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ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 132, © 2005
No reprints without permission
Sponsor's Space
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Christmas Sale!! Save up to $168.00 on selected wrought iron cages, until Dec 31st!
The folks at Bird & Cage aim to provide bird keepers with a great selection of good quality birdcages and accessories for great prices, along with some of the best customer service you will find anywhere, and their customers agree, they do a great job!
A recent customer says,"I just wanted to thank you for the beautiful cage I ordered. It arrived in 8 days and was well packaged and in excellent condition. The cage exceeded my expectations in looks and was easy to put together. Your prices are great and I will recommend your company to others. Thanks again."
For a full selection of cages and cage accessories, visit BirdandCage.com.
Bird Lungs Fact
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The Lung Association of Saskatchewan says, "Bird lungs are special, because they have an opening at each end. Human lungs are like balloons - new air comes in, gets used, and goes out the same way it entered. In bird lungs, new air comes in one end, and the used air goes out the other end! Special air sacs before the lungs store air before it's ready to enter the lungs, and air sacs after the lungs store air until it's ready to be breathed out.
"The open-ended lungs and air sacs work together to allow birds to put fresh air through their lungs when they're breathing in AND out! Humans can only get fresh air in their lungs when they breathe in. Bird lungs are much better at getting oxygen out of the air than human lungs. When humans climb Mount Everest, they need oxygen tanks to help them get enough oxygen. Birds can fly up that high without any help, because of their special lungs!"
Help Needed
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Do you know of a great bird site which deserves a review? Maybe you have a favourite tip or trick that you like to use, or know of a product that has made your bird's life better or easier to manage in some way? Why not share them with other Flock readers? Just send an email here.
Links
Table of Contents
- Home
- Products
- Basic Care
- Breeding
- Photographs
- Flock Talk
- Canary Cam
- Canary Cam DVD
- Birds Board
- Canary FAQs
- Books & eBooks
- Canary Song CD
- Tug 'N Swing
- Care Sheets
- Bird Cages
- Cage Accessories
- The Nest
- Questions?
- Contact
- Links Pages
- Personal
- Privacy Policy
- Site Map
- Testimonials
"I love your website, your information has made me a very well-informed canary friend/owner. Thank you."
"Thank you for your love of birds and your commitment for helping those of us who are learning to share our lives with our feathered friends!"
"Robirda's website, bird board and e-zine are invaluable tools for any birdlover."
"I ordered 'Canary Tales' by Linda Hogan last year...Although I fully recommend buying the book, I find Robirda's book much more complete, easier to read with less difficulty finding information."
"I cannot thank you enough for your kind and considerate responses to all of our questions. Your website has really been a wonderful find for us! And we absolutely love your canary CD!"
"Just a short note to tell you how great your ezine is... As a long time bird lover I thank you for your wonderful mag. Keep up the great work!"
"You have the most informative and helpful small bird site on the Web. I have found your information priceless and inspiring."
Welcome to Robirda's Companion Bird eZine
For breeder or pet bird owners who care.
Website News
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Coming Soon! We've taken higher-quality version of our best Canary Cam pics and made them into a DVD slideshow, accompanied by the same lovely songs featured on our popular Canary Song CD. Plays on most DVD players - just pop it in, and listen to Robirda's canaries singing while you watch canary courtship, see the nests being built, and see the babies hatch and grow, all on your own computer or TV!
This DVD will make a wonderful gift, and will be available within a week or less, but there's more! We've decided to make it available to you now for pre-order at a special early bird price! All pre-orders will be sent out by airmail within a week or less, so should arrive in plenty of time for the holidays.
This special introductory price won't last long, so order yours now! www.robirda.com/camshow.html
Feature Article
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Air Quality
by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © Nov 2005
Air quality is one of those things that we so often forget to consider; after all, air can't be seen with the naked eye, and only relatively strong movement is perceived by our senses, as a breeze or a wind.
Unless there's a strong or unpleasant odor, we don't tend to notice air quality, yet clean air is one of the most important ingredients in the recipe that adds up to an optiminally functioning living being such as a human, a parrot, or a canary.
Humans are lucky enough to have our own built-in 'air filters'; our noses contain small fine hairs to help to trap small particles out of the air, before the air is drawn into our bodies, and it doesn't stop there; air that is breathed in through the nose or mouth is filtered some more on the way down the windpipe, by tiny hairs known as cilia (sill-ee-uh) that move gently to help trap mucus and dirt.
If allowed to enter our lungs, particles could lodge in a warm nook or cranny, where the plentiful moisture and warmth could encourage moulds and bacteria to proliferate. By filtering the air we breathe in, our body assists us in staying healthy.
