The 4 Holiday Bird Safety Tips every Parrot Owner Should Know

Keeping your bird safe is important at anytime but during holidays it is especially important to be more vigilant with your birds safety. Here are 4 bird holiday safety tips that every parrot owner should know.

Safety Tip #1:

Be very careful of non-stick cookware and teflon. All humans who share their homes with birds should have a non-stick (teflon) cookware free home. Within two to five minutes on a conventional stovetop, cookware coated with Teflon and other non-stick surfaces can exceed temperatures at which the coating breaks apart and emits toxic particles and gases linked to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pet bird deaths and an unknown number of human illnesses each year, according to tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG).

However, during the holidays well meaning family members and guest(s) (who are not bird people) may bring you goodies to warm up or cook in your oven. You may not even realize that the dish their treat was prepared in is non-stick teflon.

What can potentially happen is that you may pop their goody in the oven to cook or warm up and get involved with something else only to find that the dish has overheated and become lethal to your birds.

Safety Tip#2

Another potential safety problem for your beloved bird is your bird flying out an open door during the holidays.

As a bird lover you want to show off your bird for all your family and friends. However, if your birds wings are not clipped or even if they are, there is the potential for your bird to fly out an open door. Of course, this can happen at any time but it is most prone to happen during the holidays. What happens is that your bird is out of the cage and on a playgym perch or even your shoulder so that your best friend can have a chance to enjoy all your friends and family but your baby is not used to being around all these people and strange looking packages and gifts. Something can scare your bird and within one moment he or she can be right out the door.

The best thing to do is wait until all your guest have settled in. Make sure your bird is far away from a room that is near a door and then let them interact with your guests. Warn everyone ahead of time that if they need to open the door that they must give you a warning so that you can move your bird to safe place.

I can think of nothing worse then one of my birds flying out my door during a holiday or anytime for that matter.

Safety Tip #3

Well meaning guest(s) may want to feed your feathered child. This is natural because they want to make friends with your bird (and who wouldn’t… LOL). Non bird people do not know what can be potentially dangers to a bird.

The best way to pre-plan for this situation is to have a bowl of bird safe foods all set up near your bird so that any guest who may want to feed your baby can feed him/her with your bird approved mix of foods. This way everyone can have a safe and fun holiday.

Safety Tip #4

This tip comes from my own experience with my Cockatoo Marshmellow. I had some friends over with their children. Now I must explain that their children already new Marshmellow and interacted with her before. Their children also have Cockatiels in their home so they knew about birds.

However, during the evening Marshmellow became nervous from all the activity in the house and when my friend’s daughter reached over to pet her, Marshmellow lunged at my friend’s daughter. No one was hurt thank goodness. Marshmellow is a gentle giant and the only person in the world I have ever seen her bite is me. (LOL)

My concern here is that any bird even the most gentle bird(s) can get nervous or over anxious with lots of people and excitement in the house. Be very careful when allowing friends and family to approach your bird in a holiday situation. Read your bird’s body language carefully before allowing anyone to handle your bird. As you know, most birds will let you know ahead of time how they are feeling. I wish I had read Marshmellow’s body language that day.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday season!!!!!!!!