There are a ton of unnecessary products out there that are marketed towards birds that can be really harmful or even dangerous to your bird.
Here are the 16 bird products we found harmful that you should avoid
the first bird product is
Small bird cages
Birds are going to need their own living spaces and it has to be big enough,
Advantages of big bird cages:
Allow your birds to stretch their wings and hop or fly from perch to perch, it also needs to fit water, and food bowls in multiple perches, and toys to keep your bird happy, and busy.
Cons of small bird cages:
These small bird cages it’s probably just fit a water and food bowl maybe a couple of perches and one to two toys,
Birds going to feel very cramped and will be very unhappy small bird cages are cheaply made and it’s also very cruel to keep your bird in a small bird cage,
if you have a small cage please invest in a nice sturdy and spacious cage for your bird with the appropriate bar spacings.
The second bird products that you should not get are,
Dowel perches:
Dowel perches almost always provided with any birdcage that you buy and they are uniform in shape and if you only have dowel perches in your bird’s cage your bird can develop bumblefoot or pressure sores on their feet,
because they’re constantly gripping a surface area with the same parts of their feet it can also cause your bird to develop arthritis over time.
The reason
The birds aren’t able to exercise their feet properly with dowel perches.
Solution
It’s okay to have one dowel perch in your cage but all the other purchase should be natural wood perches where they can not only exercise their feet with the different diameters, natural wood perches would also provide your birds the opportunity to nibble on the different textures of the perch which can be really fun too.
The third bird products that you should not get for your birds are,
Sand perches
Sand perch covers also gravel paper liners sand pitches are meant to follow your bird’s nails as they grip onto it,
Cons of using sand perches
but because of the rough texture of sand perches, it can be very uncomfortable and very abrasive which can cause your bird to develop or get little cuts on their feet which can lead to infections.
This is also the same for perch covers which can be even worse because it’s meant to cover dowel perches and the combination of rough textures and uniform diameters is terrible on your bird’s feet.
Cons of using gravel liner papers
The same goes for gravel liner papers these are such a complete waste of money because it’s meant for your birds to walk all over and your bird’s gonna poop on them,
so it’s made to be replaced very often it’s most definitely another
opportunity for your birds to get cuts on their feet and develop infections.
Solution
There are sand perches out there that are only rough on the sides so you can get those for your birds if you’d like or you can stick to providing different natural wood perches, for your bird and even consider going to your avian vet to help trim your bird’s nails or do it at home if you’re confident enough.
The next item that you should avoid getting for your birds is,
Rope perches or boings
Rope perches in Boings are a lot softer on your bird’s feet which is great
Cons of soft rope perches
Your bird tends to bite on rope perches or Boings with frayed ends, your bird can potentially be eating tiny rope fibers, that will cause crop impaction over time and the only way to treat crop impactions is through surgery which will not only cost a lot it is also very dangerous to your birds,
if a loose strand comes undone because your bird destroys the rope perch or boing there’s a chance that they can actually get themselves tangled up in the loose end and strangled themselves, they could also get a foot or toe trapped in the strands and freak out and maybe bite their toes off to free themselves which is very traumatizing,
and they can also lose a lot of blood so you really need to inspect any rope perches or boings that you may have in your bird’s cage or only have them outside of the cages where you can supervise your birds some bird owners also like to wrap their rope perches with vet tape which you can also do just to be safe.
Sleeping products
Happy huts
Birds look very cute in happy huts,
Just like real perches if your birds like to chew on their happy huts which are almost always made out of fabric there’s a chance of crop impaction over time and also entanglement and circulation from loose threads,
Happy huts are also very reminiscent of nests because it envelop your bird’s bodies and are cozy and small which can cause hormonal and territorial problems in birds,
Happy huts can also cause female parrots or hens to start laying eggs which is very demanding on their bodies and also dangerous because there’s a risk of egg binding and other problems that come with egg laying,
Solution
If you absolutely feel that your bird needs a happy hut there are natural rope ones that you can get but just be mindful that although the risk of entanglement is removed with natural robots or tents there’s still a very high chance of your bird becoming very hormonal.
The next bird product that you should not get for your birds are,
Nesting boxes and nesting materials
The sole purpose of getting nesting boxes or nesting materials is to breed your birds and no your bird doesn’t need a nesting box to sleep in,
a flat perch will do just fine.
Breeding birds is not something an amateur breeder should do because it is a lot of work, birds need to be in optimal condition to even breed in the first place and you also need to be very knowledgeable about what to feed adult birds to breed them and how much to feed the chicks what temperature the food needs to be and what to do if and when the adult birds reject their chicks, and a bunch of other things, that i wouldn’t know how to do because i don’t know how to read birds there are also a lot of adoptable birds that are looking for good homes so please leave the breeding to the professionals.
Moving on to toys that you should avoid getting for your birds,
the first toy that you should not get for your bird is,
Cotton rope toys
These toys were cotton rope toys designed for your bird to cream and nibble on so if your bird is attracted to the cotton rope strands in these types of toys then similar to rope perches and happy huts there is for sure a possibility of crop impaction and entanglement you’re much better off sticking to toys with natural or shreddable materials that your bird can actually destroy.
