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 Tips to Prep Your Pet Bird for Fall
With the cooler temperatures and less daylight, the end of summer is often a relief to you but it’s important to consider how these changes impact your pet bird. To help prepare your bird for a new season, there are several things you can do to ensure the health and happiness of your pet!
UV Rays
As the leaves start to change, now is the best time to take advantage of the warm temperatures and to allow your bird to revel in the natural UV rays from the sun. Since most birds are native to tropical environments or else migrate away from winter-heavy environments, sunlight is an essential component to their health. To prepare for the lack of daylight hours and the minimal exposure to UV rays, investing in a broad spectrum UV light to shine on their cage for at least 6 hours a day during the winter months is an excellent tool to keep your bird happy and healthy through the new season.
Behavioral Changes
When the seasons shift, it’s possible that you will notice new and potentially unwanted behaviors in your bird. Examples include aggressive behavior, chewing, and an uptick in vocalization can all be attributed to stress levels from the changes in weather. To help keep your pet mentally and physically occupied, new toys, perches, and wooden chew toys can provide stimulation and the necessary opportunities for play and excitement.
Respiratory Concerns
With the reliance on furnaces and heaters as the weather turns downright chilly, these bursts of warm, dry air and accompanying spores and dust can be particularly hard on your bird’s respiratory system. To properly prepare for fall and winter, you should clean all air filters, run a humidifier, and keep your bird away from any of the vent openings. Look out for any debris in your bird’s nares (nostrils) and watch for tail bobbing that accompanies each breath as this is a sign that something could be wrong with your pet bird’s respiratory tract.
Big Clean
One other task you should perform to prep your bird for fall is a big clean. Since with cooler weather, it can be harder to remove your bird from their cage to do necessary cleaning duties, now is the time to do an intense cleaning and get into all of the hidden corners of your bird’s cage. Since many birds are encouraged to molt with the onset of cooler temperatures and shorter daylight hours, dander may be a big part of what you need to clean out!
The Importance of Dietary Differences Among Birds
A balanced and nutritious diet is key in helping your pet bird live a long and healthy life. In fact, the ideal avian diet is comprised of much more than just birdseed. Depending on the type of bird you own, you should discuss their needs with your veterinarian to provide the right building blocks for health and wellness.
When it comes to different types of bird diets, there are five main categories of primary diets each with their own nutritional recommendations:
- Granivore – Primary diet of grains and seeds
- Frugivore – Primary diet of mostly fruits and flowers with some additional nuts and seeds
- Florivore – Primary diet of seeds, fruits, nuts, bark, roots, and berries
- Omnivore – Primary diet of seeds, fruits, insects, and invertebrates
- Nectarivore – Primary diet of nectar, pollen, and some insects and seeds
Since in the wild birds have access to a great diversity of food, it is important to recreate this component for any pet bird. Luckily on the market today there are many formulated base diet options available. These excellent food choices often come in the form of pellets, crumbles, nuggets, or cakes and make up approximately 65 to 80% of your bird’s diet.
Fruits and Veggies
As great snacks to enhance your bird’s eating habits and to keep things interesting, there are a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to incorporate into your bird’s daily life. As a source of vitamin and minerals, you should shoot for an additional 15 to 30% of your bird’s daily diet to fall into the vegetable category and another 5% to fruit. Be sure to wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly and remove any pits or seeds before offering to your bird to prevent health complications. Several great vegetable offerings include carrots, radishes, kale, tomatoes, broccoli, corn, and cucumber. For fruit, look to fun items such as peaches, pears, cherries, berries, apples, kiwi, and mango to provide new exciting flavors for your bird.
The Do Not Feed List
Just like other pets, there are several types of foods you should avoid giving to your bird due to their ability to cause health complications. The “no list” includes items such as high-fat junk foods, chocolate, alcohol, table salt, avocados, apple seeds or fruit pits, onions and mushrooms. If you are unsure about something that you’d like to offer your bird, do your research and talk to a veterinarian to maintain the health of your bird.
