Saturday 28 May 2011

Keeping Parakeets. Part I

You should think ahead when first purchasing a parakeet cage such as the Mayfield starter parakeet cage and preparing it. Line the cage with a decent quality cage liner and renew often. Design the cage with perches, water, food and toys. Obtain your parakeet from a reputable bird supplier where the birds are seen to be very well cared for. Ensure the birds are not overcrowded on the perches, and examine they are being fed good, clean, quality food. Be sure that the birds appear happy, vigorous and in excellent condition. Bring the bird home to a quiet home and play soft music for a few days. Caged bird toys are essential to keep the bird occupied and contented.Always keep the water fresh and clean and, with the food, change on a daily basis. Let the bird get accustomed to you and the surroundings, doing nothing but looking after his food/water and cage, before trying to teach him to perch on your finger. From the start you must try feed your bird a healthy pellet diet. Some seed may be ok as a treat but sometimes it can result in  bacterial infection and, consequently too much may affect your bird’s health.
Birds
get accustomed to pellets at different rates, and at first may decline them, perhaps strenuously. Nevertheless, as a rule 90% of Parakeets will convert within a couple weeks by using the following program:
Leave pellets in a food
bowl in the cage at all times. Give birds seed for just 1 hour each morning and 1 hour at night. The rest of the time they need to snack on pellets. Generally, the 10% of parakeets which don't switch in 2 weeks will switch after a short period of reverting to a seed diet.
Add
fresh food regularly. Feed fresh vegetables such as kale, beets, peas, carrots, parsley, cooked yams, sliced apple, mandarin oranges, citrus, and so on. Food may be attached to the bars of the cage or chopped up small and put in a bowl. Offer snacks. Millet sprigs certainly are a favourite treat, but do not feed too much of it (about 1/2" per day), as it really is fattening just like junk food. Steer clear of sweets or excess oats, both of which are fattening. Caged bird products are available to buy at the online pet supermarket of Home Pet Shop.

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