Since we are able to a large extent to deal fairly easily with particulates in the air, we don't easily realize how much more sensitive our birds are to the quality of the air they breathe.
Our birds have no such built-in filtration systems as we do, to help filter the air they breathe, and protect their delicate air passages, so important to their health. Their evolution prepared them to live in an environment where the natural action of the weather would help to keep the air they breathe relativly clean, but that is not the case in our homes. It is up to us to see that the air our pets breathe is as clean as possible.
Unfortunately, many buildings tend to hold quite a lot of particulate matter in the air, and sometimes recirculate it, too. When the weather is cooperative, windows can be opened to allow stale, dust-laden air out and fresh air in, but when it's too hot or too cold out, the dust, dirt, and other particulate content in the inside air can build up to alarming levels more quickly than most of us realize.
This can happen especially easy in homes that rely on venting and ducts to circulate the air (whether heated or cooled) throughout the house, and it can happen even more quickly in a bird room - especially when the phrase 'draft-free' is mistakenly interpreted to mean 'no air circulation'.
Yes, it's true that a constant draft (whether hot or cold) that a bird can't step out of at will can cause illness or out-of-season moulting. But that doesn't mean that it's necessary to shut out all the air circulation!
Good air circulation shuold never be sacrificed in the name of preventing drafts - instead, what's needed is to provide the bird a means of gaining shelter from any drafts when he wants it. Often the solution is as simple as draping a cloth over one corner of a cage, or moving the cage and stand only a few feet away.
Once cages are properly positioned so as to provide good air circulation along with a little shelter from prevailing drafts, you can turn your attention to keeping the air itself clean.
There's several ways to help you to clean out as much as possible of any dust, dirt, and other particulate matter that's found it's way into the air in your home; in most instances a varying combination of one or more of these solutions will work for you. What kind or combination of systems you choose to use will depend on the heating and cooling systems already installed in your home, as well as on the size of your budget.
One of the first options often considered is to add extra or upgraded filters to existing heating or cooling units. When combined with regular thorough cleaning of all vents and ducts, these simple steps can produce surprisingly good results, and remain quite cost-effective too. Vent filters can be added in each room, which, as long as they are changed regularly, will also help to increase the effectiveness of the filtration.
Another common approach involves acquiring individual stand-alone air filtration units for each room or series of rooms. Such units can be fairly effective at cleaning the air, especially if used in a limited area.
Most stand-alone individual air filtering units come with their own filters, but look out! Many of these filters cannot be cleaned and reused, but must instead be thrown out when dirty. Leaving dirty filters in place can make your air problem worse, not better, and filter replacement cost can be quite high.
Another drawback is that unless you are willing to pay a fairly hefty sum, most stand-alone models are good for cleaning only a rather limited area, often expressed in cubic feet. Be sure to calculate the actual cubic footage of the area you want to filter so you can know if a unit you're considering purchasing will be effective for your home.
You will want to note that a unit used near birds will likely require having its filters replaced far more often than most sellers' estimates. Their estimates are based on normal usage in homes without pet birds, and while we all know how wonderful our birds are, it's also true that between the feathers and seed, they can produce tremendous amounts of dust!
That brings us to one of the biggest problems with all air filtering and circulating systems, the need for regular cleaning of the system, and replacement of dirty filters. Whether you use special filters in your home's existing system, or add stand-alone units in each room where you want the air quality improved, it is important to remember that you will also need to clean and maintain the units, and clean or replace the filters as needed.
It can't be emphasized strongly enough, that dirty filters in any air circulation system can be worse than no filters at all! Not only can they pump dust and dirt back into the air, but in some cases the accumulated dirt can begin to breed unwanted bacteria that can also be pumped into the air!
This is particularly true of units that include humidifiers. It can be all too easy to get so busy that we forget to check the air filters and clean out the tank for a humidifier on a regular basis, but to forget these so-essential steps can lead to harm, for yourself as well as for your pets. So whatever system you decide to use, be sure to remember to perform basic maintenance on a regular basis.
Some air cleaning systems don't use filters to clean the air, but instead generate negative ions near collector plates that 'grab' dirt out of the air, while others use ultraviolet light or generate ozone. The latter two systems in particular are supposed to be effective at sterilizing any harmful bacteria that may be present.
Confusion has been known to arise between the systems that produce ozone for cleansing the air, and those that produce negatives ions for the same purpose. In fact, these two systems are very different from each other. Negative ions are beneficial to living beings, unlike ozone, which can be toxic even in fairly tiny amounts. Sadly, this fact is rarely if ever mentioned by most marketers, whose job, after all, is not to be truthful, but simply to sell their product!
