Let’s start the New Year off with some resolutions for your companion birds! Here’s to their health, well-being, and to your dedication to your feathered friends.

Tasha, HARI’s model resident Yellow Naped Amazon, is ready to get the New Year started with a few suggestions on a timeless New Year’s Resolution list for all companion birds that will result in a winning strategy for ultimate bird happiness!

Remember, it takes a human care taker to make this list possible! As we roll into the New Year, we want to say THANK YOU to all our supporters and customers. And, we at HARI wish all of you-avian and otherwise, a prosperous and blessed 2012!

Top 10 Avian Resolutions for the New Year!

1. I resolve to watch my weight. Hopefully the human caretakers have invested in a scale and will keep track of my ups & downs.
2. I resolve to eat a nutritious diet that includes Tropican, Low-Fat Bean Tropimix.
3.   I resolve to get a peaceful 9-10 hours of uninterrupted sleep & rest each night.
4.   I resolve to encourage my avian caretakers to take advantage of some of the  educational opportunities to ensure I get the best care!
5.  I resolve to forage for food and interesting objects.
6.  I resolve to partake in independent play and to learn new exciting behaviors that stimulate my intelligence.
7.  I resolve to get regular grooming and keep my feet in tip top shape!

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8.   I resolve to bathe regularly in order to keep my feathers in shining condition!
9.   I resolve to exercise at every opportunity that avails me.
10.  I resolve to acknowledge my place as a companion pet-yet be the utmost ambassador to my wild counterparts in need of protection & support.

World Parrot Trust

Parrots International

AFA Conservation Projects

 Be sure to stay tuned …we have a lot of cool things in progress for 2012!

For more information on the Hagen Avicultural Research Institute, please visit our sites: www.hagen.com/hari or search the HARI Blog Archives for other useful information!

First, the HARI Team wants remind avian caretakers that the decision to use a vitamin supplement begins with a health evaluation or assessment by a qualified avian health provider.   In addition, other factors should play into this decision, such as species predisposition, as well as the percent of Tropican verses the  percent of seed based diets consumed by the bird.  If you have concerns, please contact us or consult your avian veterinarian.

As Prime was developed for companion birds on a predominately seed based diet, we’ve always recommended Prime be sprinkled on a bird’s moistened food for optimal nutritional benefit.  The fruity flavor and aroma of Prime homogenizes with fruits and vegetables and creates a nutritious morsel to complete the missing essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals in traditional seed diets.

 Often we hear of some birds that do not eat a lot of fruits and vegetables for one reason or another. We’d like to recommend some creative suggestions in giving your bird exactly what he needs!

We invite our readers to comment on their favorite and most successful method!

Play into the foraging behaviors!

Who doesn’t love searching for yummy mealworms?  Finches, canaries, and even some of the smaller parrots really enjoy an occasional “crunchy on the outside and soft-n- squishy on the inside” bug. In fact, many passerines really benefit from a diet of bugs due to the protein.  Not excited about live mealworms…that’s ok. Fortunately, canned mealworms make a great substitution!

HARI Tip: Slightly moisten mealworms with spray bottle of fresh water. Put the mealworms in a small plastic bag, and dust them with a scoop of Prime…shake gently. Place the dusty critters in a shallow dish with assorted rocks or pebbles. Please be sure to use appropriate size pebbles to prevent bird accidently ingesting the rock!  Place the loaded dish in flight or cage for an activity filled with foraging and nutritional enrichment your bird is sure to enjoy!

Add some exotic fruit flavor to plain old Spray Millet!

Spray millet offers the ultimate sprig of happiness for many companion birds. And, yes, even some macaws have been known to nibble on the millet sprays so this vehicle in administering Prime supplement is pretty universal for many companion birds!

HARI Tip:  Slightly moisten the Spray Millet with fresh water from a spray bottle. Dust the required amount of Prime on the millet so that the supplement sticks to the individual seed pods in the millet. The fruity flavor of Prime might make plain old millet a thing of the past!

