Danger for Parrots.

LEAD & ZINC Posion: New bird cages, new wire for an aviary and a new aviary itself are all places where you will find Zinc coating, it has a grey / silver colour and you can recognise it straight away once you have seen it once. The Zinc coating needs to be aged by putting it out in the rain and sun for a couple of weeks, or you can use a 50 / 50 mix of warm to hot water and vinegar and wash the Zinc coated areas well and hose off, this helps to age the Zinc quickly and I have found it most effective. ( only a few hours involved instead of weeks ). NUTS: I recently found out the hard way that you DON’T feed peanuts to a parrot. (Cockatoo’s are alright I have been told). I feed some peanuts to a Superb Parrot and one became wedged in his throat leading to a 3 day stay at the Vet that he never came home from. I have feed peanuts to all my parrots for some time 2 years or more with never any problem until now. NEVER again will I do this. He was a very favored pet a real people bird. ( dedicated to ROM ) Story by Vector. CHAINS: When using chain in your birds environment for hanging things or just for climbing exercise always use closed linked chains. Closed links in the chain prevent your birds becoming caught up in them especially the birds with leg rings. I have lost a prize Ringneck to a chain which had links that were not completely sealed or closed. ( dedicated to ODO ) Story by Vector. TEFLON: Teflon ( polytetrafluoroethylene ) coated cooking equipment the fumes given off from the use of the coated cookware is harmful and often fatal to birds. There have been cases where birds keep at the other end of the house from the kitchen, were killed from the fumes. And if the cookware is heated to high enough temperatures ( over 500f ) it is harmful to people also. CAFFEINE & CHOCOLATE: Both caffeine, tea & chocolate contain theobramine, this substance can also kill dogs and cats. Sorry that I can not tell you the exact dosage to make it deadly to your birds but around 200mg would make a very small dog or puppy very ill or cause death. WINDOWS: When letting your bird fly around inside your home make sure to pull the curtains closed otherwise your bird may fly right into a window thinking that it can go outside through this opening and can break it’s neck if it hits the glass very hard or give it brain damage. This does not happen all the time, birds hitting windows and being fatally wounded, most of the time they will hit the glass and be alright usually because they don’t have enough room to build up the speed necessary to do them great harm, but who wants to take the chance. MORE TO COME If you have anything to contribute to this page I would be glade to hear from you.