The Good, the Bad and the Ugly about Jardine's Parrots

[Silvra]

The attributes listed in this thread are the experiences of each individual and your experiences may differ with your individual bird.

This is my experience of my 10 year old rehomed blackwing hen. She doesn’t really like women so I’ll include how she is with my Dad (and any other random man she happens to meet!)

The Good
She’s very friendly, she loves to get scritches and will sit on a shoulder and rub her head against a neck to get attention. She’s very good at being left in her cage and will just get on with playing with her toys or having a nap. She’s quiet, she can make the odd fairly loud whistle or call but most of the time she’s silent or making goose like talking attempts. She can talk quite clearly but often chooses not to. She’s no louder than my Senegal.

She’s also very gentle with her big beak and even when I’ve had to towel her she’s not properly bitten me. She only bit me properly once when I was trying to catch her in her cage to take her to the vet.

She likes to ‘dance’ and bounces up and down on her perch if there’s music or if she’s excited about something.

The Bad
My Jardine’s happens to be a sexist pig but that would be due to a poor upbringing. She’s also a bit of a wimp when it comes to new things, such as new food or toys but again, that’s probably due to bad upbringing.

The Ugly
Nope, can’t think of anything.

 

[dwright27]

Thank you Silvra! Fingers crossed for more insight into these lovelies.

 

[eclectuswife]

The Good
Well, I really love Jardine's. My Aukie and my Giggidy, aka Giggy, are especially incredible, heartwarmingly loyal and affectionate birds. If I could only keep one species, I would have my Jardine's. Like most poicephalus I know, they desire lots of headscratches from their favorite people and can be kind of pesky about it. I feel Jardine's and Capes have more in common personality-wise than the smaller pois (Senegals, Meyer's, Red Bellieds, Brown Heads, etc.). They are beautiful emerald green with black tinged feathers, and my LJ Aukie has stunning orange socks, shoulders and a broad skull cap (like most GJ's, my Giggy is orange-challenged, however...he has about five tiny orange feathers on his forehead and that's it). I have both Lessers and Greaters, and all have attitude that won't quit. They have a sense of humor too....Aukie makes fake grumpy noises so I will turn and look at her.

The Bad
For having a lot of attitude, I find Jardine's very sensitive birds. My Aukie was on consignment at a bird store for over a year because she was 'the bird who bit everyone'. She's my favorite girl I own PERIOD, but she's bit me SO many times over the years...and not gently. An avian vet I met once at a conference who owns a Meyer's Parrot compared her to the Jardine's she'd met, and said 'Jardine's are kind of wimpy'. Honestly, my Meyer's could definitely beat up any of my Jardine's, even my little bully, Emma. Zazu, who is my newest LJ, is very shy and is slow in trusting me as his new owner. And like other pois, they can develop phobic reactions easily if you push them when they are scared. Not good for a shy Jardine's to chase him to catch him, or to force to a step-up on a handheld perch, or to roughly restrain them, as they panic like a scared African Grey would. Two of my Jardine's are pluckers, and I feel both became pluckers due to stress in their lives at the time plus past poor socializing and interactions. My Aukie eats well, my Giggy prefers crunchy food and avoids squishy fruit, Zazu is the same way, and Emma seems to live off air.

The Ugly
I have adopted several plucking birds but it's SO HARD to watch two of your beautifully feathered Jardine's start plucking. And to be told that it's probably hormones and just accept that they are going to look like this. I know not everyone will agree with me, but I feel Greys and Jardine's in particular should be kept fully flighted since they have such a heightened fear response, that it seems to give them more comfort and control in scary situations. My Aukie bit me far less once her wings grew out and she gradually learned to fly. And I know not everyone can keep flighted parrots, so I would tell people who can't...well, I'd prefer for them to pick other species. I can't imagine my Giggy clipped ever again. He is the most incredible flier, follows me from room to room, flies in other places to check out what's going on, etc. And he was clipped and kept as a single bird for five years, gradually being kept in his cage more and more because he was disliked by my friend's new husband, since he was loud. Yes, let's bust that myth...I have three loud Jardine's. It's a very shrill call if they decide to use it. Pois have the reputation for being quiet birds. Most of mine AREN'T very quiet Jardine's. Some breeders and books recommend Jardine's as a young teenager's pet. While they are playful, some find kids and teenagers too frightening.

 

[eclectuswife]

