Quieter large species of parrot?

Gemster

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I've been thinking that in the future, I will want to add a bigger bird to my flock although, if that would only be a few years the bird would have to be relatively quiet. I've owned a non-stop screaming blue and gold macaw so I know what limit I have, with Eddie I started to get headaches. I could own a another parrot that is as loud as him although not as noisy (if that makes sense).
Is there a quieter species of macaw? Also please if someone knows the decibel rating for the individual species of macaw I would love to know.
I have also been thinking of adopting an African grey but I might have a slight allergy to dander from birds, although I am not 100% certain.
I know there is a downside to training an African grey since I know they are the hardest to free fly and that is what I would want to do with my next fid, whether young or old.
There is also a galah on my list but I might be a little intimidated by him if I had one.
 

Laurasea

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My Quakes drive me nuts with their constant high volume happy chatter screeches squawking...
I underestimated the noise.....
Lol love em anyway..
Good luck on finding a quiet soul..
 

chris-md

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If you have allergies to a CAG, you’ll definitely have issues with a galah, as they are in fact cockatoos.

I’m perturbed by your statement that you want to free fly but might be intimidated by an entire species as a rule. These statements are incongruous. As a free flier, you would have the skills to train and raise any species to be a well behaved family member. Also the request for a quieter species. The question itself betrays an experience deficit that needs to be made up.

My recommendation; Set free flight aside and worry about finding a proper companion for you. Im a big fan of eclectus :) you might look at smaller amazons such as lilac crowned or white spectacled.
 

Valyndris

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As far as I know with macaws they will usually scream at least twice a day, once in the morning and once around supper time. They do this in the wild to call the flock, same in captivity. My blue and gold is loud often as he is very needy, he'll scream when I leave the room and is loud before bed. I don't have experience with other large birds but I'm pretty sure no matter what you get there will be some loudness at some point, it's in their nature. Wish I could be of more help. :)
 

AmyMyBlueFront

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And a Normal Grey Cockatiel named BB who came home with me on 5/20/2016.
As far as I know with macaws they will usually scream at least twice a day, once in the morning and once around supper time. They do this in the wild to call the flock, same in captivity. My blue and gold is loud often as he is very needy, he'll scream when I leave the room and is loud before bed. I don't have experience with other large birds but I'm pretty sure no matter what you get there will be some loudness at some point, it's in their nature. Wish I could be of more help. :)

It also depends on the individual birdie. "Most" Amazon's are noisey creatures. Amy however is NOT. Oh sure he does get loud at times,as stated above,early in the morning (with Amy it is around 10 am) and sometimes in the evening ( 6:30-7:00pm) but it is not in a typical Amazon scream..his noise is in human speech! "Hello!!...How are you???..ELLEN!!! ( My mom/his gramma's name!:rolleyes:).
BB the 'tiel is one noisey/chatty little fluffboy however. At times it sounds like there is a flock of BB's instead of just one :eek: Now I understand what was meant when people would say my cockatiel screams :02: It's always in whistles and chirps and tweets and sometimes in human words. His volumn is quite high for a little 92g of fluff and it can,and DOES get annoying (especially to his Uncle David) I tell David that he is just a happy boi and is glad to see his uncle!


Jim
 

SailBoat

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DYH Amazon
quiet + parrot = Not Common

Until you find the combination for a happy life with your Blue and Gold, adding an additional Parrot is only going to contribute to the overall noise level of one, if not both Parrots. One of those keys may likely be found in understanding the use of Contact Calls.

Adding an Amazon commonly increases the overall noise level as they will normally join in on the activities.
 

20brio19

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As a biased contributer I would highly recommend a Pionus, one of the most underrated parrots out there and perhaps the best reputation for quieter parrots.
 
OP
Gemster

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As a biased contributer I would highly recommend a Pionus, one of the most underrated parrots out there and perhaps the best reputation for quieter parrots.

I have read about the pionus (before I had Gemma I did think about getting one) and know that they are counted as one of the quiet ones. There is a white capped pionus for adoption near me although I am looking at the slightly larger parrots. :)
 
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Gemster

Gemster

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quiet + parrot = Not Common

Until you find the combination for a happy life with your Blue and Gold, adding an additional Parrot is only going to contribute to the overall noise level of one, if not both Parrots. One of those keys may likely be found in understanding the use of Contact Calls.

