Diet

Everybody seems to agree that all parrots should  have a large variety of vegetables to eat. I also include pellets in my birds’ daily food and I give my ladies some seeds as well. You may be aware there is quite a debate around seeds versus pellets. I will leave it up to you to decide which side of the fence you come down on. I personally believe in everything a parrot can eat in moderation. Some people like to divide their parrots’ food up into meals throughout the day. Other people like to have food available all of the time for their parrot. My understanding is that smaller birds should have food available all of the time, whereas medium and large birds can eat their food in meals. Every bird is an individual though and In my experience different things work for different birds even if they are of the same species. Clean fresh water should always be available to your parrot. You should also always thoroughly clean the water bowl when you are changing the water. I personally think that water should be refreshed as often as possible during the day, although everybody seems to agree that it should be changed at least once a day.

Veterinary Care

It is also important to register your parrots with an avian vet. if you live somewhere where one is not available locally then the next best thing is to find a vet that will liaise with the specialist vet if your bird becomes ill.

Caging

Your parrot should have a cage that is an appropriate size for them. if you do an online search four cage sizing and your species of bird you will find many sizing guides on this.  I personally have my parrots out of their cages as much as possible. However different things again suit different parrots. One of my ladies spent her first week climbing on and sitting on her cage. It seemed to offer her some security. She definitely was not interested in coming off of it, although I did try. Eventually curiosity got the better of her though and she started to explore her new home. I personally think of my parrot cages being like their own personal room. It is somewhere they can go to feel safe or relax. They also have plenty of things in there that they enjoy doing. It is important to interact with your parrot or parrots. One of the things my ladies enjoy is going for walks in a parrot  carrier.  However when you are not around or not able to be with them for whatever reason, it is important that they still have plenty of things to do to keep them occupied. There are many sites online where you can buy all different varieties of parrot toys. You will have to figure out which ones your parrot likes. However if you’re wondering how to figure out what they like it is generally thought that if they are destroying it they really like it. If they are ignoring it and not doing anything with it it is probably a good idea to change it for something else. I try to rotate my parrots toys, well if they haven’t destroyed them first. Your parrot should also have as many different perches as possible in their cage. The variations in texture and diameter help to keep their feet exercised and healthy. If your perches are all the exact same your parrot can develop problems with their feet.  If you are using perches  that are designed to help trim their nails it is a good idea to put it in a part of the cage where they sit less  often. If they sit on this kind of perch too much it can irritate their feet.