Putting a Spin on a mischievous behavior!

Our feathered companions are really intelligent-that’s one of the benefits in sharing a life with a bird. However,  getting a reluctant or stubborn bird to eat a nutritious diet often leaves the avian caretaker feeling helpless and well, quite frankly,  outsmarted by the bird! Such is the case with a particular caretaker and a budgie that absolutely refused all attempts to eat fruits and veggies loaded with Prime.  As it happened, this particular budgie’s cage was moved a little too close to a window with a cotton sheer one day. It didn’t take long for this little bird’s natural curiosity and tendency for shredding behavior to make mincemeat out of the curtain. Fortunately, this bird wasn’t harmed by the  mischievous behavior, but the bird’s natural lure to shred the curtain inspired the caretaker to seize a new opportunity for nutritional supplement!

HARI Tip: Wash some  fresh Kale or Romaine lettuce leaves, slightly pat dry. Dust the required dosage of Prime on the leaves so that the supplement sticks. Take a bird safe clip, gather the leaves with Prime, and attach to OUTSIDE of bird’s cage with just a little of the leaves slightly sticking through the bars of the cage …yeah…so it looks as if he’s not supposed to have it.  Avian caretakers are sure to have their “winning power” restored  once they turn their backs and hear the crunching of the leaves!

Prime is HARI Approved! …A little more information on Prime?

Each package of Primes comes with dosage recommendation based on size of bird as well as instructions for the less preferred method of dosing in water dish.  While Prime has a fruity aroma that blends well when applied to fresh fruits and veggies, the reaction when Prime is mixed in drinking water is entirely different. The high levels of calcium and essential amino acids do not dissolve in water very well and a few harmless particles may float or settle in the bird’s water dish.  Plus the sulphur molecule from the amino acids will be released by the beneficial bacteria after 6 hours of being in a water solution. This may give off a medicinal odor that can deter some birds from drinking enough water to derive nutritional benefit. The water dish with fresh  Prime solution will have to be changed frequently during the day-especially in warm climates.  Not only does this add to the cost of supplementing a bird’s diet, this method  may not be convenient for the caretaker.

Interested in more the Research and Development of Prime? Please visit the HARI Web Site: Prime Data Sheet

The success of one method over the other depends on the number of birds, the compliance level of the owner, and most importantly, the consistency of the caretaker. Usually a diet change is necessary to prevent malnutrition in parrots, and a veterinarian is usually the instrumental party to a bird’s diet change. Here are some suggestions to get your birds on a healthier diet!

A simple and safe way to convert most pets to a better diet is to start by cleaning the cage each evening, and leaving ONLY Tropican in the feeders (you may sprinkle some on the floor or place a small dish on the floor as well). The following day (usually mid morning to start with), add some of the birds regular food on top of the Tropican. Birds that like fruits and vegetables should have the dry Tropican sprinkled right in with favorite items such as oranges and fresh cut corn. Some birds will start on this moistened form more easily. Sprinkling seed kernel such as shelled sunflower on Tropican will also help some parrots get the idea (i.e. you don’t have to take a shell off all foods!).

Every evening, all of the remaining food should be removed and replaced with fresh Tropican. Seed may be added later on the following day. (As long as seed is provided sooner or later each day, safety is maintained). Most birds are powerfully motivated to search for food each morning and sample Tropican within a few days. You can tell when your pet is eating the new food as their droppings will become a paler color and Tropican will usually be found in the water dish.

Once your pet is eating the Tropican well, keep seed OUT of the cage. Seed can still be given of course, but as a treat fed by hand. Feeding high water content items such as oranges, fresh corn, green peppers, spinach, broccoli, and berries will not unbalance the Tropican diet significantly as the majority of calories will still be taken in from Tropican.

Your bird is sure to enjoy an improvement in feather quality and overall health on such a modern diet. Just ask your pet retailer or avian veterinarian!