Adding an Amazon commonly increases the overall noise level as they will normally join in on the activities.

Trust me I know that all parrots are noisy but I was just asking if anyone know of a quieter species of parrot. I am not looking for a quiet parrot but a quieter parrot than the average blue and gold scream.
Gemma is not noisy at all, the only time she screams is when she is hungry or when I enter the house. When she is hungry she will scream loud enough for everyone to hear outside.
I sadly don't own Eddie anymore but even when he was here the budgies were noisier. :D
Yep, I know adding flock members will make them more likely to make noise so that is why it will take me a lot of consideration to decide to add another fid to my flock. :)
 
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Gemster

Gemster

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As far as I know with macaws they will usually scream at least twice a day, once in the morning and once around supper time. They do this in the wild to call the flock, same in captivity. My blue and gold is loud often as he is very needy, he'll scream when I leave the room and is loud before bed. I don't have experience with other large birds but I'm pretty sure no matter what you get there will be some loudness at some point, it's in their nature. Wish I could be of more help. :)

Exactly with Eddie except he wouldn't stop screaming, it would take hours for him to finally calm down. :eek:
 
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Gemster

Gemster

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My Quakes drive me nuts with their constant high volume happy chatter screeches squawking...
I underestimated the noise.....
Lol love em anyway..
Good luck on finding a quiet soul..

I've got budgies and they chatter (well in their own language) all day, every day :15: Quakers are much louder than budgies, I can't imagine what you go through, would you say they are ear piercing? It says that their scream is 113 decibel. :56:
 

Valyndris

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As a biased contributer I would highly recommend a Pionus, one of the most underrated parrots out there and perhaps the best reputation for quieter parrots.

Now that I think of it I had a white capped pionus for a while and he was pretty quiet, quieter that any other parrots I can think of and I've had many parrots of all kinds as my mother had a store in the house (I lived at home back then) that specialized in birds.
 

Rgurski

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My yellow naped Amazon is amazing I’ve never heard him scream he gets excited with his cartoons sometimes and talks in a very loud voice in which I can’t make out what he is saying. He seems to do that only when tv is on and he is in his room alone
 

20brio19

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As a biased contributer I would highly recommend a Pionus, one of the most underrated parrots out there and perhaps the best reputation for quieter parrots.

Now that I think of it I had a white capped pionus for a while and he was pretty quiet, quieter that any other parrots I can think of and I've had many parrots of all kinds as my mother had a store in the house (I lived at home back then) that specialized in birds.

Yes once they are weaned they have the perfect volume for people living in apartments and want a less noisy bird. The only time mine gets loud is when he want to go out of the cage which I gladly oblige.
 

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Hi and I hope you take the next bit as advice and not condemnation. Any parrot that screams constantly is bird that has not been trained properly. Parrots will call at certain times of the day. If they call/scream constantly their needs have not been met. You need to understand what they are, and work with tham, SLOWLY , to change any unwaned behaviour. A new parrot could develop the same issue, if you don;t understand what theose needs are. Contat calls are a big issue with most species. They live in forests and jungles and need to stay in contact with their flock or family group. Parrot companuins have the same need and the aim is to develop a contact call with your bird, and once you respond to his call that should be the end of the screaming jag. We have lots of more detailed info on this, and much else on our forum and we welcome you to read and participate.

Our golden rule here is: It is never the fault of the parrot; it is the fault with the human. Once you get into that mind set, it becomes much easier to understand the needs of your parrot.
 

Jottlebot

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I'd also suggest you look into Alexandrines. My guy can be loud (you can hear him over 1/4 of an acre away in my garden when he's in the house), but it's infrequent. I also work and he's happy to destroy toys and entertain himself, although he is very rarely alone as my husband is at home during the day. I started looking at them because of their relatively short lifespans (around 45 years), well, compared to macaws anyway, and their size. I didn't want a small parrot and I'm hoping I'll just about outlive him (I was 31 when I got him as a youngster). I wasn't bothered by talking just like you, but he has turned out to be a talker, which is lovely because it's clear when he wants attention. He's not cuddly, which I'm also not bothered about, but you might be, so that's something to think about. Let us know what you're thinking!
 
