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Parrots are not always kept in cages. If you have more than one budgerigar and living conditions allow, then you can place parrots in cages, bird cabinets, display cases, indoor aviaries or outdoor aviaries.

Ilya Melnikov

The structure of the body of a bird

Starting a conversation about birds in general and about parrots in particular, one cannot help but know about everything related to the body of a bird. Only if you have complete information about the bird will your living together be joyful.

So, the basis of the bird's body is the skeleton. The skeleton of birds is adapted for flight. The spine consists of the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral and caudal regions. The bones of the feathered skeleton are light and strong, almost all of them contain empty cavities and numerous partitions inside. The strength of the skeletal system of birds is associated with significant deposits of mineral salts. Some bones have internal cavities with a reserve of air for breathing. Due to the arrangement of bones in the skeleton of a bird, it acquires amazing mobility.

The skull of birds is relatively small. It is articulated with the spine by one condyle. The skull of parrots is relatively large, wide and flat above, rounded behind. In parrots, the lower jaw is articulated with the quadrate bone, and the upper jaw is movably connected to the frontal bone with the help of a tendon ligament. The wide and lamellar palatine bones are unusually developed, articulated in front with the upper jaw. The jaws are very mobile.

The long cervical spine provides head mobility. The bird has the ability to reach and process all parts of the body, tail, and wings with its beak. The bird takes care of its head with its foot. The special structure of bones, tendons and muscles allows birds to sleep standing up or sitting on a branch without any muscular effort.

The size and weight of the bird range from 2-3 g to 70-80 kg, the wingspan is from 4-5 cm to 4 m.

The weight of budgerigars depends on their content. In the cellular content, the mass of parrots will be higher than in the aviary. So, if adult males in the cage content have a mass of 39.6 g, and females - 42.6 g, then in captive content, their weight is respectively 33.4 and 34.0 g.

The live weight of young males with a cage content corresponds to 35.0 g, and the weight of females is 36.4 g. The weight of young parrots kept in an aviary is: males - 33.8 g, females - 34.0 g.

The paws of parrots are strong, but short. The metatarsus and fingers are covered with small scaly horny shields. The fingers are rather long, with a thickening at the ends, the claws are short, strongly curved, rather sharp.

The paws of parrots are used for climbing, getting and grasping food, which is achieved by flexibility, pairwise connection of four fingers and "tongs" with almost even ends. Birds of prey use their paws to kill their prey, but they are not able to take food with their paws and bring food to their beaks, as many species of parrots, especially large parrots, gracefully do.

Only the beak is capable of “sweating” in a bird, and even then in very hot weather. If at room conditions, in the shade, the bird often opens its beak, this is a sign of a serious disorder in its health.

The body of birds is covered with feathers, they are different in structure. Contour feathers - external - are the basis of plumage, which protect the body of birds from heat loss and other mechanical influences. Under the contour are small downy feathers. The long feathers are flight feathers, and the long tail feathers are tail feathers. Interesting data were published by American scientists who counted the number of all feathers in some species of birds. It turned out that most songbirds have between 1500 and 4000 of them.

The plumage of parrots, although outwardly evenly covers the body, grows in certain areas. The most numerous are contour feathers, densely covering the body and giving it a streamlined shape. Flight and tail feathers consist of a long, elastic rod and a fan formed by thin beards extending from the rod with smaller rays sitting on them. The latter are equipped with numerous hooks and linked to each other. If the fan is damaged, it is enough for the parrot to pass the feather through the beak, as the hooks of neighboring rows close and the dense elastic plate of the fan is restored. Feathers have the necessary rigidity, at the same time they are almost weightless. Under the contour feathers of parrots there is an abundant fluff of gray - white color.

Feather cover of birds performs the functions of thermal insulation, protects against moisture loss. Like any warm-blooded organism, a bird can catch a cold. And the wrong mode of care and feeding in a songbird can cause a delay in the spring (premarital) molt and, as a result of overheating, the unwillingness of the bird to breed.

Appearance, the beauty of plumage is one of the main reasons why people keep birds in the apartment. The color of bird plumage depends on three factors: the type of pigments, the intensity of their deposition, and the internal structure of the feather. Pigments such as melanin give black, brown, red, gray color. Pigments such as lipochromes determine the yellow, red, blue, green color of the pen. Melanin is formed during the laying and growth of feathers. This process is quite stable and depends little on external factors. But the quantity and rate of formation of lipochromes are directly related to the quality and diet of poultry. In nature and when keeping a bird in a cage, individuals of an unusually dark color sometimes appear, the so-called melanists or white ones - albinos. This is the result of mutations of a genotype change that is not associated with environmental conditions. Dark coloration is formed due to the very intense laying of melanin pigments; albinism is the result of the absence of pigments. Mutations that cause changes in the color of bird feathers are the basis of selection in breeding ornamental and domestic birds. With the help of many years of selection, many color forms of budgerigars, canaries, pigeons, and chickens have been obtained.

Although individuals of the same species, at first glance, are colored the same, yet the coloring of each bird is unique, like human fingerprints.

The plumage of birds constantly wears out and is regularly replaced. During molting, birds do not sing, they are less mobile, they need rest and a varied high-calorie diet. The body of adult birds weakens during this period.

In February - March, songbirds (regardless of age) have a prenuptial molt. Downy winter feathers fall out. Males have a bright showy coloration. In females, a brood spot begins to form. In birds that have begun to incubate eggs, it is an extensive bare spot on the chest and abdomen. The skin in this place is red, inflamed. Thanks to the nesting spot, optimum heating of the eggs is achieved.

The culture of keeping has a great influence on the speed and nature of molting of indoor birds.

The digestion of birds, unlike other warm-blooded animals, is very peculiar. The process of digestion of food is fast: complete processing of the contents and emptying of the tightly stuffed stomach of songbirds takes 20–70 minutes. The smaller the bird in size, the faster the food is processed. Moreover, even with an excess of any one type of food, birds will seek food, since a variety of food is the basis of the normal physiology of any birds. Due to the accelerated metabolism, the body temperature of small birds is very high - up to 46 ° C. From the beak, food enters the oral cavity, where there is a tongue, which differs in shape in different species of birds. The salivary glands are located in the oral cavity, which are not well expressed in all species of birds, which is associated with the nature of the life of birds. From the oral cavity, food enters the goiter.

In parrots, digestion of food begins already in the goiter - a sac-like expansion of the esophagus. Here the food softens, swells, sometimes digestive substances from the stomach enter the goiter. Further, the food enters the thin-walled glandular stomach, where the digestive glands are located, which secrete the digestive secret. In the glandular section, food is processed by gastric juice and an enzyme that breaks down proteins - pepsin. With the consumption of feed of animal origin, the secretion of juice in the stomach is higher than with the consumption of vegetable feed. Increasing the rate of greens in the diet also stimulates the secretion of gastric juice.