 Happy Holidays! Tips for Pet Retailers to Prepare for the Holiday Season
With the biggest season of spending on the horizon, now is the appropriate time to get a head of the game. In order to get your ducks in a row to maximize holiday business, here are several noteworthy tips to prepare your retail store for the season of merriment (and not to mention Black Friday and Cyber Monday!).
Prep Your Team
In the fast paced and comparison shopping market that is today’s economy, you need to anticipate your customer base’s needs. Tackling this through education enables your employees to have knowledge about products and creates a better shopping experience for your clientele. Not to mention a refresher course on return policies, price matching, and product guarantees means that each and every transaction is a confident one complete with stellar customer service.
Get Mobile
With new technology on the market, getting mobile can mean your employees are no longer stuck behind a counter tethered to a register. With Smartphone and tablet technology your staff can perform point-of-sale procedures where the customer needs them. This includes being able to empower your employees with the ability to refer to videos, product reviews, and other items at the touch of a few buttons. As a result it can help your team make better sales and engage your customers with a multi-sensory shopping experience.
Reward Systems
Not only can setting up the expectation for bonuses, commission, and contests help inspire your team, it can create a fun and festive environment where everyone steps up their game to meet the holiday demands. Bring up the subject now and entice your employees with the future knowledge that you appreciate their hard work and will reward their efforts.
Buy In
Now is also a great time to solicit feedback from your employees on how to merchandise the store. Since they are on the ground floor, having your staff contribute creative ideas is a great way to get everyone involved!
There’s no time like the present to start your holiday strategy in order to make the most of the coming holiday season! Please let us know how we can help at www.wingdom.com.
 Pet Bird Safety Tips During the 4th of July 4th of July Safety Tips for our Feathered Friends
The American Pet Products Association’s 2013-14 National Pet Owners Survey indicates an all-time high of 53.4 million multiple pet owning households. When talking about pet safety all household pets, not just furry friends can be at risk and must be remembered especially during 4th of July celebrations.
Our feathered friends also have challenges during the 4th of July celebrations. Just like dogs and cats, pet birds react to the loud noises and bright lights. Here are a few suggestions to help prevent panic and help keep pet birds calm during the festivities:
- Keep pet birds indoors during the fireworks.
- Keep tempting colorful glow sticks away from birds. They are toxic to most pets.
- Cover the cage only if the bird is familiar with a cage cover. This will help mute the noise and bright flashes of light.
- Keep birds away from any fumes caused by fireworks and/or sparklers.
- Turn on the radio or TV to help drown out the loud sounds of fireworks.
- Provide a distraction like a favorite bird toy(s) or cozy bird tent.
Celebrating the 4th of July is a great American tradition for us humans. Most pets however will prefer the quite calm safety of home as much as we enjoy the loud bangs and bursts of lights while observing Independence Day!
How To Delight Your Customers and Keep Them Coming Back For More
By Wyld’s Wingdom
In this day and age, customers can be fickle. With the plethora of options available on the market, if you don’t deliver, your customers can and will walk away to find a company that does. That being said, conversely, if you delight and awe your customers and win their loyalty, you can keep them coming back for more. With these tips, here’s how you can do the latter instead of the former:
- Show Them Love
Following up or corresponding with your customer base with something unexpected can help nurture a loyal and loving relationship that encourages your customers to continue to shop with you.
- Goodies
Delivering coupons, promo codes, specials, and free goodies are another way that technology can help foster that sense of delight with your customers. Strive to deliver something thoughtful and desirable.
- Ask For Feedback
Another great and simple way to invest in developing a real and rewarding interactive relationship with your clientele is by requesting user-feedback. From how your store hours fit your customer’s schedules to what they like and dislike about their shopping experience in your store, by allowing a platform for feedback, your customers feel that their opinion counts!
- Personal Touch
With expertly trained and knowledgeable staff that receive empowerment to do what needs to be done to ensure happy customers, you can rest easy relying upon your employees to help direct and engage with clients in your store. A great customer service experience can make or break any shopping experience.
When it comes to converting an individual into a loyal customer in your store, remember the inbound marketing methodology “attract, convert, close, and delight.” These four steps are the bread and butter of serving potential individuals and converting them into future repeat customers.
