Getting a baby vs. Adopting!

[Abigal7]

After seeing the documentary I will say it has valuable information but yes you can argue it is one sided. I agree with all Boysmom says. I do not believe in glamorizing parrot ownership. Since I have a bird I will not say no one should have them. I will say this since I know there are people that read this forum that are thinking about getting a parrot. If you hearing is sensitive then be forewarn a parrot is probably not for you. While the hearing in my right ear is not as good I can tell you Captain Jack can be loud and he does not sound pretty. Of course I personally do not find him to be extremely loud (but that is just me). He has not woke me from my sleep since he keeps himself busy when I sleep. However if I had a cage of budgies or had a cockatiel they probably would wake me up since they probably chirp almost nonstop. He is messy, he gets afraid of new things, and will come to you on his time. If you hate wasting food then forget about a bird. He is also needy. I have to cook for him and learn to make toys for him. Like any exotic he is not cheap. I do not doubt I spent more money on him then the dog and that is just to make sure he has what he needs. His food cost more then the dogs since he eats a big variety of things. As you can see there is a reason I cook eggs, beans, etc for him because it costs a lot to buy cookable food that mysafebird store has on hand. I will post pictures of the toys I will be making him. I will be using Wendy's salad recipe in the spring and I will post about my first attempt on making corn bread bird bread. I also grab the chance to buy large bird toys that were on sale. When I was looking for toys to put in Captain Jacks cage I bought a couple toys for large bird under 20 dollars. When I found a wooden bird stand that could hold a large bird for 20 to 30 dollars I bought it. My sister yesterday point out a large bird toy make for Amazons, toos, and African Greys for eleven dollars. It is bigger then Captain Jack but he is able to play with it and move the pieces around. I will end by saying if you like to take lot of vacations or have a big social life then a parrot is not the pet for you.

Here is a picture of the large bird toy.

 

[Abigal7]

I want to also add not all parrots talk or talk well. To be honest there are non hock billed birds that probably can talk better then a parrot. Captain Jack does take to talking but I do not expect him to be the best talking bird ever. There are youtube videos of birds doing tricks and we do have the talented Fargo as a celebrity here but I do not think all birds will learn easily (and I say this as someone that does not think any bird is dumb). I commend those that have taught their birds tricks whether they are big or small birds.

 

[jenphilly]

Abigail -

You had a great point in the whole discussion about having parrots share our home... the daily financial factor... I cannot even guess how much money we've wasted on fruits and veggies experimenting trying to find the ones that Ivory will eat! And they just flat out enjoy picking out stuff and dropping it just to see our reaction - no one will ever convince me otherwise!!! I swear Ivory makes sure I'm watching and she'll pick up the birdie bread I just gave her and turns around and drops it out to the middle of the floor. I read somewhere that people thinking of adding a parrot to their home should go to the grocery store and purchase $100 worth of groceries then go home and throw out 80% of it... thats what you can expect everyday when feeding your bird!!

And I have never used the vacuum more then I have since Ivory came home! Some days I don't even bother putting it back in the closet, just set it off to the side knowing I'll need to vacuum again before the day is over!!

You touched on a great point about sharing a home with a bird, definitely a very important point to mention to anyone considering bringing home a bird.

Living with a parrot is much like having a horse... the cheapest thing you'll ever do is make the purchase...

 

[khaiqha]

I don't understand how giving a bird fresh veg can be so expensive. My bird is a picky eater when it comes to veg, but i just give him some of any veg I happen to eat (i prepare his to be bird safe). So that's broccoli, corn, greens, carrots, peppers, etc. Do I just happen to live in an area with cheap produce?

Also, I have an Alexandrine. I don't know how much macaws and cockatoos eat, I imagine that must be a lot more.

