Need your kind advise ( new girl)

[MadIe]

Hej bird friends,

INTRO ( questions below) :
I'm Madie, a bird in my passed life ;-) , just kidding , but as my husband puts it: I accidentally love birds
However, I have travelled intensively in my life and I only had a bird pet when I was a teenager ( 25 years ago ), it was Eddy the Canary.

Right now we have paused with the family.
First we got 6 hens. I have a great bond with 5/6 and they come and sit on my lap and "curve"their bodies to be petted. They also give me 4-6 eggs every day and help us stay waste and plastic free.

Now since a while our children would like to have a pet. We have therefore started studying birds ( in general) and we talk about geting a parrot.

We have done some reading but we are not sure if we narrowed it well.


QUESTIONS:
Here below is what we thing would fit and what we can offer the bird. I would Highly appreciate your kind opinions on how to get this as right as possible.


We are a family ( our children are young: 5, almost 7, almost 9), but the boys are World-Schooled and understand a lot about animal behaviour.

I work from home, meaning I can have the bird next to me all the day when my children and husband are not here.

I have trained my animals ( I had a Yorkshire, french bulldog and a Greate Dane at some point in my life) and though I'm not a pro at all, my dogs were super well behaved. I am very thorough and patient.

We would like to get a highly intelligent and easy going bird ( preferably parrot) . What I mean with "easy going" is characteristically least neurotic possible.

We have a big house and will get a big cage, but we are considering small to medium sized parrots, because of our kids' age ( though as said our kids would never disturb or touch the bird without us, so that's clear)

We don't mind some noise and count with some destruction, but a very agitated, agressive, teretorial bird might not be he match.

We narrowed the search to a few species, but every time I read up I get varied opinions ( i am fully aware that the bird shoudl chose us ( as did my amazing dogs) but I look for some good advise that doesn't come from a VENDOR first.

Pluses would be talk but not a must
Plus would be a bird that would accept us all , though it's clear I will have more time with him than the others
Plus would be a mild temper , but we would like a "friend pet"which we could interact with a lot, so that is perhaps difficult to marry?
We were thinking about birds of max 12 ' and smaller would be great too ( if they are intelligent and interactive)

Any advise is highly appreciated. ‍

Thank you in advance,

Madie and the boys


PS if this is the wrong place for this thread please help me move it?

 

[Zara]

Welcome to the Avenue Madie!

We narrowed the search to a few species, but every time I read up I get varied opinions

What were those species?

Ps, I love that you live waste/plastic free

 

[sunnysmom]

Welcome to the forum. My first thoughts are either one of the Poicephalus parrots or a cockatiel. If you go under the different sections on the forum, for each type of bird there is a "Good, Bad and Ugly" section that can give you some idea of what the different types of parrots are like.

 

[tka]

My thought is a cockatiel too. You can read more about them here: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly about Cockatiels

You'll need to be aware that tiels can be noisy. They produce powder down, which is a very fine dust they use to keep their feathers clean but which can aggravate asthma in humans. Females can get very nesty and produce a lot of eggs, which risks egg-binding: cockatiels can die from this. As such, you'll need to keep them on a strict 12 hours of light, 12 hours of darkness cycle. If your house is noisy in the evenings it's a good idea to have a sleep cage in a quieter part of the house so the bird can get enough rest.

Having said all that, cockatiels do seem to be more easy-going than other species. You just need to be aware that they're only a few generations removed from the wild, without centuries of domestication like dogs or chickens. You're still bringing essentially a wild animal into your home.

 

[JBosley]

Definitely agree with a Cockatiel! They are a great "starter" bird and are very entertaining. My Male loves to talk and imitate different noises and whistles!

 

[Hahns0hmy]

also agree cockatiel probably is best. They’re intelligent and entertaining but not loud, also very entertaining. senegals dont speak much but are great as far as noise and affection. i’d consider any of the poicephalus. the males seem to do more of the chatting from my experience

 

[Icey]

Welcome to the forums. You will definitely get lots of good advice and suggestions here from the members
Good luck in your search.

Cockatiels get my vote

 

[MadIe]

Welcome to the Avenue Madie!


What were those species?

Ps, I love that you live waste/plastic free

Thank you.
the only one I found that would fit for now is the Timbeh. But ( typically) I called just every breeder in the country ( Belgium ) and they all said forget about it we don’t have any .
So I’m back to zero.
I will read all the replies. Thanks a lot.

 

[MadIe]

Welcome to the forum. My first thoughts are either one of the Poicephalus parrots or a cockatiel. If you go under the different sections on the forum, for each type of bird there is a "Good, Bad and Ugly" section that can give you some idea of what the different types of parrots are like.

