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Are Blue Crowns much different from other conures?

Elysian

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I have two budgies but I'm prepping for a bigger bird. I'm very open to a lot of different species (have weighed the very different pros and cons, but we are truly adaptable) so I'm bouncing all over these species forums. Hello conures!

Because we're truly open to a variety of personalities, I *am* looking at rescues.. but covid gets in the way of meeting birds. In the meantime, I've gone ahead and got myself in touch with a Pionus breeder to be notified if they have any available hatchlings next year.
Ended up talking to them about Blue Crown Conures due to a communication error... and now I'm kind of in love with them too.

I honestly though conures were one group I had actually scratched off my list. Sun conures, green cheeks, etc, haven't really appealed to me.. I can't really pin down why though. Nothing against them, even their noise.. I just never felt much connection looking at any of them.

But the Blue Crowns.. they are so cute! And they seem really sweet?

Do any of you with actual conure experience have some general comparisons between them and the other conures?
It seems they might have a higher chance of being able to talk, which would be a cool perk.. but is anything else "different" about them from a conure parent's perspective?

Also just for knowledge and fun, do you feel your conures who talk do so in context? I've heard Pionus owners claiming theirs often do.
 
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Elysian

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Follow up:
For some reason I have this impression that a Pionus has more potential to want to be around *me* and that a conure might prefer to chat with my budgies instead.
Is this just some weird association I've picked up or might there be some truth there?
 

zoo mom

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I don't have any conure experience, but by BH Pionus is a sit back and watch everything bird. He talks to me from across the room. If I don't want to "shake hands" with him then I can "just go sit down and let him do his thing". If he wants me he will let me know by flying to me, climbing around the wire shelving to me, or saying "shake" or "scratch your head". Otherwise he is pretty much hands off. He isn't afraid of hands, he just wants physical interaction on his terms only.
 

Elysian

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I don't have any conure experience, but by BH Pionus is a sit back and watch everything bird. He talks to me from across the room. If I don't want to "shake hands" with him then I can "just go sit down and let him do his thing". If he wants me he will let me know by flying to me, climbing around the wire shelving to me, or saying "shake" or "scratch your head". Otherwise he is pretty much hands off. He isn't afraid of hands, he just wants physical interaction on his terms only.
We do like that about the Pionus.. that they can do their own thing and just hang out in the room if we have to focus on something else.
I want a really smart bird. I'd love watching a Pionus do their thing, solve some foraging puzzles, etc..

But I also like the clowny birds.. my budgies are fun to watch and are working on some little tricks, but they don't do them on their own for attention or anything. Even when they want treats they just come chirp at me, then leave right after :D
Conures dancing around for their people are so fun.

I guess when I say "more likely to want to be with me" I do just mean more likely to want to hang out in my vicinity for a bit and not fly away every 3 seconds to be near the budgies.

I don't think the budgies are much on the same wavelength as a Pionus.. but a conure might bond harder to them?
On the other hand if a conure does bond more to me they might spend more time sitting *on* me than a Pionus would.
 
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MommyBird

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At different times in my life I've had a BHPi (screamer my friend couldn't stand, 2 year foster, returned to friend when my husband became ill) and a BCC (7 year adoption, very elderly, over 40 when he died).
Neither one of them cared to interact with my other birds, which did include a budgie (although different budgies).
In fact the BHPi was pretty intent on wishing to attack my Hahns.
The BCC lived out of his cage on a large stand near my Hahns when I was at home and never showed any aggression to anyone.
The both ignored the budgie except for seeming spooked by it whenever it would keep landing near them.
Neither one was a cuddly bird but both were easy to handle.
The BHPi was very sweet and absolutely nowhere near as smart as my BCC.
I loved my BCC and when he died I looked for another adoption for a few years but things never worked out. I ended up with a Jenday who'd been in rescue for 12 years and I just had a connection with and he needed to come home with me.
It was amazing how smart my BCC was. I've had some really smart birds but he was truly amazing. I don't have time to say just how much he impressed me. I want another BCC someday.
A BCC is much larger than a budgie, and much larger than GCCs and Suns too, with a really big beak. I would not be letting them together in any case, and I doubt he'd be interested in relating to them at all except for ambient company in the room.
 

MommyBird

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Just wanted to add - I've also had a Goffin for over 30 years and while they are also really smart and like cuddles while planning how to get into trouble next, it is a different kind of smart than the BCC. The BCC was more tuned to observing people and his environment and figuring out how to get along. Goffins are convinced everything in the room is theirs and they need to take it apart. Cannot be left out unsupervised and are into everyone's business. My BCC could be left out on his stand unsupervised and would not bother anyone or anything else and I trusted him except if I were leaving the house and when he saw me changing clothes he would go into his cage without asking.
 

Elysian

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Thank you for your thoughts on both birds!!

I am indeed very concerned about keeping up the budgies quality of life and keeping them safe, so I won't be letting them loose with another bird.
In my ideal world I'd hope to eventually reach a point where a larger bird can hang out supervised on a stand (or my shoulder) and the budgies can do their normal thing (flying endlessly from perch to perch) and be safe by just not bothering each other at all, but I know that might never be possible.
I'm surprised you had more of that with your BCC than your Pi, so my impressions seem unfounded!

I've also been watching both BH Pionus videos and BCC videos all morning, and the budgies have only flown over to investigate when they hear the Pionus lol.

With my budgies, I love working with them but we are limited where I can't separate them at all - even if I am right by the cage, if I have one outside the bars and one inside the bars they stress about each other.
I hope that by only getting one other bird I'll end up in a situation where they are good ambient company for each other if I have to be occupied elsewhere - but that the new bird won't become obsessive about always being close to them.
I want some one-on-one!
Of course either way I'll still love them all :)

I'm more and more intrigued by the BCC and can't believe I never looked into them. General statements on forums seem to indicate they are a calmer and gentler kind of conure (though still a conure). I know green cheeks are touted as calmer too, but I do want something bigger than that.
Pionus and BCC seem to be about the same size, and right in the size range for the cage I'm already setting up.
I like the cute grunty sounds a Pionus makes, but I'm not hearing anything obnoxious from the BCCs either..

I guess we will just keep waiting and see where we are at if/when a call comes in!
Your thoughts helped a lot @MommyBird :) So far I feel satisfied that either one would be pretty cool, just in their different ways. But I NEED to stop finding more bird species to throw me off my mindset lol.
 

MommyBird

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Some really great things to watch that have BCCs are two movies
"Paulie" in which a BCC is the main star. It is available streaming several places online, including amazon and youtube. Amazing parrot!!!!!!!!!
"The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" which has a BCC featured along with other conures.
Also streaming several places online. Have a box of tissues ready, but do watch!
 
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