Then the food passes into a thick-walled muscular stomach. The walls of the muscular stomach are composed of powerful muscles. Its inner surface is covered with a horn-shaped villous membrane - the cuticle. This is where the food gets crushed. The thick muscular walls of this section, periodically contracting, crush food. Grinding is also facilitated by gastroliths - grains of sand and solid particles that work like millstones. Erased gastroliths are carried out with the remnants of food. Herbivorous birds constantly need a small amount of sand and gravel. The muscular department even transforms very solid food into a monotonous slurry. In the muscular stomach, under the action of bacteria and enzymes in the feed, the breakdown of proteins and carbohydrates continues. The crushed, partially digested food (chyme) from the muscular stomach in separate portions enters the duodenum and the small intestine, and then into the large intestine. The final digestion of food takes place in the intestines. The intestines of parrots are more than 2 times longer than their bodies. In the posterior intestine, most of the water drunk by the bird is reabsorbed into the body, so the birds manage a relatively modest drink. The hindgut of the large intestine passes into the cloaca.

The organs of excretion in birds are represented by paired kidneys, tightly adjacent to the sacrum. The kidneys of birds are very large, elongated. The front edge reaches the lung, and the rear is at the sacrum. The ureters, extending from the ventral side of the kidney, open into the middle section of the cloaca. The urinary bladder is absent in birds.

The reproductive system in males is represented by paired testes and vas deferens that flow into the cloaca. Females have an unpaired ovary with spherical eggs of various sizes and an oviduct, which is a wide tube that opens into the cloaca.

The respiratory system of birds is distinguished by a special - double - breathing. Thanks to special elastic outgrowths - air sacs, gas exchange in the lungs occurs both during inhalation and exhalation. In addition, air sacs serve to retain heat in the body, reduce friction between organs during flight. The abdominal air sacs help expel the egg as well as the droppings. The lungs of birds are not large, located in the chest, penetrated by bronchi and bronchioles. The respiratory rate in songbirds is 90–100 breaths per minute. An increase in breathing rate, along with rhythmic movements of the head and body, indicates overwork, temperature discomfort, or illness.

The vocal apparatus of birds is a small drum formed as a result of fusion of tracheal and bronchial cartilage rings. It is located at the end of the trachea, where it divides into two bronchi. On the outside of the vocal apparatus there are several pairs of thin vocal muscles. In the place where the inner walls of the bronchi converge, there is an ossified or cartilaginous protrusion that reaches the membrane of the vocal cord. The main organ for the production of sound in birds is the lower larynx, or syrinx. Only birds have a syrinx, each bird species has its own structural features. Exhaled air vibrates in the membrane (vocal cords) of the syrinx, producing sound. Further, passing through the trachea and upper larynx, the sound resonates. Additional sounds can be made by clicking the beak, flapping wings, vibration of feathers during flight.

The main purpose of the song is to mark the selected site and invite the female. Urges are used mainly for "internal communication" between male and female, adults and brood, neighbors. The structure of the song is the same for all birds of the same species. Parrots are able to memorize and copy human speech.

Birds have a four-chambered heart. It consists of two atria and two ventricles, and therefore the blood circulation in birds of arterial and venous blood flows is completely separate.

The brain is located in the skull. It is characterized by rather large sizes, mainly due to the development of the forebrain hemispheres, small olfactory lobes are located in front. Behind the hemispheres of the forebrain lies a large, highly developed, transversely mottled cerebellum. Due to the highly developed cerebellum, birds can perform complex movements that require coordination in flight. On the sides of the cerebellum are the visual lobes of the midbrain. The brain nerves are represented by twelve pairs.

The spinal cord expands in the region of the lumbar plexus and brachial.

The main signal for the start of reproduction in birds is an increase in the length of daylight hours. The readiness for reproduction is manifested by an increase in vocal activity, and elements of courtship are noticeable in the behavior. A fertilized egg, from which a chick will subsequently hatch, is formed after the mating of birds. The egg is fully formed and laid within a day. Every day, the female is able to lay one egg, usually until 9-10 am. Egg laying in the daytime indicates disturbances in the body of the female. The bird's egg contains all the substances necessary for the chick: fats, proteins, minerals, water.

In the period preceding laying, the redistribution of calcium and magnesium salts occurs in the body of the female, so she needs a constant intake of these substances with food. You should not get too carried away with mineral feeding of birds, since an excess of calcium salts causes a thickening of the egg shell, therefore, when hatching, the chicks may not be able to crack the shell from the inside. Some bird lovers provide "obstetrical care" by lightly cracking the shell in the middle of the egg.

The number of eggs laid in parrots is on average 4-7 pieces - approximately the same number of chicks is able to feed the parent pair. And in species whose chicks very quickly switch to independent pasture (chicken, ducks), the female often lays so many eggs that she cannot fit on them herself.

The size, shape and color of eggs usually vary little within the same species of birds in nature. The shell color of budgerigars is pure white.

The sense organs in birds are developed differently. The vision of birds in all respects surpasses the vision of all other representatives of the animal world of the planet. Many flying species of birds have farsightedness. Songbirds have somewhat "myopic" vision. Many species of birds orient themselves in the dark much worse than, for example, humans. This reduction in vision in the dark is known as night blindness. Color vision is inherent in all birds, although birds perceive the surrounding colors differently than humans.

The relatively large volume of the eyeball compared to the size of the head in birds is unparalleled among other vertebrates. In singing birds, the location of the eyes is lateral. When looking at details, the bird uses monocular vision, that is, with one eye. To estimate distances, which is extremely necessary in flight, jumping, the bird looks with both eyes - binocular vision. Birds have a third eyelid, a translucent, leathery film that serves to moisturize and protect the cornea. If the bird refuses to eat and often “rolls” its eyes (closes the third eyelid) during the daytime, then this indicates its serious painful condition.

The auditory organ in birds is represented by the inner and middle ear, the Eustachian tube, which opens with one common opening into the pharynx, and the tympanic membrane, at the bottom of a small funnel-shaped depression. Birds have highly developed hearing. They hear and reproduce sounds in a much larger range than humans.

The sight and hearing of birds are extremely sensitive, therefore, during a night's rest, they usually hide their heads under their wings in order to insure themselves from accidental color and noise stimuli. This trait of behavior must be taken into account when arranging housing for indoor birds.

Birds distinguish food by taste. Everything that is edible, they quickly remember, and in the future, eating goes at a fast pace. An inedible (poor-quality) object that has accidentally fallen into the body most often causes an emetic reaction.

The sense of smell in birds is poorly developed.

During daylight hours, under natural conditions, indoor birds are constantly on the move. In an apartment in this respect, the bird is always cramped. To provide the bird with different impressions and change the environment for it, it is recommended to rearrange the cage in different places in the room or apartment. But at the same time, the conditions for the location of the cell should be observed: lighting, humidity, temperature. It must be remembered that in winter near the windows in a heated room there is always an intensive movement of air flows with different temperatures (drafts). All indoor birds, especially representatives of the tropical and equatorial zones, are extremely sensitive to drafts and easily get sick. Therefore, the constant presence of housing for birds at the window should be excluded.

