robirda
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 For breeder or pet bird owners who care.
Unfortunately, this resulted in some of our services being temporarily unavailable, in particular the Birds Board. We were given no warning about any of this, and would like to apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, and to reassure you that we are working around the clock to resolve these issues. The website is back up, and we fully expect all aspects to soon return to complete functionality. Please note that there was email problems, and that many emails were lost. If you sent a note to us, it is likely we did not receive it. One of the biggest changes will be coming to the Birds Board system. Soon it will have it's very own web address of www.birdsboard.com - but the bigger change will be in how it's used. In the past, anybody could post a message. In the future, while everybody will still be able to read all questions or comments posted on the board, persons wishing to post will need to be a member of 'The Nest', Robirda.com's upcoming members-only area. Membership priviledges will include free consultations with Robirda, 10% off purchases of our eProducts, and more! You can find all the details here In the meantime, please know that we are doing our best to correct and improve the reliability and availability of the services and information we offer you at 'A Place For Canaries'. Thanks so much for all your patience, help, and understanding!
Gillian's Help Desk This website features an extensive list of articles and information by Gillian Willis. Although written mostly for hookbill owners, these articles should be a must-read for any bird owner or breeder. Gillian Willis is a pharmacist and toxicologist in Vancouver, BC, and is considered an expert in matters of poisoning and toxic substances by many bird owners, both locally and world-wide. Gillian keeps birds of her own, and volunteers much of her spare time helping rehabilitate abused or abandoned parrots, or acting as an avian toxicology consultant. She is regularly called on to give lectures on avian toxicology at local or international gatherings of veterinarians, as well as for bird clubs and other avian-oriented organizations, and is renowned for her clear, in-depth articles, often featured in 'Newsbeak', the newsletter for the BC Avicultural Society. (You can find the BCAS online here)
 "A well-towelled bird is a happy bird," or so the saying goes amongst parrot keepers. But just what are they talking about? It's not the vigorous rubbing a human thinks of when he hears the word 'towelling', but rather a well-known and thoroughly worked out technique for dealing with and soothing a cranky parrot, large or small. In this article parrot rehabilitator Wilhelm Keisselbach, who has been keeping and working with parrots since he was a teenager, explains how to do it, and what it will mean to you and your parrot.
by Wilhelm Kiesselbach Every caregiver of a parrot, large or small, must be prepared for the occasion when the bird needs to be restrained. It may be to get him out of the cage quickly, it may be for reinforcement during training, or to clip wings or toenails, or perhaps to grind down an over-long beak. In all these cases the only way to restrain a bird safely without trauma or injury is to towel him. Avian vets do this all the time. Toweling is relatively easy and won't affect your relationship with your bird. The secret is to not let him see your hands (That is another reason not to use gloves: they look too much like hands). How to go about towelling a parrot: Toweling is most effectively accomplished in a confined area. If you are in a room, try to do it in a corner. If it is done in a cage, you may need to remove perches and toys first. A darkened room helps because it will momentarily 'inactivate' the bird. If a bird is very docile, you may towel it directly from your hand. The size of the towel depends on the size of the bird - larger is not necessarily better, because you'll lose control of the towel or lose the bird in it. Once the bird is in position, drape the towel over him and get control of his head, preferably along the jaws with your thumb and index finger. Use your right hand if you are right handed and your left if you are left handed. Once you have his head, slide one side of the towel underneath him and wrap him in it so the wings are pinioned against his body. Holding on to his head you can now make sure that his head is clear so that he can breathe and has the opportunity to bite the towel. Remember, the towel is the culprit, not you or your hands. If you are restraining a larger bird, a good way to control him is the 'three finger hold'. You use your index finger, your thumb and your middle finger by putting your index finger over the top of his head, while the thumb and middle finger are positioned along his jaws on either side. It is VERY important to remember not to exert pressure on the chest by grabbing the bird gently around the wings. Pressure on the chest can impede the breathing and inflict serious injury, and it can happen faster than you would think possible. Usually the towel represents a sufficient cushion - you must be very careful not to add any extra pressure than this. You may wish to make a note of the fact that towelling your parrot will get easier with practice. The time to practice is when you can do it playfully, and are not in an emergency