XO Parrots - Parrot Forum
 
Bird of the Month
by Jessika
What gender is Loki: We were told he was male, but not 100% until he has his moult.
What breed: Cockatiel.
What mutation: Pearl/Pied.
When did you get him: We brought him home on the 3rd of July.
How old is he: I think hes about 5 months.
What made you want to get him: I've wanted a tiel for a long time and i started researching them about 4 months ago, and after i had
priced the cage, perches,food and toys, i started looking for a tiel, i walked into the petshop where i buy
all of my birds, and he was sitting looking down at me, and when i spoke to him he lifted his foot and
waved, and i instantly thought "your coming home with me".
Click here to
read the entire interview.
Member of the Month
by Jessica
Name a word that best describes you: It would probably have to be "intelligent" I hear it a lot, lol.
What are some of your hobbys: I love taking pics of the birds, I belly dance when I can, I like to travel whenever possible, and with all the birds, its not often! Visiting friends is fun sometimes too.
Favorite book: I dont read books really, but I do alot of online research, mostly on birds.
What are some of your pet peeves: People who cant drive!!
Do you have other pets: Yup, we have 4 red eared sliders.
How do your family members react to the birds: My family doesnt really care about my birds except my grandma, she always wants to hold them and says how pretty they are.
How many birds do you have and what are they: With breeders, pets and babies, we have close to 90 birds. We have cockatiels, quakers, caiques, meyers, senegals, red bellies, plumheads, ringnecks, alexandrines, moustached parakeets, and we raise different kinds of macaws. Right now we have greenwings and a scarlet, and with any luck, we will have a hyacinth this fall.
Click here to
read the entire interview.
Hot Buy
by Jessika
This article's Hot Buy comes from My Parrot Shop. It's a product called, "Hide and Beak". It's a foraging foot toy made out of vegetable tanned leather. They come in a variety of sizes and thicknesses to meet all parrot's chewing needs.
Check out the product.
XO Parrots Award
by Scott
This months XO Parrots Award goes to Parrot Canada. This website was handpicked by our Award Manager, a direct quote from him about the site can be found below.
"I picked this website because it has a lot of fun tips and it is a great resourceful group for everyone who loves and owns parrots!"-Scott
Check out their awesome website!
XO Parrots Book Club
by Liz
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling.
From the Publisher
Don't miss the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's bestselling Harry Potter series!
Buy it Today!
Recipe Highlight
by Isaac Miller
Rhubarb Pie w/ Cheesecake topping posted by Sandy.
This edition we find ourselves exploring culinary greatness as engendered by our grandmothers. Sandy has brought out the most memorable recipe of my grandmother's kitchen Rhubarb Pie and added a contempory twist to an already delicious dish by making it with the greatest thing to hit a bagel, Cream Cheese, which has also been noted as one of the best toppings for most wedding cakes to date. Check out the yummy goodness brought by Sandy.
Check out the recipe.
Arcade Overview
by Meghanxx4
For those who have yet to visit the arcade, the arcade is a great place to have some fun. You don’t even have to be great at games just have fun. The Arcade includes a selection of over 180 games, and daily tournaments. Here are just a few games chosen from the arcade.
This week’s games include: Bob Sled 2, BarbBQ Beef and Sober Santa.
Bob Sled 2:
In the game Bob Sled 2 the object of the game is to complete the bob sled races. Use your left and right arrow keys to steer, and your up arrow key to accelerate. Make sure you don’t hit the sides, or else you get disqualified from the race, as well as a game over.
BarbBQ Beef:
BarbBQ Beef is a fairly simple game. You are given a few sticks of raw beef, your job is to cook them and serve them. In order to keep your guests happy you have to make sure you don’t burn the Beef, and you have to make sure to cook both sides enough so there not undercooked. The key is to keep flipping them all, don’t let them stay un flipped any longer than about 5 seconds. If you make too many guests unhappy then you get a game over.
Sober Santa:
Sober Santa includes a Santa who starts out fairly sober. Your object is to get him really drunk by picking (drinking) up as many alcohol glasses as possible. Be careful not to walk into the train track which surrounds Santa and his drinks. If you walk into the train track, or train Santa gets electrocuted. If he gets electrocuted too many times then it’s game over for Santa. You use your arrow keys to maneuver Santa.
That concludes this week’s Arcade Review!
Site Updates
by M2Jackie
Jackie has prepared a thread filled with our site updates. You can check it out here.
Rainbow Bridge Obituaries
by Shea
XO member Kila recently lost her budgie Kila. Kila will be missed greatly.
