hand or parent rear?

LordTriggs

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May 11, 2017
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Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
So the breeder that I would go to for a potential Conure hand rears his birds. I've never dealt with a hand-reared bird beforeso don't know what they are like.

In short I'm wondering what you guys would feel makes a happier/more well rounded and less bitey bird? I've been reading from people that hand reared birds over all whilst more playful and comfortable round humans they also bite and act up a lot more. But maybe I'm just reading the worst of them. I know they can be more likely to try getting frisky with humans when puberty hits but parent reared birds seem to do the same too, or with a nearby toy. I'm just wondering if it's worthwhile asking if I do go for one of these conures if it's worth asking the breeder to let the parents raise my chick? I also don't know if the removal of the eggs will cause the parents to hurt the baby. Could just do with some advice
 

Kentuckienne

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I have no experience either way. I have read parrot behavior experts who say human reared birds have less instinctual fear of humans, which make them sweeter as babies but more challenging as adults. Having the parents raise them doesn't make them less bonded as adults, but they may more likely to accept that you are the boss bird. I hope people with experience with both will chime in. I'd like to hear more about it.
 

GaleriaGila

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I would also want to know if the parent birds are experienced/competent feeders.
Past that, I think any of the possibilities you put forth would be legit considerations. I, too, have heard learned opinions on various sides.
You know what I think I'd do? Talk at length with the breeder(s). They know their birds, their family line characteristics, their species, and their own strengths/weaknesses. Get them to help you decide. Hopefully, they're ethical and caring and will do right by you.

Oh, and just for fun... the Rb was hand-reared, and you know what he's like! :eek:
 

itchyfeet

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Ethyl the cockatiel, Henry & Clarke the IRN's, and Skittles the lovebird (my daughters)
I can only go by what I've experienced, and am a strong believer in the differences of causation and correlation.

IRN's are finicky birds, as you've experienced if I remember correctly. My first IRN, Henry, was hand reared and came from an immaculate home, only to be rehomed due to change of circumstance. My second, Clarke, was supposedly hand reared, yet completely human and hand shy and only available to an aviary home. His progress in my home makes me believe that the hand rearing did happen despite the previous owner believing it happened. I know IRN's of many personalities, and often who aren't as attached to their owners, so I don't believe this is a species specific behavioural pattern.

These two birds are bonded to each other - they're the closest of friends. During their free flying time, both willingly choose to fly to me, land on my shoulder, spend quality time etc.

My 'tiel, Ethyl, is parent reared. She's been with me since youngish, come to work with me etc. She's friendly enough and well trained, will step up when asked etc, but wont actively seek out human company. She's always been this way - it's not a multiple bird home thing. Her interactions with humans feel more like she's abiding by the rules or doing whats expected, whereas the IRN's both seem to be making up their own minds a lot more, and same with my daughters handreared lovie, although he is still young.

I find it a little oxymoronic given one could argue more training/conditioning has gone into the handreared birds, however, I guess the handreared birds are interacting flockmates as opposed to outsiders - that seems to be the way it plays out in our home, anyway.
 
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Sunnyclover

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Black Capped Conure -North- Hatched 10/10/18
I don't have a parent raised bird but I know they're so much more likely to be spooked by hands and that, in my humble opinion, would be really hard to deal with. My 2 hand raised conures are wonderful and don't bite much if at all and clearly bond well with humans.
 

itzjbean

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I have owned both hand-reared and parent raised, and in my experience, the hand-reared babies are less-bitey, more trusting of humans, easier to tame but then become more dependent and clingy, versus parent raised who can learn to like humans and can also be tamed but are generally less affectionate with humans and can do well with other birds or by themselves, won't get so clingy.

Just my experience... I let my cockatiels raise their babies but handled them daily. They were tame but were not super clingy with me after weaning, liked playing but were able to be independent and play in their cage without separation anxiety, lol. The parent raised can regress though if not handled daily and will generally be more scared of hands or someone reaching into their cage, will get spooked.

Both have the capacity to be great pets!
 