situation. After the bath, wrapping the bird in a towel is one way to acquaint him with it, or playing 'Hide and Seek' with a towel on the couch is another. In this way, from the bird's point of view, the towel soon becomes a 'friend', and not a 'foe'. It is important to be decisive and quick. You should not have to chase the bird or get yourself into the position of having to keep retrying to towel him. The longer it takes, the more traumatic and difficult it will get. Remember that when it comes to dealing with parrots, he who hesitates gets bitten! When you are ready to release the bird, release his head last, as even the tamest of birds will bite when frightened. As in everything you do with your bird, be confident, gentle and affectionate. Nothing will make him more nervous than your own nervousness. You'll be amazed how much easier it is when you are sure of yourself. I had to towel Dixie the sulphur crested 'Too twice a day for a month and a half to medicate him. After a while, he would come out of his cage and sit down on the floor waiting for the towel. I am not sure that he absolutely loved it, but I do know that he did not fear it and he did not associate it directly with me. Sweetum the CAG (Congo African Grey), on the other hand hates the towel. When he is pouty and refuses to come out of the cage for our daily interaction session, all I have to do is show him the towel and he'll be out of the cage in a flash. After that interlude, he'll step up like an angel, inside the cage and out, literally for weeks, until the next time... when again, all I will have to do to regain his cooperation is to show him the towel. I feel it is important to mention, that he never holds the toweling against me.
Wilhelm Kiesselbach
Research conducted at the University of Bristol and the Institute of Ophthalmology has shown that while birds do see in colour, their particular brand of colour vision is actually rather different from what humans see. Besides the red, blue and green cones humans use to view colours, some birds studied (including canaries and pigeons) possess extra colour-specific cones that allow them to see into the shorter wavelengths of the violet and ultra-violet end of the spectrum. By altering the wavelengths of light in the birds' environment, scientists have been able to influence decisions about which mates are selected when breeding, and which foods are eaten. Part of this same range into the ultraviolet was used to produce the 'kirilian photography' so popular a few decades ago, when it was discovered that these wavelengths, although invisible to the human eye, could be captured on film. These photos showed a distinct 'glow' around living or recently living plants and animals, and none whatsoever around inert materials. This new research indicates to me that it is likely that many of our birds can easily see these wavelengths, and that this fact may explain some of our birds' reactions. How many of us have seen our birds react in stark and utter fear when approached by one stranger, only to treat another like a long-lost friend? Is it possible that these responses are actually triggered by the visual appearance of these people to the eyes of our birds? Many of us have noted that when given a choice between freshly-picked greens, and those a day or more old, our birds will devour the more freshly picked vegetables every time - even though to us these greens may appear identical. I wonder what miracles our birds have yet to show us? I am quite sure they will be something as complex, wonderful, and entirely unanticipated as the fascinating facts behind avian vision! For more information on the lessons being discovered on a 'bird's eye view' of the world, click on the links below:
This is one of the few commercially available products that features singing canaries. While most often sold as a 'song training tape', it is actually more of a 'sampler' of some of the more common singing styles that can be heard in various breeds and kinds of canaries. This tape contains a mixture of music with various singing canaries, sometimes a single songster, and sometimes a flock, featuring Chopper, Warbler, and American Singer canaries. Some sections include a musical background, while some don't. There is even a few sections with only music. (lovely music it is, too) In actual fact, this compilation is so tastefully done that many people who would never consider keeping a canary buy this tape simply for the pleasure of listening to it. If you are interested in having an easy-listening album featuring a few of the better-known song-canary singing styles in your home, this is the album for you!
A recent consultee says, "I really cannot thank you enough... since following suggestions from you, I enjoy my birds a million times more than I did. After all the canaries I have owned, I finally feel confident that I am caring for them well. Confidence has made me more relaxed with them and instead of worrying, I am enjoying!!! "Pets have a great sense about their caregivers... they, too, are more relaxed with me. They see me coming toward their cages and know something good is going to happen... no longer do they flutter about in fright. Again, instead of worrying, I am able to talk to them, sing to them, etc. A very big change!!! "This is all very amazing and new to me... and I love every minute of it! Thanks SO much!!" |
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