Choosing a bird for apartment dwellers

[THE_COURIER]

Hello. As I mentioned in my greeting thread in some time (a year or two years) I plan to get myself a parrot. I was searching the internet about different types of birds and eventually there are three types that I think will suit my lifestyle. First let's start with the information that I live in apartment and in the future I want to move to bigger one + I will probably would like to increase my family. Also usually I'm away from home for about 9 hours (work, work) so that's why I was looking for a bird that is more on the quite side and can handle being alone for some time. All of that eventually led me to choose one of those three types of parrots:

- pionus: from what I've read they are rather quiet, family friendly and independent birds and I really like the look of them. I would choose to have either blue headed pionus or bronze winged one;

- poicephalus: here I would take into consideration jardine parrot or meyer's parrot as they seem to be independent and rather quite birds. Also I really really like the look of jardine parrot;

- cuban amazon: now I know this does not fit my description as amazons tend to be loud but I just really like the look of it and it is smaller than other amazons. However, I'm not sure if this would be a good choice for someone who those not have experience with parrots.

As you can see those parrots are rather from the medium types and that's the size I'm looking for. I know there is a lot of time before I will get one but I appreciate any opinions and suggestions as this will help me in chosing one and allow to better prepare myself.

 

[hrafn]

My pionus is easily the noisiest, shrillest and most ear-splitting of all of my birds, including my macaw and my grey. When she gets going, she'll bring down the house. I've also met many pois who were equal to her in terms of screeching ability and frequency. Amazons, as a rule, are not quiet.

Nine hours is a very, very long time for any parrot to be left alone, regardless of whether they're independent and can entertain themselves. Parrots are social by nature, and need companionship. Would you consider getting two birds?

And what happens when you expand your family? What if your bird wakes up your babies? What if your partner doesn't like the bird? What happens if you're threatened with eviction?

 

[Nikomania]

I vote for pineapple green cheek conures, Meyers and Jardine's parrots. I have all three and they're hands down the quietest birds in our flock of 13.

 

[Nikomania]

I also agree with @hrafn that birds do best when not living out a life of solitude.

 

[Dartman]

Pionus parrots can be loud when they want to be or are upset, they also can be fairly quiet and entertain themselves fine when alone. They are usually fairly mellow and love to hang out and get scritches and treats. I have had 4 so far and they have run from shy and USUALLY quiet, to outgoing and social, to mad at the world and quick to bite and scream, till he finally decided I was trustworthy and a friend. They are all their own souls with similarities. Whatever you decide you should meet them and make sure they are a good fit for your family.

 

[charlieboy]

If you can spend at least 2 hours of quality time a day with your parrot, maybe you could get a single budgie or cockatiel. But 9 hours alone everyday is a lot, so I would suggest getting a pair no matter what species you get.

 

[THE_COURIER]

When it comes to 9 hours I usually work from 6AM to 2PM or from 2PM to 10PM. Also there are days when I'm at home till 1:30PM and at 2:30PM my finacee is coming back from her work so we tend to not see each other till the evening. Not sure if hours that I've provided change anything but if a bird wakes up later than the time that he will be alone will change to less hours. Also after work I can spend a lot of time with a bird and it's not a problem. Of course if this doesn't matter at all than I will definately need to think about getting a pair of birds instead of one.

@Dartman before I would even buy a bird I would like to go and see how they interact with me and my partner and how they behave in general. The plan is to go to the vendor earlier to check how he takes care of his birds and check other stuff.

@hrafn when it comes to a baby I was wondering about that and that's why I decided to ask people here about it. I don't know if keeping a baby in another room would suffice, or is it out of the question and first I should think about a child and after that about a parrot. As for my partner she actually agrees with the types I picked, however, I told her what comes with owning a bird. That's why we want to wait till we get a bigger apartment with soundproof walls. I'm not sure if this will help when it comes to neighbours but I think it would decrease to volume to some degree.

 

[Zara]

Have you considered a pair of hand raised lovebirds?
2 aren´t usually noisy and will play together while alone. Mine sleep well at night, not a peep.
If you get them a nice big cage, they will be ok while you are out at work.

 

[BlueDoraBarry]

a pair of pigeons/doves? I don't think they are capable of anything louder than their coo's and they are not known to be aggressive whatsoever so the increasing family won't be an issue.

 

[Zara]

a pair of pigeons/doves?.

I think OP was specifically looking at psittacines.

 

[BlueDoraBarry]

I think OP was specifically looking at psittacines.

 

[Mizzely]

I'll say babies can sleep through a lot lol. However my quakers DID wake up my son during naps. That was frustrating! Each baby is different.