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clark_conure

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A crossover Quaker Scuti (F), A Sun conure named AC, A Cinnamon Green Cheek conure Kent, and 6 budgies, Scuti Jr. (f), yellow (m), clark Jr. (m), Dot (f), Zebra(f), Machine (m).
My selfish opinion is that a bird is funnier when that bird thinks he's people. I'd go with hand raised. The biting and nibbling you know is easy to solve....but gaining trust and being outgoing I think is easier with that head start.
 
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LordTriggs

LordTriggs

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Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
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yeah, as you know Rio was parent reared but he was an odd case. He seemed to behave more like a hand reared bird. Naturally my biggest concern regarding this is hormone time as especially with my schedule 14 hours of sleep every night just isn't possible but saying that surely keeping the night schedule the same as usual should alleviate the issue. I'm thinking of a 7AM to 9PM awake cycle and sort of hoping for day time naps. That way there's plenty of play time after work
 

bug_n_flock

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B&G Macaw, Galah, 5 cockatiels, 50 billion and a half budgies. We breed and do rescue. Too many to list each individual's name and age etc, but they are each individuals and loved dearly.
This is really interesting. Thank you for sharing with us your thought process. Shows some of the flaws of only interacting with local parrot people, I had never even considered *choosing* to have a parent reared bird. In my region pretty much anything bigger than a budgie is hand reared or almost thought of as "aviary only". I say almost because of course there are exceptions. But around here if you are breeding and not hand feeding, you are considered a backyard breeder essentially.

Very cool getting a different perspective. And it should have been an obvious one, I'm honestly kind of embarrassed. I've had parent and hand reared parakeets, why did it never occur to me that other species could also make wonderful companions when not hand reared (again, with exceptions. JD, the wild caught congo who was in my family over 50 years, was obviously not hand reared, and he was lovely with certain people).


*super* glad I found this forum, I have more to consider now for the bird farm.

sent from phone please forgive any typos, also am typing this while a tiel squeaks pitifully and rubs his head against my hand begging me to scritch him and put the phobe down hehe
 
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LordTriggs

LordTriggs

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Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
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over here it's more mixed. Vets say parent reared cause of possible behavior issues during puberty, others swear by hand reared. It all just comes down to who you speak to. When speaking to some people about Rio they were amazed he was parent reared yet so happy with being touched and cuddled. Maybe I have the secret touch?
 

bug_n_flock

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B&G Macaw, Galah, 5 cockatiels, 50 billion and a half budgies. We breed and do rescue. Too many to list each individual's name and age etc, but they are each individuals and loved dearly.
That makes a lot of sense. In other animals it is generally accepted that "mom is best" and babies should just be played with from an early age (usually starting around eyes open). I just recently finished weaning three baby rabbits I had to bottle raise from day 1 because mom never came into milk. They are very, very affectionate little nibbly demanding snots. Lol, and their rearing was very difficult, having to mix all sorts of this-and-that up and feed them just so before they began to gain weight and grow normally. I was using goat colostrum, kitten formula, probiotics, cream.... I definitely do not think they are the size they would have been had mom done a better job, and I've never had rabbits as bitey as these ones are. Not to hurt, just that they don't realize not to bite humans.

The rats I raise I leave with mom until she begs me to get away from the little menaces, and I will only rehome babies *with* at least one same sex sibling until they are 8 weeks old, after that age only would I consider adopting a singleton rat to a home(that has rats already, they are super social critters). And the rats I raise are extremely well adjusted. Confident, etc and super friendly since I play with the babies. But I do not feel the need to hand feed baby rats to get friendly pets from them, hmmmmmm. It's really interesting how the human brain compartmentalizes things like that, and will apply completely at-odds logic to different, but similar, things.

Posted from phone, please forgive the confusing ramblyness
 

bug_n_flock

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Isolated Holler in the Appalachian Wilderness
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B&G Macaw, Galah, 5 cockatiels, 50 billion and a half budgies. We breed and do rescue. Too many to list each individual's name and age etc, but they are each individuals and loved dearly.
And for the record, I can see arguments in favor of either way. The bunnies are amazing, if that didn't come thru in my above post. Very sweet cuddly affectionate attention seeking troublemakers. Sorry, just didn't want to sound like I was saying parent raised is unquestionably superior for mammals in all ways or something, I dunno.

Sent from phone
 

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