And a couple afterwords I'll post here as well. There seem to be a fair percentage of Jardine's who get overgrown beaks. I have never had to give my Aukie, Giggy or Emma beak trims. Zazu I just adopted because he's a chronic scissor-beak bird, and after 12 years his owner was tired of running him to a groomer every two months to get his beak down to a proper size. IF they have to have beak trims, it will be a life long issue. Zazu hates being groomed, but he doesn't bite and is a very good guy though it stresses him. Male Jardine's that I've known often go through a few months a year where they are more bitey towards their owners; Zazu's owner attested to this as well, that he can be a bit of a jerk during his 'season'. My Giggy will fly at my head, land on top and pull my hair semi-aggressively when he's being overly feisty...while he will step up on a perch, his first owner was afraid of his beak so she taught him as a baby to only step on her hand if she had a thick leather glove on, and he learned to bite and wrestle with the glove. I do not tend to step him up on hands, and he's fine with perches though occasionally will nip at the handheld perch to express attitude, especially about going back in his cage. Aukie is terrified of stepping on handheld perches, and the main time I get bitten is putting her back in her cage as well. They want to be OUT and WITH YOU so much, this is their expression of what they prefer. All my J's love shelled almonds and other nuts, so it is VERY easy to train them using positive reinforcement, as long as you aren't asking for something that is too scary. All of my J's talk, though it is usually quiet and not always clear. They all say their names...Aukie is my motormouth talker, though she mainly talks about herself...'Pretty Bird Auk', 'I love you Aukie Bird', 'Hey Jean', 'Hi Aukie', 'Baby Bird', and variations on all the previous phrases plus a bunch of mumbly stuff I'll never quite understand. My two females are jealous of each other and don't get along with other birds as a rule. My Giggidy adores other birds and in particular small birds and CAG's. When he was a baby, his Jardine's clutchmates used to pick on him, so he hung out with the baby greys. When I adopted him five years later, he bee-lined for my two male Congos and tried desperately to make friends with them. My handicapped male Grey, Sylvain, finally allowed him to preen his head, and they now preen each others' heads when ever I let them out together each day. Giggy also flies into the conure room and sits on perches watching the conures, though they don't want to enteract with him and will chase him off their cages if he flies over there. My Aukie absolutely hates the conures, and once she broke my now deceased little Aztec Conure's leg when accidently she got on his cage and he tried to attack her through the bars to get her to leave. Giggy on the other hand, LOVED that bird, my little 'Chicken', and was very sad this year when he passed away suddenly from cancer. Gig is quick to befriend my birdsitters and people in general. Gig is one of my most destructive parrots (Molly, my Meyer's, is probably second, followed by my CAG's) as far as chewing on my house. He gets obsessed with moulding around the edges of doors and along the floor and completely chews it off. Obsession and determination is very much a Poicephalus trait, though my Meyer's probably wins for how obsessed she is about trying to fly out into the main room to tangle with the birds she doesn't like...and Gig is number one on her list to try to harrass through his cage. He's rightly scared of her. Giggy doesn't pick fights as a rule and flies away whenever possible.

 

[Wildcard]

I am the very lucky mom to a Lesser Jardine's parrot named Envy. Envy is 7.5 yrs old and I have had her since she was a baby...

The Good

Envy has been a joy to live with since the beginning. She learned step up onto a hand, arm, perch quickly and reliably. Even though she loves to interact with her humans, she can easily entertain herself with her toys. I have never heard her scream (and seeing as though she has spent 2 years with a rescue BGM she likely would have picked it up by now if she wanted to). She has a funny little robot/gremlin voice so I can't understand everything she says, but she "speaks" frequently with the cadence of human speech. She is a great whistler, has a nice simple "beep" type contact call, and can imitate all sorts of sounds, from the microwave, our cleaning lady's cell phone, hangers squeeking across metal clothes rod, the squeak of her wingabago carrier, etc. She gives kisses and my husband taught her to belch. Nice. She loves both my husband and I equally, and enjoys being held and scratched. She plays well on her tree/gym and on her cage (or on my desk, the couch, your body, etc). She is a decent eater of pellets, seed mixes, nuts, birdie bread and other cooked foods. I bring her to work at my office occasionally and she will step up for practically anyone and makes kissing sounds at those people she takes a special liking too. She likes to travel in the RV as well; she attends dog shows with us. She has never had a hormonal stage that I have noticed, and she has never laid eggs...

The Bad

Not much. She will bite if you aren't careful about exactly how you put her back in her cage. Sometimes she will leave her tree/gym in order to sit on my husband (she likes to fall asleep on him while he watches TV). She is not good about eating her veggies but we persevere. She does not care for either our rescue BGM or Quaker but she seems to tolerate our baby parrotlet, but I would not trust them alone. She can chew up a soft wood or cardboard toy in a half hour, but that is an expense, not a "bad" thing and she takes care of recycling all the toilet paper and paper towel rolls in the house this way! She HATES to be toweled, no matter how nicely I repeatedly try to introduce it. Once toweled though she is easy to wing trim/toenail trim.

The Ugly

Can't say there is anything ugly about my Jardine's experience. She is my second parrot (followed the rescue quaker) and compared to him she is a dream lol... Her breeder did a great job of socializing her; she is my easiest bird and brings so much joy to our lives...

 

[SueA555]

Joey seems to have a split personality. Some days he is very affection and just wants to be cuddled and petted. Other days, he just want to go explore on his own. I'm glad that he does both. Do your Jardine's vary in behavior from day to day?

 

[Tomsde]

The Good: Ollie was very entertaining and smart and whistled and loved attention. He usually was contented playing by himself and liked to sit on the playstand and just watch everything going on. He was also relatively quiet compared to the conures; he only let out flock calls when we were leaving the house otherwise he'd just contentedly talk and whistle.

The Bad: Ollie was an aggressive parot who was nippy and wanted everything on his terms. He had to be perch trained when removing from his cage and putting him back in.

The Ugly: Without removal from his cage with a perch, he was prone to biting. I could pick him up by hand after he'd been out for a while safely most of the time. He would lure houseguests in by looking very sweet, but I had to warn them to stay back because I knew he was going to bite them if they tried to touch him. Jardines have large and powerful beaks that can inflict deep wounds; but I love him anyway and it was worth all the scars I have on my fingers.

I don't reccomend Jardines for a house with small children. It seems that once they pass sexual maturity they get more aggressive. Perhaps females are less so. The breeder that we got Ollie from stopped carrying Jardines because even when they were young they had trouble finding a good match for them for someone to buy them. One of their Jardines they almost sold for breeding stock, but then one special girl came in and the bird took to her whereas other people couldn't handle it. I think the phrase "African Amazons" sums up their personalities nicely.

If it's your first parrot be very careful that it's a good match for you and your family. You might want to try a Pionus instead.