Is Your Parrot Happy?
Parrots magazine|May 2020
Our pet companions are very special to us and it is therefore important that we care for them in the best way possible. Their surroundings, a proper diet, adequate and sufficient housing, stimulation and the opportunity to fly are major considerations that must be borne in mind if your parrot is to be happy.
Robert McKenzie
Is Your Parrot Happy?

Homes and properties can be very different, but the welfare of owners’ birds must always come first. We have to understand that our parrots are not far removed from the wild, if at all, unlike dogs and cats that have become domesticated over the centuries. Parrots, in comparison, are very new to being kept in captivity and we are still in the very early stages of understanding their needs.

I have visited many homes and events around the world and have been astonished at the poor care that some birds have had to endure. And it is not just companion pet owners who are completely ignorant to the needs of their birds, but some breeders too.

I have seen aviaries made with chicken wire, unlike the more suitable, weldmesh, and even repairs carried out with patches wired over rusted sections. The condition of cages in some households has also left me speechless, as to how some owners have let their parrots suffer in silence in filthy cages with no toys or any other forms of stimulation. I can never understand how someone is happy to pay a great deal of money for a parrot and then incarcerate it is a cheap cage with many hazardous parts.

Parrots are incredibly intelligent and need stimulation otherwise they face a life of boredom and depression with owners not being able to understand them. I remember on one occasion I visited a pet owner who had several parakeets in a fairly large room that appeared to be reasonably happy, although falling short of what should have been supplied. The owner was very keen for me to see her Military Macaw that she kept in an upstairs bedroom because it was noisy. Well, I couldn’t believe what I saw. This poor bird was in a cage that I would have suggested was too small for an African Grey, let alone a macaw.

This story is from the May 2020 edition of Parrots magazine.

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This story is from the May 2020 edition of Parrots magazine.

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