Got Parrots? 
Feeling like you don’t do enough for your parrot? Get creative!
By Karen Windsor
Courtesy of Foster Parrots

Foster Parrots’ position on parrots as pets has been well established nationally, and while we will continue to unwaveringly advocate for parrots as wild animals, the fact is that millions of parrots live in American homes and many millions more will be born into captivity in the years to come. A large percentage of captive birds, unfortunately, live discontented lives in uninspired accommodations that are very often instrumental in fueling incompatibility issues between parrots and their people. If we are going to keep birds, it is important that we put the effort into keeping them well, and learn to provide a sustainable and creative degree of quality care that will result in harmonious mutual relationships and parrots that are as well adjusted and happy as possible in their captive situation.

Because I work in Rescue and field dozens of calls each week from people wanting to surrender their birds, I am continually reminded that these wild animals, sooner or later and in general, tend not to succeed as captive creatures domestically. I often refer to this crisis as “parrots failing as pets”. More accurately, since we are the ones that have imposed captivity on parrots, it could be said that we are failing as guardians. The top two reasons why parrots are surrendered to rescues are guilt on behalf of the humans forced to confine these highly social and intelligent flighted creatures, and aggression on the part of confined and frustrated parrots. It cannot be argued that the parrots are here and we must therefore provide for them. But if a person’s decision to buy or adopt a parrot were based on the quality of the environment they were realistically able or willing to provide, there would be many fewer guilty people walking around in need of unloading irate parrots. And if parrot guardians were to channel their guilt productively and creatively, they might use that guilt as an impetus to make the improvements necessary to help them keep their birds.


Territoriality and the Creative Cage Environment

There is no cage big enough. If one buys the biggest macaw-sized cage on the market it is still a woefully inadequate environment for an animal born to inherit the skies. But while we can agree that there is no cage big enough, can birds like their cages? Of course they can. Territorial by nature, birds take possession of their cages. But where some cages are homes, havens and safety zones, others are prisons. Sometimes an open door is all it takes to make the difference. And while we can all acknowledge the complex and extraordinary intelligence of parrots, it is important that we creatively apply our own intelligence in order to provide environments that are stimulating, engaging and natural in their appeal to the wild animals we live with. 

In order to protect them from harm, and sometimes to protect others from harm, most captive parrots must be confined in one way or another and for varying periods of time. Consequently, cage or enclosure interiors are of paramount importance. Varieties of perches must be provided for climbing and roosting, and foot conditioning should be addressed through a variety of perch materials. Natural branches with both rough and smooth bark are ideal for interior landscaping. Cloth, sisal and hemp ropes can be enjoyed as perches, swings or simulated vines. There should be plenty of wooden toys for chewing, but these need not be store bought. While the colors of retail toys are nice, the price tags can often be hefty for an item that will potentially be reduced to splinters in a matter of days – or even hours. Blocks of untreated pine can be drilled and strung on ropes in order to provide affordable chew toys. One of the most intriguing diversions one can provide for their parrot is a cardboard box. Better yet – a box inside a box inside a box. This offers a bird the opportunity to engage in the innately compelling activity of excavating a nesting hole. If one is fortunate enough to come across a hollow log, this is the ultimate parrot accommodation item. Knotted balls of shoe-lace strings provide parrots with chew toys that are curiously like feather sheaths. Rolls of calculator tape are happily shredded and unraveled. Quaker parrots are industrious nest builders! Provide them with handfuls of twigs that can be woven through bars and grates. Cockatoos love puzzles. Let them dismantle toys made of nuts, bolts and screws. Contrary to the impression traditionally offered by the pet trade, parrots are not easy to care for companions. They are arguably the amongst the most difficult and require observational skills, a lively imagination and an overall extended investment of mental energy to understand and interpret a parrot’s natural inclinations, and to provide activities and distractions that will keep that parrot engaged.

At the Foster Parrots sanctuary where most of the parrots are free flighted, we witness the phenomenon of birds trying to put themselves into cages all the time. Cages that have been vacated due to adoptions and cages that are left open when their residents are enjoying supervised time out become coveted territory or intriguing domains to explore for cageless birds. Parrots can like their cages. But they know they don’t belong in them. As many times as we’ve witnessed happy birds putting themselves into cages, we’ve witnessed frustrated, hostile birds settle down and become significantly less aggressive when they’ve been freed from consistent confinement or, more importantly, when they’ve been given the freedom of choice.

