Flying Blind: How I care for parrots

Welcome to the first article in the Flying Blind series by Bianca Rose Peterek

You know the Crazy Bird Lady? That person who will wax lyrical about their birds like they're their babies? That's me. As is often said here, birds are a lot of work. You need to do training, have enrichment, give them a good diet and take them for vet visits at least once a year. All of that. I do those things, but for me, as a totally blind person who was born blind, it presents some interesting challenges. I've decided to do a series about this aspect of parrot care and Little Beaks are kind enough to host it. 

I have three birds currently in my care: two Alexandrines and one galah. RockyHorror, my little green boy, was put with me on placement in August of 2020 to do psychosocial supports for me. That means he cuddles up if I'm feeling anxious and working with him has a grounding effect. He has also been taught to biomonitor so he lets me know when I need to take my medication. He is not flighted due to nerve damage to one of his wings he sustained during an accident before I received him into my care. This is good for me because, as my first bird after learning the basics of up-to-date parrot care, flight recall training was not in my bag of tricks and I didn't want to even go there with wing clips etc. 

My little yellow girl, a lutino Alexandrine, is called Brulee. She is my bird. I bought her myself so she is not on placement. She is learning to do assistance work and I have been training her since she was a three-month-old baby bird. She has one leg and the accident she had was in my care but that will be talked about in a later article. Suffice to say, she got vet care ASAP and is a happy, thriving girl. 

The latest in my flock is a pink and grey galah called Starbuck. He came from the same place as RockyHorror and came to me as a project bird for me to make more handleable. It is slow going as I have trouble reading his cues but he is getting lots of attention and all of the other good things he needs. They all got some lavender yesterday and he went mad over it. 

I feed them all with chop, at least five vegetables and two fruits per day, whereby the fruit is minimal and I limit sugar content with the vegies. They also receive Pretty Bird pellets with a maximum of a shot glassful per bird per day. They are in separate cages so I have control over which bird is where. They have a mix of home-made and bought toys and I check to make sure the bought ones are bird safe. If there are issues, I won't know until I hear the squawk so it is important for me to minimise risk as much as possible. I have the NDIS and I asked my cleaner before I got any birds if she would be able to do cage cleans for me on a weekly basis. She was happy to do it and as long as I have her, that will work. If things change, I have heard of a provider who is dedicated to pet things for people with disabilities. Yes, blind people can clean, but cleaning is not my strength and my ADHD is the ‘hate cleaning’ kind; I would rather my birds stay healthy, so I pay someone else to clean my cages. It's best for me and best for them. 

Next in the series, the challenges with training when, as I often say, you can't see your effing bird. No, I won't swear, I promise!