ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 85, © 2003
No reprints without permission

Breeding season is coming up, and now is the time to make sure that you have all the proper cages and cage accessories that you will need to have on hand. Check out our list of some of the more useful accessories Robirda recommends for canary and finch owners.

There are some great cage deals available to bird owners too, from small and large pet cages, to breeding cages, stands, and some of the best flight cages you will find anywhere! There's an even nicer bonus if you live in the continental US - you'll get free shipping! See Robirda's cage reviews for more.

For a full selection of cages and cage accessories, visit BirdandCage.com.

Our special autographed edition of Robirda's book Brats in Feathers, Keeping Canaries has been getting a great response from readers. Don't miss your chance to get one of these unique books! Here's just a few of the comments we've received;

"I ordered 'Canary Tales' by Linda Hogan last year... Although I fully recommend buying her book, I find Robirda's book much more complete, easier to read with less difficulty finding information."

"You have a way of making things easy to understand, and I love the look and feel of your book - not to mention that it is so easy to find the information I am looking for. THANK YOU!!!"

"It's SO beautiful, and the photos and illustrations are wonderful, I love it!!!!!! Thanks so much!!!"

"Received your book today, and was surprised how great it is! It's well worth the cost, thank you!"

Learn more here!

Although this site can be a little difficult to tour, being rife with Active X controls and areas that will not display properly (if at all) in alternate browsers, still, there is a lot of good information here. Take a little time and read through the articles and stories posted here; you and your birds will be happy that you did!

These are the utility cups I wouldn't be without plenty of. I find them especially useful for single birds, because they are deep enough to make it difficult to fling seed about. This makes them particularly handy for use with a bird who enjoys throwing his supplies everywhere. Often it's just a game, and these cups can help control it. Add in the fact that they are extremely easy to clean and change, and you have a real winner!

Welcome to Robirda's Companion Birds eZine

For breeder or pet bird owners who care.

Hello! Welcome to Flock Talk's 85th issue! Subscribe and unsubscribe information for the email version of this ezine is at the bottom of this webpage.

It's that time of year again; the end of another calendar year rolls ever nearer, celebrations abound, and our birds (who very often love to party too) are more apt than ever to get into trouble of some sort - usually from getting their little beaks into places or things where they don't belong.

Please keep a close eye on your pet birds this holiday season, and see that they don't swallow or chew something poisonous. This can include such items as Christmas trees (fake or real), most decorations (which can contain lead or zinc), pointsettia plants, caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, and more.

There's been a good response to the new area to our website, where Bird and Cage Co has made a selection of their most useful and commonly needed bird-cage accessories such as cups, nests, etc, available to our visitors. Many are the same as those Robirda uses daily; learn more at robirda.com/access.html

Feature Article

We've all seen our birds do odd things at different times, for no apparent reason. Perhaps it is this habit of coming up with a new and different approach to the simple things of life that makes talking about our birds so interesting to us, their owners? Get a clutch of bird-owners together, and you will inevitably hear stories about the odd and quirky things their birds do. But no matter how long you listen, there will always be something new to learn about our birds'...

by R C McDonald
Copyright © Dec 2003

Birds do strange things sometimes, everybody agrees. But how many bird-owners realize that their birds quite likely have what is to them a valid reason for these behaviours? Sometimes, it is obvious what the aim of a behaviour is - but others can leave even the most experienced bird-keeper grasping at straws.

Learning to understand why your bird does what he does is a good idea - it will help you understand what to expect from him, as the months and years pass by. But whatever you do, don't expect to reach a point where you understand everything about your bird, because it just won't happen.

Flock Talk reader Jeanne, whose story about taming her pet hen Shadow was featured in Flock Talk 56, writes;

"A scarey incident a couple of days ago could have resulted in a devastating outcome for my Shadow (and me). While I was reading the evening paper, my happy gal retreated to her cage after one of her frequent freeflights. Like a thousand times before, I got up and closed her door so that she could settle into eating, drinking, and being merry.

"Not long after, I noticed the sound of brief bouts of on-again, off-again wing flapping... and while I made a point to ask her what was the matter, I never bothered to look up to see; after all, she was tucked safely in her cage. A short time later, I glanced Shadow's way. There she was on her perch holding her wing up and intently picking at something.

"On closer inspection, I spotted a long strand of synthetic fuzzy thread stretching from Shadow, out through the cage door, and down to the crocheted runner her cage sits on. Earlier, I had noticed her tugging at a then short strand while she was out. Evidently Shadow had succeeded in unraveling a length and thought it a grand find to add to her cage's interior. (She often confiscates stray feathers, fuzzy bits, and other schnibbles that she finds while out.)

"I took her up in my hand and found that she'd managed to get herself in a real bind. It took some time to untangle her, for the thread was wound about her neck, one wing, between her legs and around one of them, and back around the same wing again.

"Since the light colored strand lay beneath her feathers I had a difficult time, not knowing how many times it circled around any spot, nor whether to 'unwind' clockwise or the other (hoping not to tangle her further).

"All ended well, thankfully - and I'm so glad that I hadn't left the room without checking on her. If I hadn't, I'd have never realized she was in trouble.

"So, while our fid's cages may be safe havens as a rule, I've learned that we do have to be careful about what our beloved freeflighted tweets bring home with them! From now on, Shadow will get a visual pat-down when I tuck her into her cage."

In this case, Shadow's quirk of confiscating little bits of interesting items to bring to her cage almost got her into trouble which could have killed her. Other habits may be less dangerous, but often are no less confusing.

