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should i get a linnie?

mylinnie

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I don't have any experience with birds, but for a while now I've been thinking about getting a small parrot. I've had a hamster and a beta fish in the past, but from what I've heard,birds are more high maintenance than other pets, so I don't know if i'm prepared to look after one. I've fallen in love with linnies, but i haven't been able to find much information about them and i have a lot of questions. if you could answer any of them I would be very grateful.
Questions:
1. how loud are they?are they suitable birds to keep in an apartment?
2. how much time do you have to put aside to care for them every day (cleaning their cage, preparing their food, bonding and training them,anything else they need)
3. how cuddly are they- I've heard that they are calm and inquisitive- is this true?
4.how often should you feed them vegetables, seeds and nuts as well as their pellets?
5.how often do they bite and how much does it hurt- do they break the skin?
thanks for your help!
 

Zara

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Welcome to the Avenue :starshower1:

I´ll tag some people who may be able to help :)
@Leih @Dona @Matto
 

Dona

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Hello! I have a 2 year old female Linnie named Gigi. Take a look at the Good, Bad and Ugly thread to see what many say about Linnies. And read through the rest of the Linnie section. I learned so much before bringing home my girl by browsing Linnie Landing.

1. Gigi is very quiet. I chose a Linnie with the hope she would be quiet as I live in a condo. My neighbors say they occasionally hear her if they are right outside my door walking in the hall. As a species they are usually much quieter than the average parrot. But of course there are exceptions. There are a few noisy Linnies on the forum.

2. I have Gigi's cage door open for 3-4 hours daily. She flies back and forth from her cage to me, her play gym, the sofa and her favorite chairs. She also flies many noisy loops around the room as I clap and cheer. She really likes me to stay in the room when she is out. So that is our bonding/training time. I clean her cage during that time each day and it only takes a few minutes to wipe things down and change out her paper. Once a month I do a more complete cleaning, washing all the boings and perches, switching out toys. That takes an hour. She is in our common room most of the day so we sit near her watching TV or say hello often. We are retired and home a lot. Especially now :/

3. Cuddly, no. Very friendly, yes. Gigi really likes me, but she would prefer I not use my hands with her. She stepped up easily for months, let me preen her pin feathers, but gradually became hand shy. That's common with Linnies, but of course some aren't hand shy at all. She spends lots of time on my shoulders, lap and knee. In emergency or uncommon situations, she readily steps up, like if she ends up in an unfamiliar room, on her shower perch or at the vet's office. I have grandchildren and she really likes them too. I say to Gigi "Kids are coming!" and she gets very excited, clearly knowing what I'm saying. If the kids (11, 8, 5) sit quietly on the sofa she will land on all of them, shoulders and heads, preening their hair. We also have a baby grandchild and Gigi is very interested. It's adorable.

4. I feed Gigi Roudybush pellets 24/7, mixed warm veggies in the morning and a Nutriberry in the afternoon. I might give her a little bit of our dinner.

5. Gigi has bitten me a few times. She has broken the skin but it's really minor. My feelings were hurt, not my hand. It's been a long time now since I've been bitten, but she takes a threatening stance with me when I do stuff she doesn't like. An adult bird is way different than a hand-fed baby. I'm reading her better these days.

I've lived with birds for more than 40 years and it's been challenging, heartbreaking and wonderful. It's not for everyone. Good luck with your decision!
 

Dona

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Let me quickly add that most often Linnies are kept in pairs. They tend to be super social like budgies. Gigi seems happy as a single girl since we are retired and give her a lot of attention each day. If I worked or was in school I would have definitely gotten a pair.
 

Matto

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I don't have any experience with birds, but for a while now I've been thinking about getting a small parrot. I've had a hamster and a beta fish in the past, but from what I've heard,birds are more high maintenance than other pets, so I don't know if i'm prepared to look after one. I've fallen in love with linnies, but i haven't been able to find much information about them and i have a lot of questions. if you could answer any of them I would be very grateful.
Questions:
1. how loud are they?are they suitable birds to keep in an apartment?
2. how much time do you have to put aside to care for them every day (cleaning their cage, preparing their food, bonding and training them,anything else they need)
3. how cuddly are they- I've heard that they are calm and inquisitive- is this true?
4.how often should you feed them vegetables, seeds and nuts as well as their pellets?
5.how often do they bite and how much does it hurt- do they break the skin?
thanks for your help!
1. A lone linnie is very quiet, as are two in a cage. But if you have two in different cages, especially if they cannot see each other, they will do a very shrill contact call incessantly.
2. 1-2 hours/day. More is always better.
3. They are not cuddly, and they get even less cuddly as they age. When young they are very active and can be a handful. As they reach maturity (1 year or so) they calm down and are content to sit on your shoulder for hours. They bond with you, and the bond can be very strong, but they don't usually like to be scratched or cuddled.
4. Feed vegetables daily. Seed can be fed daily or less often in small portions.
5. Almost never, and when they do it's more like a pinch. My boy bit me on the lip yesterday because he was jealous that I gave his mate a kiss hello first. It was so painless that I laughed.

They make great pets. The biggest downsides imo are that they poop constantly (every ~5 minutes) and their poops are large and wet. If you're a clean freak, they are among the hardest small birds to clean up after. They are also not for those who need physical affection from their pets.
 

finchly

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I met a guy recently who used to breed all kinds of birds. He mentioned linnies - said they are the best pet ever, and very overlooked. That's all I know about linnies but thought I'd pass it on!
 

Leih

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I have a pair of male linnies. One is interested in me and the other isn't, but it's okay with me because I have other birds. Mine are hand shy and sometimes Territorial. I've only been bit hard by them once, they're really good at making it known when they're displeased, which isn't really often. Because they're in a pair, they don't need a lot of interaction from me, not that I just ignore them, though! They are really quiet, however, @NorthernGannet has 3 linnies and one is really loud! To me their only negative is that their poop is very different from other birds, and is more challenging to clean up. They even get it on the wall sometimes!
 

Leih

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I met a guy recently who used to breed all kinds of birds. He mentioned linnies - said they are the best pet ever, and very overlooked. That's all I know about linnies but thought I'd pass it on!
My AV says the same thing!
 
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