 

[Boysmom]

Parrot ownership is NOT cheap. Here is a breakdown of my monthly cost:
toys $100 ( $67 to a monthly subscription delivery and the rest on toys I pick up at local stores ) My birds love to destroy toys and this cost doesn't include the toys I make
Fresh foods $50- 60 and pellets
Cage supplies $20 ( I use puppy pads as cage liners )
Vet fund $50 I use a mobile vet and she comes out every 3 months for wing clipping, nails and health checks- yes this may seem excessive to most, but I don't groom my birds myself and my birds love my vet, and it keeps them extremely healthy

I do not work, so all this expense is provided by my husband but he gladly provides it as he knows the birds are my babies, plus he is very attached to Ruby himself. This breakdown doesn't include what I spend at the bird show 3 to 4 times a year, where I most time spend anywhere from $100 to 300 on perches, toys and misc stuff. This month I purchased Flora a new playtop cage at the show and it cost $240.

Anyone considering a parrot should expect to spend plenty of $ for their upkeep and happiness !

 

[jenphilly]

Alot of the fresh fruits and produce we supply are not your typical corn, green peppers, carrots, etc. We also provide squash, collard greens, chard, mango, pomegrante, kiwi, melon, broccoli, cauliflower, fresh pea pods, cucumbers, brussel sprouts, blueberries, etc. Also add in protein and we feed the lean ground turkey (note I make our chili and spaghetti using the regular ground turkey, so she gets a better and more expensive cut then we use!). During the warmer months, the produce is really reasonable and we always buy local when its available.

Feeding Ivory and the others is definitely more expensive then feeding our 4 cats, but in the same breath, she's not as expensive as the horse, so saying 'expensive' is relative to the situation every home finds themselves in.... If we only feed her scraps from what we eat, it may not be so bad, but my husband won't eat most veggies, so he's a die hard white corn fan - I definitely would not want corn to be a primary fresh staple...

and did I mention the nuts??? I am thrilled when I find natural pistachios for under $10 a pound!

Its not like one would need a part time job to afford to feed her, but for anyone thinking of adding a parrot to their home, the cost is definitely a consideration. For anyone living on a tight budget, I think a parrot would be an 'expensive' pet to keep. We are a bit of a wasteful home... I throw out more food when cleaning the fridge then some families put into their budget (I am not a fan of leftovers....). If we were on a strict budget, I definitely would not be able to go shopping every few days when we realize the latest attempts to entice Ivory to eat fruits and veggies have failed. And we are very fortunate to be able to try coming up with different birdie bread variations without worry about what is a failure and the wild birds get to eat!

Just my 2 cents... for what its worth

 

[khaiqha]

I'm just trying to get a feel for the price of food in different places. I eat/give my bird those things as well. The most expensive thing on that list would be pomegranate for me, which is $2 each and would last for 4-5 bird servings. Pistachios is around $7/lb in these parts. I like getting the nut mixes from 7-11 that are $3 and they contain a huge variety, no peanuts.

The pellets I get are $18 and last eight to ten weeks.

 

[JerseyWendy]

1 pound of pinenuts alone are around $13.00. A pound of pistachios I can get for $8.00. Of course I don't "have" to feed my big macs the expensive pinenuts, but they LOVE them, so I always have them on hand.

All in all I spend about $200/month for my 4 fids, NOT including any vet costs.

 

[SandyBee]

I buy all my pellets/nuts/seeds and everything I can in bulk.
Fresh fruits and veggies range depending on time of year, we have a ton of local produce in the summer, more expensive in winter because in Canada we need to import or do greenhouse produce. I also tend to buy some stuff frozen and buy in bulk when on sale.

It's hard for me to estimate a cost due to this and also I give a lot of variety so it's always changing and we eat fairly healthy so they share a lot of our dinners. On average I spend 70.00+ on 2 birds a month just for food.

Toys, well we buy some, we make some, and the things they like best are the things they are not supposed to have LOL, you should see my TV remote. Bosley can take a button off at lightning speed. We do try to be creative there.

