Are You Making These 2 Dozen Deadly Bird Keeping Mistakes

Are You Making These 2 Dozen Deadly Bird Keeping Mistakes?

Aviculture is a wonderful hobby; it is both relaxing and lucrative but only when you are doing things correctly. For someone that is just beginning, it might be bit unrealistic to expect to do everything correctly and to be error free right from day one. We are prone to making mistakes and learning through trial and error. The learning curve can be a frustrating if not a depressing process demanding lot of patience at least for some of us. Successful and the most experienced breeders in the country know that one has to be prepared for lifelong learning process. Another factor to be taken into cognizance here is that there are certain information that breeders do not readily share and are kept as trade secrets. I know of a breeder that was not ready to share how to sex African Lovebirds when I was purchasing a pair of Lutino African Lovebirds from him. Cannot blame him or any of the breeders for withholding the hard-learned lessons in breeding birds. Everyone has to go through this school of learning. Having said this, I cannot generalize the above statement because there are good number of breeders that encourage beginners by sharing all the valuable information and I have come across several helpful breeders too. The bottom line however is that correct information on breeding birds and complete hands on guides on breeding birds is rare to find, there are books you will say but those literary sources can prove to be way too expensive for many of us so we navigate through the challenging path. Even for those that can afford expensive books on aviculture, one should know that birds do not go by the books. What is found in the books could be based on one or few people’s experience, which cannot be made universal. Moreover, to my knowledge most of the books are written by non-Indian authors meaning from a totally different geographic setup, which is a key factor in bird traits, food habits and behavior. I do not mean to say that book are totally futile but there is nothing like hearing from an experienced local breeder.

When it comes to breeding birds more than doing things correctly, not doing things wrongly is more important because some of the mistakes can be greatly damaging and some of the damages could be irreversible if not lethal for the birds. It is for that reason, I decided to write about the seven important areas where the most mistakes are committed by the beginners in my first post so that we can first stay away from these mistakes that affect the well being of our birds before we start looking at other healthy procedures that increases the rate of success in breeding and rearing birds. I have intentionally stayed away from discussing the right thing to do while pointing out the mistakes that we commit. Some of the mistakes committed might sound too basic for someone to commit but believe me, people do make these mistakes. The list of mistakes listed below is not an exhaustive one, these are some of the most basic ones and we will cover other advanced areas in the future posts, do keep coming for fresh information.

Area 1 – Food And Supplement Management Mistakes

1. Giving just one type of food and not bringing in variations to ensure a balanced diet.
2. Giving food that are not compatible with bird’s digestive system.
3. Giving vegetables, fruits, greens without carefully washing whereby there is a danger of contamination with pesticides and fertilizers.
4. Giving too many supplements at the same time without any discretion.
5. Not removing the old / stale food from the cage / aviary.
6. Giving wrong dosage of antibiotics and de-worming medication.
7. Going on a trip for several days without leaving enough food supply in the cage

Area 2 - Water Management Mistakes

8. Not providing adequate water to drink as well as to bathe.
9. Not changing the water daily.
10. Leaving residual food and bird feces in the water bowl.

Area 3 - Cage and nest box management Mistakes

11. Keeping the birds in cages without any shady roof where the birds are continually exposed to direct sunlight, rain and the other elements of nature without any protection.
12. Leaving the birds in a very small cage thinking that it will improve intimacy between birds and improve the chances of breeding.
13. Changing the cage location too frequently not allowing the bird to settle.
14. Changing the nest box location within the cage frequently out of impatience to see the birds get into the nest box and exhibit signs of courtship and breeding.

Area 4 - Light Management Mistakes

15. Keeping the cage in a room or location where there is no provision for natural light to enter.
16. Keeping the cage in a place where the lights are switched on round the clock with no dark hours for the birds.
17. Switching on the lights erratically not allowing the birds to settle with any pattern of rest.

Area 5 - Ventilation Management Mistakes

18. Keeping the birds in a room with poor or no ventilation.
19. Keeping the cage in the path of the draught.
20. Keeping the birds in a place where the air conditioner is turned on.
21. Keeping the birds in a room that gets extremely hot during summer.

Area 6 - Noise Management Mistakes

22. Leaving the birds in an overly noisy environment, it could be noise from heavy traffic, machinery, music system, TV, etc.

Area 7 - Privacy Management Mistakes

23. Leaving the cage in a room or path where people walk in and out too frequently, whereby the birds get startled several times during the entire course of the day.
24. Leaving the cage where other pets like dogs, cats and reptiles are housed to which the birds are not used to.