Since birds spend so much time on their feet, maintaining good foot health is critical.

The scales on the bottoms of a parrot's feet are specially designed. The scales are long, almost like papillae, on the bottom of the feet. This protects the feet and provides a cushion for the bird to stand on.

There are three things that affect the texture on the bottoms of the feet. One is diet... just like anyone has better skin if they are eating properly than someone who isn't.

The MOST common problem is inappropriate perches. If the perches are smooth, you can expect the bottom of the feet to be smooth also. The texture of the scales on the bottom of the feet seem to build up in
response to the texture of the perch, unless the perch is too rough and that wears the scales off. Coincidentally, tree bark... as in off a tree outside and NOT manzanita...seem to have just the right texture! If one of the feet (or the ankle/hock, just past the foot) is more smooth than the other, or has a larger pink or red spot that the other, or has an actual callous, it's a good idea to check the perch the bird sleeps on. They tend to sleep on the same foot, so one foot will wear differently than the other. A callous (which is bad) can be differentiated from healthy skin growth by the concentric circles, sometimes even being thick and yellowish in color. Healthy skin is thick and bumpy (and not pink) with lots of little finger- like scales. The degradation of the skin on the foot follows this progression:

Wearing down of papillae
Smooth foot bottom
Pink spots on the foot bottoms or ankles
Red spots on the foot bottoms or ankles
Callous formation in those spots

The step after callous formation can be disfigurment or bumblefoot. A heavier bird will require larger around perches for weight disbursement. Showers where the feet get soaking wet help the bird with removing the dead skin and shed scales. As with anything to do with health, diet plays a large factor with the health of the skin.

The third thing that affects the health of the feet is the weight of the bird. An obese bird will get pressure sores on the bottoms of the feet. Also birds that have had foot injuries and have scars on their feet will be prone to pressure sores.Most bad feet fall into the first two categories.

Is your bird's perch the ideal size? Birds should have different size perches and I like to give them a big fat perch to sleep on... always with bark on them (apple or fruit tree branches are ideal!) But for their main perches, look at how their toes go around the perch. The long toes should go a little more than halfway around the perch so that thebird can do his acrobatic perching. The short toes should go a little less than
halfway around the perch. If the perches are bigger than this, the shortest toes can sometimes start to deform because they start laying flat instead of being used for gripping.


Dianalee Deter

303-456-BIRD

author of The Second-hand Parrot, The African Grey Parrot Handbook, and

Guide to the Senegal Parrot and it's family

Mobile bird service to Denver (Colorado), Colorado Springs, Loveland,

Evergreen, Conifer and surrounding areas

Grooming, behaviour consulting, general care classes, bird sitting

Our UnPellet is on sale for the week of August 14-20th for 20% off. So now is the time to stock up on some extra. Limit one large bag or four small per customer, please. It is marked down for these dates on the web site.

Do you have friends that you've been telling about our products or someone you would just like to buy a nice gift for their birds? (Maybe that friend that doesn't feed them such good stuff?) Now is your chance. During the same week of August 14-20 our NEW sample packs and our introductory roll pack are 50% off IF you buy it for someone else. If you place it with another order, send us an e-mail telling us who to send the sample pack to. If this is the only order, you can put their address in when you check out. For these, use the coupon code: PFRGift.

Here are what the new sample packs include:
Mini Sample pack- 1 1/2 cup of UnPellet mix and 1 1/2 cup of Crispy Rice Snacks.
Sample Pack- the UnPellet and Crispy Rice like in the Mini pack plus a combined bag of goji, peanuts and purple corn and five small rolls (types listed on web site)
Introductory roll pack includes two medium rolls that are cut so the parrot can see the insides and four small rolls.

Go HERE to our web site to order. Also, be sure to read the note below about the organic grains we have for sale just to recipients of this newsletter. They are NOT on our web site.