How to Stock Your Bird Department for Success
 By Wyld’s Wingdom
Birds are special creatures that require much different care and attention than the typical furry family pet. Our feathered friends need stimulating and engaging environments that replicate challenges and obstacles naturally confronted in their wild habitats to live a happy and healthy life.
When it comes to stocking your bird retail department for success, there are several different factors that can play into how your products are received and thus how happy your customers are with their experience in your store. Three main components of any shopping excursion are as follows:
Presentation
As with any retail niche, the presentation of the products you carry can exert tremendous influence on how your customers make their selections and purchases. Thoughtfully laying out your products in a methodical fashion can help new customers navigate your store and return customers find what they are looking for easily. An eye-catching display that includes, a bird cage, toys, cage accessories, perches, bird food, etc. can help customers visualize a healthy bird environment. Any particular items that are featured should be placed at eye-level with enticing signage and information regarding specials. We recommend asking for customer feedback. Knowing your customer’s experience will help your team evaluate how user-friendly your presentations are and what needs to change. This user-feedback loop can allow you to access important insight into both the organization and presentation of your shelves.
Products
From specialty products to cages and houses, food and treats to vitamins and supplements, toys and educational materials to exercise equipment and other accessories, the amount of pet bird products on the market today can be overwhelming. Properly educating your staff on the products you carry can help them inform and direct customers to what they are looking for. Also, you should only stock top-of-the-line, quality products that you believe in, by companies built on solid reputations.
Personnel
One critical component for your store’s personnel is great customer service skills. This requires ongoing educational opportunities to empower your staff with knowledge about your products. As pet-lovers, enthusiasm and first-hand knowledge can translate into better sales for you. Encouraging your staff to try out different products themselves with their own birds can help educate them on giving better advice to customers and also lend a boost in forming a confident sales team that is invested in the best selection of products for any bird’s health. Great advice and attentive sales teams means loyal customers!
 Stocking Up: The Perks of Carrying Healthy Products for Pet Birds
By Wyld’s Wingdom
As a pet retailer, offering a variety of healthy products for pet birds does more than keep our feathered friends in optimal condition. It can also provide an education for bird lovers and pet lovers alike on the proper care routines critical to maintaining a healthy and happy pet bird.
Requiring much different care than that of a dog or cat, the many different types of birds have their own set of nutritional requirements that can often seem confusing or overwhelming to novice owners. However, there is one new trend emerging on the market: the importance of offering a varied, rich, and interesting diet. At Wyld’s Wingdom, we carefully select our product lines for both quality and effectiveness. Here’s a bit more information on the many different types of bird care items. Be sure to share this information with your staff and customers:
Feed the Birds
Meeting the nutritional needs of a companion bird may take a bit of research since factors other than breed can come into play. Examples of this are age, environment, stress levels, and breeding situations. These can all lead to changes in nutritional requirements. Bird diets have also changed over the years beyond the typical seed diet into other complete food options that contribute to the right nutritional elements for pet birds. While stocking a variety of food it is also important to educate bird owners about the importance of avian health.
Treat Time
Treats are a great way to bring interesting flavors, textures, and colors to a bird’s life. From edibles to toys, many products on the market today are shifting towards more simple and safe ingredients for birds to enjoy. The boost in all-natural bird products is a result of pet owners investing more in natural products which in turn helps promote healthier and more sustainable practices in the industry.
Supplements
A bird’s diet isn’t complete without the proper supplements to ensure the correct intake of vitamins and minerals and to avoid deficiencies. Many of the most popular supplements for birds include a complete multi-vitamin to boost health and support a healthy immune system, calcium to help build strong beaks and bones, and avian probiotics to support intestinal health.
Avian health is important to pet bird owners. Offering a variety of progressive products from bird food to special treats, supplements and toys as well as educating customers about pet bird needs helps build a successful retail pet bird department.
The Importance of a Pet Bird’s Education
 Clicker Training for Birds Kit
By Wyld’s Wingdom
Bird owners can raise happy and healthy birds by educating their pet. Pet birds are extremely intelligent and social creatures that crave interaction and engagement. When it comes to tools for bird owners, there are many educational tools to aid in facilitating learning and training for your bird. Most often, training falls into two separate categories: that of learning tricks, and that of learning behaviors.
Trick Training
The more optional of the two, trick training is just how it sounds, teaching different tricks and games to your bird. These tend to be more performance based tasks.
Behavior Training
 Good Bird, Inc. Parrot and Behavior Training DVD An essential component of any bird owner’s routine, behavior training is teaching the proper behavioral expectations of your bird for many different scenarios including trips to the veterinarian, travel and vacation, change of sceneries, interaction with other bird lovers and handlers, etc.
The Basics
Regardless of the type of training being done, there are several tools of the trade to ensure great results:
- Start early whenever possible! It’s easier to teach a younger bird without pre-formed habits.
- Positive reinforcement is a key teaching tool. Birds respond to the reinforcement of good behavior as well as can make the connection between correct behavior and reward. This is the most critical component of any training routine.
- Smart toys are another way to help train your bird. By using motivating toys, you can engage your bird’s attention and teach them different tasks.
- Although toys can do a lot of work, there is absolutely no stand-in for one-on-one attention from you! Birds, as social creatures, need your attention and will excel with a strict training routine managed by you!
At Wyld’s Wingdom, we carry a variety of books, training aids, videos and audiotapes to help bird owners have the most rewarding relationship possible with their birds. Don’t underestimate the power of a great education for your pet bird in contributing to a happy and healthy life.
 Good Bird, Inc. Understanding Parrot Body Language
Bird’s Nest: How to Control Your Bird’s Mess
 Tidy Seed No Mess Feeder By Wyld’s Wingdom
Regardless of what type of winged friend you keep, there’s no doubt about it, birds are messy roommates. From feathers and droppings to seed hulls and used toys, having a bird as a companion can mean that frequent cleanings are necessary. Here are a few handy tips to help you corral the mess your feathered friend leaves behind so you can enjoy the many benefits of owning a pet bird.
Contained Cage
Fortunately there are many different types of cages on the market today and most of them consider the habits of birds. When shopping for your bird’s cage, be sure to check out how easy the cage will be to clean. For example, you should ask yourself:
-Does the cage’s bottom tray come out for easy disposal of droppings?
-Is the bottom tray entirely removeable for a good wash if necessary?
 Caitec Parrot Cafe Pet Bird Feeder -Does the cage come apart into individual pieces?
Product Placement
There are numerous products on the market designed to help you contain your pet bird’s mess. Enclosed bird feeding stations like Caitec’s Parrot Café Seed Corral and the Tidy Seed No Mess Bird Feeder help prevent excess food debris caused when your bird eats. These products not only help control the mess, they are easy to clean and they help save money on bird seed. Also seed guards, a light mesh that can be wrapped around the bottom portion of your cage, helps contain debris fallout. These are just a couple of examples of handy items designed to alleviate the stress and headache of constant bird cage clean-up.
Diet
When it comes to the type of food your bird eats, this can be a game changer for your clean up routine. There are a variety of options that enable your bird a balanced diet with less mess. If every once in a while you feed your bird a special snack, like a banana or blueberries, be sure to hang around until treat time is over to do immediate damage control instead of waiting to scrub off caked on food from your bird cage bars.
Since the health and well-being of your bird depends on you keeping a happy and clean environment, it’s important to do research on your products before you buy. The more time you spend finding a well-designed and thoughtful cage, the easier it will be to maintain a proper, hassle-free environment for your bird!
Last Minute Holiday Gifts for Pet Bird Lovers
Shoppers are always looking for the perfect holiday gift for the pet bird lover in their life. Here are a few suggestions:
Sleek and Handy Wallet This wallet holds up to 10 cards and easily fits into all sized purses.
Always a favorite! Detailed Hand Painted Bird Ornaments From Macaws to Cockatoos to Parrots to Yellow Naped Amazons. These colorful ornaments can be used year after year.
 
Helpful Books for Bird Lovers: Including A Birdie Treat Cookbook, species specific education books and pet bird training books.
 
Happy Holiday Shopping!
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