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Feeding schedule

Posted by Derek on Sep 02, 2009 No Comments

Birds can be just as picky eaters as kids. Usually, for birds and kids, it’s a result of what they are given as options to eat. I eat mostly junk food because that’s what I grew up eating after school every day (although my wife has helped me significantly expand what I’m willing to eat).

Knowing this, we try to make some good bird food options available for our two parrots. Although some of the exact foods we give them changes over time, we’ve stuck to the same general idea of giving nutritional pellets and veggies (basically things they don’t like as much) in the morning and then fruit and nuts in the evening.

We started this because we used to have regular 8-5 jobs and our birds spent that time in their cage. Even though they weren’t huge fans of the pellets and veggies, it’s all that was available for most of the day. We would come home to almost clean bowls most days. When they get the good stuff in the evening they make it disappear pretty quick. They also finish off their leftovers the following morning before we can change out their food.

One interesting little tidbit: I think at least 1/3 of our grocery bill is for the birds.

Give us sale ideas

Posted by Derek on Aug 25, 2009 No Comments

We want to help all our customers find great bird toys, bird cages and other supplies for their companion parrots. We have some ideas on promotions to use throughout the year, but we want your input. If you have a fun idea for a sale, let us know! If we choose to use your sale idea, we’ll give you a $15 off coupon code for your next order! Post your ideas as a comment below.

Name Our Bird Contest Winners

Posted by Derek on Aug 21, 2009 1 Comment

We have tallied up the votes and we finally have our 6 winning entries! The winners have already been notified by email about their winning prize of $25 off coupon at our store.

Douglas – Peabody
Krista – Picasso
Mary – Einstein
Jerry – Mango
Erika – Ollie
Ed – Pixel

Poll: When toys get pooped on

Posted by Derek on Aug 18, 2009 1 Comment

It’s inevitable, your bird is going to drop one of their bird toys and eventually poop on it. A perfectly good toy can get accidentally dropped and then smothered. So the question is, what do you do with your poop-covered bird toys?

Poll: Your bird’s wings – flighted or clipped?

Posted by Derek on Aug 09, 2009 1 Comment

As bird owners, we want what is best for our birds. I think one big debate in the community is whether or not to clip your bird’s wings. I know we all want what is best for our parrot and the idea of taking away a bird’s ability to fly seems downright cruel at times. There is a reason this debate exists: there are pros and cons to each side of the argument.

Arguments for Flighted

• Your bird is in a more “natural” state, they are happier & healthier this way
• They can get outside to exercise (with a leash or flight suit)
• They look much prettier with a full set of flight feathers!

Arguments for Clipped

• Bird has to stay on the perch you put him which makes training easier. Your house also doesn’t feel the wrath of your bird’s beak or poop.
• Loss prevention: your bird can’t fly away. Almost every time I hear about a bird gone missing it’s because the bird took off out an open window.

Don’t forget to vote and add your comments!

Poll: Name Our Birds

Posted by Derek on Aug 04, 2009 No Comments

This contest is now over, check out the results!

So we had a pretty good response with people submitting names for our birds, now it’s time to vote on the best! Remember, the winning entries will get a $25 gift code for our store.

What is your bird’s favorite TV show?

Posted by Derek on Jul 29, 2009 No Comments

Our bird cages are down in our finished basement along with the rabbits and ferret cage (it’s nice keeping the dirtiest ones all together to make cleaning easier). Our birds can’t be with us all the time and do spend time in their cages during the day and when they are eating. A little while back we had our cable company come put an outlet down in the basement so we could hook up an old TV we had. This is the first time we’ve had a TV for our birds, previously it was just a radio.

The radio seemed to be a good addition in the past, we learned our greenwing really likes hip hop music because of the hard, well-defined beats he could try to replicate. With the TV now, we started off putting it on cartoons thinking maybe the brighter colors and funny voices would be entertaining. However, we never overheard the birds saying anything or signing along to cartoons though. We then switched to channels like ABC Family that has a mixture of comedies and other types of stuff. So far we have found that our greenwing really likes reruns of America’s Funniest Videos as we catch him laughing along with the audience. He will also laugh along with audiences during comedy sitcoms. We might try some drama channels like TNT because we know the greenwing definitely tries to mimick words that are said really strong, with a lot of inflection in the voice.

We also have an old DVD player hooked up to the TV we use every once in a while to play one of the parrot videos. Our birds seem to like listening to the other birds and often try to call out to the birds on the TV. When we lived in San Diego they got lots of exposure to other birds since they went with Erika to work at Free Flight (avian boarding and rescue place), so this is the closest they get now that we are in Denver.

One of the unintended side effects of having the TV in the basement with our parrots is we find ourselves watching reruns of shows from our youth, like Full House, while we clean. We often get so caught up in it we forget about cleaning until commercial break.

Whats your definition of a large bird?

Posted by Derek on Jul 16, 2009 3 Comments

When we started thinking about how to organize our bird toy store, we thought classifying products by the type of bird it is for would be helpful for people. We looked at some other websites to see how they did it. We noticed something peculiar – each website had a different definition of what a “small” or “large” bird is. After going back and forth on how we should define the categories, we realized that it’s going to be different for each person so there is no right or wrong.

So what causes this discrepancy? I think it has to do with the birds you own. If you only have smaller birds like a parakeet or budgie, you are likely to call your bird “small” and a macaw a “really large bird.” If you’re like us and own a macaw, then you’ll call the macaw “large” and then the parakeets “really small.”

I know, who cares? I just thought it was interesting that the birds you own could make a difference in how you see other birds.

Bird Photography

Posted by Derek on Jul 06, 2009 1 Comment

Erika (my wife and co-pilot on this new bird store venture) has been involved with birds for a while. She first started working at FreeFlight – an avian rescue and boarding facility in San Diego. She also worked with an avian veterinarian as well. After moving from San Diego to Denver, she has decided to pick up her camera again and work towards a freelance photography career. She takes some amazing photos you can see on her San Diego Pet Photography website (along with great people photos).

Most of these photos were taken at FreeFlight during our last trip back to San Diego, but the last one is our Greenwing, Little Wing, in our backyard.

We’re looking to help avian rescues

Posted by Derek on Jul 02, 2009 4 Comments

Our flock here at Hello, Bird! is looking to help support avian rescues. Erika (my wife) has worked in a rescue/boarding facility in the past and we understand how difficult and expensive it is to care for and find homes for companion birds. Through our online store we have come up with a way to help avian rescue organizations generate more money to pay for necessary expenses.

We are starting an affiliate program for avian rescue organizations to make 10% commission on every order they send to our site. Here is how it will work:

• We will provide you with a custom coupon code that you can give to anyone you know
• When a user enters that custom coupon code on our site during checkout, we know their order came from you
• At the end of each month (or 2-3, we aren’t sure yet) we will simply send you a check

We will also help you get the word out about our affiliation. We can create custom banner ads to place on your website or flyers to print out and give at any trade shows or adoption events you hold. We will do whatever we can to work with you and make this a mutually beneficial partnership.

If you are a member of a rescue organization, we invite you to contact us to discuss this potential partnership.

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