It is also advisable to place the bird in a free aviary from time to time or give it the opportunity to fly around the room.

The behavior of birds is very extraordinary. Watching the life of indoor birds, you can uncover the secrets of their behavior, get a psychological release, not to mention the fact that this is a very exciting activity.

Brief description of the main types of parrots

wedge-tailed parrots

Wedge-tailed parrots have a common feature - a stepped tail with long tail feathers, a narrow ring of bare skin around the eyes, the side of the head is not covered with a feather. The beak is large and massive. This subfamily includes parrots from the tiny size of 12-13 cm long to the largest macaw parrots, of which there are 17 varieties in South America alone. They inhabit tropical forests and nest in hollow trees.

Macaws

They live in large flocks, feed on forest fruits, damage crops and plantations. Parrots of some species settle separately in pairs.

Macaws are large parrots. Their feature is a powerful beak, with which birds are able to bite through the wire, so the grid on the cells is made massive. An exceptionally strong beak allows parrots to gnaw fruit stones, which can be compared to stone in hardness. Macaws are brightly colored, have long tails (its length is always greater than the body). Males do not differ from females in color, and young birds have almost the same plumage color as adults.

In captivity, birds are fed grain mixture, which includes: oatmeal, corn, sunflower seeds, wheat, as well as nuts, fruits, dried white bread. From fruits, they willingly eat apples, pears, plums, grapes, oranges, from vegetables - tomatoes.

Macaw parrots are capable of learning, human speech is easily given to them. But it is necessary to tame parrots at a young age. In captivity, macaws get along without much difficulty, but on condition that they are treated kindly. In the case of rudeness, macaws become nervous and can show aggression towards people around them. Macaws live in cages for a very long time - up to a hundred years. Macaws have a very strong sharp voice, which somewhat complicates their maintenance in the apartment.

The main food for macaw parrots is a mixture: millet - 40%, oats or oatmeal - 45%, sunflower - 10%, nuts - 5%. Macaws willingly eat various fruits and seeds, greens, cereals.

Distinctive features of the representatives of the genus: a large head, laterally compressed, a large beak with a steeply curved tip, the front part is unfeathered or with a number of feathers, giving it a striped striation. There are the following types of macaw parrots.

Blue - yellow macaw, or ararauna.

This type of parrot is most often kept in captivity. The back and tail are bright blue, chest and belly are yellow. The front of the cheeks to the base of the beak is gray-white with several black stripes, the throat is black. The beak is black, the legs are brownish-black. The “face” is naked, white, with several short black feathers in the form of stripes. The size of the male is 80–90 cm in length, the female is 70–80 cm, the head and beak are smaller than those of the male, the wingspan is 38–40 cm. In young birds, the plumage color changes after molting. They can live up to 80-100 years.

They eat, like all parrots, a grain mixture, as well as various vegetables, fruits and other additional food.

Under natural conditions, Ararauna inhabits the pristine tropical forests of South America, where it adheres to the edges or other open places.

In nature, they lead a paired or solitary lifestyle; they do not form flocks. They are very attached to their habitat. They nest very high in trees, in their hollows, or build a nest. Far from nesting, as a rule, do not fly away.

Red macaw.

Under natural conditions, it lives from Brazil to Mexico. The predominant color is red, the wings are yellow. The tips of the wings and the back of the body are blue. On the sides of the head there are large unfeathered spaces of flesh-white color, the lower jaw is brownish-black, and the upper jaw is yellowish-white, the beak is black-white with a black top and a triangular black spot at the base of the mandible, the mandible is black, the legs are dark gray. The total body length is 78–90 cm, the wing length is 28–40 cm.

End of introductory segment.

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Breeding budgerigars in large groups facilitates the work of an amateur, as it is fully consistent with the biology of their nesting in the wild. For an amateur, this method of breeding has its drawbacks, which I will discuss below, but caring for birds in a common spacious room is much easier, and they give offspring more numerous. A room for keeping budgerigars in which you can build an aviary can be a glazed veranda, a winter garden, a light closet or a chfdak with a window. There is no need to be afraid if the air temperature in these rooms drops below zero in winter. With good care, budgerigars are not harmed by low temperatures. The main thing is that they are deprived of the opportunity to nest at this time, since at low temperatures the female sometimes cannot lay an egg. You can spend hours watching such a group of nesting budgerigars, studying their natural inclinations, habits and way of life.

When keeping a large group of budgerigars, it is advisable to build an appropriately sized aviary from wooden planks, shaped iron or tubes, depending on what material is available to you. The aviary is sheathed with a hexagonal or tetrahedral galvanized mesh with a wire thickness of 0.8-1 mm and a mesh size of 15X15 mm. The galvanized metal mesh is carefully inspected and pieces of zinc with a sharp end are removed so that the birds do not get hurt. To make it more convenient to watch birds, the metal mesh is covered with black or gray oil paint ( We can recommend covering the grid with black Kuzbass varnish. - Note. ed).

Between April and October, the window glass in the room where the aviary is located is replaced with a metal wire mesh inserted into the frame, which ensures a constant supply of fresh air. The aviary should have a door so that you can enter to clean and check the nests. At the bottom, near the floor, another door is made through which food is given to the birds. Through it they put a tray with water.

The floor is sprinkled with a layer of clean river sand, and fresh green branches are fixed in the corner of the aviary, positioning them in such a way that the budgerigars fly over the middle of the cage. Nests are attached at a distance of 10-15 cm from the ceiling, at the rate of two nests per pair of birds. All nests are suspended at an equal height so that sociable budgerigars can see each other. Feed and drinking water are usually placed in front of the stern door, so that this place is free from branches and birds do not pollute the feed with droppings.

The automatic feeder (Fig. 6, a) justifies itself well in the aviary, through the glass of which the grain supply is clearly visible. Grain should be added as needed. Mixed grain or pure grain is fed through the regulating slot, and the husk is blown away by the air movement caused by the arriving birds and enters the receiver located under the feeder. If desired, any home craftsman can make a feeder from planks and plywood with the number of compartments corresponding to the types of grain and mineral feed that are given to budgerigars.

Of course, an automatic drinker is also a necessary thing for budgerigars, especially in cases where the owner is forced to leave the house for a long time. For this purpose, an ordinary glass jar is used, in the wall of which a hole is drilled. The jar is filled with water, covered with a bowl or plate on top and turned upside down. As water is spent in the basin, it is gradually replenished from the jar and is constantly kept at the level of the hole (Fig. 6, b).

With such a simple device, it remains only to give the birds morning portions of the egg mixture and green food before leaving, and put crushed eggshells in a separate bowl.

