some of my friends asked me how to identify a captive healthy bird.. so here are some tips..
(1) Captive birds: if there is a local breeder you can know for sure... but if its a market then the way is to see if there is a metal ring on the parrot's leg then these birds were hatched and breed in captivity. One can only put a metal ring on the bird's leg when the bird is just out of the egg.. an adult bird's leg are too stiff to enable anyone to put a permanent ring on them.
(2) Healthy birds: see if the bird is attentive to the environment. in a market place the birds would be attentive b'coz there is so much happening around them and they are scared. so ask the shop keeper to bring the bird into a calm room and leave it for sometime.. when the bird is relaxed see if the bird is responding to the noise you make. Don't give the bird ur fingers already. Just show them something shiny like a key chain .. see if the bird is interested in what you are showing him.. if he is then it means that he is used to human interactions.
(3) if the bird is inside a cage at the market, ask the shop guyz to bring him out.. captive birds will also be territorial about new ppl but they will not be as territorial about the shop keeper.. so if the bird comes out calm and composed then the bird is human friendly..
(4) look for the bird's eyes, nose and feathers under the wings. if the eyes and nose are clean and the feathers under his wings are smooth then he is healthy.. but the birds that are caught from the wild will be aggressive and they will start plucking their feathers and you can see this under their wings.
The thing is if there is something wrong happening to a person across the globe we feel sorry for them.. if there is something wrong happening to dogs/cats across the world we feel sorry for them and we raise our voice.. this is because we have grown to understand and love dogs and cats as pets.. if we also grow to understand and love birds.. and if we are careful enough eventually we will be able to stop ppl from capturing wild birds to bring them into pet markets.
Even the international animal welfare organizations only ban wild caught bird sale in the pet market. Some species are allowed to be traded if they are captive breeds only .. this not only give us a pet but also helps is stopping some of these birds from extinction.
some of my friends asked me how to identify a captive healthy bird.. so here are some tips..
(1) Captive birds: if there is a local breeder you can know for sure... but if its a market then the way is to see if there is a metal ring on the parrot's leg then these birds were hatched and breed in captivity. One can only put a metal ring on the bird's leg when the bird is just out of the egg.. an adult bird's leg are too stiff to enable anyone to put a permanent ring on them.
(2) Healthy birds: see if the bird is attentive to the environment. in a market place the birds would be attentive b'coz there is so much happening around them and they are scared. so ask the shop keeper to bring the bird into a calm room and leave it for sometime.. when the bird is relaxed see if the bird is responding to the noise you make. Don't give the bird ur fingers already. Just show them something shiny like a key chain .. see if the bird is interested in what you are showing him.. if he is then it means that he is used to human interactions.
(3) if the bird is inside a cage at the market, ask the shop guyz to bring him out.. captive birds will also be territorial about new ppl but they will not be as territorial about the shop keeper.. so if the bird comes out calm and composed then the bird is human friendly..
(4) look for the bird's eyes, nose and feathers under the wings. if the eyes and nose are clean and the feathers under his wings are smooth then he is healthy.. but the birds that are caught from the wild will be aggressive and they will start plucking their feathers and you can see this under their wings.
The thing is if there is something wrong happening to a person across the globe we feel sorry for them.. if there is something wrong happening to dogs/cats across the world we feel sorry for them and we raise our voice.. this is because we have grown to understand and love dogs and cats as pets.. if we also grow to understand and love birds.. and if we are careful enough eventually we will be able to stop ppl from capturing wild birds to bring them into pet markets.
Even the international animal welfare organizations only ban wild caught bird sale in the pet market. Some species are allowed to be traded if they are captive breeds only .. this not only give us a pet but also helps is stopping some of these birds from extinction.