Atticus is a Yellow Naped Amazon, approximately 15 years old, who has been a Foster Parrots resident for 5 years. A decidedly solitary bird, Atticus lived for a time in a large floor to ceiling cage in the upper barn region of our sanctuary. He wasn’t an aggressive fellow by any means and really did not require caging. He simply liked his cage. His door was always open. However, when we took in a pair of wild and potentially dangerous Amazons that did require confinement, it became necessary to evict Atticus from his large cage. He was absolutely mortified. He spent the next several weeks trying to figure out how to get back into the cage. We tried to assuage his despair by offering him a very attractive, mid-sized, dome-topped cage placed in a premium spot in front of the largest window, but he didn’t want that cage. He wanted a very large cage that would allow him to perch high up inside the cage. Finally we dragged a monstrosity of a cage into the upper barn for Atticus. Eight feet high and nearly 5 feet deep and wide, it sits squarely in the middle of the floor and Atticus is delighted. His door is always open and he cruises the barn at will. But mostly he sits contentedly, triumphantly in his giant cage.

On the other hand, consider the story of JoJo, a Moluccan cockatoo who was rescued by Foster Parrots from an appointment with euthanasia. Having been confiscated from drug lords, warehoused for several years, then passed through a couple of homes before landing at the Foster Parrots sanctuary, this was an understandably traumatized and fearful bird. Too insecure to venture out and into a world he could not trust, JoJo was cage-bound. We established his large cage in a prominent area of the sanctuary where two Umbrella cockatoos and another Moluccan lived freely, and where there was frequent pedestrian traffic as staff and volunteers passed by or stopped to chat and play with birds. We never closed JoJo’s door. People would stop and talk to him and reach in to pet him. He was able to observe the relationships between people and other birds from his safe place without feeling either isolated or threatened. He was provided with ample hanging toys to play with, chew on – or hide behind. He was always welcome to join the activity of the room, and in his own time he began to venture out – just a little, at first. He would stick a head out the door, then a head and a half a body. In time he could perch for longer and longer periods on top of his open door. He would be liberally praised whenever he was interactive. Soon he began to swing upside down and to display himself playfully. When he would exercise his massive voice, it was done not to solicit attention, but for the joy of hearing the power of his own voice. And no one ever yelled at him for it. A year after his arrival JoJo would finally leave his cage altogether and perform for us by marching comically around the room or hopping about like a bunny. Preferring women, he found he could trust a few choice people and could be found snuggling in a lap every now and then. He also found comfort and community with his fellow cockatoos. The key to orchestrating JoJo’s environment and drawing him out was to situate him in the most active room in the facility where interaction with people and other cockatoos would strengthen his social skills, yet he always had the option to retreat. Before too long JoJo would invariably seek out the haven that was his cage. But it was always his choice, and this power helped build his confidence.

Most of us may lack the financial resources to construct elaborate outdoor aviaries, but that should not impede us from using what we do have to create indoor environments that can vastly improve a bird’s quality of life by allowing us to open the cage door. Spare rooms or largely neglected sun porches can be converted into dedicated bird space. Inexpensive wood-framed screened doors can be installed to keep bird rooms safe without completely cutting them off from the rest of the home. Even a corner of a frequently used family room can be transformed to fulfill the needs of one’s parrot. At Foster Parrots most birds live freely on “hanging frames”, natural wooden branches that are joined together in interesting configurations and suspended from the ceiling. Food and water cups and a wide array of toys are attached. Sometimes these frames are suspended directly above a bird’s cage, providing a whole new dimension to the living arrangement and an opportunity for the birds to climb and gain height. Sometimes the frames are hung to act as “cages without bars”. While we generally discourage wing-clipping, some people do find it necessary to clip wings for safety reasons. Birds with clipped wings are unable to leave their frames, but enjoy a more natural arrangement of living up high on branches. Interestingly, many of our flighted parrots become possessive of their frames and generally do not voluntarily leave what they perceive to be their territory. 


Social behavior and Routine

It is the highly social nature of parrots that makes them attractive as companions. They are capable of transferring essential bonding behavior to people, which, in a captive situation, is an arrangement preferable to social isolation. And although we love our parrots and hope to do everything in our power to make them happy, sadly, we are not birds. We are humans and our primary bonds are with other humans and our lives are full of responsibilities and diversions that constantly tear us away from our parrots. Parrots don’t understand this behavior at all. The fact that we habitually walk out the door each day and leave them alone boggles the parrot mind as we force them into a situation, once again, so contrary to their nature: one of solitude. 

