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How We Kill Our Pet Birds
| For the many of you
who don't know, Catherine (my wife & partner) and I, spend almost
24/7 together. We always have something to say to one another, We
talk about business a lot. We brain storm, plan, solve problems -
you get it. I'm not sure how this conversation got started, I remember we were in the car and I'm pretty sure Catherine said something like, "we spend so much time talking about how to care for our birds, the right bird food, proper size bird cage the right bird cage accessories and bird toys. But we never talk about the other side. The sadly ironic side of having a pet bird. The single biggest reason our birds die is - we kill them. Rather than expanding on each and every hazard, I'm going to list all the we came up with. Let us know about your experiences so we can help other pet bird owners. Join the conversation on Facebook.
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Categories: Parrot Care
Tags: Care Tips Bird First Aid
It's a horrible list, but maybe it'll do some good. I'm taking this as a reminder to trim toenails today.
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You have valied points, & yet you sell toys that have some of the dangers that you list as potential hazards:
-pacifier preener for sm birds: jingle bell to catch a toe/toe nail in & hang from. The thin wire that is wrapped to hold the toy to the cage can be snapped & the bird can be stabbed w/it. It's a sharp object in the cage.
-foot toys: the plastic balls & play drum w/ jingles bells inside where a toe or toe nail can get caught, panic & the toe nail is gone or the toe is cut badly. Seen the results from others having that happen to their bird while at the vet.
-spring coil toy: hung in cage as a toy to play w/, bird gets neck or wing caught & panics.
-then there is also the leather loops in some toys that are small enough for a bird to put their head through easily but when they go to get it out..their feathers get opened up & get caught. This prevents them from getting out, panic...
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I love Windy City Parrot! As a new & novice Parrot owner I look to this website for answers to my questions. I love their store and make an order about every 3 weeks. It's like having my own expert to help me! Thanks!
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We are bird breeders and we sell our birds in good health and they are all hand fed and ready to go to their new homes. I have had people call me and say their bird died and I am crushed each time. How can that be? their fine in my home and die in theirs. what are they doing? Maybe this article will wake some of them up to see what their doing wrong.
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This was brilliant and very much needed information!
Please, i sincerely believe this list should have a prominent place on your website and EVERYONE's refrigerator.
Thank you for posting this.
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My 1st bird came to me (I hadn't planned to be a "bird mommy" however,
he was sitting and drinking at my front-door fountain. When a finger was offered he hopped on. Clearly he was hand-raised and someone's pet but no way to know where he came from. He was a wonderful pet and after I lost him I got another cockatiel like him.
Still I was pretty ignorant about bird care and some of the dangers. I lost my next cockatiel because he had really serious night frights and I let
him have the run of the house, one night he was frightened by a storm, flew into the side of the refridgerator
and fell between there and the cabinet.
It took a day to find him and by then he was gone. I've now done everything in my power to learn about the dangers and I do not allow my current bird to be free at night although he has total
freedom in the daytime and I know some
believe it's a mistake but I live alone and there are no other pets so for the bird it's fun. I also leave music for him when I'm not home. These kind of articles are necessary to educate us about some of the dangers most people would not even think of. The hardest thing is to lose a companion you've loved deeply and who returns unconditional love to you!
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I really think you should reconsider letting your birds free at night.. We left our cockateil roam the house most of the day, but never at night.. There really is no need of it :)
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please keep bird lovers informed especially about teflon and non stick pans....many are still surprised when I mention this to them!!
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I've had a close brush with a very near tragic incident involving an escape artist parrot and an open oven. One day while I was immersed in the task of cooking dinner, my male caique managed to open the door to his cage. He was molting and had grown sufficient feathers to fly, and decided he wanted to fly to me. He launched off his cage just as I was opening the pre-heated oven to place a dish in to cook. It was a close call that involved some quick reflexes, but a lunge for the bird knocked him out of the way of flying straight into the oven. That incident scared me half to death, and I've become very paranoid about making sure the birds are securely in their cages while I am in the kitchen cooking. I don't allow anyone in my house to have the birds out while I am cooking, as it is too easy for a bird to startle, fly into the kitchen, and hurt themselves.
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Add: Flies out the door or window and...
gets caught by a hawk
gets run over by a car
gets lost and starves/freezes
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thank youi
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I think the focus of this article, pet owners "killing" their companion parrots, is unfortunate. There are always going to be clueless people who own pets and don't take adequate safeguards with them, but to the dedicated parrot owners who had an accident happen, as accidents do to both people and pets, in the blink of an eye, I think it will cause them considerable guilt and anguish, especially in light of the fact that many things happen in life that we have no control over. Our flock of 8 (ranging in size from a lovebird to a blue throat macaw) lives in the safety of our living room, closed off from the rest of the house, with its own heating zone to keep them toasty. This is not to say that an accident may not EVER happen, despite all the safeguards that we have put in place, like one-on-one supervision. There are too many wild cards in life. I think this article could have been presented in a gentler manner to educate parrot owners instead of having an article with an accusatory, "shock-value" tone.
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I had not thought of this perspective, and I can really see your point. It is important to take this topic seriously, but also to be empathetic, when appropriate.
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What I note is that while some of the things on the list are preventable, some are tragic accidents. The only way to prevent some of the things you have listed is to put your bird in a sterile environment in which they would suffer mental anguish and boredom. I have been blessed with my birds and have been lucky. I hope that each bird owner will prevent the accidents they can prevent and seek veterinary care immediately when accidents happen over which we have little control.