Every Other Day Method

Since birds are creatures of habit, they will usually look to their dish for their favorite foods. The owner should place only the new diet, Tropican, in that very dish. In a separate dish, on alternate days, offer the old diet. Always keep Tropican in the bird’s regular food dish. Once the bird is accustomed to the Tropican and the owner can observe the bird consuming the Tropican, the old diet can then be given every two days, then every three days and so on. This method of conversion usually takes about two weeks. If the attempt to convert a bird to Tropican fails, continue with the old diet for two weeks, then repeat “The Every Other Day” method. Even the most resistant bird usually converts after the second attempt. The main thing to remember with this method is to never mix the seed with the Tropican. This promotes picky eating. Once the bird is successfully converted, then the old diet, most commonly a seed mixture, can be offered as a treat or as an incentive for behavior modification.

Flock Conversion

This method of diet conversion plays into the natural instinct of a flock of birds’ desire to survive. A “flock” can be an entire aviary or it can consist of a multiple bird household. Parrots in the wild will eat together. If one bird finds food, he usually calls out to the others and they share food. If a bird chooses not to eat in this situation, he is usually sick and he will not survive. While our domestic pets may be a generation or two removed from this actual behavior, the instinct is still there. Pets or breeders do not have to see each other eat, but they should know that others in the “flock” are eating and they will all soon eat. The caretaker should feed Tropican to everyone in the “flock” at the same time. Offer only Tropican. Out of curiosity, one or two members of the “flock” will pick at the new food while others may show some resistance. In most cases, the ones who start eating it will send vocal signs of eating, and the others will follow. “The Every Other Day” method can also be used with this method of conversion.The caretaker needs to observe the resistant members for signs of starvation. In an aviary situation, this might be a bit more challenging depending on how the birds are housed.

Tropi-Mix Method

For birds that are resistant to above mentioned conversion methods, try moistened Tropi-Mix.  (1 part Tropi-Mix to equal part hot water)  The hot water softens the fruit, corn, legumes, and most importantly, softens the Tropican morsels in the Tropi-Mix.  The softened Tropican coats your bird’s favorite seeds with the nutty Tropican flavor, therefore the bird becomes better accustomed to the flavor.  Since all of the nuts and seeds in Tropi-Mix are already hulled, this can help break the bird’s habit of hulling seeds.  Be sure to remove moisten food from your bird’s cage after one hour. As your bird eats more of this mix, add a higher ratio of Tropican to Tropimix for ultimate nutrition!

Enrich and Forage

This method plays into the instincts of most parrot species and can even be used in combination with Flock Method.

Place a morsel of Tropican, dependant on the size in appropriately sized foraging toy, such as a puzzle box, or Living World Learning Block center. Most parrots natural curiosity takes over!

Keep in mind that not all species forage in the same manner. Cockatiels, and often African Greys, for instance, are ground foragers. If such is the case, have a table top tray with various items that are bird safe; toy pieces, appropriate size stones, and sprinkle Tropican in the mix. As your bird investigates the items on the tray, he’ll soon find something edible-the Tropican! Often when our parrots work at getting their dinner, they embrace that morsel even more!

While HARI serves as the testing and quality assurance facility for HARI Approved Products such as Tropican and Tropimix, the spirit of sharing Avicultural information based on scientific research at HARI  Team continues!

The HARI site is a place for parrot enthusiasts to discuss and be part of a shared avian community. We believe that embracing our avian customers and offering them an opportunity to reach out to HARI and the HARI Team will result in our development of better bird products, and happier, healthier birds for you.

Whether you are an aviculturist, pet owner, or pet retailer, we encourage your input as well as your concerns. We will challenge avian enthusiasts with variety of topics based on scientific research at HARI, as well as current trends in bird keeping on a global level, and we look forward to learning from you! When it comes to our “Parrot Passions,” we all have something to learn and something to share!

We’re planning to post regular updates to the  blog, so be sure to subscribe to our email list or RSS feed above. And Welcome!