The Canary Cam is a small java-based web-page, where, when the Cam is running (during the canaries' daytime only) a new picture is uploaded to the web every 30 seconds. Eggs have been laid, and soon - who knows?

Those of you who can't view Java pages can see last year's Canary Cam babies in the Cam Archives

Raised head feathers means interest, alertness, curiosity. If the bird is also leaning towards the object of his interest, it means that he wants it (usually, to eat)

Feathers held slicked down tightly, as close to the body as possible, when accompanied with an extreme upright stance, is called 'making himself scare', and means the bird is very afraid - he is, in effect, trying to make himself as small and insignificant as possible.

Holding the wings out a little from the body, still half-folded, and shaking them at you, means 'You aren't doing this the way I wanted!'. A half-opened beak and a lowered, forward-thrust head, sometimes accompanied by a hissing sound, is a threat, and means 'stay away'. (ignore this one, and even a canary will bite you!)

Try to spend some time every day, watching your birds, and try to learn what they are telling you, in their own way - it will improve your relationship with them immeasureably!

Many of our water sources contain low levels of giardia and other protazoals. This water will pass routine water inspections provided the levels are low enough to not be injurious to dogs, cats, or human babies. These same low levels will often times cause problems for our birds - especially our young chicks. Low levels of infection typically cause increased early chick death and increased dead in shell. In adults it causes pasty vents, slow weight loss and eventual death.

By treating the flock with Ronivet prior to the breeding season, we are able to eliminate many of these needless losses. Ronivet-S is a water soluble, water stable chemical that has extremely high safety margins. It does not make the male birds infertile, and can be used at any stage of the birds breeding cycle to combat protozoal infection.

For more information
visit birds2grow.com

Welcome to the Companion Birds e-zine

For bird people who care.

Hello! Welcome to the eighteenth issue of Flock Talk! This e-zine is about the joys and trials of keeping or breeding companion birds of all sorts. I hope you like what you see! If you have comments, ideas, tips, tricks, or stories to share,please send them to Robirda

Bird Site Report

Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Cockatoos!
http://www.mytoos.com/

Anybody who is considering buying one of the larger parrots as a pet should visit this site first - although it is primarily about cockatoos, much of the plentiful advice and information applies to other species of hookbill too.

There are other extra special goodies as well. Have you (or your neighbours for a block or more around) ever spent hours listening to a large parrot who is in a good mood? This site offers this experience, and much more. Highly recommended, especially to owners of smaller birds who might be considering 'moving up'.

Sources Wanted

Feature Article

Most owners and breeders of smaller birds will agree that sometimes they get a little tired of sifting through all the easily-available big-bird information which tends to dominate bird magazines and books, looking for information on their own birds. Many have told me that they don't pay much attention at to results of studies done on the larger species of birds, because their birds are different.

Well, this may be true in many ways, but there is one area which is too often not offered adequate attention by bird owners. Ironically, it is one in which size does not really matter all that much. I am talking about diet.

If you, as a caring bird owner or breeder, don't spend at least some time reading about studies and research done in this field, on whatever species of bird, considering ways in which this information may be relevant to your own bird(s), you may, in the end, become one of those owners who, to their shock and dismay, realize that they too are being asked;

by Wilhelm Kiesselbach

That's a shocking statement to start any article off with, I know. Still, I am always amazed that more pet bird owners don't understand how easy this is to do - just feed your beloved pet the wrong diet.

Almost all of our birds originate from tropical or sub-tropical areas of the planet. Although we cannot duplicate their wild diet, it is not difficult to get a fairly clear idea just what their needs and requirements are - research and science has shown some very specific data in this field.

If we want them to share our homes with us, then it is our responsibility to make sure they get what they need, is it not? After all - otherwise they'll die, slowly but surely! Some more slowly and miserably than others.

Most people are committed to a relatively healthy diet for themselves. Subjects such as obesity, lack of nutrition, and 'junk food' are endlessly discussed. Solutions and cures are sought commonly enough to allow this subject to represent a billion dollar industry. Human dietary regimes are often rigorously observed. Do our birds deserve anything less?

Here is my personal opinion: In my search for the optimal dietary items for my birds I found and tried Palm Fruit. I consider this food to be one of the best kept secrets in bird-keeping.

As the name indicates, Palm Fruit grows on certain palms in West Africa, and is also found on related trees in the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Palm fruit has long been recognized as the single most important element in the wild diet of African Greys. Recently completed studies indicate a preference for Palm Fruit by New World Parrots such as Macaws, Conures, and Amazons. It arguably represents the single most beneficial dietary component available for our birds.

In the U.S. it is available from certain bird supply stores, such as Hornbecks. Usually it is sold as 'human grade pulp' in 28 oz cans. There are those who argue that its fat content is too high and that using it can lead to obesity in our caged birds, most of which are not able to exercise as vigorously as their wild cousins. That may be true if it is fed indiscriminately.

Here as in most dietary issues the key is moderation. There are a number of options for feeding it, ranging from using it direct from the can to mixing it with other foods. It can even be used to make 'birdie cookies'. These are best kept for offering as occasional treats.

I have never been able to understood why Palm Fruit as a part of a healthy bird's diet is still so uncommon. I use it all the time, my birds LOVE it, are in beautiful feather and pass their annual vet tests with flying colors. Everbody who keeps birds should try this nutrient rich food. (editor's note - see the 'Tips and Tricks' section in this issue to find a recipe for Wilhelm's excellent Palm-fruit cookies)

One more element is extremely important in maintaining a healthy pet bird - keep the drinking water clean.