Even though budgerigars are social birds, keeping too many birds in one aviary is not recommended because caring for them makes it difficult for the hobbyist. The dimensions of the aviary are determined at the rate of 1 m 3 for each pair of birds; this means that no more than 12 pairs of budgerigars can be placed in an aviary 2x3 m and 2 m high. All birds are allowed into the aviary at the same time and always the same number of males and females. An extra male will not bring harm, but a female who did not get a male often penetrates other people's nests, disturbs incubating females, and sometimes even ruins other people's clutches and destroys chicks.

Soon after the birds are placed in the aviary, each pair chooses a nest box for itself, the males begin to care for the females and do not let them go a single step. Within two weeks, most females begin to lay eggs, and those that are still free court the remaining males, demonstrating their disregard for married life. However, in a short period of time, all the females sit on the nests, and only males can be seen in the aviary.

The systematic testing of nests was discussed in the previous chapter. If there are more than six eggs in the nest, unfertilized eggs should be removed to make it easier for the female to incubate. With a smaller number of eggs in the nest, unfertilized eggs are also left.

At about the same time, the chicks begin to hatch, and therefore nesting sites should be checked at least twice a week, because cases of causeless death of chicks are not uncommon, and they must be removed. The time of bird ringing should not be missed either (see the chapter on counting offspring). If one female has too many chicks and the other has only one or two, the chicks are evenly distributed among the females. It happens that the first and, say, the fifth egg is fertilized, there is a difference in the age of the chicks - ten days, and hence the danger that the older chick will crush the younger one. Some of the disadvantages of having chicks of the same age were mentioned in the preceding chapter, and yet in exceptional cases it is recommended that a later hatched chick be transplanted to another female, whose chicks are about the same age as the adopted one.

Since there is always more space in an aviary than in a cage, budgerigars can be given various plants with immature seeds, which the birds carefully examine and look for the seeds to the last grain.

For an amateur, the departure of chicks is the moment of the highest pleasure. A chick sits on a twig a little smaller than an adult budgerigar with large dark eyes and looks at the world around it in surprise. For the most part, the chicks already on the first day quickly fly and return to their place.

Such chicks are regularly fed by the male, the female takes care of the younger ones and lays eggs again.

Independent chicks can be transferred to a separate enclosure. It is interesting to observe the habits of the chicks, especially when their younger relatives fly out of the nest and the older ones feed the younger ones. Theoretically, all chicks could be left together until the end of the breeding season, but young birds at the age of 3-4 months make attempts to nest, and we should not allow this. Therefore, the most reasonable thing to do is to transfer all the chicks to a separate room where there are no nest boxes.

In an aviary containing several pairs of budgerigars, it is sometimes difficult to stop the nesting process even after the chicks have hatched from the second or third clutch. The matter is complicated by the fact that the chicks from the last clutch are at different ages and some of them cannot yet be planted from the nest. Therefore, nests should be removed gradually one after another, but in the shortest possible time, so that the females do not penetrate into other people's nests and destroy the chicks located there.

Catching the chick we need in the aviary is not an easy task. This is done carefully with a net ( In our work we use nets with a nylon bag. - Note. ed). The mesh of such a landing net must be made of very thin and soft wire so as not to injure the bird. One person carefully frightens the bird so that it sits on the net of the aviary, where it is covered with a net. You can catch a budgerigar in another (simpler) way. One of the assistants stands at the switch and at the right moment, when you notice where the right parrot is sitting and give a signal, turns off the light. You just have to approach in the dark and take the bird with your hand. This whole procedure must be done quietly and calmly so as not to cause unnecessary commotion in the aviary.

At least twice a year, in the spring before nesting and in the fall after the end of breeding (when the parents stop feeding the last chicks), they catch all the birds, examine them and transplant them to another room. When examining, you need to pay attention to the physical condition of the birds, to the eyes and paws, and draw conclusions about their further use in breeding work. In the aviary, they do a general cleaning. The net, nests, all the premises and tools for caring for the bird are thoroughly cleaned, washed with water, and scalded with boiling water. The room is disinfected with creosol or other means. And when the room dries out and is completely ventilated, the floor is sprinkled with clean river sand, perches are placed in the aviary and fresh tree branches are attached to the walls. The aviary is ready to move in.

Cramer's necklace parrot (Psittasula krameri) or Indian ringed parrot is a widespread bird belonging to the subfamily of true parrots. The Indian ringed parrot is the most numerous species of parrot from this subfamily.

Description of the necklace parrot

The necklace parrot received its first species description over two hundred years ago.. The name was given to this species thanks to the work of the naturalist and naturalist Giovanni Scopoli, who thus perpetuated the memory of the famous explorer Wilhelm Cramer.

parrot intelligence

The very friendly character, as well as the rather high intelligence of the Kramer parrot, made this bird popular with lovers and breeders of exotic pets. Given the outstanding intelligence of the species, it is very important to provide a ringed parrot from a fairly early age with a wide variety of toys, including educational items and fodder.

The appearance and colors of the parrot

The Cramer's Parrot is a relatively small bird. The average length of the body and tail of an adult does not exceed 41-42 cm, with a wing length of 15-16 cm. The parrot has a slender build and a relatively elongated body. The average weight of an adult varies between 115-140 g.

The main coloration of the plumage of the ringed parrot is represented by a green, grassy color. The occipital region of the head is characterized by a bluish tint. There is a black color on the plumage of the throat, and a thin, but very well-defined stripe of black coloring runs from the beak to the eyes. Another black strip half encircles the bird's neck. In males, this stripe has a peculiar pinkish border. A pair of the longest tail feathers is painted in a rather bright blue color.. The underparts on the flight feathers are dark gray, while those on the tail feathers are olive-yellow.

The beak is bright red, and the tip and mandible area are distinguished by a dark, almost black color. The throat part of the mandible in males is black, while in the female, as a rule, it is characterized by a dark green coloration. Paws are gray, with a slight pink tint.

It is interesting! The weakly expressed sexual dimorphism of the Kramer's parrot somewhat complicates the ability to independently distinguish a female from a male. In this case, you need to focus on the black and pink neck "necklace", which is completely devoid of females.

Range, habitats in the wild

The distribution area and natural habitat of this species are extremely wide. This is the only species of all known parrots that lives simultaneously in Asia and Africa.

It is interesting! Under natural conditions, the Kramer parrot prefers to settle in forest areas and in open landscape with numerous thorny bushes, as well as in savannahs.

The African distribution area is represented by Mali, the southern part of Niger, the northern regions of Ghana and Burkina Faso, and also includes Togo and Benin, the southern part of Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad, the northern part of the Central African Republic, Uganda and the northwestern territory of Somalia. The Asian distribution area is represented by almost all of South Asia and part of the Southeast.

Contents: necklace parrot at home

Under natural conditions, there are several varieties of the necklace parrot, but domestic poultry farmers successfully keep the Himalayan, emerald, Chinese, red-headed and Mauritian parrots at home.