The next bird toy that you should not get for your birds is,
Anything that has metal bells
Birds toy with bells tend to like the sounds that bells make and they usually will bite at the metal clapper inside the bell,
Risk with that
if you take a closer look you’ll see that there’s a gap in the metal that attaches the clapper to the belt and it’s very sharp there have been instances where birds get their beaks stuck and end up cutting their beaks or tongues because of the metal bells,
There are a lot of good natural toys that your birds can shred up and sometimes they come with bells so you can remove them,
if you have any of those, you should definitely stay away from getting bird toys with bells.
In the future, if you still want to get bells for your birds, you can either get the long bells where your birds can’t reach the clapper inside or get toys that come with stainless steel measuring cups that are really fun too.
The next bird toy that you should avoid getting for your birds is,
Anything with mirrors
Parrots are incredibly smart but they can’t recognize themselves in mirrors so instead they actually see their reflections as another bird which can be psychologically damaging, if a bird is obsessed with their own reflection they will develop behavioral problems if the mirror is removed.
If you feel that your bird is lonely then there’s definitely the option of getting another bird that your bird can bond with but it’s best to avoid giving your bird a mirror in place of a bird companion.
Food items to avoid
Moving on to bird treats you should avoid getting any bird treats,
- Food that are covered in yogurt or yogurt or honey covered treats honey or whatever else bird treats are covered in and you’re better off sticking to the millet or treats just as they are birds are lactose intolerant, so they can’t digest the lactose that is in dairy products like yogurt and they can also get diarrhea or develop an allergic reaction to dairy products.
- Honey sticks or treats are also loaded with lots of sugar to help the seeds stick together and even onto the stick and honey sticks are usually very large so if you place these in your bird’s cage they’ll likely avoid their healthy food and just eat all of the seeds on the stick too much sugar can also trigger hormonal problems in birds which isn’t what you want.
So for this next bird product is something that is supposed to help with digestion in some birds and that is grit,
Grit is made up of grit different ingredients usually minerals and rocks for a shell mix and it’s designed to help birds like pigeons or doves that need a little extra help in their digestive tract to grind and digest food because these types of birds usually eat things whole,
parrots don’t need grit because they use your beaks to tear apart and discard food items that are harder to digest and if a parrot is fed grit it’ll just collect in their crops and you guessed it crop impactions so don’t feed your parent grits they absolutely do not need it.
The next bird item that you should avoid are,
Plastic bowls or plastic water tubes
plastic food bowls are another item that usually comes with bird cages when you buy them and you should either throw those out or use them for something else that is non-food related like maybe a cup to hold any foot toys because plastic is very porous and it very easily harbors bacteria that can make your birds sick,
plastic food bowls would also need to get replaced more often so you’re going to end up spending more money the better option is to use stainless steel or ceramic food bowls.
Health and wellness-related bird products you should avoid getting,
Any vitamins and supplements
If your bird is on a healthy diet whether it’s mostly vegetables some pellets and seeds, or a combination of pellets and veggies, and seeds your bird should be able to get an adequate amount of vitamins and nutrients from the pellets that they are eating vitamins and supplements can cause overdoses in parrots and you should only use any additional supplements that your avian vet suggests for your bird,
vitamins and supplements that are added to your bird’s water can also cause it to spoil faster, so just stay away from that.
Other health and wellness products that you should definitely avoid are,
Dewormers and any similar dewormers or similar medications
that you can buy online dewormers or warming products are used to remove parasitic worms, that birds might have in their body, and pet birds can get parasitic worms if they ever come in contact with a wild bird that has parasites or even wild bird poop,
so before you consider giving your bird any type of medication available online or in pet stores please ask your avian vet so they can see if your bird even needs warming medication in the first place.
You should definitely avoid buying,
Any bath sprays and bird shampoos
Bath sprays and bird shampoos are filled with chemicals that can be very irritating to not only your bird’s skin and eyes but your birds can also breathe the chemicals which is terrible,
these sprays and shampoos are marketed to help with molting keeping your bird’s feathers healthy and vibrant, and deep cleaning these are all unnecessary and a waste of your money because water works just fine, you want to provide your bird the option of bathing whenever it wants to which will help with any irritation that comes along with molting and it can help keep your bird’s feathers stay clean and healthy.
And lastly, you should avoid getting,
Any bird litter
Your bird’s cage one way to tell if your bird is sick is by observing your bird’s poop, and it’s very hard to look at your bird’s poop if you use bird litter because it just mixes in with the litter so you can’t really tell what you’re looking at.
There are so many different bird litter out there,
like wood shavings which can be scented and irritating to your birds and corn or walnut shells which can be a breeding ground for molds and bacteria and any litter can cause crop impaction if your bird ingests it it’s better to stick with regular paper whether it’s newspaper butcher or craft paper or paper towels because it’s much safer and it’s also a lot cheaper.