Negative ions not only encourage dust and dirt to settle on nearby surfaces instead of floating about in the air, but also lend nearby living beings a feeling of well-being. Another bonus is that negative ionizers require very little maintenance, besides being cleaned regularly; unlike most other means of cleaning the air, there is seldom any filters needing to be replaced. In most cases, cleaning simply involves removing the collector plates or generating needles, (following the instructions for your model), washing them off, then reinstalling them once they're dry.
Some air filtration units on the market will incorporate more than one means of cleaning the air into one machine. It's fairly common to see stand-alone units that include negative ionizers and/or an ozonator as well as a filter. A few of these use filters are washable and reusable, but most require replacing.
I've tried a few such combination units, but in my experience none have proved to be much (if any) more effective than the less complex, much cheaper units they purport to replace. In fact, considering how much more expensive they usually are, I myself would recommend using the simpler, more reliable methods!
If you haven't yet taken steps to improve the air quality in your home, try a few of these ideas to find the best solution for your home, and you just might be surprised at how much easier you and your pets will breathe!
by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © Nov 2005
A recent consultee says, "Just wanted to let you know we acquired a beautiful new canary last week... We...were assured that we could contact the breeder at any time with any questions or concerns. We picked the prettiest canary and happily brought him home. He started singing within two days of his arrival! I am so happy to have a little singer again, his song just fills up the house!
"I cannot thank you enough for your kind and considerate responses to all of our questions. Your website has really been a wonderful find for us! And we absolutely love your canary CD!
"Thank you for your love of birds and your commitment for helping those of us who are learning to share our lives with our feathered friends!"
* * * Robirda's customers find her answers to be detailed, reliable, caring and supportive. When you need help with housing, feeding, care or behavioral questions, Robirda can help you learn to understand your birds better. Learn more here
"Everyone always asks me why my birds are such beautiful singers and breed such magnificent babies...I tell them that I learned from Robirda! While they give their birds all kinds of 'magical' formulas, I just follow your guide to 'keep it simple.' My birds are now very healthy, and there has been no recurrence of the infection. Thank Goodness!" R.C., Florida
Song CD
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It's been almost two years since we first offered our latest CD of Robirda's canaries singing for sale, and it is proving to be a popular choice for many people, both for themselves or as a gift. We have received a great deal of positive feedback from our customers. Here's just a few of the more recent comments:
"My 'baby' Jingles and I are both thrilled with your CD! It arrived within days of my purchase and it's the best CD out there! I have purchased every CD available, and yours was the only one my canary responded to. He...is singing his little heart out now!"
"I received the CD today... I put it on the player and our canary Mustard Seed began chirping and singing within a couple minutes. It is a beautiful recording, thanks so much!"
"Just a quick message to thank you for your prompt delivery of my CD. Your CD has done wonders for my canary, he hasn't sang for months and now he tries to out sing the CD, very fulfilling for me to watch! Thank you for a great product!"
Find out more about our Canary Song CD!
Product Review
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I've been using this little gem of an air cleaner for more than three years now, and wouldn't be without it! It works well, does not require replacement filters, and it even lets me know when it needs cleaning! Rather than brushing off the accumulated dirt, I just remove the entire collection plate system and wash it, allowing it to dry before replacing it. Improving the air quality in your home just doesn't get any easier than this!
* * *Do you know of a good or bad bird product? Why not review it for Flock Talk readers? We accept review for foods, cages & cage accessories, toys, and other bird items. To arrange for a review, send us a brief description of the product(s) here, with the subject line 'Product Reviews'
Stories Wanted
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Send us your stories of how your birds confuse and puzzle, interest and amuse you, and we will share them with the rest of our readers in a future issue. Just send an email here.
For you
& Your Birds,
With Love
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If you find help you need in this ezine or on one of our websites, please consider joining our sponsors.
Read testimonials or find out more about becoming a sponsor. If you're looking for something different, check our home page for links to all our great products!
Our next issue is due Sunday, Nov 20th. We hope you and your birds stay safe, well and happy in the meantime, and we look forward to seeing you all then!
"Hi Robirda! Thanks for your thoughts. My little one is singing as loudly as ever. He looks much better today. Your advice was most welcome; I'm particularly grateful about the recipes! I sent you the same amount the vet charged me; you have done no less than he did. You are a real blessing to all of us canary lovers the world over."
"Thank you so much for the book on canaries. That is a really nice book. I needed one, because I bought my Mom two canaries, a male and a female, we don't know anything about them. I'm so glad to have this book, I couldn't believe how much was in there. Thank you so much!"
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