Malabar, pink-breasted, Alexandrian and plum-headed necklace parrots also get along well in captivity.

Parrot cage device

You can keep a feathered pet both in a fairly spacious bird cage, and in a special aviary, where such a frisky exotic bird will be much more comfortable. Also, aviary maintenance should be preferred if self-breeding of a tropical feathered pet is supposed. Under natural conditions, the necklace parrot spends a significant part of its time in flight, therefore, if such an exotic is kept at home, it is necessary to let it fly around the house quite often.

Important! With the help of a powerful beak, Kramer's parrot can very easily disable relatively fragile structures, so the cage and aviary must be made of sufficiently strong metal rods with high-quality anti-corrosion treatment.

Care and hygiene

The cage or aviary for the necklace parrot should be spacious enough to allow the bird to fly freely from branch to branch. Once a week, you need to ensure a thorough cleaning of your pet's home. There should always be fresh water in the drinker. The feeder and drinker should be washed very well every day..

It is recommended to provide the bird with an ambient air temperature of 15-20 ° C with an air humidity of 60-70%. The necklace parrot feels as comfortable as possible with daylight hours within 12 hours, therefore, if necessary, “night” is created artificially.

Diet - how to feed a necklace parrot

Despite the unpretentiousness, such a feathered pet as a necklace parrot needs a properly selected diet. The daily menu must include:

• canary mixture - 10-15%;
• oats - 25%;
• sunflower seeds - 10-15%;
• millet - 35%;
• fresh vegetables - 5-7%.

One adult should have about 20-30g of this mixture. Periodically, you can supplement the diet of a feathered pet with walnuts and almonds, sugar boiled corn or sprouted wheat.

It is interesting! Kramer's parrot loves oatmeal, hard-boiled chicken and quail eggs, various fruits, as well as low-fat cottage cheese and hard unsalted cheeses.

Lifespan

According to numerous studies, the average feathered pet directly depends on species characteristics. Necklace parrots, if properly maintained and properly fed, can live in captivity for thirty years or even more.

It is interesting! A young necklace parrot can be distinguished by its paler plumage than the feathers of an adult bird.

The beak has a pinkish-red coloration. Approximately from the age of six months, an orange edging, characteristic of the species, appears around the eyes of the necklace parrot. At the age of twelve months, after molting, the males acquire a barely noticeable and rather thin necklace, which is fully formed by about three years.

Parrot diseases and prevention

Chicks of the necklace parrot are more susceptible to disease. In a brood of ringed parrots, chicks with "frog legs" may appear, which are cramped or distinguished by eversion. The anomaly is caused by disturbances in the activity of the nervous system, which is caused by a lack of vitamins belonging to group "B". Such chicks are not subject to treatment.

For preventive purposes, it is required to clean the breeding premises daily, thoroughly rinse the feeders and drinkers, and treat the baths and perches. In nesting places, it is important to maintain a certain temperature regime and completely eliminate any drafts.

Parrot breeding

Cramer parrots reach sexual maturity by the age of two years, but the breeding season of the bird occurs only at three or four years. The species is monogamous, and pairs are formed for a long period, but not for life.

The period of incubation of the oviposition by the female is three or four weeks. The hatched chicks are completely helpless and naked. The skin and beak are pink in color. The chicks stay in the nest, as a rule, for a month and a half. Necklace parrots feed their chicks with semi-digested belching gruel, and not only the female, but also the male participate in the feeding process.

Is it possible to teach a necklace parrot to speak

Necklace parrots speak in captivity relatively rarely, but they are able to imitate various sounds quite well. To teach a pet to talk, you need to be patient and strictly follow the recommendations of experts. Best of all, poultry perceive the voice of a woman and a child, due to a thinner register. It is enough if the necklace parrot memorizes one simple word a day.

Important! As the practice of keeping such birds at home shows, males of the necklace parrot learn to speak much faster than females, but it is the females who are able to pronounce the learned words more accurately and clearly.

If a decision is made to purchase a necklace parrot, then it is advisable to contact a specialized nursery where obviously tame and completely healthy birds are sold. As a rule, old or wild birds smuggled into the territory of our country are sold “by hand”.

Where to buy, what to look for

After choosing a nursery or an experienced, well-established breeder, you need to make a careful visual inspection of the purchased bird:

It is best to acquire a young chick at the age of no more than one and a half months. When buying a grown bird, the maximum that you can count on is to teach your pet to imitate whistling or inarticulate sounds.

Important! When examining the beak, ears and eyes, abscesses and tumors, fresh or dried secretion products, as well as damage by scabies, should not be detected.

Price of a necklace parrot

Affordable cost distinguishes birds imported from their natural habitat that have undergone quarantine. The most expensive will be a domestic feathered pet, which is sold with an ornithological and veterinary passport, and has also undergone a chipping procedure.

The cost of a ringed necklace parrot starts from 12 thousand rubles. The price of the most popular Indian ringed parrot or Cramer's necklace parrot of natural color cannot be less than ten thousand rubles.

Volgina N.S. veterinary ornithologist, kbn, "Centre", Moscow

Parrots are the most amazing, intelligent and extraordinary birds on Earth. “What would one of those wonderful rainforests be without parrots? A dead wizard's garden, a silent graveyard, a wilderness. Parrots wake up and support life there, acting both on sight and on hearing,” notes the German zoologist, naturalist Alfred Brehm, “parrots can be figuratively called “monkeys among birds”, and Jaco can be represented as “man among parrots”.

Representatives of the order of parrots have more than 300 species that are common on all continents except Antarctica. One of the most beautiful in plumage color is the parrots of Australia, New Guinea and other nearby islands. There live cockatoos of white, black, pink and other colors, amazingly luxurious handsome lorises and rosellas. The sizes of parrots are also very diverse: the smallest representatives are woodpeckers, which are barely 10 cm long. And the largest parrots in the world, such as the hyacinth macaw, reach 110 cm. One of the most popular misconceptions is that parrots can survive up to 100 years or more. However, in reality, their life expectancy rarely exceeds 50 years. The age of medium and small parrots is much shorter than 10-15 years. Cockatoos are recognized long-livers among parrots, there are reports of parrots living to 65-70 years.

Often, when choosing a pet, the choice stops at one of the representatives of the order of parrots, as a rule, these are small or medium parrots: budgerigars, cockatiels, lovebirds, less often grays. Why? Lots of answers:

• The parrot does not need to be walked outside twice a day
• No need for large rooms
• No unpleasant odors
• parrots live long
• The high level of intelligence of parrots allows communication with humans
• Cheerful and cheerful companion, etc.

And so, if you really decide to get a parrot, let's start equipping his home. It is necessary to choose the right place in the apartment: the cage should not be placed near heating appliances, in a draft, near a TV, computer monitor, music center. The cage should be located in a bright place, it is desirable that one side of it adjoins the wall, where the bird will feel out of danger.

