Possible first time bird owner???

Hi all!

Moving back to home sweet home in California in a few months after 4 years of med school I’m Florida. Can’t wait to start residency at a children’s hospital. Also been contemplating adopting a bird for the past several months and only recently things started to get serious. Have already picked out a rescue group in San Francisco that I can start with once I settle in. Any advice for a first time possible bird owner with busy work schedule is welcome! The bird I’ve been eyeing is a lovebird and he also has a sister that’s also available for adoption.

I also make YouTube videos about my other pets (snakes, tarantulas, geckos, tortoise, dogs)

Sorry StickyFeets,

I love your enthousiasm, but unless you can spend as much time (every single day!) with a parrot as you would with a human child: do not go there.


Especially if you already have to take out the dogs several times a day for a walk and keep and eye on the other animals (the non-mamals won't mind being ignored as much as the dogs do, but parrots are a whole different kettle of fish.)


Is your residency a 9-5 mo-fri gig?
(Blame my bad english in calling it a gig, but it probably will not be permanent, a bird will be)

They require a crazy amount of time and consistency (think covering the cage at the same time each night and uncovering in the morning at the same time). It is very unlikely that they would be a good fit for you at this point in your life (but congrats on your residency).

They are also very fragile and hide illness. I wish I had known all of the information that follows: As a new bird owner (or potential bird owner), you should research their respiratory systems, because all of the standard cleaning products that people use are very dangerous for them (windex, bleach etc), as are things like perfume, markers, paints, hairspray, nail polish, candles, plug ins, fabreeze , carpet shampoos, hot glue guns, most essential oils, burning butter/food....The list goes on. Then there is the biggest issue, which is Teflon/PTFE/PFOA/ PFC's. It is used all over the place (and can be mixed into metals, woven into fabric, or applied as a clear or colored coating). You cannot tell if a product contains this chemical just by inspecting it visually and it often is used internally (within machines). When heated, it off-gasses and produces fumes that can kill a bird in just under 5 minutes. If you buy a space heater, or a new blow dryer, or a straightener, or a curling iron, or something like an air fryer, rice cooker, griddle or an iron (as well as pots and pans) you will not be able to safely use them without calling first to verify. You will not get a same-day answer....This is probably the biggest inconvenience to about owning birds (Aside from the huge amount of time they require---the lifestyle changes are MAJOR). You kind of have to overthink everything all of the time, which is super annoying and kind of stressful lol.

Welcome to you! Florida will miss you!

Welcome, and congratulations for your impending residency. Huge achievement!!

As others posted, living with an avian requires abundant time. That said, some species are more independent than others. Do you live alone, or will this be a family project? If the latter, you'll mitigate many issues with your inevitably long working hours. Here again, some species tend to be "single person" bonding while others enjoy group interactions.

Want to hear a story about how NOT to do it? I bought the Rbird in 1984 while I was in college... then came grad school... so there were years of close, constant contact. Then came internship and work. There were years (about 25 of them) when 6-7 days a week, I was gone at dawn and back at night.
Some did and will consider me wrong and think I should have re-homed him.
Anyway, here is what I think made it work.
I moved and got new jobs maybe 5 times or so. BUT...
Every morning, he had at least ten minutes, and every evening, he had 20 or so. I have always kept him on a natural light schedule, in a separate room, so sometimes those times together were in the dark. During the day, he had a big window looking out on something interesting, a television on one of his favorite channels (music channels, news shows - he loves talking heads), a biggg cage, lots of fun foods, and great toys that I changed out regularly).
He KNEW he could count on those two crumby sessions a day. Somehow we both made it.
I'm now retired and times are pretty good again.
I wouldn't change things for the world, buttttttttttttttt... it was probably not a good decision, really.
So if you're a realist... wait to get a bird.
If you're a romantic... well... what can I say?

Members... what do you think about getting two same-sex birds (so no breeding)... maybe siblings...
There won't be the same companion intimacy with humans, but they'd be good companions for each other?