My Jardine's is quiet unless no one is in the room with him. Then he whistles and squeaks very loudly to remind you he exists I'm lucky and got him as an adult so I already had some idea of his temperament and noise level. I've heard his parrot scream before and omg... If he did that all the time I would go insane! I won't do baby birds myself.

If I didn't work from home, I would likely get him a friend.

 

[sunnysmom]

I know that these weren't birds you were considering but a pair of tiels is an option. They're generally not that loud, especially the females.

 

[Mizzely]

I think OP was specifically looking at psittacines.

Sometimes people don't even know that doves and pigeons are viable pets. I sure didn't when I first came here! So I still think there is merit in suggesting them

 

[BirdField]

Pois are generally quiet but keep in mind that their calls can be very shrill! They may not be as loud as an amazon or as deep-sounding like large birds, but some of their screeches can be piercing. Neighbors may be able to handle a few occasional flock calls of a deeper-voiced bird but human ears seem particularly sensitive to the higher-pitch sounds, the sounds that many pois can produce.

 

[Jobot]

My parrotlet doesn't have the volume of the bigger birds, but he does chatter almost constantly. Mine is also pretty needy in general, but is not friendly to other birds as many parrotlets are, and prefers to be an only bird. He has all the needs of the bigger birds in a tiny, sassy package.

In my opinion, pigeons are an excellent choice for apartment dwellers. Smart, personable, and quiet.

 

[MnGuy]

I had a Meyer’s in an apartment for a few years and never had any issues. She did have her moments, though, but I never had any complaints. We were a pet building with several dogs, so people were mellow about pets.

I wouldn’t recommend a pigeon/dove if you want a parrot. They’re very different, and the possible downside is you end up unhappy/unsatisfied with a pigeon/dove and that bird ends up paying the price by being rehomed, ignored, etc.

Meet some older adoptable birds whose behaviors are known and more suitable for your needs. Have a backup plan if you need to relocate with your new parrot to a parrot friendly home. Renting can be a crapshoot, but so is homeownership.

Good luck.

 

[AKahle6868]

I second a pair of Cockateils. They are sweet, the females are mostly quiet, and they aren’t as demanding as a larger parrot. Don’t get me wrong they 100% need time and love but a large cage, lots of toys, and having each other would make the time you are away more manageable. They also are on basically every list on birds that work well with families. Their sweet disposition is great when you have little ones running around. I think they would be the best parrot for your situation personally.

 

[THE_COURIER]

So I guess Pionus are out of the question. Also I don't mind if a bird makes some noises but they can't be too loud because of living in the apartment, unless I will invest in making soundproof walls when I will move on to my own flat in few years. Right now I still have Jardine and Meyer's parrot on my list but I need to make more research about them. From what I've read Jardine can become nippy and be really moody till their maturity and after that change into rather calm bird if I would not mess up teaching them positive behaviour. I didn't found too much about Meyer's parrots but some people claim that they are friendly with more than one person and recommend them for apartments and people who want their bird to interact well with more people. I'm not sure how much truth there is in there because I realize that not every Jardine or Meyer's parrots are the same as each can have different personality.

I was also asking some vendors in my vicinity about parrot and they recommended a Cockatiel for me or a Red-Crowned Parakeet. When it comes to Cockatiel my friend who once had one recommended that I should pick the nominal one as they have higher resistance to diseases. When it comes to Red-Crowned Parakeet I have zero knowledge about them and haven't checked anything about them yet. Vendor claimed that they are rather queit in comparison to other parrots but if anyone can write more about them I would be grateful.

Also I want to make this clear that I don't want to get a bird despite taking into account his well-being and other thing into account. I want to get one that will feel good with us (me and my partner) and we will feel good with him or her or them if we decide to get a pair. That's why even now I want to get a bigger cage for the bird so that he can have more space to get comfortable in it. I'm not going to get a certain type of parrot just because that's what I want when I know that it will feel miserable with me.

One more question: one person who had a Cockatiel said that they were leaving radio on when they were leaving the house (and it had a lot of toys in the cage) and it took lonelines for some hours quite well. Of course when they were around they were spending time with the bird and he was very socialized with them. My question is does radio or music or sounds of other birds really help or does this depend on individual?

 

[Nikomania]

Jardine's do have a reputation for being nippy. However, mine is not nippy at all. But I do monitor and read queues with all my parrots, which is probably part of the reason why I don't get bitten by any of them.
My Meyers is a spunky, friendly, cuddly little fluff ball. She absolutely loves to fly whenever she's been given a chance to. She doesn't say any words, but that doesn't bother me whatsoever. My Jardine's is my Velcro bird, and will hang out on my shoulder for hours on end. Heck, I think she'd stay there 24/7 if I allowed her to!