Dear Parrots magazine,
Natural branches
I am glad to see that there is more information and persuasion to use natural perching, and is something I have been going on about for years now.
It all started when I saw two cockatiels in a cage at a neighbour’s house many years ago. They were in what I would describe as an awful looking cage, but with metal perches covered with a plastic covering. The problem was that much of the covering had been peeled off, no doubt by the poor birds, as I suspect it was irritating them. This exposed the bare metal over much of the length and at the time I visited, it was in mid-winter. These birds were kept in an outbuilding, which was extremely cold and no doubt, they were in some discomfort having to perch on freezing cold metal!
I could not believe that the owner allowed this situation to continue and I did have some very strong words with her. I don’t think she would see this letter, so am not afraid to say she was totally ignorant and unsuitable to keep any pets. However, she did have three cats, which all appeared to be well looked after.
Thankfully, I did manage to get her to replace the metal perches with some apple branches cut from one of my trees, as I could not bear to think they would be subjected to such discomfort any longer. I might be called a busy body but will not stand by and see this type of thing happening”
Angela Spicer - Yorkshire