Wings Central Forum Home Forums Photo Gallery Log In Register

Home Home Page The ARK African Species Other Species The Feed Cup Parrot FAQ's Links Mailing Lists Membership Support WC   Credits This site is best viewed when using a screen resolution of 1024 X 768 or higher and using MS IE 6 or FireFox

Back Issue Of The ARK Back Issue of The ARK Volume 11 # 3 Fall 2004  Articles included: Winterizing Your Birds by John Geary Is Our Food Safe To Eat? Read the Label by Mary Beisser Winterizing Your Bird by: John Geary The African Ark, Fall 2004, Vol 11, No. 3 Winter preparations in those parts of the world that experience “true winter”—colder (sometimes freezing) temperatures, snow and ice—involve standard fall rituals: mechanical tune-ups for our motor vehicles, servicing of furnaces, checking winter boots for holes, and so on. While you know all about preparing yourself for winter, have you thought about winterizing your bird? Winter weather produces many changes that can make life uncomfortable for our feathered friends even though they are inside. While primarily written for those that live in cold climate areas, this article provides information that even those of us that live in warmer climates will find informative and useful. It’s easy to be lulled into thinking that our inside companion birds are safe from the ravages of winter, but winter can be stressful and create less than desirable conditions - remember many of our birds originated in warm, moist tropical areas. Mr. Geary provides excellent information pertaining to maintaining healthy moisture and temperature levels, lighting, nutritional needs, bathing, cage placement, and overcoming fears. Also included is a great herbal mist recipe provided by Dr. Alicia McWatters which may help prevent dried skin and feathers and often helps prevent overpreaning that sometimes happens when your home dries out because the heater is running so much. This article can be a valuable resource in keeping your bird(s) healthy during a cold winter. John Geary is a Vancouver-based free-lance writer and PIJAC Certified Avian Specialist. He shares his life with two Congo African grey parrots, Nikki and Coco. To find out how to read this article in full, click here Is Our Food Safe to Eat? Read the Label by: Mary Beisser The African Ark, Fall 2004, Vol 11, No. 3 Mary Beisser states “twenty-five years ago, after reading about the possible effects of pesticides on the body, I began eating organic produce. Five years later, I converted over to nearly all organic foods from produce to packaged items. Through the years, I have carefully read labels, spoken with farmers, asked my grocers questions and researched food issues in the library. I thought I was a well-educated consumer, and that the food I ate and gave my parrots was relatively safe. I was wrong.” Miss Beisser is a well informed and articulate author who knows her subject well. She provides a brief history of agriculture, which is an eye opener in itself. Her article touches on conventional foods, organic foods, transitional organic, imported organic produce, biosolids, irradiation, natural, and an interesting bit on the meaning of preservative free or pesticide free. Miss Beisser provides the legal definitions of each of these terms and what they mean to you. A wonderful paragraph on the Wisdom of Geese tells how an Illinois farmer learned from wild geese about the desirability of genetically engineer soybeans. She also touches on the ease or difficulty in obtaining organic foods in different parts of the country. Also provided is a chapter with tips - What You Can Do. Miss Beisser also does what any good investigative science reporter does - she provides an excellent bibliography with recommend books, magazines, and websites listed. If you are concerned about safety in the food that you eat and feed to your birds, don’t miss this timely article. To find out how to read this article in full, click here