The cell must be spacious, the length should be greater than the depth and height. The minimum size of the cage should allow the bird to fully open its wings without touching the walls of the cage. A good cage is made of non-toxic materials, it is convenient to maintain, easy to clean. It is desirable that the bird be in absolute darkness at night, but it is better not to close the cage at night so as not to deprive the bird of fresh air. The ideal option is a combined aviary with an outdoor section and a part located indoors, when the bird itself has the opportunity to choose where to be. It is desirable that there are perches of different diameters in the cage, so the smallest diameter should allow the claws to almost touch when sitting on the perch, and the largest diameter of the perch should be such that the bird's claws rest against the tree when sitting on it.

It is necessary to let the bird out of the cage every day. Only in flight does adequate ventilation of the lungs and air sacs occur, and blood supply to internal organs and tissues improves. In the absence of flights, the bird will inevitably suffer from respiratory diseases such as aspergillosis, etc.

A very important point in creating optimal conditions for the life of a bird is lighting. Usually the bird does not have the opportunity to be outdoors and is completely deprived of sunlight, especially in the autumn-winter season, when daylight hours are short and the sky is often covered with clouds. Therefore, your pet will need the short-wave part of the solar spectrum (ultraviolet). Under the influence of ultraviolet rays in the body of most vertebrates, including birds, vitamin D3 is synthesized. Vitamin D3 is a precursor of the hormone calcitriol, which regulates the metabolism of calcium and phosphorus and contributes to the proper formation of bone and cartilage tissue. In addition, the production of many hormones of the anterior pituitary gland: thyroid-stimulating, adrenocorticotropic, growth hormone depends on the degree of illumination and the length of daylight hours. Birds have a special gland surrounding the eye, the Harderian gland. This gland is responsible for the bird's perception of daylight hours and transmits a signal via a neurohumoral connection to the hypolamute and pituitary gland. Hormones of the anterior pituitary gland are responsible for the normal growth and development of the bird, regulate all types of metabolic processes. In addition, in birds, special cells (cones) located in the iris, in addition to the three primary colors perceived by humans: blue, green and red, are also able to perceive light in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum. Without the ultraviolet lighting component, the world looks dull and colorless to birds (Fig. 1).

Fig.1 For a bird, the world becomes colored if there is an ultraviolet spectrum in the illumination (the bird on the left) and black if there is no ultraviolet (the bird on the right).

In order to meet the need of parrots for low-frequency ultraviolet, a lamp with a color coefficient (CRI) above 90 and a temperature coefficient (K) from 5000 to 6500 is suitable for you. According to experts, the best lamp for birds, today, is the Philips TL950 model . However, they are not always available. Therefore, amateurs can find lamps from OSRAM, Sylvania, Hagen, Arcadia, etc. in Moscow pet stores (Fig. 2). You can use any luminaire, it is enough that it is equipped with an electronic ballast (PRA). Ordinary magnetic gear used in fluorescent lamps is not suitable for birds. The relatively low frequency of the alternating current in the circuit (50 Hz) creates a stroboscopic effect. We don't notice it. However, parrots, whose eye registers 10 times more pictures per second, perceive such light as a series of flashes. Moreover, the use of electronic ballast significantly extends the life of the lamp.

Fig.2. Lighting for birds.

We must also take care of air humidification - large and medium parrots mainly come from humid tropical and subtropical regions, and their usual humidity level is 75-85%. With low humidity, a number of diseases of the respiratory system can occur in a bird and the plumage will become dull and brittle. Indoor flowers, fountains, bowls of water and wet towels on the radiator will not solve this problem. A humidifier is needed. Of the humidifiers on the Russian market, ultrasonic ones are the most productive, but even in winter, with the heating on, they barely maintain humidity at 50-60% - this is the minimum allowable value for parrots (therefore, the humidifier should be installed as close as possible to the cage).

If you have a cold apartment, you will have to take care of the electric heater. A comfortable temperature for parrots is 22-25 0 C, a temperature of 18-20 0 is the minimum allowable, and with a long stay at this temperature, the bird can catch a cold. Sudden changes in temperature (more than 5-7 0) can also lead to a cold. The best option is an oil heater, although it dries the air. However, it should not be placed close to the cage.

After creating a comfortable home for the bird, you must take care of its diet. At the moment, the food of most domestic manufacturers not only leaves much to be desired, but can often be dangerous to the health and even to the life of our pets. Russia does not have its own technology for fortification of feed and funds for the introduction of imported technology. Therefore, in two different packs of grain feed from the same manufacturer, there may be an amount of vitamins that does not correspond to any standards or their complete absence. Some foreign manufacturers of ready-made feeds (Fiory, Padovan, Vitakraft) have proven themselves well in the world market. These brands are represented by several types of mixtures for different types of parrots (african, amazonian, australian, etc.). Of the domestic feeds, Rio mixtures are well recommended. Complementary foods are also available, such as mixtures of nuts and dried fruits that can be added to the main grain mixtures or given to the parrot as a treat, crackers, mineral supplements, vitamin supplements, shedding supplements, etc., etc. In addition to the main grain feed, germinated grain should be present in the diet of parrots. Thoroughly washed grain pour a little warm water (you can just room temperature) and leave at a temperature of 20-22 0 degrees for 4-5 hours. Then drain the water, rinse the grain again and leave it at room temperature again for 8-9 hours. You can cover the grain with damp gauze, or place it in a plastic container, in the bottom of which you first make a few small holes (this will greatly facilitate the process of regular washing). Insert a container with holes into another one that is suitable in size. After 8-9 hours, rinse the sprouts again and put them in the refrigerator - this will stop the growth of sprouted sprouts and protect against mold. Every morning, before offering the sprouts to the parrot, they should be washed. Many parrots do not like wet grain - in this case, it should be dried with a hairdryer, on a radiator, or simply by blotting with a paper or cotton napkin. In addition, heavily moistened food can become moldy quickly at room temperature. Every day the parrot should receive juicy food. Fruits, vegetables and greens are absolutely essential in a parrot's diet. You need to accustom a bird to them from the first day of its stay in your house. All fruits and vegetables should be thoroughly washed, especially those that cannot be peeled - such as grapes, berries, greens, cabbage. Fruits and vegetables can be given with the exception of: mango, papaya, avocado, potatoes, parsley and other herbs. Any boiled vegetables from your table (from soup, stew, etc.) should not be given to the bird, because, in addition to the fact that the vegetables from your table are usually salted, they may have a fair amount of fat, which is completely contraindicated for parrots .