Studies have shown that more avian diseases have been transmitted through unclean drinking water than any other methods. If your bird insists on soaking his kibbles in his drinking water, get a tube-and-nozzle drinker for him to use instead. After all, would you like to drink that stinky, smelly stuff that I see in so many bird cages? Right, neither does a bird.

Unfortunately many times he does not have a choice!

Since I have started my 'Parrot Helpline', I have received literally hundreds of calls from people who experienced problems with their parrots. The majority of these callers have absolutely no clue about the nutritional requirements of their bird. The results invariably spell disaster. Here are just two examples:

1.         My Eclectus is plucking - HELP!!

I made a house call. What I found was a completely naked bird clearly suffering from severe malnutrition. Although there may be other reasons adding to his misery, malnutrition was clearly one of them. When asked, the loving mom informed me that "he eats what we eat". He always eats a lot! He has a "really sweet tooth" and loves "lots of sugar on his cereal", for example.

It got worse from there. All of this was justified by her overwhelming love for him! She had been mistreating him like this for years. At least three-quarters of the diet of an Eclectus MUST consist of fresh fruits and vegetables, with more than usual roughage because an eclectus' intestines are longer than those of other species.

2.        My Goffin is plucking, HELP!

My first suggestion was for the bird to be taken to see an avian vet,immediately. This had already been done, and results showed nothing wrong with the bird. Again, I asked about diet. The response was "Oh, he loves peanuts"

It turned out that ninety percent of this bird's diet consisted of peanuts! Peanuts have minimal nutritional value and large amounts of fat. Too many peanuts will kill any bird, although it is true that they well-liked. Be warned, though; many of the peanuts purchased in local stores may be suited for human consumption but are dangerous for a bird, due to the presence of even minimal traces of aflatoxin. This substance can kill birds!

The safest advice is: NO peanuts!

It must be noted that behavior destructive of the feathers may have many reasons such as stress or disease - there is no doubt however, that an unhealthy diet can be and often is the first and most important contributor. It adversely affects the bird's immune system and sense of well being. To put it bluntly, just as with us, a poor diet will make our birds sick!

A proper diet for our birds requires just as much of a commitment as providing a loving and nurturing environment. A correct diet is critical to the bird's health and emotional well being. There are very specific guidelines regarding the proper vitamin and mineral dosage our birds must have to stay healthy and it is every bird owner's responsibility to learn about that. There is no substitute for, nor are there any short cuts to a healthy bird diet.

Check out these web articles for more details!

http://www.petbirdreport.com/ahealthy.shtml
http://www.petbirdreport.com/idiot.shtml
http://www.itsagreysworld.com/articles/index.html#DIET

by Wilhelm Kiesselbach
copyright © April 2001
http://www.nd.edu./~kkiessel/

"This is my favourite birdie-cookie recipe. Go ahead and vary it if you like, according to your preference.

"My birds utterly adore these cookies, and I quite like them myself - Palm Fruit pulp has a very interesting nutty scent and flavor. It is very high in amino acids and a large spectrum of vitamins and beneficial oils. Hornbecks also sells the oil in bottles, as well as cans of the pulp. I have used this oil sometimes, too, but I believe that it is too concentrated - the pulp offers a better balance.

"Good luck with those cookies - and don't eat them all yourself!   ;-) "

Take 4 eggs and run them through the blender, shells and all. In a large bowl, mix an entire 28-oz can of Palm Fruit pulp, the blended eggs, 2 boxes of Jiffy's oatmeal muffin mix, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon, 2 8-oz bags of finely ground almonds and 2-8 oz bags of chipped almonds.

At this point the dough is not yet of cookie consistency - it is too thin. Once this 'mush' is thoroughly mixed add flour until it gets to the right consistency, nice and thick.

Portion the dough on a cookie sheet with a table spoon and bake at 375 degrees F for about 30 minutes. They should be a little crisp on the outside but still soft on the inside. Freeze what you won't use in a week.

"What do you mean when you say a hen is 'sitting tight' on her eggs?"

My answer;

"When a hen is laying eggs, she often will spend as much time off her eggs as on them, until the entire clutch is laid. Once incubation has begun, however, she will leave the nest only rarely, and only for brief periods of time.

"Her droppings will be produced only once or twice a day, and will be HUGE in comparison to those from a hen who is not breeding. This is entirely normal, and is nothing to worry about. She will eat in a hurry, and scurry back to her nest as fast as possible, to get back on her eggs.

"Sometimes a hen will begin incubating her eggs before the entire clutch is laid. This can make it difficult for chicks who hatch later than their siblings to get their fair share of the food. Observing just how your hen is sitting on her eggs can help you avoid this problem.

"A hen who comes and goes from the nest may spend a little time on her nest, but she is not incubating. A hen who is incubating her clutch of eggs is said to be 'setting', or, 'sitting tight'. Often the description of a setting hen will be phrased as 'She sits on those eggs as if glued to them'.

Well, I guess that's it for this time - hope everybody has a safe and happy time over the next couple of weeks! The next issue is due out May 13th - until then, may you and your birds enjoy all the best of everything!

Robirda
April 29, 2001
Vancouver, BC