Then vet bills, I've spent over 800.00 dollars on Bosley last year, you know the kicker?
Can't find anything wrong LOL

Grooming, 60.00 last year on Bosley for his nails. I keep flight feathers in and August uses a pedi-perch. Bosley thinks it's a monster so grooming services for the big boy!

In short, Birds aren't cheap and because they are exotics the vet bills can kill you if you are not prepared. This is true for both babies and rehomes!!!

 

[Birdman666]

Oh god! Here we go.

I am guestimating that I spend somewhere around $50.00 a month on nuts, and fresh foods for my five... ($600 per year) I go through a tub of nutriberries a month, which I get wholesale for $20.00 per month. ($140.00) per year. I go through a MONDO bag of Zupreme about every 3 months for about $50.00 per bag, which runs about ($200.00) per year.

So food Alone for my five big uns runs about $940 PER YEAR...

I make most of my own toys and play stands, but the materials for those I will conservatively estimate at $25.00-50.00 per month. Realistically, I probably spend about $300.00 to $600.00 per year on toys.

Vet bills? They get well birdied every two years, which runs about $300-400, and averages out to $150-200.00 per year.

Grooming generally runs another $300.00 to $400.00 per year.

$940 + 300 + 150 + 300 = Figure $1,600 to $1800 per year for a flock of five very pampered parrots who want for nothing...

But let's face it, they eat better than I do!

 

[jenphilly]

Vet bills are a great thing to add to the things to consider list! We are lucky and have multiple avian vets in driving distance. Our favorite and preferred was not available when Ivory came home and we needed a quick thorough check with having other birds (I understand quarantine but if you're not showering and changing clothes going from room to room you never know what you might bring along, so having a clean check for virus, bacteria and parasite was a must for us). So, we went to the more well known avian vet, smear and bloodwork was $411 later, we at least had the confidence we had a fairly healthy bird, not considering problems from poor diet, but not a shock with a rehome. But then last week she had a couple worrisome droppings and spent one day literally sleeping all day. So, back to the vet, this time our preferred at least.... Another $150 later, nothing to be found... And one of the green cheeks needed a vet visit after some itchy behavior (he likes to bathe in his water bowl which he also uses to dunk his food, so worry of bacteria setting up house), that visit was only $76. But from October 14th thru this past Saturday, we spent over $600 for bird vets...

So absolutely agree vet bills is another thing that can make birds expensive family members.... but that can be true for any critter in our lives. I usually drop $500 easily a year on horse vet bills and that's just the routine shots and teeth floating kinda stuff... Least with the horse, I can buy medical insurance in case he needs surgery...

 

[Boysmom]

My hubby complains ( LOL Jokingly ) that the birds eat better than the humans do in our home.
My boys are wrestlers, so they eat a very regimented diet of lean protein and tons of fresh veggies and berry/ protein smoothies. It isn't cheap to keep them in fight mode. They eat 5 to 6 regimented meals a day, and I am up at 5 AM cooking their breakfast and packing their feeding for the day.

Tonight the birds get fresh salmon filets with birdie mango salsa, the humans get homemade make your own pizzas.

Honestly, I do cook as much for the humans as the birds. I will admit though that my birds are spoiled and I do cater to their every need.

 

[Birdman666]

I've been lucky.

I haven't had a lot of vet bills other than well-birdies...

But that is primarily because of good animal husbandry...

If you don't clean up after them, change their water and feed them properly, and make sure they eat the right stuff... they get infections, and it costs you in vet bills down the road.

Teach them to self entertain, and they don't pluck. Which saves you in vet bills (and medical bills for hearing aides!) down the road...

If their forced to drink green slime, and eat seeds... the bird's going to get a bacterial infection, a variety of vitamin deficiencies, and will ultimately die of fatty liver disease at somewhere around a quarter of his normal life expectancy.

Just getting folks to see the big picture... and do the basics!

As for the salmon, and all that stuff... they get some of what ever I make for us... The cost of that doesn't even factor in, because it would just go to waste anyway.