Rookie owner question about birds interacting

with each other.

I live in an area that has a few dog parks, they are pretty cool and it's nice to see all the dogs be around other dogs.

Is something like this possible with parrots?

The obvious difference is the facility needing to be an aviary, but in terms of the birds being free to interact or not interact with each other, is it possible? I don't know enough about each species or how species relate to other species of birds to have the slightest clue.

It seems like it would be really neat.

I know when I go to my breeder people often bring their birds in and walk around with them on their hands or shoulder, everything seems to go ok.

It would certainly be possible to construct such a meeting place, but a huge problem is disease transmission. Birds can carry various diseases that may not be observed in the carrier but are shed via bodily fluids. Many folks religiously quarantine new birds for 30 days, and are extremely careful in public when associating with other avians.

Most bird owners would love to hang out with other bird owners. But having the birds interact would be strictly forbidden in most circumstances.

Dogs can make friends in 10 seconds. 1 sniff and they are ready to play.
Cats can take a week of hissing and spitting at each other to make friends.

Birds? It can take months in some cases. With my flock, certain members cannot be trusted with each other at all. My Macaw is a bully and cannot be left out with the others. I have a Cockatoo and a couple of BC Conures that do OK. They pleasantly ignore each other. When they do interact it is mostly bluffs, threats and warnings. I keep a pretty close eye on things. The don't fight, so that is a success.

Then there is the issue of disease transmission. Which all of us are terrified of. I know that certain species of birds can carry and transmit diseases that are harmless to them. Pistincene Herpes and African Gray Parrots are a good example. They can carry it without showing symptoms but the same condition can be deadly for other birds.

So hanging out with other bird folks might be extremely cool, having the birds interact at all is probably not possible in most circumstances.

CD

I did for a while attend a bird club and when I felt happy enough took Plum too on a couple of occasions. (Not been in over a year).

To be honest other than an evening out of the home the birds were just stuck to their owners the same as at home. Even the same species couldn't communicate with each other because they mimic us and what we say. Plum shouts "hello" at anything and everything expecting it/them to reply the same. Found it a bit sad really.

Good idea the owners hanging out but couldnt see the point of the birds being there really.

My flock sings to each other from their respective cages or perches, but only one flighted bird can be out at a time. They are all different species, and while they interact with each other positively from the safety of their cages (even the new macaw, who can hear the other birds and has started to join in the sunrise birdie choir from her quarantine room), but I wouldn't trust them to interact with each other freely. Maybe if any of them were the same species, or even closer cousins/close to the same size, I'd feel differently, but I want to keep everybody safe and happy, so they don't interact without the safety of a physical barrier.

This had been popular in Western Europe many years back, not sure if they still have gatherings.

Commonly, it was a Bird Club that rented a retail store front i.e. it had a dropped ceiling (no open trusts). And, they would have their meetings there. At that time, most parrots where still Wild Caught and as a result had common species based languages. I was able to attend one of those gatherings and it was a true joy to hear parrots and their natural languages. The additional wonder was that the vast majority was fully flighted and to watch them fly in groups was a wonder to behold!

But that was the 'bad old days' when concern with transfer of disease wasn't even considered, let alone it being an issue, and specific parrot species had common languages!

SailBoat said:

This had been popular in Western Europe many years back, not sure if they still have gatherings.

Commonly, it was a Bird Club that rented a retail store front i.e. it had a dropped ceiling (no open trusts). And, they would have their meetings there. At that time, most parrots where still Wild Caught and as a result had common species based languages. I was able to attend one of those gatherings and it was a true joy to hear parrots and their natural languages. The additional wonder was that the vast majority was fully flighted and to watch them fly in groups was a wonder to behold!

But that was the 'bad old days' when concern with transfer of disease wasn't even considered, let alone it being an issue, and specific parrot species had common languages!

Click to expand...

That sounds amazing. I can only imagine how great it would be to see them all in their glory communicating with each other.