Don't Help Your Parrot

’m refusing to help my parrot! And it’s not because I don’t care about him, or I’m a horrible caretaker. It can be argued the opposite.

If your bird is abled and whatever they’re doing isn’t going to hurt them or the environment, let them figure it out! It can be amazing for their confidence, coordination, and problem solving skills. If we baby our birds, they don’t learn these skills, which can get them into quite the pickle!

Of course if a bird could harm themselves, or their special needs and what they’re trying to accomplish they simply aren’t physically abled to do, then help them! If this was Calvin or Rukkas, my elderly extremely disabled birds, my butt would have leaped up and helped and not record. Or if munch was doing this on the side of the couch where the landing would be my hard floors, then I would he on standby, so he would fall into my hands.

I will also arrange play gyms and cages to set my birds up for challenges. Like I will hand a U swing in the middle of their aviary and put a bird on it so they have to climb upside down from their cage to get off. Or place trees further apart from each other to make the bird reach or jump. For my disabled birds, wrinkling up a blanket so there are small hills they need to walk over (I mean like 1in hills nothing huge or tiring) to work on balance and strength.

A thought for the day is challenge your birds! They’re our babies, but we also can’t baby them.