What is the best Pionus?

[tka]

i guess the real chalenge wont be finding a quiet sweet gentle bird but to bond with my bird so that i can understand and respect it and it will understand and respect me

This is a far more realistic approach to have.

Be careful about "bonding". This may not be what you mean, but we have to be very careful about the kind of relationship we encourage. Most species of parrots are driven to seek a pair-bond i.e. a mate. A parrot who thinks that you are their mate is a stressed and confused parrot - you're not fulfilling their expectations of being a good mate because you're a human who leaves the house and hugs their family and so on. It's really important to form a friendship with a parrot rather than a bond.

Avoid the Pair Bond: Social Relationships with Parrots

At the heart of many behavior problems is a social relationship that has taken a wrong turn. Why? Because, despite our best intentions we often misunderstand what parrots really need from us social…

blogpamelaclarkonline.com

 

[DaBirdMan]

what do you recommend doing so that i can make a friend ship bond instead of a Mate bond. I dont want to do something that will stress out my parrot or turn it into an agressive one im aming for a parrot that will like me and my family as well i dont want it as just a one person bird i need it to like my family as well if this isnt going to be how a pionus works would you recomend another bird (i.e. Conure or Caique) or would it work with the pionus?

 

[tka]

The issue is that parrots of most species want to form a bonded, mated pair. This is where the idea of a one-person bird comes from: the parrot has decided that one person is their chosen mate and everyone else is either kind of irrelevant or a threat to their bond. At its very worst, you end up with a bird who divebombs and bites people to keep them away from their percieved partner, or who bites their chosen person to drive them away from a percieved threat.

You can do things like ensuring that everyone interacts with the bird and that you have only the kinds of interactions that Pamela Clark describes in the article I linked to, but you've always got to be aware that it's in a parrot's nature to try to form that bond.

Birds who naturally live in large flocks like budgies and cockatiels tend to be happier about interacting with multiple people. I haven't kept either species but there's loads of stuff here

Budgie Boulevard

Cockatiel Corner

Very sociable and fun loving birds.

forums.avianavenue.com

 

[Dartman]

Well like I said before Lurch was a very angry bird when he got here so he's the bad and ugly version of the Pionus.
When I went to meet and take him home he scrambled away from his care taker and ended up right by my feet very scared so I carefully reached down and he allowed me to touch him and scratch his head, she was amazed and I told her about how Pionus tend to be and react.
We made the deal for 300 bucks and we drove the hour home with him in the carrier still looking out and allowing scratches.
I got him home, put him on Nerds old play stand and he was loving another scritch and I was under his chin when without warning he flipped his head around and tore the skin of the back of my finger.
I thought we were going to be immediate friends and thought about strangling him but decided that would be a bad thing after paying 300 for him. SO I realized this was going to be s work in progress went to my room to calm down and patch up my bloody finger and think about how to deal with a psychotic Maxi.
If I rsised my hand he would flinch and scream, if he didn't want to be touched he would give no warning at all and immediately go for a very fast and hard bite.
I'm pretty sure he was aggressive with his leftover family after loosing his old man owner who had to go to a assisted living situation.
The leftover family couldn't handle him and I'm pretty sure they would try to hit him when he'd strike at them so he quit giving warnings because they ignored them and went immediately to attack mode to protect himself.
So if I tried to touch him he would usually just bite so I started letting him do as he wanted and just stay near him and put a chair close to me he could get on and be close.
He eventually started sitting on the chair by me and maybe allow a scratch, maybe bite if I tried. I learned to leave him alone till he was less grumpy or be very fast because he would for sure bite as hard and fast as he could, I got bit a lot.
We also learned even when he was in a friendly mood he had triggers that would make him go into full flying kamikaze mode, plus he didn't know how to nicely say he wanted something to happen so he would just bite my neck.
I slowly figured out what he wanted to do.
He loved to ride into the bathroom when I got home but eventually he'd scream and bite my neck so he wasn't allowed on me in there anymore.
One day I decided to take one for the team and let him ride in and I noticed he was fascinated by the running water faucet so I put my arm down on the counter and he scampered down and started drinking and playing in the water and on the faucet.
He never bit me in the bathroom again because he knew if he waited I'd ask him if he wanted to play with the water while I did my thing, then ask him if he was ready and he'd run happily back up my arm and ride out with me.
He started to decide I was trustworthy and fun to be around and heeded his warnings, and I learned what triggered him and mostly what he was trying to ask for and over 5 years we slowly reached a understanding with each other. He would still bite but he started giving fair warning again and didn't try as hard to give me a chance to listen, plus he was now very fond of me.
There are threads about all of this here if you want to search them out.
You can earn almost any creatures trust if you're willing to put in the time and gentle effort to earn it.

 

[Suz]

The best Pionus, or any other bird or pet, is the one that catches your eye and heart. I have a rescued Pionus. He stole my heart, the second he put his put his head down for me to scratch the back of his head. He is a Blue Headed Pionus, bu

I was recently wondering between the Blue Headed, Maximillion, Bronze winged, and White capped Pionus, what is the best one? I have been looking to get one of these birds for years and just am wondering what is the best spieces of the pionus to get.