So the work schedules are broken up one month each. The more intensive ones usually are 6-6. Then we get some months that are 8-5, and then the holy grail months that are 8-2 depending on what month you’re on. Weekends are either short days or if we’re lucky we can have half or the whole weekend off. When I did my sub-internships I got about 4 hours of free time each day before I have to go to sleep. When I’m home, all my attention is focused on my animals so I, very diligent in making sure they’re all getting the proper care and attention. I’m considering getting a sitter to come by the house and entertain my dogs. Perhaps I could find one that’s also good with birds and she can talk to them through the cage while she’s there. Is it absolutely necessary that the birds get covered at night? Most mornings I might have to leave the house before it’s even light out and I feel like uncovering them would just disturb them more than if they woke up naturally by the sunlight in the window. I was under the impression that lovebirds in pairs can be relatively independent and even get by with minimal human interaction such as those kept in aviaries. But of course I do want to interact with them, what’s the point if they’re stuck in a cage even when I am home? I don’t mind them being more bonded to each other than to me, but I’d like them tame enough to step up so I can get them out of the cage and onto a perch while I do stuff around the house.

As for the household safety, I’m aware of most of those items. Thank goodness I don’t use any of them give or take a few. Planning on getting copper ceramic pots anyways since my Teflon ones are crappy and scratched. I can always hot glue outside without the birds around, paint in a separate room etc... it’ll be a single family home with just me living in it.

Everything’s still up in the air since I’m still in Florida and can’t begin the application process until I move. It’s pretty long from what the rescue says, training class, phone interview, home inspection, visiting the bird to see if we are a good match. It’s likely if I do decide to proceed with the adoption I’ll be months into my residency which will give me a better idea of my schedule before any final decisions are made. I just want to get as much info as I can just in case. One thing I learned from keeping reptiles is that starting research months in advance helps heaps so I’m literally reading any info I find online. Thanks for all the replies! Any further suggestions/advice are also welcome.

Welcome to the community, and congrats on graduating and your residency!

I gotta say that I hate to be negative about people wanting to add a Parrot to their families, because they really are unlike any other "pet" you'll ever have in your life; unfortunately that is also the reason that a lot of people just shouldn't bring one home, at least not during certain periods of their lives...Keep in-mind that anyone here telling you that it's not a good idea for you to bring home a Parrot of any species right now, during your residency, has nothing to do with what type of "Parront" you'd be, because I for one am sure that you would be an awesome, loving, affectionate, responsible Parront...It simply has to do with the daily work-schedule you just described that you'll be working day-in and day-out throughout your residency, and the fact that it is not at all compatible with owning a Parrot and keeping him/her happy and healthy physically, psychologically, or emotionally.

All species of Parrots possess the same level of intelligence of a 3-4 year-old human child, from the smallest species, a Parrotlet, to Budgies/Parakeets, to Cockatiels, to Conures, Amazons, Macaws, Cockatoos, and every species in-between. And what separates the intelligence of a Parrot from that of any other type of "pet" (except for pet Primates such as Monkeys, Lemurs, Galagos, etc.) is that they use logic and reasoning skills, and they have memories that are better than ours. And when you combine their cognitive abilities with the fact that they are Flock-Animals that require an enormous amount of out-of-cage-time and direct-attention every single day of their lives, this makes them extremely rewarding pets to add to your family, but also extremely difficult pets to add to your family.

The #1 underlying-cause of the start of a Parrot exhibiting Feather-Destructive Behaviors such as Barbering and Plucking, as well as Self-Mutilation, is them not getting enough hours of out-of-cage-time and direct-attention from their "Flock-Mates" each and every day; this causes severe boredom, depression, loneliness, frustration, and anxiety in Parrots, which in-turn results in Neuroses....And people who didn't realize in any way just how much time having a Parrot in your life requires every single day, as well as what starts to happen behavior-wise when the Parrot that they already brought home isn't getting enough out-of-cage-time and direct-attention from them every single day is BY-FAR the #1 REASON why there are currently literally tens-of-thousands of Parrots up for adoption in Rescue and Shelters, and being re-homed on sites such as Craigslist, BirdsNow.com, BirdBreeders.com, etc.

