I have often had friends and family ask me if I am a hoarder and even accuse me of it (without really realizing what it means and how hurtful it is). Lots of people believe that a hoarder is merely someone who has a lot of animals and if that was the true definition, that is most certainly me! However, the true definition in my eyes is someone who has gone past the amount of animals that they can properly care for, not just meaning giving them food and water everyday, but also having the ability to mentally stimulate them and keep them happy. I have 13 parrots as well as 4 quail and other animals! I would like to mention that I have been breeding rodents for about 6 years and recently got out of the rat portion of that hobby because it was taking up too much time that I didn't have and it wasn't keeping me happy anymore. I decided to sell my breeding stock of rats and found them all wonderful homes! This has made everyone more happy because I have much more time and I realized how much that was affecting the quality of my care for myself as well as everyone else, it was becoming difficult to care for everyone since it was taking up so much time.
My small birds (parakeets, lovebirds, and cockatiels) are not really people birds and prefer to hang out amongst themselves (they have all paired up, which was what I expected) rather than hang out with me or my boyfriend, so the amount of care I have to give them is not equal to that of my larger fids. What they require is lots of cage enrichment such as, toys, treats, varied foods, and water. This takes up DRASTICALLY less time than my other birds but is equally important to keep them happy. They also require large cages with lots of toys since they don't like to come out as often and it actually stresses them out MUCH MORE when they do. This is why making a bird room is so important for them as well as the larger birds, they will have a large territory that they will feel MUCH safer in and I will hopefully be able to join them in their habitat without the usual stress human interaction often causes them.
My larger birds (conures, indian ringnecks, and alexandrine) require a slightly different level of care that is based highly on my interactions with them. My conures are cling on birds, but one is cage aggressive and very temperamental which we are slowly getting better about. My indian ringnecks are both a bit skittish but love to be out and about on their cages and have time to exercise and fly around the house. The alexandrine is very sweet and wants human interaction but is also cage aggressive and needs her time out with people to bond and be happy. I was planning on creating a bird room before truly looking into the benefits, but after reading John's post on cage aggression, I realized just how much this would truly help all of my birds have better behaviors. These birds require not only the time my small birds do providing food, treats, varied diet, enrichment, and water, but also intense one-on-one attention EVERY SINGLE DAY! They all tolerate each other which makes it easier to have them all out of their cages at once hanging out on our shoulders and their cages, giving them treats and working on training. Even after they learn one trick, start on another to keep their minds sharp and fresh, teach them to tolerate putting a harness on or playing dead. But you have to recognize that those are all things that you will need to do with each of them in order to keep them happy, healthy, and tame.
I am lucky enough to work from home part time and in an office close to my home the rest of the time. I have a lot of time to dedicate to my birds, but sometimes even that doesn't seem like enough. To help people understand that, I'll go over my daily care of the critters, that alone might scare most people off! In the morning my boyfriend lets the dogs outside, and feeds and waters them as well as the cats. I run around like a chicken with my head cut off to make sure that the hamsters, chameleon, leopard gecko, and birds have food and water for the day. I work an eight hour day in an office or often from home, but working from home doesn't always mean I'm at home, it often means travelling around. When I return home, the dogs have to go outside again, hamsters are checked on and Syrians (teddy bear hamsters) have to be smelled to see if they are in heat to be bred (they get a musty smell when they're in heat, weird I know). If any are in heat, it can take up to half an hour to check them all for heats and put them with males and watching them (they're a highly aggressive species that can't be left alone together). I then put the foster cats in crates (we currently have two six month old foster kittens and their mom that are avid hunters, but my personal cat has no prey drive due to a mental deficiency) and let the bigger birds out. Coco the green cheek spends her time on my boyfriend's shoulder while he does homework and the others spend their time on top of their cages or flying around and stretching their wings. Mango the peach fronted conure spends his time staring me down in case I leave the room for three seconds and he has to follow me or scream until I return. I take this time to make their dinner and ours, usually my boyfriend does the dishes while I prepare their fruit and add that and their chop to their cages. I use this time to use sunflower seeds for training, I buy them already hulled and use them only for training (and not everyday because that are so fatty, sometimes I use their fruit for training and add whatever is left over to their cages. We do this until my boyfriend is done with his homework and I have finished with dinner and we have eaten and then I put them back in their cages to eat. I take this time to take the dogs outside for their long walk/playtime. If I feel the birds haven't been outside long enough, I'll let them back out after the dogs are done otherwise they are in for the night and my boyfriend and I go lay in bed and watch TV until we pass out to repeat it again in the morning. This means from the time I get home at 5:30 until about 9:30 or 10:00, the birds are out with us getting attention and working on training. They say to train dogs for 15 minutes a day and I think this applies to parrots too, although they are extremely smart and can usually handle more time and concentrate longer than that. I still like to spend 90% of their time giving them attention and doing what THEY want once they are tame. If they need more taming or training, we spend more time on that, but Coco is so tame already that it is good for her to just hang out and cuddle and play how she likes.
Now this is just the amount of time you're spending, this is not including the money spent on toys, food, vet bills, etc. My alexandrine and indian ringneck are my most destructive birds, I don't even get a chance to switch out their toys, they've already destroyed them before the week is over and need new ones. I have taken to adding paper towel tubes every day just to keep them busy. Amazon packaging? Not for long! One week my indian ringneck decided she didn't want to play with any of her toys and spent that time killing her twisty rope perch! The alexandrine destroys old mail with ease and breaks into food packaging for fun! I have gotten creative with what I provide them because it is too expensive to buy them all the time for the two of them. I tend to pass toys that my others have grown bored of onto them to completely finish off and destroy. I can't even imagine what people with macaws and cockatoos must feel like! I buy veggies and grains for chop in advance to freeze but I also buy fruits for the week or buy premade fresh fruit mixes which are fairly inexpensive and one feeds all the birds for a day. Then I also have their pellets that get fed every day and of course, they're all picky about what they like and will waste a food if they don't like the color, taste, etc.
Vet bills deserve their own paragraph because so many people don't realize how expensive it truly is! I am lucky enough to have worked at a raptor rehab where I was able to gain lots of information about what to look for in birds! I also have vet tech friends from there that answer questions and are extremely nice! I have an emergency vet bill fund and haven't EVER had to break into it (knock on wood) which is just pure luck at this point! There are also yearly exams, fecals, health testing, etc. I try to get birds I am unsure of DNA tested because while not necessary, it can be extremely helpful in understanding some of their behavior and medical issues that tend to happen to one over the other. For example, my alexandrine is a female and they are known to change a bit when they hit sexual maturity. She is cage aggressive and grumpy but still sweet! Knowing she is female helped with that! I pay all of the bills for animals since they are all legally mine, my boyfriend helps out sometimes by picking things up for me when I need them and things like that, but the responsibility is solely mine. I make the money in my household and I pay for the animals. Bare this in mind, you may not have a boyfriend, parents, siblings, roommates, etc. to help you out forever, are you still able to care for your animals on your own?
I apologize for the long write up, but I definitely am a victim of this and while I wouldn't change it for the world, it can be very stressful, you don't always have time for yourself and there have been times when I didn't have a boyfriend and all of the work was done by myself. I have downsized considerably now that I don't have any rats (I previously had over 100 at times) and that has made things easier, but they still need care when you're sick or away and you need to have plans for all circumstances.