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Gemster

Gemster

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Hi and I hope you take the next bit as advice and not condemnation. Any parrot that screams constantly is bird that has not been trained properly. Parrots will call at certain times of the day. If they call/scream constantly their needs have not been met. You need to understand what they are, and work with tham, SLOWLY , to change any unwaned behaviour. A new parrot could develop the same issue, if you don;t understand what theose needs are. Contat calls are a big issue with most species. They live in forests and jungles and need to stay in contact with their flock or family group. Parrot companuins have the same need and the aim is to develop a contact call with your bird, and once you respond to his call that should be the end of the screaming jag. We have lots of more detailed info on this, and much else on our forum and we welcome you to read and participate.

Our golden rule here is: It is never the fault of the parrot; it is the fault with the human. Once you get into that mind set, it becomes much easier to understand the needs of your parrot.

Yeah, I would never blame anything on a bird and I wasn't blaming Eddie. We quickly figured that he wasn't full from what he ate and wanted more food. His main diet was seeds all day, nuts and mashed banana in the evening, that to me did not meet all his nutritional needs and he would get FLD so I wanted to change his diet. He was used to eating as much as he could that he didn't get full from chop.
Filling him up did improve his screaming but obviously not entirely. He was young so he wasn't trained but I was planning to, he did learn target and clicker training and nearly spin.
Thanks for the advice. :)
 
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Gemster

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I'd also suggest you look into Alexandrines. My guy can be loud (you can hear him over 1/4 of an acre away in my garden when he's in the house), but it's infrequent. I also work and he's happy to destroy toys and entertain himself, although he is very rarely alone as my husband is at home during the day. I started looking at them because of their relatively short lifespans (around 45 years), well, compared to macaws anyway, and their size. I didn't want a small parrot and I'm hoping I'll just about outlive him (I was 31 when I got him as a youngster). I wasn't bothered by talking just like you, but he has turned out to be a talker, which is lovely because it's clear when he wants attention. He's not cuddly, which I'm also not bothered about, but you might be, so that's something to think about. Let us know what you're thinking!

So I was looking at alexandrines but I was thinking their beak is pretty big for their body, how bad can bites get in your experience? I don't mind if a bird doesn't talk although no head scratches does get to me. :19:
I would be fine with a non cuddly bird as my buddies are not although it is sometimes upsetting that they don't crave for my attention or for head scratches.
There was a Alexandrian for adoption, it said that he screamed nonstop the first day he came in and I thought it's ok that he is loud but noisy as well. :20:
Thanks for the suggestion though because I think an alexandrine would be a pretty good addition to my flock but I would need to do more research. :)
 

Kiwibird

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With parrots, quiet is relative. Larger parrots tend not to vocalize as often as smaller parrots (such as the incessant chatter of budgies) BUT they are 100x louder when they do get going. Most large parrot species enjoy vocalizing, loudly, in the mornings and evenings. Some individuals never shut up but aren’t necessarily making ear piercing noises. Some individuals think you having a phone conversation or a TV show is an invitation for a screaming match. Some just like screaming for fun. Others hardly ever make a peep (a true rarity). There is absolutely no way of knowing whether a baby will be a loud bird or not. How they are raised and environment will not guarantee a quieter bird. It really is luck of the draw and how much you can tone down the noise strongly depends on how much the individual parrot likes his or her own voice. If you want a quiet pet, get a lizard or a fish or something incapable of making sound (I have both, so not insulting either species).
 

Jottlebot

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Re: Alexandrine beaks and bites - Yes, you're absolutely right, in proportion to their body size that beak is a monster! They can give very nasty bites, that's just the physics of it, but I've only been bitten probably...5 or 6 times by McCoy in over 2 years, I don't think he's ever drawn blood, but he might have done once, but I've forgotten. I've been bruised, but never badly hurt. He went through a phase of pinching my skin, which was painful, he would scrape his lower beak along me. I think it was when he was trying to work out what it was. I take training very very slowly though so he doesn't need to bite me because I don't push it. He was parent reared not hand reared, but I got him at about 6 months, I was his first home. There is a lot you can do to reduce the risk of bites.
 

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