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pet birds?

3K views 52 replies 15 participants last post by  wendyjo 
#1 ·
anyone had pet birds before? what kind was it and how did u like him/her
 
#2 ·
I've had parakeets for about 25 years (obviously, not the same ones!) and one cockatiel for the past eight years. We currently have five parakeets and one cockatiel right now. I got into birds years ago because I could not have dogs or cats. I LOVE pet birds, but they can sometimes be seen as "throwaway" pets since some of them (parakeets) are so cheap.

What would you like to know? :)
 
#5 ·
I have had a Quaker parrot for 3 years and have held him since he came out of his egg. I couldn't live without him. He brings me up when I'm down. Talks all the time. If you could find a breeder they are great birds if raised correctly which falls in the end on you. If you teach them correctly they will endlessly love you. If your house is loud and you pay no at attention to them they will scream and over power what ever is making the noise. It's only to get your attention. Birds are more work they people know and when they say they need attention and not locked in there cage 24/7 they mean it. I'm not joking they require a lot of love and care. good luck
 
#6 ·
Birds are more work they people know and when they say they need attention and not locked in there cage 24/7 they mean it. I'm not joking they require a lot of love and care.
Yes yes yes X 1000.

My cockatiel is my best bud. He gets the bulk of our attention since the five keets have each other to commiserate with.

They need DAILY out of cage time. Buy the biggest cage you can afford.
 
#7 ·
I've had and bred cockatiels and lovebirds. I also hand-fed the babies. The lovebirds were SO cute after they were handfed - so colorful, like mini-parrots, but LOUD. I had male cockatiels that could really sing! They were out of the cage for the most part and had a 4 ft tall jungle gym that they loved climbing around on.

I love birds and I miss them, but they were loud and messy. Still, I'd love another one - maybe a calm little pionus - some birds are quieter than others. Eclectus parrots are quiet too and stunning, the males are green and the girls are red. If you want quiet - then stay away from conures! My friend had one that she spoiled rotten, and he would scream as soon as you put him down. Even though hers was rotten, they are quite the screamers.
 
#8 ·
I have two cockatiels and a parakeet. One female lutino and one pied x cinnamon male. They hated each other at first but now they are in love. The female even lets the male clean her head feather and vise versa. The male whistles and sings, I've even trained him to sing the adams family theme song and the Andy Griffith theme song. He also does kissing noises and says " dawns a good boy."

Cockatiels do give off a lot of dust but I bathe mine in the shower and that helps a lot with the dust control. Some birds like to be misted or even play on wet greens. It all depends on the birds personality.

Female cockatiels are much less noisy then the males.

+1 buy the biggest cage you can afford.

Swap out the toys in their cage to keep them entertained and give them out of the cage time and people time and they will be extremely rewarding.
 
#9 ·
Also, consider the lifespan of a bird and plan to keep it for (its) life. We have a local bird rescue here and it's PACKED with birds that have gone from home to home to home. Mostly people cannot take on a macaw or cockatoo for life.

Here's my buddy, dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CPdFeO1r5k

I would avoid sun conures and anything that lives over 20 years for a first-time bird. I've had birds for years and there's no way I could handle a sun conure. Their scream is ear-piercing.
 
#17 ·
Kinda. When they get new feathers in, the keratin sheath sheds, and that can be a kind of dust. Sort-of like how we shed dead skin cells.

But, cockatiels specifically give off a powdery dust unlike all other birds. For instance, if I hold my cockatiel against a black shirt, there will be a powdery residue on it when I take him away from my shirt. No biggie to me.
 
#23 ·
We have a green rumped parrotlet. She is small, sort of parakeet sized, but ALL parrot. (their closest relatives are Amazons). We've had her for 8 years now, and really enjoy her. She's got a large powder coated cage (and it's hard to find big, sturdy cages with spacing appropriate for small birds) but as other people have said, she really needs to spend a LOT of time out of her cage.

The only thing that's a bit of a pain about her is that she definitely considers our family her "flock", and looks on all guests as interlopers. She's definitely not trustworthy with anyone outside the family. She'll land on them then bite them! With us, she's a snuggle bug.

She makes more noise than a parakeet, but she's not ANYWHERE near as loud as cockatiel. She technically belongs to my son, and he go her when he was 11, and tired of the short lives of his beloved string of hamsters.:icon_cry: they supposedly live about 20 years, so he'll still have her when he's finished with college and out on his own.

We bought her from a local breeder shortly after she fledged. (I guess hand feeding these tiny ones can be tricky). She tamed down very quickly, though. I think parrotlets are a great into parrot. Cute as the dickens, definite "parrot personality" and a moderate life span. Plenty of time to develop a great relationship, but not a (human) life-time commitment. More like a dog or cat commitment. She's also small enough that she's very portable, and isn't destructive as big parrots can be.

As others have said, we buy her LOTS of toys, and change them regularly to keep her interest. Her FAVORITE toy, though, is a set of metal measuring spoons that she "beats up" daily. They are in her cage all the time.