It is possible and necessary to accustom the bird to ready-made fruit and vegetable purees produced for baby food. This is a good addition to the diet of a parrot, especially in winter. Ready-made purees, the composition of which is very diverse, should not contain vegetables and fruits from the prohibited list, sugar, cream, milk, as well as fish and meat. It is necessary to teach the bird to eat from a spoon, you can dilute the puree with water and offer the parrot as a drink. Dairy products have been considered an important part of the diet of parrots for many years, due to the content of calcium in an easily digestible form and microorganisms that normalize the intestinal microflora, but at present this point of view is no longer unambiguous, since there is documented scientific evidence that birds are very unwell. digest milk sugar (lactose). This is due to the fact that in the small intestine of parrots, the enzyme lactase, which is responsible for the breakdown of milk sugar, is synthesized in insufficient quantities. The fat content of fermented milk products should not exceed 1%. Kefir, yogurt, fermented baked milk and yogurt can be given to the bird no more than 2 times a week. Low-fat cottage cheese is recommended to give no more than 1 time per week. Well suited for this purpose is children's cottage cheese, completely fat-free cottage cheese, and dietary cottage cheese.

Branch food is also necessary for parrots. It is best to give branches of fruit trees and shrubs: apple trees, cherries, plums, raspberries, hawthorn, elderberry, viburnum, currants.

Parrots need mineral supplements. As a source of calcium and phosphorus, it is necessary to use crushed shells of marine mollusks. The best source of calcium is pressed cuttlefish shell, or sepia. Parrots accustomed to this feeding (getting used to any new food takes time and patience from the owner of the bird) are happy to gnaw sepia themselves. Sepia can be given to the bird up to 5 times a week, let it hang in a cage until it is completely destroyed.

If your bird is not getting enough calcium and vitamins, it will be susceptible to bone disease. These diseases in the English-language literature are called Metabolic bone disease (Metabolic bone disease). Young birds develop rickets, and adults suffer from secondary nutritional hyperparathyroidism, osteoporosis, and osteomalacia. The pathogenesis of these diseases is different, but ultimately the diseases lead to the destruction of bone tissue, a decrease in natural resistance and the development of secondary infections (enteritis, nephritis, hepatitis, etc.).

As a drink, it is best to use boiled or filtered water. You can add a small amount of freshly squeezed juices or a drop of honey.

It is necessary to carefully monitor the cleanliness of the feeders and drinkers. Birds like to soak their food in the water and it gets dirty quickly. In such a nutrient medium, bacteria begin to multiply, which can be pathogenic for birds.

If your bird is sick.

If your bird is sick, you should immediately contact a veterinary ornithologist! Do not try to cure the bird yourself and do not seek advice from friends or pet store sellers. Assistance must be provided by a qualified professional.

It is not difficult to distinguish a sick bird from a healthy one.

• A cheerful, mobile bird suddenly became quiet, sleeps for a long time, resting, sits on a perch on two legs, lies on a perch or on the bottom of the cage.
• The bird flutters, closes its eyes, breathes heavily.
• The bird often yawns (all birds yawn, but they do it before going to bed or during daytime rest and quite rarely during the day).
• The bird has disappeared or vice versa, an excessive appetite has appeared, the bird drinks more than usual.
• The bird is sick, it burps undigested food. (Males of many species of birds regurgitate food in the process of courting a female or an object that replaces a female, but it is not difficult to distinguish sexual behavior from illness - the courting male is cheerful and energetic, the sick bird is lethargic and weak)
• The bird is nervous and scratches often
• The bird that made the sound is silent or hoarse
• The bird freezes for a long time in an unnatural position, for example, upside down,
  . The bird is losing weight
• The bird is limping, although it did not receive injuries
• The bird has convulsions
• bird sneezes
• The bird often breathes with its beak open.
• Respiratory movements are accompanied by the movement of the tail.
• A neoplasm appeared on the body or limbs.

There are diseases in birds that can be dangerous to humans and other mammals:

• Flu
• Tuberculosis
• salmonellosis
• Ornithosis (chlamydia)

Timely contact with a veterinarian will help save your pet and protect you from dangerous diseases.

Parrot aviaries are a great option for both owners and their birds. If you have one or a couple of feathered friends living in your house, there is no need to purchase an aviary, only if the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe room allows and you do not have the opportunity to provide the bird with regular walks outside the cage.

Budgerigar enclosures are very popular among the owners of these cheerful and energetic birds. Often birds spend the winter in an apartment, and for the summer and warm autumn they “move” to the balcony, where they lead a healthy lifestyle and feel quite comfortable.

• thanks to flights, fresh air and sunlight (street enclosures), the body is strengthened, molting passes easier and faster;
• comfortable living conditions for parrots. Birds can fly and communicate with each other not only by shouting at a distance;
• convenience for the owner. Ease of maintenance of the enclosure and saving time, instead of several cages, you remove one, albeit a large one;
• all the birds get your attention at the same time, and none of them feel left out;
• ease of carrying out preventive vitamin courses and other manipulations, any deviation in the behavior of a bird contrasts with other relatives and is quickly detected;
• if you have a large species of parrot, then a competent aviary will help organize a normal regimen for the bird (length of daylight hours) and protect the parrot from unwanted interference at certain points in the life of its owner without psychological damage to the pet.

Photo: Peter Bekesi

Cons of enclosures for parrots:

• enclosures "take over" a certain area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe premises or plot;
• if one bird gets sick in the aviary, the rest of the birds are at risk. Timely isolation of a sick pet and preventive treatment for other parrots is mandatory;
• it is difficult to keep track of the "correct" nutrition of a particular bird (there is a risk of rejection of fruits and greens by one individual), although, in a flock, parrots quickly adopt each other's habits;
• birds living in an aviary are difficult to tame;
• for breeding parrots, each pair still needs a separate cage with a nesting house. Of course, it is quite possible to breed birds in open-air cages, but in this case, it is much more difficult to provide a nesting pair with peace, good nutrition and control over the breeding and development of offspring.

Aviaries for parrots are street and designed for the room - indoor.

Outdoor (garden) enclosures differ primarily in their size, the roof and floor in such structures are built taking into account the climatic conditions of the country and for a certain type of parrot. Also in such enclosures there must be shelter in case of worsening weather conditions or danger from birds or rodents.

Photo of the outdoor enclosure:

Photo: Emily

Aviaries can be both temporary and permanent. Temporary - these are most often seasonal enclosures, they move birds in the warm season, and with the onset of cold weather, parrots move to a warmer and more protected room.

Home aviaries are a large cage that is located in a room or on a balcony.

Today, different variations of such structures are presented in the markets and online stores, so buying an aviary for parrots is not at all difficult now. A much bigger problem is to fit the bird house into the interior of the room without wasting living space.

The price of such structures is quite high, so bird lovers most often try to make an aviary themselves, then the costs are significantly reduced, and the convenience of a home-made aviary cannot be compared with a standard store offer.

Photo: tiu

If you have a person who can build an aviary with his own hands, contact him. The main advantage of home-made aviaries is that you design a "bird house" not only based on the needs of parrots, but also taking into account the specifics of the place where the large cage will be located, you determine the number of doors and think in advance where you can hang nesting houses, your taste preferences and other inhabitants of the house.

