15 Safety Tips Every Bird Owner Must Know

By Elaine Radford

Did you know that burning certain cookware or feeding avocado could kill your precious pet bird? Here are 15 safety tips every pet bird owner must know to help our birds live a long, healthy life. A short, no-fluff, no-filler, article originally published in the 15th anniversary edition of Bird Talk magazine, with updated material for the 21st century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peachfront Press
• Release date: Jul 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536563023

Book preview

Imagine if a 2-year-old child, who tests everything by putting it in his or her mouth, could fly, and you have a good idea of what's involved in birdproofing your home. One of our most important tasks at BIRD TALK was to warn you of potential dangers to your birds. In today's complicated world, safety isn't just a matter of common sense, because there are many hidden hazards that we learned about from the past tragedies of others.  The original article was published in Bird Talk (and later reprinted in Birds USA) to give people a quick checklist of 15 things they could do to help keep their pet birds safe and happy. In 2012, I updated this checklist for the new century and put it online in hopes of reaching a new generation of bird owners.

These ideas work. Pet birds, particularly finches, canaries, and parrots, often live much longer in our homes than they do in the wild. I hatched the peachfronted conure on the cover of this book in my own backyard aviary 26 years ago—an amazing