#princeugh

[flock-talk]

I just got a new cage for my cockatiel. Do you have any tips on introducing your bird to a new cage?

http://flock-talk.tumblr.com/tagged/cage+fear has some information on this topic, I know I’ve answered this before but I can’t quite find it!

The main things to do are:

leave treats in the cage

don’t put them in the cage, let them walk in

leave the door open, once they’re comfortable you can close it at random intervals for random lengths of time according to their comfort, don’t close it right away, you want them to recognize it as something fun not somewhere that will always trap them

don’t put too much in at once, just a few things they like, you don’t want to have it too large and colourful which may make it more frightening

don’t shove it right close to them at the start, have it in the same room in the distance and slowly work it closer through habituation

overall make the cage seem like a fun place to be, take it slow and move according to how comfortable they are

[flock-talk]

So this is more of an excited announcement than a question. I finally got my stubborn little borb to eat oranges! He usually eats maybe a slice they goes off and play. So my question now: how much should I be feeding him fruits daily?

oranges specifically, not a ton because they’re very acidic, fruits in general I don’t have a specific answer since there really isn’t one, typically you want more veggies than fruits, a good balance between the two as well as fresh sprouts. 

http://flock-talk.tumblr.com/tagged/food%20pyramid

[flock-talk]

Do you have a tag for keeping the borbs warm during fall/winter?

I don’t but I’ll start one! Birds can generally tolerate cooler temperatures than people typically expect, i believe most birds can tolerate temps somewhere around 40F which the common house won’t tend to drop below.  One of the best things to keep birds warm is just keeping them healthy, the biggest concern from cold temperatures for birds is the risk of it weakening their immune systems and making them ill, hypothermia is really uncommon.  While heat stroke is a serious concern that can happen in moments of being exposed to hot temperatures hypothermia tends to take a few days of really cool weather to actually kick in.   Quick things to do would be covering the cage at night, keeping them away from windows, using a heat perch, and giving them plenty of things to do/ play with/ fly around to keep their bodies warm and active.