Bird Profile
by Liz
This month's Bird Profile is the Firey Shouldered Conure. Check out this month's Bird Profile here.
New Arrival's
by JuliesGonnaDance
Check out all of our new arrivals and hear all about them here.
Debate Central
by Jessika
Hand tame birds. That's what everyone wants isn't it? But to what lengths will we go to get our ideal bird? Is it worth putting the bird's life in danger?
Socialization is very important in the growth and development of a healthy, handtame baby bird. This is the reason a lot of breeders hand-feed their babies. They believe that feeding builds a bond between feeder and chick. This is the primary reason for selling unweaned baby birds. Breeders tell potential buyers that the bond between them and the unweaned bird will be strengthened by the feeding process. This is a sound theory, hypothetically speaking.
There is however, one problem. It takes YEARS of experience, and in certain states, it also takes a permit to handfeed baby birds. It's not just a simple thing that anyone can do just because the decided to do it. Crop burn, slow crop, and aspiration causing asphyxiation pneumonia, not feeding enough causing starvation or malnutrition, or feeding too much.
A lot of breeders that have parent raised chicks claim that feeding is not necessary in the socialization proccess and that simply interacting with the bird will suffice.
This is a simple task of seeing if the risks outweight the benefits... what do you think?
Debate it!
Short Story
by Shea
Read it here.
Private Group Overview
by Liz
Check out our overview with full descriptions of all of our private groups and what's new with them here.
Awesome Week
by Hbsgarden
It was an awesome week at XO Parrots. Heck, it's always an awesome week! Whether someone has good news, like a new Fid, or a DIY project, or sad news to share...the wonderful group of people on XO are the most supportive folks on Earth! How else could such a diverse group of people from all over the globe come together like this?! Starting out with one thing in common, our love of birds, and ending up with caring friendships, even though most of us will never meet. The love and support on XO is unequaled anywhere!
And we, the members, want to thank our wonderful administrators, Liz & Isaac, for allowing us all the pleasure of being a part of XO Parrots. For nurturing our friendships, and our love and knowledge of the birds that are so much a part of our lives. And last but not least, for giving so much of your time and finances to keep this site going. XO means so much to so many of us, and we are going to challenge each other to help you keep this wonderful forum here for us!
So this awesome week ( we hope you don't mind) is dedicated to you, Liz & Isaac! For all you do, this week's for YOU! Thank you!
Love, All your Members of XO
XO Training Group
by Liz
"You should make sure your bird has 12+ hours of sleep every night, no less than that. Your bird should be getting all of his/her required sleep every night. If you sleep in the same room as your avian friend, try to keep the tv off and the lights off. If you must have a television on, move him to a different room, he isn't getting any sleep and this will affect his mood severely. Normally this will put him in breeding condition and he will treat you like his mate, which includes biting, drawing blood, and moodiness. If you have a female bird, this can lead to laying eggs and the risk of egg binding."-Liz
Get More Tips.
Health Talk
by PinkDagger
The Scoop on Parrot Chow
The Scoop on Parrot Chow
It doesn't take a genius to realize we do not and, for the most part, cannot provide our companion parrots what they would eat in the wild. We do what we can with what we have to best supplement our feathered children's nutrition in order to try and parallel the natural health of their wild brethren.
It becomes difficult to maintain a 24 hour source of fresh food, as would be found in the wild. It is also a bit of a challenge to fetch and keep fresh the native foods of places such as Australia, Africa, New Zealand, etc. (with the exception of those lucky inhabitants!), especially those pesticide free. Many owners do their best to find ways to complete their parrots' diets through the fresh food available in their area, often times more commonly seen as people food and considered "table scraps" like broccoli, asparagus, lettuces, spinach, apples, carrots, and so on. It is very important that, even though they may not be consistent in comparison to the native diet, fresh foods of variety are very important. Fresh foods carry many nutrients that cannot be replaced by dry foods despite many company claims.
