hi my name is madeline franco and i'm hereto talk about birds, specifically in this segment we are going to talk about how totake care of your birds. you see here several birds. this one is kiki. she is a kiek. sheis a parrot. she is one of the smaller parrots. i have other larger parrots. at 140 gramsshe is certainly one of the more diminutive of them but even with her small weight itis said that nothing will change your life more than a parrot. i have a number of friendswho don't really cook for themselves but they cook for their birds so that is one of thechanges that may take place. the basics of parrot care are food, shelter, housing, andproper medical care. food very many of them eat pelleted diets. they also can become seedjunkies so if you get a new bird you want
to vary their diet as much as possible. getthem a good pellet type food and get them a good seed mixture if you are going to feedseed. also you may want to keep in mind that they love fruits and vegetables. they loveto eat what you eat. they'll even eat pizza. there are some things to avoid however. youdon't want to give them any chocolate, caffeine, avocado and a couple of other things thatare not good for them. many of your bird clubs will publish lists, i know ours does aboutthe things of things that you should avoid as far as foods. you might want to get yourselfinvolved in a bird club because they can help you with some of those issues. as far as housingyour bird should have a cage. you shouldn't keep your bird in the cage all day but thecage should be of adequate size. many people
say get the largest cage you can avoid andi say get a cage that is the right size for your bird. although an african gray is largerthan a kiek by about twice and then some with size and many times an african gray will notwant or use or need a cage s big as a kiek can. kieks love to play and they live to playand play to live so they will use more space within their cage than many other birds. oneof the other vital things for your bird is fresh water at all times. i like to bottletrain my birds because it creates a supply o clean water all the time. birds tend tolike to dunk their food and if they have a bowl of water they will get their water prettygrody looking in no time flat so you want to pay strict attention to their water andthey need some play time and some attention
from you. in order to keep them tame you needto take them out of their cages and make them a member of your family. if you take careof your bird and follow some basic tips you will have a very long and fun relationshipwith your bird. keep in mind that they do live a long time and after you have boughtyour bird and you have bought some good food and you have bought a cage one of the bestthings you can get for your bird or for yourself is a couple of great books. one of the thingsyou should also keep in mind about your bird is that they require and enjoy regular bathing.some of them are dunkers, some of them appreciate being in the shower with a human and someof them just appreciate being under a gentle spray. among my birds i have all kinds. someof them like to dunk in their bowl. this one
really enjoys dunking in a bowl.