Pet Bird Magazine, Ezine March 2001 Magazine

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BABY PARROT LAYETTE

For The New Baby Bird

by Linda Middleton

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Awwww, a baby parrot. Such sweet treasures to love and cuddle. In addition to the joy they bring us, it is our responsibility to teach them things that will help them integrate into our homes safely and happily.

To begin this integration process, you need some special items for that baby parrot. My task was to create an inclusive checklist to serve you and the little one as you plan for the homecoming. The baby bird layette should ideally look like the following listing:

1. A cage with perches and toys ready before the baby comes home

2. Food and water dishes in the normal cage areas

3. Cardboard on the floor over the grates with a non-shred cloth over it and pillows to pad if the bird falls (I use new twin flat sheets folded seams in)

4. Food and water dishes low enough to reach from the floor

5. Infant plush toys without eyes or hard pieces

6. Baby Bird Formula for supplemental feeding

7. Lots of film in your camera (or a digital camera)

8. Ingredients to make soft warm foods like oatmeal and scrambled eggs plus munchies like pellets, cheerios, vegetables, fruits, graham crackers, and cereals (low sugar and salt ones)

9. A digital scale

10. An Avian Veterinarian appointment and get to know your Vet

11. A quarantine area if this one is not your only bird

12. The same pellets and foods the previous home used

13. A spot near a window in a room you spend a lot of time in

14. Millet if you will be feeding some seed

15. An emergency heat source

16. Thermometer for room temperature

17. Thermometer for food temperature (or heat sensing child spoon)

18. Spray bottle for bird showers, be sure to sanitize for each use

19. A toy that plays music

20. Rocker to rock your baby to sleep if you would like

21. Soft Rope Perch and set it low and keep it trimmed well

22. A First Aid Kit for birds

23. A safe disinfectant

24. A dark colored cloth to cover the cage when the bird sleeps

25. A boingie type toy which is a spiral rope stiffened to promote bouncing, flapping and spinning activites

26. A separate playtree or playgym with toys

27. A Parrot harness and leash

28. A toenail pedicure type perch in the cage to keep those sharp points blunted

There are a lot of opinions on what kind of disinfectant is best, what kinds of toys to buy, what kinds of pellets to provide and others of the layette items listed. Please investigate these and satisfy your common sense test. Your baby bird is depending on you to make decisions for his/her well-being and proper development so do your homework and research the latest ideas and facts about items.

The excitement and anxiety of bringing home that new baby parrot is a day you will long remember.

Enjoy your baby bird!

Winged Wisdom Note: Linda gratefully acknowledges cockatoos@yahoogroups.com and conures@yahoogroups.com for their refinement by discussion of the ideas presented here. Linda has published eight articles in consumer and collegiate journals and enjoys the study of parrots and wild birds.