Thank you. I will read all that.

 

[MadIe]

Welcome to the forums. You will definitely get lots of good advice and suggestions here from the members
Good luck in your search.

Cockatiels get my vote

Thank you. I

My thought is a cockatiel too. You can read more about them here: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly about Cockatiels

You'll need to be aware that tiels can be noisy. They produce powder down, which is a very fine dust they use to keep their feathers clean but which can aggravate asthma in humans. Females can get very nesty and produce a lot of eggs, which risks egg-binding: cockatiels can die from this. As such, you'll need to keep them on a strict 12 hours of light, 12 hours of darkness cycle. If your house is noisy in the evenings it's a good idea to have a sleep cage in a quieter part of the house so the bird can get enough rest.

Having said all that, cockatiels do seem to be more easy-going than other species. You just need to be aware that they're only a few generations removed from the wild, without centuries of domestication like dogs or chickens. You're still bringing essentially a wild animal into your home.

thanks a lot.

 

[MadIe]

also agree cockatiel probably is best. They’re intelligent and entertaining but not loud, also very entertaining. senegals dont speak much but are great as far as noise and affection. i’d consider any of the poicephalus. the males seem to do more of the chatting from my experience

Great thanks so the poivephalus seems more of our fit.
We talked about it today and we decided we would like a more “ parrot “ looking bird. I’m aware that we are rookies , but as explained we plan to devote quite some time to the training and currently the whole family is lockdown, making it possible for all of us to interact with the bird for several months. I do however get overwhelmed by the information on which one of the poi’s that would be best. And also I wonder how they are compared to the Meyers ?

 

[Hankmacaw]

Be aware that birds are not "trained" at all like a dog. Parrots are highly intelligent and manipulative and no parrot has a desire to please you. What happens is you and the bird will come to an agreement as to what will and won't happen. I've had my female greenwing macaw for twenty one years and she says I've been trained fairly well, but I need more work.

I wish you well in your search for a companion and I hope you find a bird that chooses you.

 

[Hahns0hmy]

Great thanks so the poivephalus seems more of our fit.
We talked about it today and we decided we would like a more “ parrot “ looking bird. I’m aware that we are rookies , but as explained we plan to devote quite some time to the training and currently the whole family is lockdown, making it possible for all of us to interact with the bird for several months. I do however get overwhelmed by the information on which one of the poi’s that would be best. And also I wonder how they are compared to the Meyers ?

meyers and senegal are both poicephalus and similar in my experience with temperament and personality. I have a senegal who is about 3. had her since she was born ( which wasnt easy ). make sure they’re on seed pellet mix before taking them home. its usually 2 to 3 months after birth when weened off formula mix they eat. my senegal has been great she loves my daughter, likes to be around kids. they can nip its very rare so far for me but she has bitten relatives. they dont love anyone right away but once they do, its love. (I have a female senegal for reference)a senegal isnt hard to raise so far. Mine eats zoopreem fruit blend pellets, sometimes nutriberries, along with Madagascar delight from golden feast. shes healthy and will destroy toys faster than bigger birds. Hope I’ve given enough info to help. youtube senegals or meyers parrots it gives a general idea of look and color as well so you know for sure.

 

[MadIe]

meyers and senegal are both poicephalus and similar in my experience with temperament and personality. I have a senegal who is about 3. had her since she was born ( which wasnt easy ). make sure they’re on seed pellet mix before taking them home. its usually 2 to 3 months after birth when weened off formula mix they eat. my senegal has been great she loves my daughter, likes to be around kids. they can nip its very rare so far for me but she has bitten relatives. they dont love anyone right away but once they do, its love. (I have a female senegal for reference)a senegal isnt hard to raise so far. Mine eats zoopreem fruit blend pellets, sometimes nutriberries, along with Madagascar delight from golden feast. shes healthy and will destroy toys faster than bigger birds. Hope I’ve given enough info to help. youtube senegals or meyers parrots it gives a general idea of look and color as well so you know for sure.

Yes thank you so much. Very helpful. We still look around and read and learn. Thanks a lot.

 

[MadIe]

Be aware that birds are not "trained" at all like a dog. Parrots are highly intelligent and manipulative and no parrot has a desire to please you. What happens is you and the bird will come to an agreement as to what will and won't happen. I've had my female greenwing macaw for twenty one years and she says I've been trained fairly well, but I need more work.

I wish you well in your search for a companion and I hope you find a bird that chooses you.

Love it! Thanks! I am aware of that training is different, still closer to it's wild roots than say dogs. I will learn about how to train it, I'm patient and very stubborn and don't expect the bird to act like a dog.