In order to purchase a ready-made aviary for parrots, you just need to contact these online stores (links under the photo):

Photo: 4parrots Photo: naturedaural

Outdoor enclosures for parrots

When building an outdoor aviary on your own, several important points should be taken into account.

If you want to build an all-season garden aviary for parrots, then you need to take the design much more seriously, since such an aviary should have a room with heating, lighting, and the foundation and walls of this design will be insulated. To understand what an all-season outdoor aviary should be like, pay attention to the principle by which poultry houses and pigeon houses are built.

Photo: David Edwards

The rules for building a seasonal outdoor enclosure are slightly different.

To protect birds from rodents and small predators, you should build a foundation by deepening the trench by 30-40 cm or put the structure on legs at a safe distance from the ground. We fill the dug trench with large stones and rubble and fill everything with concrete to ground level, then we raise the brick wall to a height of 20 cm.

During the laying of bricks, every 1.5 meters we install a large bolt vertically above the last brick row by 10 mm. A mesh will be attached to it with a nut or welded to a frame from a metal corner. Holes are drilled in the lower part of the frame at the same distance as the bolts, the upper part of the frame and the sides must also be with holes for connection with adjacent structures. To facilitate assembly, the frame is made 1.5 by 2.5 m.

Photo: Emily

Outdoor enclosures are built up to 3 m wide, the length is chosen arbitrarily, as for the height, it should not exceed 2 meters, since higher enclosures complicate catching birds and caring for cage equipment as a whole (feeders, drinkers, perches, tree branches, nesting houses).

When installing the floor in an aviary, you should first stretch a fine mesh treated with anti-corrosion agents, and then you can pour concrete, fill in earth and sand, or lay boards. The metal mesh will serve as protection against small rodents that may try to enter the aviary for grain, eggs or small birds.

Recently, owners often use linoleum to cover the floor in aviaries - this greatly simplifies the maintenance of parrots and facilitates the maintenance of the floor surface, helping to quickly clean it of unwanted dirt and bird excrement.

It is advisable to make the floor in the aviaries at an angle to drain water - this will allow you to disinfect the surface and keep the home for birds in constant cleanliness.

It is desirable that the aviary has a roof or a partial canopy that protects the parrots from bad weather and the scorching rays of the sun. By placing the aviary so that a tree or shrub grows in its center, you will provide the birds with a natural shelter from the sun's rays and the most natural habitat.

Photo: Scott Mill

When buying the main mesh, get another one with larger cells of 40 x 40 or 50 x 50 mm, it will need to be pulled at a distance of 5-10 cm from the main one. The second layer is attached to the channel frame. This will help keep your birds safe from birds of prey and harm to your pets.

A double layer of a different-sized mesh will be the best option for the safe living of a pet on the street.

Parrots love to move not only along the large branches of trees provided to them, but also along the walls of the enclosure, it is this habit of birds that can lead them to injury or death if the enclosure is not covered with a control network.

If you have a choice of a place for a garden aviary, then try to place it so that the front part "looks" to the south or southeast. It is this position that will allow the birds to meet the dawn and “bathe” in the rays of the sun for as long as possible.

For a street enclosure, supports are needed; metal posts concreted into the ground can act as such. Metal corners are welded onto the posts, which will be the frame for the grid. When stretching the mesh, if additional cuts are required, overlap the mesh up to 20 cm by stitching the edges well.

Photo: steve p2008

Carefully inspect the completed aviary for holes, crevices, or loose materials.

Garden enclosures are built with a vestibule, the presence of this extension is mandatory, since at the entrance to the enclosure it will not allow the parrot to fly out of the cage. In addition, you can store the necessary inventory there, which you may need when maintaining the enclosure.

Photo: MaryEllen and Paul

Collapsible aviaries are very popular, they are often used by owners of medium and small parrots. For medium parrots, the mesh should be taken with a cell of 25 x 25 mm, the frame should be built from a square metal profile 15-17 mm. The dimensions of the enclosure are 200 x 150 x 70 cm. You should not forget to provide doors for changing food and water, in this case you can make a small door and a second one for comfortable cleaning and installation of branches and necessary accessories.

Plexiglas is also popular, a wall of it is installed on the north or windy side to protect the parrot from cool and strong air currents.

An example of an aviary for medium parrots:

Photo 1: sense-life
Photo 2: sense-life

You can also make an aviary for parrots with your own hands from plastic pipes. You will read in more detail.

Enclosures for medium and large parrots are most securely locked with padlocks. You will be sure that your pet, no matter how hard he tries to break free, will not be able to do it without your knowledge.

What should be the mesh for aviaries

The best option would be to buy a stainless steel mesh - it is the safest and most durable. Galvanized mesh is also durable, but the presence of zinc in it is dangerous for the health of birds. Despite this, due to its availability and practicality, owners often use it in makeshift enclosures.

Photo: mpstar

If you do not have the opportunity to purchase stainless steel, thoroughly rinse the galvanized mesh with warm water and a sponge and wipe it with vinegar. After rinsing, let the acetic acid evaporate and only then can you use the mesh.

Photo: stoprsp

Metal mesh covered with plastic or plastic mesh should not be considered suitable materials for parrot housing.

When buying a mesh, pay attention to the absence of rust and abrasions, which, in the future, can lead to it.

The thickness of the net for large parrots should be more than 5 mm, that is, such that the bird cannot bite it.

Do-it-yourself home (indoor) aviaries for parrots

Indoor aviaries for birds are fundamentally different from street ones. A preliminary drawing of the aviary on paper will help to avoid blunders and miscalculations, as well as determine the amount of materials and design of the cage.

Photo: rino08

When building an aviary for budgerigars with your own hands, the size of the grid is very important. The optimal cell size is 15 x 15 mm, if the cells are rectangular, then a larger size is allowed.

For their construction, the following materials are used: washers, screws, bolts, latches for doors and curtains, welded mesh, metal corner or pipe, wood (hardwood only), wire, linoleum. For convenience, the owners try to make them collapsible.

Photo: Alena_

Welded mesh is very convenient to attach to any surface, and it is practical to use.

After you have decided on the place where the aviary will be located and what kind of lighting will be (if without access to sunlight, then choose a suitable parrot), you need to calculate the number of doors, because in addition to the fact that you may have to attach a nesting house to one of them or bathing, you will need a door for changing food and water, as well as for cleaning the premises and catching birds.

Photo: rino08

The floor in such enclosures contains pallets, so it is much more convenient to clean the cage. If you decide to buy food-grade plastic kitchen trays, then the size of the enclosure will have to be adjusted to fit them, in other cases this does not need to be done. Do not forget that since the pallet extends completely, it is necessary to have a place for such manipulations.

If you have a low pallet, make high sides to avoid debris around the enclosure. Heavy and large pallets are equipped with wheels. The bottom of the enclosure is made of plywood.

An example of building a small aviary for small and medium parrot species.

A photo: