do parrots find sertain colors irritating?

[lokiNotis]

This may be a stupid question, but I was curious. I notice most cages I see are either black or white. My husband custom paints and I know black and white are the cheapest paint to buy but I didn't know if parrots got irritated by certain colors. I am Pediatric Nurse and I know certain colors are more soothing to babies. I know that is a bad comparsion. Any input would be appreciated. Again I know this may be a dumb question. Thanks in advance!!

 

[cdog]

Some parrots prefer different colors, like I tried my Gcc on colored pellets and they ate all the red ones first. Sully doesn't like bright yellow so I don't wear that anymore, so yes some parrots don't like some colors. Black and white also goes with more peoples' home decor, not too many people have brightly colored furniture.

And if your husband was planning on painting a cage for your bird it would have to be bird safe paint, not normal paint.

 

[lokiNotis]

Thanks for info. Di you know what bird safe paint would be or a website I can check out. Thanks!

 

[bumblebec]

My birds don't find any colour irritating, but they do love certain colours. Lola LOVES orange, when ever I am wearing something orange she will pay extra attention to me and loves to be with me. Mimi loves purple, she has a purple snuggly and shares a purple happy hut with Lola. She also goes out of her way to try and chew only the purple beads on my Pandora bracelet!

 

[cdog]

My birds don't find any colour irritating, but they do love certain colours. Lola LOVES orange, when ever I am wearing something orange she will pay extra attention to me and loves to be with me. Mimi loves purple, she has a purple snuggly and shares a purple happy hut with Lola. She also goes out of her way to try and chew only the purple beads on my Pandora bracelet!

Lola probably loves you when you wear orange because you look more like a sun conure like that, just a thought.

 

[Mudkips]

Birds in general can see into the ultraviolet spectrum, and so they can basically see certain colors that are invisible to us. They also see in more detail then we can see - think CSI style UV lights!

And as it has already been mentioned; Birds will notice and can behave differently around the colors that mean danger, courtship or even a tasty snack in the wild.

 

[bumblebec]

My birds don't find any colour irritating, but they do love certain colours. Lola LOVES orange, when ever I am wearing something orange she will pay extra attention to me and loves to be with me. Mimi loves purple, she has a purple snuggly and shares a purple happy hut with Lola. She also goes out of her way to try and chew only the purple beads on my Pandora bracelet!

Lola probably loves you when you wear orange because you look more like a sun conure like that, just a thought.

Hehehe, probably!

Birds in general can see into the ultraviolet spectrum, and so they can basically see certain colors that are invisible to us. They also see in more detail then we can see - think CSI style UV lights!

And as it has already been mentioned; Birds will notice and can behave differently around the colors that mean danger, courtship or even a tasty snack in the wild.

That's really interesting! Is that above pic meant to somewhat represent how birds see colours? Do you have any more pics or links to articles with more information? I'd love to read about it. I remember finding an article about how cats and dogs see things once, it was really interesting.

 

[cnyguy]

Parrots definitely can have an aversion to certain colors. A lot of parrots seem to dislike anything that's red. My Quaker parrot dislikes the color orange. He's even reluctant to eat foods that are orange, so it's a challenge to get him to eat carrots. Really bright, intense orange objects are even likely to set off a Quaker alarm call.

 

[Mudkips]

That's really interesting! Is that above pic meant to somewhat represent how birds see colours? Do you have any more pics or links to articles with more information? I'd love to read about it. I remember finding an article about how cats and dogs see things once, it was really interesting.

I've never thought about how cats and dogs see things. Do you still have the article link? Now I'm curious!

That picture represents how UV light reflects off a budgies face.
The only way to display UV light to our 'inferior' eyes is to highlight the areas that reflect it. They need to black out all the normal colours so that UV light can be represented by colours that we can see - So of course, the picture turns out looking pretty strange.

Our fids are even more beautiful then we realize!

It's pretty hard to describe or even imagine, but basically our fids can see more colours then we do. Think of a fourth Primary colour - Red Yellow Blue and Super Birdy Ultra Violet

Here are some links if you're interested:
Bird vision - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
April Newsletter
Invisible Colors | The Artful Brain | Learn Science at Scitable

 

[PortaPerch]

We've read that parrots lose their color vision if kept indoors.

 

[Wulfgeist]

My birds don't find any colour irritating, but they do love certain colours. Lola LOVES orange, when ever I am wearing something orange she will pay extra attention to me and loves to be with me. Mimi loves purple, she has a purple snuggly and shares a purple happy hut with Lola. She also goes out of her way to try and chew only the purple beads on my Pandora bracelet!

Lola probably loves you when you wear orange because you look more like a sun conure like that, just a thought.

Hee that's the first thing that popped in my head, too

 

[Grenage]

We have a variety of cat balls with bells in the middle; there's a hot pink one which Aizen will attack over the others. Aside from that, we've not noticed any particular irritation.

 

[keepsmiling]

My birds hate red. I know some who do not like black. There is no such thing as bird safe paint. That is why cages are powder coated.

 

[Oedipussrex]

We have a green abstract painting on the wall behind pickles cage, and thats his favourite spot on top of his cage. he always retreats there if he doesnt want to be picked up or if he gets spooked. lol. i think it might be because he knows he's kind-of camoflagued.
does'nt have problems with red though, but then, i guess the females of his species are bright red. haha. shouldnt have a problem there. XDD

 

[evesta]

Red and black can set my guys off. They eventually get use to it but at first it can scare them.

 

[ann]

i have also heard about red scaring birds. i once read that lovebirds were terrified of it. oh, and those ultraviolet pictures were really cool

 

[Alisana]

With regards to cage colour, I've heard that black is easier to see the bird in because your eyes 'ignore' the 'absence' of colour and focus on the plumage of the bird instead.

My cages are all steel wire though... so I can't confirm that observation.

Powdercoating is probably the safest method - if you don't prime it. Most primers (they do this before adding the powercoat) contain zinc, which can be deadly if your bird decides to chew on it.

See the following article regarding painting cages: Bird-safe Painting Tips

Personally, I would AVOID painting the cage bars and leave it to a professional. If you MUST paint a cage, look for the following:
- do not contain lead, zinc or chromate
- are "high adhesion", formulated to bond with the metal surface
- are hard-wearing
- are fast drying

Once the cage is painted, to stop your bird from using their beak to 'climb' the cage, align perches in front of the bar, so they can use the perches for stepping/climbing instead.

Example with ladders against side:

Example with Perches 'laddering' up side of cage

Note: All above are illustrative examples Not proper cage sizes.

 

[cnyguy]

We've read that parrots lose their color vision if kept indoors.

I don't think that's true. George, my YCA, was an indoor parrot for most of his life (he was a wild-caught parrot), and could still distinguish colors, even in old age. And Alex, the well-known CAG educated by Dr. Irene Pepperberg, could not only tell colors apart, but could identify them by name-- and Alex also was an indoor parrot.

 

[DerSchniffles]

I did a little experiment and found out that Scarlet hates when I wear black shirts......like to the point of lunging at my hand if I try to pick her up in her cage. If I change into a different color, she is nice again lol. Kinda wierd. So I try to wear lighter colors when im at home.