How to Care for a New Parrot

We understand that welcoming a new parrot into your family may be overwhelming and you need to know how to care for a new parrot, so we’ve tried to make it a little easier to settle your new feathered friend in. This guide covers everything you need to know about caring for your new parrot, from their first days home for their long term health. No filler or mumbo jumbo just straight up quality information from the bird experts.

Welcoming an Amazing new Avian Family member

First 3 days: Never rush your new parrot. They will be naturally scared because of the changed environment and may not eat much for the first day or so due to stress. Place an extra seed bowl on the floor while they are settling in. It’s important to get your birds used to a varied diet young or they will be difficult feeders when mature. Supply seed, Birdsville blends and pellets straight away. Once they are eating properly and feel at home, then it is time to start training! It’s normal for young birds to mostly eat grain for the first 6 weeks. See our website, Facebook and Instagram for more information.

The first 10 days: When bringing your bird home, we recommend adding Spark liquid to the bird’s drinking water daily for the first 10 days. The carbohydrate and electrolytes help during times of heat or stress such as a bird being relocated to a new environment. Worm your bird after day 7, follow instructions on the bottle. Continue having the seed bowl on the floor.

Essential Supplies for your new Parrot

Cage/enclosure – Make sure the cage is suitably sized for the species you are choosing to house in it. See our staff about getting the suitable enclosure to your pet bird or parrot.

Carry enclosure – safe transport, adventures or holding during cleans

Toys – Ladder, swing with a minimum of 4 toys. Deck out the top, middle and bottom level of the enclosure.

Ladders and swing – Ladders are useful for your bird navigating the cage and swings also use muscles in a bird’s legs that a stationary perch does not, so it forms a form of exercise.

Perches – Minimum of 5 perches, most cages come with 2 dowel perches, for healthy feet we recommend 2 natural wood perches and a cement perch all of different sizes. The different sizes and natural perches help avoid a condition called bumblefoot.

Quality seed – high grade seed for young birds is much healthier, be wary of supermarket blends especially with baby birds.

Pellets – Passwell, Vetafarm, Zupreem or Harrisons. 40% of diet, baby birds can take over a month to learn how to eat pellets.

Millet Sprays – Millet sprays are great for training and getting young birds eating while transitioning to their new environment.

Seed bar – play treat, keeps birds busy working at them.

Healthy blends – a great addition to mix with their seed mix. Birdsville blends will also help with varying up a baby bird’s diet to make them better eaters as they mature. This mixed with a normal seed mix is ideal.

Calcium, charcoal & Iodine – Pink button, iodine perches and bell contain iodine. Cuttlebone, white button and bells contain calcium. Charcoal button and bells contain charcoal to aid digestion. These will usually last a long time as many birds can be deficient in iodine and calcium.

Substrate – grit or sand sheets is ideal for the bottom of the cage or enclosure. Makes cleaning and cage maintenance easier.

Vitamins – Multivet, Calcivet, or Ornithon

Sulfa 3 or Spark – helps prevent stress or illness from transitioning to a new environment.

Wormer – to be administered after day 7 of bringing your bird home, worming should be done every 3 months.

Lice & Mite spray – applied every three months, it’s easier to remember when spraying them with this product at the same time you worm your birds. Simply give your pet bird a good spray all over, under the wings as well, try to avoid the eyes as it may cause some discomfort.

Cage cleaner – F10 or Avicare makes it easy to remove poo and dirt from the enclosure, toys, perches and bowl. Normal disinfectants can be quite toxic to parrots.

What you may consider – Enclosure stand, Enclosure cover, Enclosure tidy, Spare bowls, no mess feeder, Drink bottle, cuttlebone holder, millet spray holder, bird bath, tent/hide, bird stand/play gym, Synbiotic/probiotic, the good oil, first aid, harnesses.

Diet & Feeding

There’s a lot of conflicting information online claiming seed is bad for parrots or only suitable as a juvenile transition food. In our experience, high-quality seed is a genuinely healthy, beneficial part of a parrot’s diet for life, not something to be phased out. Seed provides natural vitamin E and oils that support skin, feather and overall condition, and offers enrichment value that heavily processed diets can’t replicate. Because seed isn’t put through the high-heat extrusion process used to make pellets, it holds onto heat-sensitive nutrients — vitamin E, A, D, K and B1 in particular — that break down under that kind of processing.