Flock Talk reader Judy writes, "My canary Pedro takes a beak full of his dry food out of his dish, sets it on top of the dish cover (this is the clear plastic type that hangs on the inside of the cage via a feeder door), and then he proceeds to eat first the larger bits of food grains before licking up the powdery remnants.

"Then he repeats with the next beak full. He also deliberately stops whatever he's doing to eat when we eat if he can see us eating. I have no idea what is normal behavior as this is my first canary (he's 3 yrs old) and I have had him 2 yrs. He has been pure joy to have in our home."

It's been a lot of years now, but my first canary performed exactly the same behaviour, and several other canaries I have known have done the same. On thinking about it, I realized that they all had the same enclosed seed cups

People (and therefor maufacturers and retailers) love these seed cups, for several reasons - the main ones quoted usually being a) they help to contain the mess, and, b) they make it easier to check, change, and refresh the seed (or pellets).

Within less than 5 years of getting my first canary, though, I had stopped using them, because my canaries didn't like them. They took to the clearer ones a little better, but, they still didn't like them.

I found I didn't like them much either. The cups tended to stick, instead of sliding easily in and out, and most had some difficult corners to clean. Sometimes the whole contraption would come right off the cage while I was wrestling with the cup, which meant more fussing to get it back on properly - usually spilling a fair bit of seed in the process.

Perhaps because because they didn't much like using them, many of my canaries who had these for their only cups developed the habit of removing the seed by mouthfuls at a time to eat; some used the top of the feeder, while others used some other item, or sometimes even the floor.

This not only didn't save any mess-making, as these cups are said to do, but meant MORE mess, in the long run!

Then an avian vet mentioned to me that enclosed seed cups also hold in all the chaff and dust and such. This is very handy when it comes to cleaning up, but makes it far more likely that sooner or later, the bird might inhale some of that same dust while he is trying to eat.

If enough gets into his lungs, where there is so much warmth and moisture, these bits of food can encourage the growth of moulds and such. This in turn causes the disease known as 'aspergillosis', which has killed many a bird.

The symtoms are congestion and difficulty breathing, but many other bird diseases have the same symptoms, and aspergillosis is difficult and expensive to test for in a live bird (although it is easier to detect in a necropsy).

Many people (and even vets!) will treat a bird who is showing signs of respiratory distress for air sac mites before testing for the presence of other problems, which will only serve to weaken and further stress an already sick bird.

There is another trait shared by many canaries that could be in play with Judy's bird; no matter what kind of seed cup they have, most of my canaries have a favourite spot for eating special foods. I call this their 'office'.

Treats and greens and such will get hauled up to the 'office' to be eaten, sometimes with a fair bit of effort, and it can be quite funny to see how much this simple action seems to enhance their enjoyment! Given the fact that he seems to enjoy eating all the little bits and then licking up the crumbs, I would think that perhaps Judy's canary has adopted this habit strictly for the pleasure of it.

Needless to say, this 'office' use also makes more mess - but hey, when it comes right down to it, birds are messy, no matter how you look at it! They have a wonderful ability to enjoy life to the full - and that seems to include spreading whatever they come into contact with, all over their home (and yours, if they live in it.)

I call them 'Nature's little Mulch-makers'... and yes, my vacuum does get rather a lot of exercise. But I consider it a small price to pay for sharing my life with these enthusiastic parcels of feather and song... and besides which, they make me laugh! Where else could I get such a great return for my effort?

We would like to feature more stories on this fascinating aspect of keeping birds, so why not write in and let us know what quirky or interesting traits and personalities your birds have?

Send us your stories of how your birds confuse and puzzle, interest and amuse you, and we will share them with all our readers in a future issue.

In the meantime - we all wish you the very merriest of the season, and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!

by R C McDonald
Copyright © Dec 2003

Our tip this issue comes from Flock Talk reader Judy Wedemeyer in Alaska, who writes: "Making salad ahead works well for pet sitters, and during limited mobility from surgery or other health issues." Here's how Judy makes her 'Bird Salad Bar', which allows her to pre-prepare her bird greens for a week.

Use a salad spinner to wash & spin dry the leaves of only the freshest kale, collard greens, swiss chard and broccoli. (Note: be careful not to offer much swiss chard or spinach, as they are high in oxalic acid, which inhibits digestion of calcium)

Towel dry any excess moisture. Carefully oarse chop the greens; cutting too fine will speed up decomposition even in the fridge. Mix greens together, and line the bottom of a plastic storage container with a damp paper towel that the cold water has been mostly wrung out of. Loosely place the greens on top of the moistened paper towel without packing down. Make sure the lid is sealed well, keep refrigerated, and daily discard anything looking the least bit wilted.

As long as they are kept fresh in separate containers (because of their moisture content and shorter shelf life), you can add one or more of the following items to perk up the basic salad just before serving:

• shredded carrot
• fresh chopped apple
• hard boiled egg (in limited amounts)
• brocolli florettes
• corn kernels
• peas
• romaine lettuce
• spinach leaves

Judy's bird likes a small pile of this salad served on a dry paper towel, over the wire grid on the bottom of his cage. The food won't fall through the wire, and it is easier on his feet. She makes sure not to put it under perches, where it will get soiled. At the day's end, it is folded up and thrown away - no dishes to clean!

Sponsor us for $75 or more and you'll get a free lifetime Nest membership! For all those who continue to help out in so many ways, thank you for your warmth and caring.

If you're looking for something different, don't forget to check our home page at robirda.com for links to all our great products!

Our next issue is due Jan 4th. We hope you and your birds stay safe, well and happy and that you all have a wondeful season. We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!  

Robirda
Dec 21, 2003