Over the last few years, female cockatiels and other small pet bird species have accidentally been selectively bred for their ability to lay eggs without a mate present. In the past, veterinarians, breeders, and hobbyists have advised owners that a mate should be provided for these egg-laying pets. This is, in fact, the last thing that you want to do, as laying too many eggs can be a health hazard for a hen. Breeding a bird that lays too many eggs will increase the number of birds with this problem in the future.

Birds and people alike usually need more physical and mental exercise than just sitting at a desk or hanging out around a cage.

When we run, ski, ride a bike or drive a fast car, our entire body chemistry changes in a matter of seconds. This is because all of our senses of sight, sound, touch and hearing shift into an entirely different gear. The task of knowing what is going on around us when we are moving at a normal pace becomes a very complicated three dimensional puzzle of super-fast decisions. Our brain has to learn to figure out what important things are changing while everything is changing around us. The same thing happens to a bird when he has the freedom to fine tune his flying skills.

Some bird owners have concerns about allowing their pet to play with paper towel and toilet paper core rolls. The most common of these concerns is the possibility of a zinc component somewhere in the core or the adhesive attaching the paper to the core. Several years ago, I checked into this and my independent research found that zinc is not a component of the cardboard or adhesives used in these type products. However, I did find reasons to avoid the use of toilet paper cores.

Conventional wisdom is that a flying parrot can get into too much trouble. The bird might fly onto a hot cook top, into an open toilet, into a window, or escape and starve to death. However, another school of thought believes that parrots were made to fly. They believe it is cruel to clip a parrot's wings and equate the practice to cutting a dog's legs off to keep him from running.