So if more people would really look at the amount of personal daily time a Parrot requires of them every single day and then overlay that with the amount of free-time they have at home each and every day BEFORE they just go out and bring a Parrot home, like you are doing right now, the number of Parrots in-need of adequate homes would be easily cut in-half, at the least. So I really am grateful that you are here describing your situation and asking whether or not adding a Parrot to your life right now or in the near-future is a good idea BEFORE you actually already have one, and I thank you for doing that...

That being said, I think that both you and any Parrot you would bring home and into your life would be much, much better-off and the situation will be much more successful overall for everyone involved if you wait until you're done with your Residency to add a Parrot to your life and your family...I just don't see any way at all that it would be possible for you to provide even close to the amount of attention that a Parrot needs every single day based on the schedule you just described, especially considering that you already have a dog, a Tortoise, and other pets that require all of your free time already...

And I think that exactly the way you need to think about this decision, from the point of view of not only the new Parrot, but also from the point of view of your dog, tortoise, and other pets/family members you already have...You have already made a commitment to them, and the amount of time you're going to have for them is going to be less/limited throughout your Residency...So how in the world is it a good idea and how is it going to end well if you not only just add another pet to the mix, but the most time-consuming pet you could possibly bring home except for a Monkey or other Primate??? That's what you have to think about, because you need to not only be fair to the Parrot, which it definitely would not be, but you really need to be fair to the pets you already have committed yourself to.

***Just to clarify, it's a good rule-of thumb to say that any species of Parrot you bring-home is going to at a minimum need to get 4-5 hours every single day of out-of-cage-time and direct-attention from you/with you...Every single day...However, they also absolutely must get a minimum of 10-12 hours of solid sleep every night, as their overall physical-health and well-being depends upon it, quite literally, with putting them on a "Natural-Light Schedule" being optimal to keep their sex-hormones at-bay, their aggression and frustration down, and to keep them not only physically healthy but also psychologically and emotionally healthy. So that means that you can't plan on coming home in the late-evening and THEN spend 4-5 or more hours with them out of their cage and being with you...That's going to be a lot of the problem, keeping the Parrot on a sleep-schedule that is both healthy for the Parrot and that won't cause their hormones to be constantly out of control, but that will also allow you to be able to spend even the minimal amount of time required with the Parrot each day and out-of-cage-time each day...

So there are a lot of different factors you need to take into consideration BEFORE you decide whether or not you adding a Parrot to your life during your Residency is going to not only be minimally-feasible, which obviously isn't at all optimal at all anyway, but also is going to be fair to the bird...As well as fair to your dog, Tortoise, and other pets/family members you already have, because you can't take your dog out for a walk while spending time with your Parrot inside of your house...

Either way we'll be here to answer any questions we can that you might have, and to support your decision no matter what it is...You're obviously a very responsible pet owner because you're here doing research and getting opinions and advice BEFORE you add a Parrot to your life, so we certainly appreciate that...

Thanks for all that info Ellen! I know that birds are a whole new level, which is why I’m on this forum to get an insider’s view. I was telling my friend that birds are like in between adopting a dog and a child, if anything more like adopting a child. And that you know how primates shouldn’t really be kept as pets, neither should birds because so many ppl underestimate their care. But alas, there’s so many birds that are in need of rehoming already. If I end up not adopting these two lovebirds this year, in the future I’ll definitely still choose adoption over buying since there’s too many in need already. Thank you everyone for their insight. Until I get a chance to talk to the rescue coordinators in person about every detail of my schedule and about those specific birds themselves, I’m just gonna put a sticky note on this decision and see what they say since they know those birds the best. Until then, no harm in continuing my research and reading stories of all your birds here. I can always live as a vicarious parront through this forum haha!

You've learned to collect data from available sources and make the best possible decision. Those traits will serve you well as you continue to learn more about companion birds! Spending time at a rescue will prove invaluable.