Abstract
0 ne esteemed international speaker at a recent AFA national convention shocked and inspired me when he described the parrot enclosures in the U.S. breeding facilities he had visited: "The birds are kept in cages - I will not call them aviaries."Shocked me because I, too, was often guilty of neglecting the finer points of my psittacines' habitats; and inspired me to improve my aviaries and urge others to do the same.
American psittaculture, in its tremendous forward progress, has brought us to a point where each avicultural subtlety and minute observation is now exceedingly important. In this respect, each of us who owns exotic parrot species has the opportunity to be a "mini-researcher." Seventy percent of successful research is astute observation.
Talking with this international speaker, I learned that the European style of aviculture is much less geared toward mass produced parrot offspring for the pet market. Many noted German, English or Swiss breeders prefer to duplicate a natural living space for their psittacine pairs - then sit back and watch the fascinating life which goes on in front of their windows. This means establishing an aviary where ground, rocks, water, nest site and greenery combine to form a correct environment.
Increasingly across America I meet parrot owners who wish to follow the same natural pathway to birdkeeping.
Creating a natural habitat for your pet or breeders has many advantages. The obvious first is the bird's contentment or well-being. lnstinctually wild, the hookbills we own are quick to feel at home in an area of organic materials and beauty. Moreover, we find that plants, ground, logs, palms, small pools, etc., do much to spread the droppings and mess which seem unsightly and concentrated in a sterile cage situation. In short, I clean my aviaries less often than my smaller pet cages.
Many novice pet owners are overly paranoid about germs when their parrots come in contact with natural materials. We find, however, with proper nutrition and exercise, hookbills are amazingly resistant to disease in such an aviary. Ten years of plants and soils, chewing greens and forest wood, we have not suffered one sickness!
We only worm our Australian parakeets once a year as a precaution recommended by experts.
(Author's note: several months ago in this column we mentioned "old flower arrangements" as a potential way of bringing greenery to parrots in captivity. It was noted by several readers that greenhouse flowers are often grown with strong fertilizers and bloom preservatives that can be detrimental to pets. Since we grow our own garden flowers, this was an oversight and serves as an excellent warning.)
So what does fine tuning an aviary really mean? It means giving serious thought/ study to a species' native environment and attempting to duplicate it when housing these parrots in captivity.
It means offering a water dish large enough for both parrots of a pair to bathe simultaneously as in the wild - instead of bickering over who gets the full, fresh dish first. It means providing two feeding bowls so our male Amazons, macaws or female eclectus do not always consume the choice pieces of fruit, nuts or goodies. Such factors sit back and watch the fascinating life which goes on in front of their windows. This means establishing an aviary where ground, rocks, water, nest site and greenery combine to form a correct environment.
Increasingly across America I meet parrot owners who wish to follow the same natural pathway to birdkeeping.
Creating a natural habitat for your pet or breeders has many advantages. The obvious first is the bird's contentment or well-being. lnstinctually wild, the hookbills we own are quick to feel at home in an area of organic materials and beauty. Moreover, we find that plants, ground, logs, palms, small pools, etc., do much to spread the droppings and mess which seem unsightly and concentrated in a sterile cage situation. In short, I clean my aviaries less often than my smaller pet cages.
Many novice pet owners are overly paranoid about germs when their parrots come in contact with natural materials. We find, however, with proper nutrition and exercise, hookbills are amazingly resistant to disease in such an aviary. Ten years of plants and soils, chewing greens and forest wood, we have not suffered one sickness!
We only worm our Australian parakeets once a year as a precaution recommended by experts.
(Author's note: several months ago in this column we mentioned "old flower arrangements" as a potential way of bringing greenery to parrots in captivity. It was noted by several readers that greenhouse flowers are often grown with strong fertilizers and bloom preservatives that can be detrimental to pets. Since we grow our own garden flowers, this was an oversight and serves as an excellent warning.)
So what does fine tuning an aviary really mean? It means giving serious thought/ study to a species' native environment and attempting to duplicate it when housing these parrots in captivity.
It means offering a water dish large enough for both parrots of a pair to bathe simultaneously as in the wild - instead of bickering over who gets the full, fresh dish first. It means providing two feeding bowls so our male Amazons, macaws or female eclectus do not always consume the choice pieces of fruit, nuts or goodies. Such factors can cause stress between our breeding pairs.
It means pondering the importance of flight ...
Flight not only from one fixed perch to another fixed perch; but flight in a cage where it is possible for a parrot to turn around in mid air and keep going. A sun conure aviary, for example, would have to be a minimum of 4-1/2 to 6 feet wide to allow such turnarounds.
Flight to perches that are angled up at 30 degrees, down at 60 degrees and vary in thickness from 1/ 2 inch to 6 inches teaches our birds grip and muscle control. Parrots taught to land on vertical barky logs can fly across a room and land on an upright broom handle or two by four with their foot strength!
It's a bit like "birdy yoga." Flight to springy sapling branches or rope perches teaches our pets and breeders about landing and perching on wobbly surfaces and, more importantly, taking off from sites which give beneath their weight. It augments skill and muscle coordination. I further believe it benefits a parrot's inner organs.
Fine tuning an aviary means building nestboxes out of thick 2 x 10 lumber or seeking out hollow log material for the dense security and silence it offers our breeding pairs. I never cease to wonder at the noisy, thin, plywood nestboxes with metal wire ladders we offer parrots - forcing them to put up with intense echoing noise each time they ascend from or descend to the clutch. No wonder so many psittaculturists report nervous, jumpy pairs. As to PVC and metal nestsites, they need not be considered in a natural discussion as they are designed for owners' convenience, not for the parrots.
Among the subtleties used by U.S. breeders to perfect their aviaries are smaller gauge wire floors in suspended cages to catch molted feathers and make them readily available to hens instinctually accustomed to "feathering the nest's egg depression." When cleaning boxes, it may be a good idea to replace some clean feathers with box shavings.