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I like the way these were presented. THese points are food for thought. I disagree with: "I think it will cause them considerable guilt and anguish, especially in light of the fact that many things happen in life that we have no control over". Actually, every bullet point in this list is preventable. Living in our world is dangerous and it is incumbent upon us to protect these birds while in our care. Yes, this requires a lot of planning and thinking on the human's part, but this is part of the commitment you make when you have them in your world. THese creatures rely on us to provide them with a safe world, not one in which we allow "accidents" to happen. Keeping this list in your mind will reduce those "happened in the blink of an eye" accidents.
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When I was a teenager, my very first budgie got stepped on and died way too prematurely. It was horrible. No birds were allowed on the floor after that point. And even today, I don't allow them to stay on the floor.
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I love Windy City Parrot. Thanks for all the extra time yall spend in giving your coustomers extra help with our problems. The only problem I have had with my birds is flying and getting inside my mirowave now i try to make extra sure the door is kept shut but other than that its lots love and kisses from my birds. Thanks
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what about (self) oven cleaner?? could that be edited in? (im still having trouble convincing my mother in law why this should be done by hand.. i hope i never have to come home to all the birds gasping for breath simply because its easier to flip a switch to clean than to get in there and scrub it yourself!) i love this list--- ive heard too many people tell me they have stepped on, rolled on etc etc their birds, many mistakes are pure human carelessness!!! watch where your babies are every minute of the day!!!
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I like the way these were presented. THese points are food for thought. I disagree with: "I think it will cause them considerable guilt and anguish, especially in light of the fact that many things happen in life that we have no control over". Actually, every bullet point in this list is preventable. Living in our world is dangerous and it is incumbent upon us to protect these birds while in our care. Yes, this requires a lot of planning and thinking on the human's part, but this is part of the commitment you make when you have them in your world. THese creatures rely on us to provide them with a safe world, not one in which we allow "accidents" to happen. Keeping this list in your mind will reduce those "happened in the blink of an eye" accidents.
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I love that Windy City takes the time to warn people of the unfortunate things that can happen if we are not watchful of our pets. My Amazon is like my child to me and my husband and we would be devastated to lose him in a preventable accident. We allow him freedom of flight, but only when we can be with him and in the confinement of our bedroom where he perches while we sleep or work there. At all other times he is caged (there is a specific wire in our living room that we can't cover any better than we have, and that he seems obsessed with chewing). We have owned birds for years and have been fortunate enough that only one has been injured in our care and it was during office hours for the vet. Thank you so much for your always timely and thoughtful information, WC. You are much appreciated by my family and I tell everyone I know to subscribe to your newsletters.
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Also add to it: Fabreze, scented candles. Years ago, a friend of mine lost her tiel to lead paint poisoning because she allowed him free flight in her pre-war Chelsea apt. in NYC. Think 2X b4 U allow UR bird free flt, esp if U live in an old house.
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I gave my tiel avocado a few days before he died and have always wondered if it had anything to do with it. We were devastated to say the least. I kinda thought that would have killed him right away if it's what did.. I also gave him chocolate once not knowing either it was harmful. He ate a good amount of it and then threw it up not long after.. I've wondered if not the avocado that killed him then possibly long exposure to paint fumes from a very nearby shop didn't have something to do with it.. :(((
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I believe Karen may have a point. Although, if presented in a gentler manner, most people would not have read it.
To Moe: ALL toys have a potential hazard. Just like children, if we look away for 1 second, something could happen.
This list should be glued to EVERYONE'S FOREHEAD! That way, when you pass each other in the house, you'll be reminded! If you live alone, tape it to the TV!
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I agree with you Karen wholeheartedly concerning the way the article was presented. That is why I disagreed with it. And, in my humble opinion, clipping a birds wings so they cant "fly" is like having our legs cut off so we cant go anywhere either. We are a nation of "addictions", and "dependency", and in the end it is the animals that pay the price...because their existance depends on us Humans and we dont always keep our end of the bargain. I am sorry but
I just cant get my head around caging animals or them being held in captivity, especially birds. THey are suppose to SOAR....not fly around in a house. Thats like a tease...And reading ALL the ways they are subjected to dying in the articles should be reason enough not to have them....it made me cry.....Its just horrible....
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I do not clip my birds' wings, for some of the reasons you stated, Patricia. I do, however, go to great lengths to prevent flight disasters (cover mirrors, block access to kitchen if necessary, "birds are out!" signs on doorknobs, etc.).
There may be something I'm missing but I really try to make a safe flying environment for my budgies.
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I agree.
We depend on the bird toy stores to sell safe toys for us; we usually do not make them ourselves. Thus the toy stores become part of the vicious cycle of why our birds die.
I like that the information is put out there so that there's nothing to distract from the message; sugar-coating often does more bad than good, because it allows the reader to ignore the real message.
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To Emily: There are locks for cages. I don't think they cost "an arm and a leg."
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Excellent list;'glue'traps under beds,other funiture that a bird can get under should be included-also laundry rooms(keep door closed;if your feathered friend should get stuck behind your washer or dryer,I can't figure out how someone could get them out safely)I lived in an old house as a child,& a budgie we had got trapped behind the dryer-for a couple days you could hear him chirping-his chirps became weaker,then just stopped;we knew he was dead;it had been 3 days.Because of the way the walls around the dryer space were built,there was no way you could get back there to where the bird was.I had a Quaker parrot run into a small glue trap under the bed in my roommate's bedroom;if I hadn't been in the room when it happened,he probably would've thrashed himself to death.I got him out of it,& he survived-the same bird also survived falling sideways onto a large glue trap(the kind for rats)He survived that,too;sadly,he is no longer w/me,for medical reasons.There are also some common house plants that are poisonous to birds.Flying into windows is another way inside(and outside)birds can be stunned,or killed outright,from the impact.
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