I haven't seen any dust to speak of, but first, she's very small, and second, she bathes almost daily if given a bowl of warm water. So she probably keeps the dust down pretty well herself.

She did break a pin feather once, and we had to take her to the vet to have it pulled. I knew, intheory, what to do, but she is SO small, and was struggling and bleeding SO much, I didn't feel like I could handle it myself. 30 seconds in the vet's office (he's a bird specialist) and she was fine again.:smile:
 
#27 ·
I've had budgies for many years and I had a canary as well. The budgies were fun, but not tame, their chattering and antics playing with each other were always entertaining. I started out with 4 of them in a large cage (like the ones in the pic above - and I also skirted mine but I used velcro) and after 6 years I only had one left. I didn't want to get another and the one left was very lonely after being part of a flock his whole life, so I rehomed him to a woman who had a bird rescue. She integrated him into her flock and last I heard he was quite happy.

The canary was a stray that a neighbor found. He wasn't tame either, but I believe that birds in the finch family are hard to tame in general. He had the absolute BEST song tho - and he'd sing all day long. The louder we'd turn up the TV the louder he'd sing. I sure miss that little guy - he was totally awesome.

Here is what I found to be the biggest drawback with birds - vet costs. You need to find an avian vet, which may not be easy depending on where you live - a regular dog & cat vet will have no idea how to treat a bird. And they are NOT cheap. One of our budgies got sick - Lord we must have spent $1000 on that little girl and she still died. We had a necropsy done and it turned out she had gizzard disease even tho she never had grit and had a great diet of pellets and fresh fruits and veges. She also had a cataract which cost a small fortune to treat. Our Canary developed a tumor on his leg and that cost us a ton as well, and he also didn't pull thru. And if you have small, untamed birds treating them at home can be extremely stressful on both you and the bird. So we opted to have them kept at the vets for some treatments and that cost was outrageous.

I'd love to have another bird - something a bit larger and not quite as fragile and something hand raised and tame. But the closet avian vet to us is just too far, so I'll stick with dogs and fish.

Oh yeah, one more thing. You have to be careful with some household things when you have birds. They don't do well in cold, drafty areas. You shouldn't cook with teflon pots around them - at high temps it releases a chemical that is deadly to them. Some candles are dangerous to use, as are most aerosol sprays. They are sensitive to alot of things so do your research.
 
#28 ·
Great advice wendyjo. I will also 2nd the "vet bills are expensive" part. One of our parakeets who passed away this summer had a tumor or mass of some sort. To keep her comfortable, I took her in every week for nearly five months to be aspirated (have fluid drawn). When all was said and done, I spent close to $700. Yes, $700 on one $15 bird. I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

Recently, my cockatiel was under the weather. One trip to the vet with a gram stain (looked at his poo), blood test, well bird exam and meds was about $300. We've had him eight years.

You'll need to find an avian-certified vet and in some areas, they just aren't common. I'm lucky; I have an AWESOME vet here who works with birds and she's amazing.

I will have pet birds the rest of my life, but I am very prepared to take them to the vet if need be.

Keep reading!
 
#37 ·
I've had a Senegal Parrot, named 'Baby" for 28 years. She was being hand fed when I adopted her 28 years ago this month.
 
#38 ·
We had a Pacific Parrotlet for a few years. It was technically my son's but my wife was home all day with it and ended up really bonding with it. It was a great bird that was never noisy and small enough it wasn't a huge mess.

We went on vacation and had a friend sit him at their house. When we got back I think he was really mad at my wife for I guess "abandoning" him for a week. After that he bit her every time she pulled him out and we ended up finding him another home.

If you get one make sure it comes from a good breeder that handles them right from when they are young. We sure do miss that bird. Good luck!

jeander
 
#39 ·
My wife and I had a cockatiel for a few years. Unfortunatley, we decided to return him to the breeded when we were trying for a baby. The dust was an issue.
He was awesome. I agree with the above statements that people do not give pet birds the respect they deserve. Our guy, Scooter, would whistle a variety of songs and even said a few words. He even let us know when it was time for bed by repeating "good night!"

If the cage is an issue, you might want to consider a budgy (parakeet). They are not throw away birds and can learn tricks and can be very personable. Some can ever learn a few words. (albeit they speak in a very high pitch, and rather quickly) Another reason a larger cage is important is that they will have more sturdy bars. Conures will have a very strong beak and will make short work of thinner bars.

All in all, I cannot wait until my son is older and we decide to bring a bird back into our lives. We have been thinking about a female eclectus for a little while now!
 
#40 ·
Had a red lored Amazon for years, taught it to talk and everything. Was a great pet when I lived alone, but hated women with a passion. When I got married the first time and had a little girl I had to find it a new home.

He/she was a lot of fun, taught it to say "Birds can't talk" whenever someone tried to get it to talk :)


VERY messy pets though
 
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