brown headed parrot

Hi all,

I'm hoping to get some information on brown headed parrot. In about 4 weeks I will be bringing one home and I need general information on this bird so I know what to expect. I don't have any specific questions but if anyone who has or had this bird can give me any information at all that would be great.

are they good if I only have one bird or should I consider getting two? I have one day a week where i will be away from the house for 11 hours, will she be okay alone or should I get someone over throughout the day to spend time with her? Every other day Im not gone as much.

As a general rule poicephalus prefer to be only birds. I would recommend socializing her as much as possible as they tend to become one person birds otherwise.

Julie has a lot of experience with pois. I'm sure she'll speak up soon.

(Disclaimer: I don't have a Brown Headed Poi so I can't give you personal advice and all information given is from researching myself - more so Senegals but the smaller* subspecies are almost identical)

They're part of the Poicephalus family so therefor, they are relatively quiet for a parrot. Also, being part of the Poicephalus group, you can expect lots of playful behaviors and a hormonal stage. During the hormonal stage they become quite aggressive, this is the time where your reaction (if you pull away when they try striking) will play a huge part when they get older. From the family, they are known as one person birds and bird aggressive parrots. While a baby its important to socialize him/her as much as possible to avoid the one person attitude. If you plan on adding another bird, he/she may or may not adapt to another bird and can be extremely aggressive towards the newer bird.

If you want an extremely bonded bird, you should only have one and wait until you decide on another. Stated above, I said they are bird aggressive but getting two birds at one time doesn't guarantee they will be BFF's. They should be out of their cage AT LEAST 2-3 hours a day. For the most part, they are independent and can play by themselves if given plenty of toys and a large cage to move around in.

We have a male brown head. He's 10, we adopted him 2 years ago. He's a sweet little guy, not very noisy. Mimics sound like a microwave, smoke detector, phone and dishes clanging together. He says hello and talks a little in a robot voice. He is quite independent and is perfectly happy. Enjoys company in the same room and doesn't want to be on us too much. He gets scared easy though and can be a little skittish and cage territorial.

Regarding having two, I have sibling sennies, brother and sister and they would gladly eat each other given the opportunity.

My male is actually a pretty good talker in his robot like voice.

He's a lot more playful than his sister. She's happy just to have plenty of stuff to shred.

I don't have Brown Headed, but I have 2 of the other smaller Poi species. As said above, their natural tendency as a species (or genus) is to be one person birds, and typically unfriendly to other birds as well. Robin (20 years old) was a one person bird and hated everyone else until he met Don in his teens, and now he loves both of us. Still closer and bonded to me. That is EXTREMELY unusual though, and I still can't explain it. Even with early socialization there is no guarantee they will ever be okay with multiple people. Same with birds. It's also very unusual that Griffin is friends with Raven. He is, however, a one person bird.

They're very quiet as far as volume goes. They have whistles, peeps, twitters, mimicking sounds, and some talk. They're also VERY INDEPENDENT! Robin was an only bird for many years while I lived alone and worked away from home, and had no other pets. He was completely fine with it. They are one of the least needy kinds of parrots I can think of. It's also rare to hear of a Poi who has plucking or screaming problems that are common in many other species. However, they can become biters if strict and consistent training is not applied. When Poicephalus are hormonal during the winter months (in the northern hemisphere) especially the males can be vicious and bite very hard for their size. After all, they have large heads and beaks for their size. Especially males. Even a well trained, well socialized Poi will most likely always "communicate" with their beak through little pinches, nips, and mouthing.

My two Poi's are super cuddly and can be handled and kissed anywhere on their body, and picked up and carried with a hand over their back, but they were used to it from a young age. Not all are cuddly or enjoy being handled the way mine do.

If you have any other questions, just ask. I love Poi's. They're such cute, soft, cuddly little things (with a big attitude) lol.