Outdated information implies that companion birds of all types require seed diets - that being 100% seed. This information is just that - outdated and quite absurd in today's science. Parrots who supposedly "thrive" on all seeds are incredibly vulnerable (especially budgies - also known as "fatty tumor machines") fatty tumors, liver and kidney disease and failure, obesity, vitamin A deficiency, calcium deficiency, and severe malnutrition to name a few. Dark, leafy greens are best for achieving calcium in foods such as romaine lettuce (iceberg lettuce is a good source of water, but otherwise lacks nutrients), spinach, kale, Chinese lettuce "bok choy", rappini, and for vitamin A, things such as butternut squash and broccoli leaves/flowers work well. Many fresh foods we are able to find in our local grocery stores, however, are not organically grown and harbor the risk of pesticides and, recently with American spinach, ecoli. Organically grown foods are the safest and even so, should be washed well before serving. Fresh food should never be left out for more than two hours to avoid spoilage. The biggest no-nos on the list of feeding in terms of "table scraps" are avocado, onion, tomato leaves, apple seeds, any fruit seeds or pits, anything alcoholic, caffeinated (including chocolate), carbonated, foods too greasy, salty, sugary, or high in cholesterol. Parrots are also lactose intolerant like dogs and cats, but will be able to handle small bits of cheese or dairy products (yogurt is fine in reasonable doses as well) for calcium. In addition to fresh grown foods, freshly sprouted seeds are also highly beneficial. A surefire way to determine the quality and freshness of one's seed is to sprout it. If it sprouts, great! It's great for the birds! Be careful when sprouting, as leaving it out in less than ideal conditions can result in salmonella and buying easy-sprouters rather than just leaving them out in dirty water carries lesser risk.
Grains are equally important, such as whole wheat breads and pastas. Many people find it very convenient to be able to cook up some (unsalted) pasta for themselves and be able to serve it to their companion parrots as well, and it can easily be made a very fun treat. Parrots in the wild are naturally omnivorous and will also thrive with some meat in their diets. Some owners find it more convenient to provide cooked pieces of meat or poultry, but the reality is that they would eat insects in the wild. Serving live insects would be best, such as meal worms or possibly dried crickets. Most captive bred and raised birds have no idea what to do with insects, however, and will play with them as if they are toys. The dried alternative tends to work better as they identify it as a source of food quicker and understand better. In the wild, many parrots also find fresh clay to pick and eat at for its highly beneficial nutrients. Some people suggest iodine and calcium blocks, or even cuttlefish bones, and these are sources of nutrients, albeit fairly poor ones, but unless owners can pay up a trip to the wilderness to scrape their own clay off, the closest we as owners have come to such natural nutrients is what is commercially known as the "Manu block", available in a large and a small size that is taken directly from the mountains wild parrots pick from.
Birds don't like fresh foods? Maybe it's in the way it's presented. Some birds prefer their foods clipped onto the cage whole, some like it weaved through the bars, some like being hand fed, some want it to be left on a surface for them, some like it chopped up, or even made into what is known as "glop". Glop is basically a collection of blended, diced, and/or chopped fresh foods that can be easily prepared and stored frozen in separate day-by-day bags. Birds may also be enticed if owners leave a part of their regular dry diet within or around the fresh food. In some cases, birds dislike the juices of the fresh food and can be served the dried variety, where a popular brand is "Just Organic" also known as "Just _____" where the fruit/vegetable name would go in the blank.
Don't have the time to provide all the aforementioned fresh foods? Don't worry! Offerings once or twice a day will suffice as long as your parrots have a varied diet of as many of those fresh foods as possible, small portions of seed (I suggest 5% of a parrot's diet be seed with the exception of Australian parrots like budgerigars and cockatiels where they require more seed, and I would advise 10% for them), and a fortified pelleted diet. Organic pellets are the best route to go, but there are other non-organic pellets that are just as well researched and reputable. Harrison's Organic Pellets are wonderful, and though a bit high in price range, it is well worth the money. Many consumers claim when their birds transitioned to Harrison's, they experienced what is known as a "Harrison's moult" where their birds moult their old feathers and grow in much silkier, healthier ones. Totally Organic Pellets are also quite reputable, and evenly so with Roudybush, Zupreem (try to avoid artificial colours as they will dye birds' poop and make this vital health indication difficult to decipher the true health of your bird), Lafeber, and Hagen. All can be found online, some in avian vet offices, and some in pet stores.
Now what are you waiting for? Get cookin'!
Hey Everyone,
It's August and it's Lovebird month! Feel free to snag the two blinkies above and use them wherever you want! Just remember not to hotlink. We have had a bunch of changes on the forum, changes in the staff, and a bunch of new members! We always love our new members, as well as our old members. I'd like to take a minute to thank Shea and the Promotion Team for bringing us so many new members and continuing to spread the word about XO Parrots. I'd also like to remind everyone that Misty aka The Parrot Patch at The Parrot Patch still needs your support! Spazz the Blue & Gold Macaw and Suzie the Scarlet Macaw are finally in her care and she is in need of donations for their care. Even $1 helps! To read their story, stop by Misty's website and check it out. Can't wait until Fall!
Liz
Administrator
XO Parrots
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