DIET & NUTRITION

A variety of food is essential for providing the best possible care for your parrot.

A pellet based diet is the best thing for your parrot but this must be supplimented with foods like:

Carrots, Broccoli (calcium),Peppers, Celery, Cucumbers and Leaf lettuce (not iceburg)

Melons, Kiwi, Grapes, Oranges and Berries

No No Foods

Alcohol, Coffee and Caffein, Chocolate, Avocado, Mushrooms, Onions, Rhubarb and High Fat foods

HEALTH AND BEHAVOIR

Known Behavior Problems A hand-fed Conure that is gently trained and given loving attention by the owner will likely be a well-behaved companion parrot. Conures are stubborn and very strong willed. You must be sweetly firm while training these characters. They have a tendency to nip those they love and bite hard those they don’t trust or who are not sensitive to their mood. Our Conures will warn us by “beaking” us (putting their beak on us without biting down) before they will bite us. So if you concern yourself with their wants instead of your own, you will avoid developing a negative relationship. A bird that is not fed properly and does not get enough sleep will have behavior problems. Make sure your Conure gets 11 to 14 hours of sleep in a quiet dark room, along with a healthy diet. Boredom is another reason for a screeching bird. Provide plenty of toys and spend quality time with your bird. Find out what kind of toys your Conure prefers. Some like wood they can turn into splinters and others like bells and shredding material. Some like everything.

One of the most affordable types of conures is the Nanday. This bird is green with a black head and falls in the middle of the size range. Nandays are among the loudest conures, but they are quite good talkers if you can handle the noise. You may want to look elsewhere, though, if you live in an apartment or townhouse.

Two more conures on the lower end of the price range are Maroon Bellies and Green Cheeks. Both are among the quietest and smallest of the conure family. The Maroon Belly is a bit more rare and not as friendly as the Green Cheek.

Green Cheeks and Maroon Bellies resemble each other so much that experienced bird handlers sometimes have trouble telling them apart. In addition to having maroon tails, the Green Cheek has more green on it’s chest than the Maroon Belly. These birds can be taught to talk, but only a few words or phrases. The fact that they are not overly vocal makes them a good choice for those who live in apartments.

VITAMIN A

The most obvious sign of a vitamin A deficiency is a feather stain above the cere. The staining of the feathers above the nostrils reflects a discharge from the nostrils. Subtle differences may be seen as far as the color intensity of the cere and feathers is concerned - and the overall condition of the plumage. A bird deficient in this vitamin may have pale, rough-looking feathers that lack luster. The cere may look rough instead of smooth, and you may see an accumulation of a yellow dry scale on the sides of the beak.

Vitamin A occurs naturally in dark leafy greens and orange-colored produce, such as apricots, cantaloupes, carrots, red peppers, pumpkins and sweet potatoes. To resolve Vitamin A deficiency, try adding foods like sweet potatoes (either cooked or steamed until soft), mashed up with other fruits will be both loved by your pet bird, as much as it is good for her or him. Many birds also enjoy fresh carrot juice - or try offering shredded carrots. Natural sources are preferable over synthetically produced nutrients, which may not be absorbable and could easily be overdosed).