Tips & tricks for birds

If your bird has ingested a poisonous plant or toxic substance, please follow these instructions:

• Do not administer any medications approved for humans to your animal without consulting a veterinarian, even in an emergency!
• If you suspect poisoning, please take your animal to the veterinary center immediately; if possible, bring the suspected source of poison (ideally with packaging), as well as any nibbled or vomited material!

Notes on preventing poisoning in birds:

• All plant, insect, and rodent control agents must be treated as highly toxic. The same applies to fertilizers and cleaning agents of all kinds!
• Overheating coated pans, as well as oil, margarine, or butter, and using the self-cleaning function of your oven, creates gases and vapors that can lead to severe, sometimes fatal, poisoning of your bird.
• Please keep your bird out of the kitchen while cooking and ventilate thoroughly after every cooking session before allowing your bird back into the kitchen.

Have you found a naked or barely feathered young bird?

Such a little bird is called a nestling. Nestlings found outside the nest urgently need help; they are not fed or kept warm by the adult birds and are defenseless against attacks by predators.

If the young bird is uninjured, look for its nest in the immediate vicinity of where it was found and gently place the little bird back inside. The sense of smell in most birds is only relatively poorly developed – the lingering "human scent" will not stop the parent birds from continuing to care for it! Only if the nestling is injured, the nest is destroyed, cannot be found or reached, or both parents have demonstrably died should you take the young bird into your care.

Have you found a fully feathered young bird?

Such a young bird is called a fledgling. It is in the so-called begging phase, has left the nest voluntarily, can fly, but still begs its parents for food and is still being adequately cared for by them.

If the bird is sitting on the ground or in a bush alone or near its siblings and appears healthy, observe it from a distance (e.g., with binoculars) for 1–2 hours first. Usually, the fledgling calls for its parents and is provided with food by them – such a bird does not need human help! Exceptions are swifts, as well as house martins and barn swallows found on the ground – they are in acute distress.

If you have discovered a fledgling in a dangerous location (e.g., on the side of the road), you should pick it up and place it in a bush within a radius of no more than 25 meters from where it was found. Injured young birds, whether nestlings or fledglings, should be taken to a veterinarian.

A fundamental requirement for a long life for your hooked-bill companion is proper nutrition. There is a consensus that a diet consisting purely of nuts and seeds is inadequate – such food contains a high number of fungal spores, leads to calcium and vitamin deficiencies, and contains too much fat.

Parrot feed should therefore contain a maximum of 10% seeds! Feeding special parrot pellets is recommended, but these should only make up about 60% of the daily ration. Experts advise against an exclusive pellet diet. The remaining 30% of the ration should consist of fresh vegetables and fresh fruits.

Recommended vegetables: cucumber, carrots, green beans, bell peppers, corn, cauliflower, eggplant. Recommended fruits: papaya, melon, kiwi, mango, pineapple, banana, grapes, apple, peach, orange, cherries. (Please carefully remove all seeds before feeding – they may contain substances toxic to parrots.)

Substances and plants toxic to birds: aerosols of any kind, cyclamen, alcohol, acacia, amaryllis, fumes from Teflon-coated frying pans, avocados, azalea, primrose, belladonna lily, lead (e.g., lead weights in curtains, lead glazing), pencil tips, snake plant, wood anemone, calla lily, crown of thorns, dieffenbachia, permanent markers, yew, ivy, daffodils, verdigris, coffee, potato (raw), clivia, coral vine, ballpoint pens, lily of the valley, oleander, mercury, rhubarb, glory lily, salt, chocolate, highlighters, ink, match heads, poinsettia, croton, cigarette smoke, tin (e.g., tin mugs), sugar.