As inadequate as we may be as companions to our parrots, they are superior in their ability to adapt to us as companions. We have found that the fine art of establishing a routine that your bird can depend on goes a long way in helping to create a mutually compatible relationship. Parrots are creatures of habit. They need/expect every day to be just like the day before and the day before. By establishing a dependable routine for our birds, we minimize the stress and confusion of a haphazard world. The result, very often, is a parrot that feels less compelled to assert to control over its guardian through excessive vocalization, and a parrot more at ease with its world.

Get your parrot up and out of bed (cage/bird room) every morning at the same time. The breakfast ritual of preparing food, cleaning a cage and loving a parrot should be the same every morning, and your bird should know he can depend on this special breakfast ritual. Presumably, you must go off to work or run the errands of the day. Your parrot should know that next comes several hours of having to entertain himself within his confines. Playing a radio during this time or keeping one’s parrot in front of a large window where he can observe wild birds feeding and interacting can become an essential event in a parrots day. When you come home from work, it’s bird time. Take your bird out. Sit with him. Talk to him and love him. Play with him and make a big deal over what a wonderful and talented bird he is. He should be able to anticipate and count on this special one-on-one time every day. Direct interaction time can be followed by several hours of having your bird out with you and the family, but not necessarily attached to your body. Have a play stand or hanging frame in the areas of the house where you spend greater periods of time or in rooms that tends to be central to overall family activity. A parrot needs to have a sense involvement in the flock dynamics. At dinner time after the cooking has been completed, parrots should be welcomed into the kitchen and involved in the dinner ritual. Parrots are social eaters. They are apt to eat better and accept healthier foods when those are the foods being shared by the family flock. They take greater enjoyment in eating out of your hand than out of a lonely dish. When the day has drawn to an end, it should be “bed time for birds” at the same time every night. Keeping in mind that parrots require 10 to 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night, we recommend that a parrot’s sleep area be located away from the area of general family activity, in a room that can be made quiet, dark and peaceful. Your parrot’s natural inclination is to tuck himself away to “roost” each evening, so a “sleeping cage” quickly establishes itself as an expected and desirable finish to a parrot’s long day.

Knowing precisely what to expect from us and knowing the behavior that is expected of them gives a parrot just as much a feeling of control over it’s life as its ability to decide whether it wants to be inside the cage or out. Old aviculture used to dictate asserting dominance and control over one’s parrot through such measures as wing clipping, consistent caging and keeping them perched at a height lower than one’s head. But parrots are not dogs and they do not respond to subjugation. Their wild and instinctual nature must be acknowledged, accommodated and respected. Make a cage a compelling and engaging environment by providing boxes, chew toys, rope vines. Then open the cage door. Let your bird out. Give him an aviary or bird-proof a room and let him fly. Install hanging frames made of natural branches way above your head and let him be up high. Feeling guilty because you’re at work all day and your bird is home alone? Birds belong in flocks. Have more than one bird. Two or more birds are not twice as much work as one bird. They’re half as much work.

We force our parrots to live in our world, and then we don’t understand why they scream, beg, become aggressive, become phobic, feather pluck, self-mutilate... Sometimes it is necessary to force ourselves to live in their world before we can understand how to address the issues of parrot guardianship creatively and help ease their experience with us. 

Knowing that, overall, people tend to fail miserably as companions to parrots, we do not advocate parrots as pets. However, we are highly motivated to help people understand the needs of their birds and to improve the quality of care they are able to deliver. We want people to keep their birds. Because here at the sanctuary we are short on space.


Additional notes from Karen:

Although carboard boxes make an excellent and inexpensive way to entertain a companion parrot it should be noted that in some cases a box can induce some female parrots to go through a breeding cycle that may be dangerous to their health. Also, boxes of any kind should NOT be offered to any male/female pairs as it will most probably ecourage mating and egglaying. If a mated pair of parrots insists on creating a nest site and laying eggs we offer a nest box to limit the number of eggs laid and to allow the parrots to go through their breeding cycle normally. We then switch the eggs with wooden eggs (or golf balls) purchased at a crafts store to prevent accidental reproduction. Most parrots will naturally abandon their eggs after 30 to 40 days should they prove unproductive. 

Not only does the addition of music or nature sounds add to the quality of life but we take this enrichment one step further by putting the music on timers so that the mornings and early evenings mimic the natural rhythms of a parrot's life in the wild. Lights are also put on timers to mimic a natural 12 hour day and to give these prey animals a natural rhythm to their lives, something that is the foundation of a parrot's mental well being.