We recommend mixing your parrot’s seed with our Birdsville blend, which includes dried fruit, chilli, nuts, pumpkin, sweet potato, and other legumes and herbs. The pumpkin and sweet potato contribute natural vitamin A, while the nuts and legumes add protein and healthy fats, rounding out what plain seed alone would miss. Mixing the two also broadens your parrot’s exposure to different foods early on, helping them grow into a better, less fussy feeder.

Pellets earn their place too. Our pellet range (Passwell, Vetafarm, Zupreem, Harrisons) is formulated to guarantee a consistent balance of calcium, vitamin A and amino acids in every mouthful, which is harder to achieve from seed alone. That consistency matters, especially for birds that might otherwise pick and choose their favourite seed types and miss out on balanced nutrition.

Rather than choosing one over the other, we recommend feeding both — around 40% pellets and 50% seed, with the remaining 10% fresh fruit and vegetables. Each covers a gap the other leaves: pellets guarantee the vitamin and mineral balance, while seed contributes the natural oils and heat-sensitive vitamins that pellet processing can reduce.

Behaviour & Handling

Basic training has huge benefits for you and your bird. It requires dedication in the first few weeks especially – repetition and persistence are key. If your bird bites you, do not pull away, continue to work through it. Remember: ignore bad behaviour and reward good behaviour! Handling needs to be consistent – improper or inconsistent handling can cause a parrot to revert to being less tame, since it won’t get the chance to properly bond with its new owner. Over handling can lead to stress and death. Under handling or being afraid of your bird especially birds from a young age will result in a bird no longer being tame.

Health Care & Maintenance

Nail Trimming: There are many perches available to help wear down the tip of your bird’s nails. We sell bird nail clippers However, we also offer nail clipping services in store 7 days a week. Some birds can be put off and hold a grudge to the person trimming there nails so we are always happy to be the bad guy if need be.

Wing Trimming: There are pros and cons to having a bird’s wings clipped – it will not guarantee they can’t fly away, however should reduce flight allowing them to glide safely to the ground and can make training/bonding more manageable, especially for those new to bird ownership. If you are unsure about whether you should keep your bird clipped, chat to one of our friendly staff in store for more information.

Worming: Birds should be wormed 4 times a year. Baby birds should be wormed 7 days after taking them home, as worming too early can upset a baby bird’s crop and digestion. Worms can kill your bird so please worm them.

Mite and lice spray: This should be applied on all birds every 3 months as lice and mites unfortunately seem to spread everywhere and birds in an inside environment are still susceptible. It’s easy to remember when done with worming.

Signs of illness: It can happen regularly that a bird moving from one location to another can cause stress and a drop in immunity. Baby birds have undeveloped, immature immune systems, so they’re more delicate and can decline faster than adults – keep a closer eye on new babies especially. Watch for: fluffed-up feathers, laboured or tail-bobbing breathing, discharge from the eyes or nostrils, loss of appetite or weight, reduced vocalisation, favouring one foot, or changes in droppings including watery poo. It’s always good to become familiar with your pet’s normal droppings, as they’re a great diagnostic tool.

If you notice watery poo, or a bird fluffed up on the floor of the cage, faeces covering their vent, or generally depressed, monitor them closely. First line of defence is adding Sulfa 3 or Triple C to the drinking water, used in conjunction with Spark liquid, while keeping them warm with a heat lamp. If symptoms don’t clear up within 10 days or become worse, contact a local bird specialist vet mentioned below.

For all the above products mentioned we stock them in store, we can’t give health advice on the phone as we need to look at the bird, and if we do not have a product that can remedy the problem we will send you to a vet who can.

Boarding is available at www.petsvillehotel.com to book your stay. Come see us in store if you have any concerns, or questions and feel free to bring your bird for us to see!

Fruits & Veggie Guide (Examples, not limited to:)

Do’s

Fruits – pears, apples, citrus, watermelon, stone fruit, kiwi fruit, strawberries, rockmelon, banana, pomegranate, mango, papaya, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, and pineapple
Quality seed blends.

Vegetables and greens – Silver beet, sweet potato, carrot, green beans, peas, corn, capsicum, endive, broccoli, spinach, pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, celery, bok choy, kale, and cauliflower

Don’t’s
Chocolate, Salt, low quality seed, Avocado, Onions, Garlic, Ginger, Iceberg Lettuce, Processed foods, Caffeine, Dairy products, tea, coffee, and alcohol.